I did this today, for this exact reason.
Typically I’ll find home workouts for the first 3 weeks of the year, or go at known low times in the day
Yeah my bouldering place is super crowded for 2-3 weeks, but luckily/sadly they give up fairly quickly…
Instead of resolutions, people should try a theme. A small, consistent step forward is far better than a resolution abandoned by February. Avoiding strict failure conditions makes a theme more forgiving and sustainable. What you’re seeing at the gym is the discouraging effect of resolutions.
It’s better to be consistently mediocre than mediocre at consistency.
Sounds like you watched the same CGPGrey video I did
For a moment, I considered linking it here.
Can you?
It has always seemed so illogical to me that people want to make changes in their life but decide to wait for a specific calendar day to start them. I think thats a big reason why most people fail to follow through on their resolutions because if you really wanted to make that change, you wouldn’t wait until January 1st to do it.
Actually, it’s quite clever to start on 1 January, as changing your routines requires a lot of willpower until they become ingrained. The boost in motivation you get really helps you stick to your goals, and it also keeps you accountable, either because you can easily find other people with similar goals, or simply because you told people about your goal.
That’s why one should change one small thing instead of a big thing. In this case just start by taking walks. Make that a habit. Then add another small thing until that’s a habit. Only once you need a gym should you go.
Exactly what my therapist said when I was talking about drinking less in the new year. She just said, why not just start small now and do smaller beers or different kind of drinks when you go out instead right now? Honestly made too much sense. Kinda wild that I didn’t think about it until then.
Its pretty friggin hard to start a diet during the holidays. If you say the day before thanksgiving that you’re going to start a diet, you’re probably setting yourself up for failure more than if you let yourself enjoy the holidays and then get on the wagon once the leftovers are gone and the hangover has settled.
Maybe I’ll start after Easter
You’re gonna have to deal with holidays either way, if you truly are committed, then it shouldn’t matter when you start, and it’s hetter to just start
Sure. But that’s much easier handled when you’ve got 10+ months of momentum behind you. Staying on track, or even forgiving yourself for over-indulging, gets a lot easier with that.
Maybe some. But most of the regulars will be there no matter what. Crowds won’t cause them to skip it. That’s why they’re regulars.
But also, New Year’s Day was a Thursday this year. The crowds aren’t going to show up until Monday next week when everyone goes off vacation mode.
And it really isn’t that bad unless you’re trying to use one of the cardio machines - those things will be humming next week lol.
That’s been my experience at one of the more expensive gyms anyway. Planet Fitness regulars may be cooked for a few weeks.
Yup.
The first three weeks of the new year are really crummy if you’re a gym regular.
I found a loophole. Join a 24/hour gym. I was there at 11PM and it was fantastic.
Mornings at the gym are the best, honestly. I get the whole place basically to myself.
Oh hell yeah.
The night shift at a 24-hour gym is the fucking best if you can swing it with your schedule and energy.
Every January, the same thing. I don’t mind going, as I help around with advice. Some of the people decide to stick to it. Some, never had any intention - they come, snap a few selfies in their newly bought gym gear and then I never see them again.
I have a home gym now, but when I was a regular, it was always aggravating.
Part of you wants to root for these people, but so many are rude or don’t treat the space with respect and leave trash everywhere, so you find yourself just counting down the days until 90% of them quit. (And then you root for the ones who get with the program and learn to behave appropriately.)
