- Video shows gyms in the Green Bay area discussing why the beginning of the year is such an important time for their business and their members.
- A mental health clinician discusses why common New Year's resolutions like getting more exercise can be so difficult to maintain.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The start of the new year usually spurs an influx of gym memberships as people try to turn to a healthier lifestyle.
But too often, enthusiasm for achieving those goals wanes soon thereafter, impacting both goal-setters and the gyms.
"It's more important than just that big rush in January," said Greater Green Bay YMCA group Vice President Eric Gorder.
The YMCA has about 44,000 members across six locations in the Green Bay area making them the largest fitness organization in northeast Wisconsin.
As the new year begins, they see member check-ins increase from about 2.5 times per week to about 4 times per week.
"If we get a bunch of people in January and they're gone by March, that doesn't help us as much because now we're going another six months without those members."
Experts say one of the reasons those resolutions don't stick is because of everything else we're already doing.
"You can have this goal but based on how you're living your life and what you're doing and what's important to you, you also have probably 20 other goals that also compete with this new goal," said Brandon Bykowski, a Mental Health Clinician at UW Health.
"We don't have infinite time or energy or cognitive resources."
The expected drop-off is partly why gyms are largely focusing on the weeks and months after the new year spike.
It helps their business but it can also help prevent people from quickly dropping their resolutions.
"January is big. We love the energy that it brings," said Mary Thomas, the owner and general manager of Western Racquet & Fitness Club.
They see a 9% increase in check-ins over December while 11-12% of their annual memberships are sold in January.
"Our goal and our mission is to really take where you started on January 1st and make sure at this point of the year you're still sticking to that."
Bykowski says the best way to achieve your New Year's resolutions is to start small.
"It's great to have the big-picture vision, but often what's missing are all the incremental steps to get to that final goal," he said.
"When people are missing those little achievable steps, it's easy to get lost or maybe get discouraged."
"It's okay to think big, but if you want to accomplish it, then you also have to be able to think small and map out the steps towards the larger goal."
