To make up for summer holiday indulgence, each January scores of people make earnest resolutions to eat well, get fit and lose weight. Before you know it gyms everywhere are inundated with newbies and regular gym-bunnies stand around grumbling while they queue for the Stairmaster.
A visit to my neighbourhood mega-gym, the Virgin Active (Old Eds) in Houghton, tells the story. At 5.15pm on Monday, there was a queue from the turnstiles to the front door. Inside the turnstiles a group of consultants stood around expectantly, perhaps waiting for potential customers to ask questions. The consulting booths were occupied and the floor itself heaved with activity. Group classes were packed and there wasn’t an unused machine to be seen.
It was easy to spot the newbies. They would hover uncertainly next to a stair-climber, then amble towards a stationary bike before weaving off to the elliptical trainer. A woman in sparkly trainers and a blue caftan plugged away on a skier, while another pounded along on the treadmill, with a jersey tied around her waist. One man set the treadmill speed so high he had to skip along while balancing on the arm rests. Another ran so close to the front of the deck that his belly kept bumping the emergency stop panel.
I asked the guy on the treadmill next to me what he thought of the crowd and he seemed to notice the buzz of activity for the first time. “January is always very busy. By mid-Feb it starts to drop off,” he said before making a beeline for an open elliptical trainer.
Soraya Patel, a regular gym-goer since 2003, was unfazed by the crowd. “There’s this frenzy, they’re trying out all the classes. They’re not committed to any one in particular yet.” Patel sees the same thing every year and knows the crowd will thin by March. “You see all the enthusiasm fizzle and people drop out,” she said. But winter is the real test. With the shorter days, it becomes more difficult to balance work, gym and other activities.
Matt (who declined to give his last name), an on-and-off gym-goer for 10 years, recently renewed his membership. He agreed that the January rush is “a natural part of the yearly cycle”. It is for him too. “At the beginning of the year you start off really enthusiastic and it just winds down towards the end of the year — I know it’s going to be a seasonal thing, and I’m fine with that.”
The Mail & Guardian tried to find out whether this seeming-trend is borne out by statistics. But managers at the major clubs, including Virgin Active and Planet Fitness, said they couldn’t speak without permission from head office — and head office was guarding membership figures as if they were state secrets.
Smaller gyms seemed to have a more hands-on approach. Shona Bell, who owns three of the women-only Curves gym clubs, said new memberships always spike in January. “Generally [they] increase by about 30% more in January than in every other month,” she said. But of those who join in January, about 20% will drop off during the year.
Bell believes routine keeps gym-goers on the straight and narrow. Most members get into the swing of things at the start of the school year, then renege on their commitment come the school holidays. Moving, switching jobs or starting the kids at a new school all contribute to drop-off. But at the end of the day, says Bell, it comes down to attitude.
“From the minute they walk in the door, you can tell whether they’re going to last. The woman who tells you she started a new diet today and just quit smoking, she’ll last a month. The ones who join in December are more likely to stay on.”