Every new year, there is a common message that goes around: “New year, new me.” For some people, that means working harder at school, or trying new adventures. But a common resolution that people seem to have is trying to go to the gym and get healthier. Some gyms are embracing this resolution season, like Planet Fitness. They decided to make it a point to advertise to America that they would support their resolutions. This was Planet Fitness’ tenth year as a presenting sponsor of the Times Square’s New Year’s Eve celebration.
While companies are accepting of this change, the regular gym crowd isn’t too fond of the idea of a new crowd.
“I think it’s bad for people to rush into the gym, they should start off with a few workouts and ease into it,” said freshman Franki Salituro. January is not the only time where someone could start their fitness journey; a study done by Elsevier showed that people who join the gym in the winter or summer months attend the gym less by the end of the year than those who join in autumn or spring.
The frustration around crowded gyms is sometimes misplaced. Gyms have certain capacity rules and if they oversell memberships around the new year, then the management made the mistake—not the people trying to better themselves.
“Public gyms can be kind of intimidating when you’re new,” freshman Molly Hayes said. Gym culture doesn’t have the very best reputation for welcoming new people, but it is important to keep in mind that a crowded gym means lots of people are trying to better themselves.
When the Village Fitness manager did an interview with ABC12, he explained that January creates lots of business so they have to prepare for the resolution crowd There is typically a large fall off around three months into the year.
“I have a membership at Planet Fitness and the first week of January seems to be the most chaotic time,” said PE and health teacher Coach Sobieszczyk. “I noticed that these crowds tend to fizzle out within a few weeks.” To prepare for the crowd, some gyms start running budget ads right after Thanksgiving to plant a seed for the New Year’s rush, or try to get more employees to work longer during those months.
Studies have shown that gym revenue is highest in the month of January and there are lots of factors that contribute to that. The major one being all of the new memberships or renewed ones by members who want to heavily commit to the gym. Gyms often capitalize on that by special promotions. Another month that is very important for a gym’s financial performance is March. A lot of failed fitness commitments rekindle as the weather gets warmer, so members will renew their fitness memberships to prepare for it.
Some of the most popular ambitions for people around New Years are gym-related. Taking that into account, some gyms are anticipating a spike in memberships. In a Winchester Star article, the owner of 540 Fitness said that in the last few weeks, the number of people buying memberships had gone up about 15 percent. Experts agree that New Years is a good opportunity for people to reflect on personal development, but having a good mindset is key.
A survey done by Statista showed that the top resolutions for 2025 were to exercise more and lose weight. A health-related goal is something that someone has to really work hard towards. To stick to your resolutions, the best thing to do is to narrow down your goals to one or two, and be picky about what you want to focus on. Being specific about what you’re focusing on makes you less likely to feel bad about yourself for not hitting your goals.
“Find a workout partner to join in on the fun, so that you can hold each other accountable and motivate one another,” said Coach Sobieszczyk. Give yourself time for a routine to develop and be patient; keep working towards your goal and it will become second nature.