I went to the gym during "off" hours today and the place was packed! I never had to wait for a treadmill before. I do realize a lot of people are off work today, I know I am. There's was a line of people buying memberships. And there were 5 new people in my kickboxing class. Are these all New Year's Resolution joiners? I never made the "lose weight/get in shape" resolution before so I don't know.

Its nice to see all these people trying to get in shape, I hope they stick with it!

I don't go to a gym, but when ran this morning (at 10am), I kept thinking everyone must be looking at me and thinking I was running because of a New Year's resolution! I wanted a T-shirt that said, "I've been running since August!"

Normally I run at about 5:15am, and only a few people are out then, and they've all seen me every M-W-F since August

According to the stats, most will be gone by Valentines

Uggh! I haven't been since NY (working nights so sleeping days) but the thing I noticed last year is that while the treadmills and classes are FULL FULL FULL, the free weights area is still a ghost town during the day. Yay!

So I'll continue to do my cardio on the roads outside (provided the storms stay away) and hit the barbells and dumbells. And like Suzanne says, wait for VD when they'll all be gone.

I remember someone (on here? Can't remember.) relating an anecdote where they were standing in line at the gym counter, and the person in front of them was cancelling their membership after paying for 12 months but only actually going from January to March. She asked what the gym owner called people like her. His answer? "Profit!"

Oh I could have written this post myself. I ran at 7am and I saw a few neighbors who normally don't see me running at 5:30 am every morning. I felt like they were thinking "New Year's Resolution Running". Just to make sure they knew I wore my "Kicked Asphalt - Philadelphia 1/2 Marathon" shirt so they knew I wasn't some resolution girl. LOL.

I used to be a die-hard gym goer and I absolutely HATED January. All the resolution folks would be there and sure enough...by Valentine's day they were all gone and it was the regulars once again.

Yeah. I was talking about this exact thing with someone today.

There is part of me that feels really bad for saying this ... because ultimately I really really do think it would be great if more people started working out and stuck with it. But honestly ... I wish all the uncommitted newbs would just get off my elliptical, quit hanging around the freeweights with their cute little spandex outfits and no commitment, and get the **** out of my way. *wry smile*

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My gym was closed over New Year's (grrr...), so I haven't been in yet, but all of us regulars were discussing this last week. It's annoying, but the trend for the last two years has been that about 60% are gone by January 15.

It kind of amazes me that people would attempt to begin getting fit by paying out a big chunk of cash to do so, instead of starting with free alternatives, like simply walking or doing body-weight exercises. Or that they actually wait and plan to do this at New Year's. But, I think this is a corollary to the "I can't get in shape until X happens" kind of thinking, too.

Yeah, it was my gym's first day open for the new year and it was pretty busy. I went in early and although I didn't have to wait to use anything, there was still about twice as many people there compared with a normal Saturday.

I am dreading going in on Monday - it'll just be insane after work. Think I'll go first thing instead...

Well, in all fairness, this is what I did. Mostly because I don't really have anyplace that I can walk w/out driving to it first, and secondly because I had no idea WHAT to do for bodyweight exercises. I was seriously clueless. Also the idea that if I was spending money on it, I'd actually go because I can't bear to lose the money was a big incentive.

But also keep in mind that a lot of gyms *don't* require a "big chunk of cash". I joined my gym when they were having a special - and by the time i was done negotiating, I had them waive the initiation fee and only pay a $35 processing fee, plus $35 a month with no contract. So ... for me, the incentive of "I have to go becuase I'm paying for it" was huge and it wasn't so much money up front that I would have freaked if I'd decided a gym wasn't for me.

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ditto everyone. my gym has been packed these last two days

I noticed it right after Christmas. DH and I have pushed our visits back an hour. It thins out after 8 p.m. I shudder to think about going at 5:30.

That doesn't sound so bad in your case, then. But people who pay for a full year and then only go for a couple months...that still boggles my mind!

My gym requires such a financial committment it's called a fitness club. I can't believe that all of these newcomers suddenly ponied up the money to join, so my guess is that all of these people are paying the dues every month and decided, "I might as well go start using it, if I'm going to pay that much every month!"

Oh crap, I forgot. The roads will be icy in the morning and I only want to do a short run so I was going to gym it, but ugh. The resolution crowd. As Suzanne said, 95% will be gone by V day and usually 75% by 3 weeks. But this week will suck.