Every New Year, people resolve to finally get fit. Their resolutions include starting new diets, trying to be more active, and joining a gym.
“Last year we had over 700 new members join our facility in January,” said Kristina McGrath, fitness manager at Fort Hill Activity Center. “Normally in a typical month we add maybe 100 or 200 members.”
Fort Hill is expecting a similar surge this year. Like many fitness centers, it offers January specials like a waived enrollment fee to take advantage of the resolution crowd.
“Obviously people in January are always very motivated and we want to make it easy for them to join and have less excuses of why they don’t want to join,” said McGrath. “So our way of doing that is getting rid of that enrollment fee for them.”
But starting to exercise is just the first step. Many people lose momentum on their goals after only a few weeks.
“The thing that I see as the biggest issue is a lack of accountability,” said Colin Laughlin, a personal trainer at Fort Hill. “Whether that’s keeping your New Year’s resolution to yourself and not telling anybody so you don’t have to own up to it. So tell as many people as you can.”
Once you’re taking fitness seriously, the last hurdle is making it a habit.
“Whatever you can do is what you should do,” said Laughlin. “Whether it’s trying to squeeze in a half hour right before work or you have an hour after work to get something in, but it’s highly dependent on the person. There’s no cookie-cutter approach.”
Getting the ball rolling on those fitness resolutions.
Naperville News 17’s Casey Krajewski reports.
