Last update - 00:00 09/10/2006
Working out: Not just for holiday resolutions
By Danit Nitzan
Every fitness trainer knows the men and women who enter the gym every year soon after the holidays and swear, "This time I'm making a change, I'll start to train seriously, I'll get in shape and lose weight." Every trainer also knows he won't be seeing most of them in another two or three months, even if the newcomers have signed up for a year.
Sinai Partzenal, the Ramat Hasharon Fitness gym manager, recognizes the type in a matter of seconds. "I know very well the guys who decide on the spur of the moment to sign up and start working out. They are usually young, under 30. They want to see instantaneous results, and they disappear as fast as they show up. They quickly give up because they expect to see a considerable physical change after a short period of time, and that doesn't happen. So after several weeks, when their appearance still doesn't match their expectations, they quit."
According to Yuval Liebling, a physician at the Go-Active chain, "The rise in inquiries regarding gyms and memberships is noticeable right after the holidays, during October and November, and there is another increase in January, since that is another new year, and people decide to make changes to their lives," he says with a smile. It's during these months that more than a third of the chain's members sign up. Women are particularly affected by January's arrival, according to data gathered by the international sports organization CMS, to which Go-Active belongs. They sign up more than the men do during that time, and 45 percent of them state their aim is losing weight. After all, the holidays are the days of gluttony, and that appears to play a part in the decision.
According to data gathered by the Go-Active chain, of new gym members with no previous gym experience who start breaking their routine within the first six weeks, 70 percent will drop out. Go-Active's data also shows that new members who come to train less than once a week during their first month have less than a 10-percent chance of staying for a year. Israel has a relatively high drop-out rate, CMS's data shows: an average of 50 percent. This means that half the country's gym members will not renew their membership once it expires. This is a relatively high drop-out rate: The figure for the United States is 35 percent, for instance.
No way out
How can you still turn a spur-of-a-moment decision into real change? Partzenal recommends that gym-goers think long-term. "It's not what they want to hear, but it is what does the job. Someone who understands that working out is not about coming, lifting and leaving - but that it is a long-term commitment - will see results. But eager beginners arrive almost every day, lift weights too heavy for them, do too many sets and work out far too long. And those who charge to the gym with excessive intensity will also snap faster, due to physical and mental exhaustion."
How to manage this quagmire? Ami Eini, a Go-Active marketing manager, has several suggestions for those who sign up resolutely and quit absolutely:
b Home is out of bounds: Go to the gym right before work, or straight afterward. If you go home, rest, eat and relax, you won't go out to the gym - unless you're an addict, and you're not.
b Find a training buddy, and keep reminding each other of your commitment. Make a rule that whoever skips a workout must pay a fine - twice the time on the treadmill or an extra spinning class.
b Give yourself a monthly treat: After every month of working out vigilantly, spoil yourself with something.
b Maintain healthy competition with your training buddy. Compete over who lifts more, who runs faster, who pedals further.
b Mix it up. Don't stick to only one activity, because it will eventually get boring. Try a bit of spinning, kick-boxing, toning and aerobics.
b Mingle. Talk to other members, flirt and meet at the cafeteria after the workout, and your gym commitment will become fun and social.
Missing you
But why should you, the member, be responsible for finding training buddies, varying activities and being social? Gyms are taking various steps to keep their members. Niv Harel, marketing VP at Holmes Place, says that while it may seem gyms benefit if customers join and then quit, they actually lose. "Those who quit won't renew their membership, while those who stay renew again and again. In order to prevent customers from leaving, we mark those who begin slacking and try to lure them back."
As with all gym chains, Holmes Place records all visits by members in its computer system, which enables it to determine which members are "rare sightings," "normal," "frequent visitors" or "missing persons." The chain marks those who seldom visit.
"We mail an invitation for a coffee and pastry at our cafeteria, and if they show up, they might as well work out," says Harel. "We believe the workout will reawaken their urge, and that they'll return."
Other members receive an e-mail or an SMS telling them, "It's time to come back, we miss you," says Harel. "We send light and pleasant messages just to trigger the urge." In any case, when the member returns after a lengthy absence, he is assigned a trainer to ensure his program suits his abilities and goals. "He might be out of shape, he might have had a boring training program, he might not have understood the program," says Harel.