Just wondering. The crowd hasn’t been too bad hereabouts, at least in comparison to previous years. Most of the newcomers are just painful to watch, though. (Terrible form, a huge amount of lollygagging, and so forth.)
I have been surprised at the relative lack of resolutionists at my place, too, though my sister tells me they have been awful at hers.
That said, I am more than happy to put up with some annoying crowding if it means a few of those people hang on and get healthier. 
There’s an In-Shape right across the street from my gym and they seem to get the crowd. Why they want to pay hundreds when my gym is only $30 is beyond me. I guess they like the glitz.
It’s been very crowded at my gym–every machine taken, hard to find a corner to stretch. Some seem to know what they’re doing and are working to get back into shape but many make me sad, because they’ll be gone by March, discouraged by their lack of progress. Unfortunately, you’re not going to make any progress strolling at a leisurely pace on the treadmill or chatting with your girlfriend and reading magazines on the cycle. Better than nothing, but the (completely apocryphal) stat I heard was, of every 100 who join a gym, only five will ultimately achieve their goals, and of those, four will have worked closely with a trainer.
We do threads like this every year…
I’m not sure how much of the crowd is New Years resolutioners and how much is kids who are bored or home from college. The new faces skew young at my gym (a YMCA) anyway.
Yes, I figured that we were overdue for another resolutionary army thread, Scumpup.
Fitness is a touchy subject around here, and obesity is an even touchier subject. (I emphasize this because, even though I haven’t mentioned obesity, some people are bound to bristle and equate the two terms.) What I’m about to say will doubtlessly anger some folks, but I’ll say it anyway.
When I look at the resolutioners, I can’t help but notice that most of them are moving with very little energy. I don’t believe that it’s simply because they’re carrying some extra weight; after all, most of these folks aren’t morbidly obese, and even obese people can generally put some extra oomph into their moves when they need to. I can’t help but think “It’s no wonder that you’re in bad shape. You’re not going to make any real progress if you don’t learn to put in more effort.”
La Beldame is right; people aren’t going to make substantial progress when they scarcely put in any effort. Yes, I know that some people have joint issues that prevent them from working out hard, but let’s face it – most people don’t have that problem. Additionally, when people are chatting incessantly during a cardio class or otherwise barely moving, then I’d say that the root cause is unlikely to be some subtle medical condition. We can’t always judge individual cases, but it’s naive to think that most of the newcomers are afflicted with these medical conditions – and often, it’s pretty clear that folks just don’t have the right mindset when it comes to exercising hard.
Well, let’s take your assessment of their lack of effort as accurate. Now what?
The gym is in business for the purpose of turning a profit, so the NYR’s are valued customers just like you. Perhaps more so, since many will stop coming and the gym gets their membership fee with no wear and tear on the facilities. So, I’d guess that the gym owner is unlikely to tell all the NYR’s to GTFO because they are interfering with the SERIOUS workouts that his SERIOUS customers do. I’ve been to a couple bodybuilding gyms run by bodybuilders where something like that might conceivably have happened, but your typical Bally’s type establishment isn’t going to do it.
And, please don’t ake this personally, but why do you care about their intensity or lack of it? Whether they make any progress or not is no skin off your ass. As we also note in these annual threads, most of them will be gone in a few weeks and you’ll have the run of the place again.
I was shocked, actually, at the lack of a crowd at my gym. One of my favorite sections of water aerobics has not “made” (had enough members to have class) since Christmas. You only have to have 3. 
Not bad but it never really is. My gym is in my building and it’s never really all that crowded–whether it’s the first of the year or in the middle.
My gym has been more crowded than usual, but I still haven’t had any trouble finding an open treadmill or stationary bike.
I will agree with JThunder that it seems like a lot of the newer folks aren’t really putting out a huge amount of effort, but hey, they’re at the gym. Walking at 110 bpm for 20 minutes isn’t as good as actually putting out major cardio effort, but it’s miles better than sitting at home on the couch.
ETA: My gym is at a local community center and isn’t one of the fancy places that puts out a lot of advertisements and incentives so maybe that’s why the relative lack of crowd.
The Resolutionary Army has invaded, as it does every January. I see signs of them gathering for a retreat already.
As the month draws to a close, many who made it three weeks will get off track, and they will write off the last week, and promise to restart anew come the first Monday in February. This will run into the Valentine Dilemma, as I call it, and they’ll bail fast and furious 'round Valentine week, then promise to start anew the week after Valentine’s Day.
The following are reasons to break the routine of eating right and exercising that cripples the Resolutionary Army annually: Superbowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day. After the eating orgy offered on these key days, the Resolutionary Army is almost in full retreat.
My gym is a total mess.
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I was amazed last week at the absence of people in my gym; it was as if 50% of the regulars were all still on vacation. However, they must have flown back into town over the weekend because they descended on the place this morning, and then some. I don’t know what caused the delay.
Now as long as they actually work out while they’re there and not monopolize a piece of equipment sitting there texting for five minutes in between every 90 second set, we’ll be good.
Yup. It makes me happy when I see the 350-pound guy walking around the track for 30 minutes, even if it is in the wrong lane. I don’t particularly care if the obese lady with her two obese daughters doesn’t know that she should be getting her heart rate up into the 85% zone, and is only on the stairclimber at the easiest level for 10 minutes. And maybe they will be disappointed with the lack of quick results and give up. Or maybe they will discover “hey, this being active thing” isn’t half bad" and keep exercising, even if it is not at a gym (I am only in the gym in the winter when I can’t ride, so maybe I am a Winterist. :)).
That, I agree with. I’m not saying that the gym should’t allow these people in, which is why I never suggested such a thing. You seem to be implying that I think these people should be kicked out, whereas I have not implied anything of the sort.
I understand what you’re saying, but sometimes, people can’t help but have a visceral reaction to what people are doing to themselves. To use an extreme example, If I were to see somebody shooting himself up with heroin, I’d feel queasy about it, even though his self-destruction is no skin off my teeth. On a more mundane level, if somebody complains about his waistline while eating a plate full of french fries (and yes, this has happened), then I think that most of us can’t help but notice the incongruity of that behavior.
Scumpup, nobody’s saying that people should only be allowed in the gym if they’re willing to work hard. If they want to waste their efforts, that’s their business. At the same time though, it’s entirely reasonable to note that these folks are wasting their efforts, and nobody should be faulted for recognizing this.
Besides, there ARE times when this behavior impacts other gym goers. For example, many gym habitues have complained about equipment being tied up by folks who continually work out at a leisurely, time-wasting pace. We’ve also talked about how lollygaggers can negatively impact the exercise classes – by incessant talking, for example, by distracting other attendees, and by generally taking up space in an already crowded room. They also present physical hazards when they don’t bother moving with the entire class, as is often required during cardio segments. They can even bring the enthusiasm and energy levels of the class down, not to mention that of the instructor. (And before anyone objects, this is not an imaginary scenario. The instructors at my own gym have complained about this. They know that energy is contagious, and that a lack of energy has a way of infecting the entire class. That’s why one of my instructors often yells out “You’re not just here for yourselves, folks! You’re here for everyone around you!”)
So their lack of effort is simply their own business? In a narrow sense, perhaps, but that can’t stop reasonable people from noticing that they’re wasting their time and effort. Moreover, there are times when slipshod efforts DO inconvenience other people, and that’s a more direct concern.
The weight room wasn’t too bad - the newcomers seemed to respect the flow well enough. Although one guy jumped on my machine before I could wipe it, and I think he was a little embarrassed when I was like “dude, lemme wipe it down first?” and then he kind of bewilderdly said no it’s ok.
The upstairs with the treadmills, bikes and steppers was JAM PACKED. I don’t know about the pool. I used to do the pool as my main workout but the schedule got too wonky for me.
I’ve seen lots of people getting the tour since January started. Nobody is getting a weight room tour tho.
Count me in as someone who’s excited to see a ton of people sign up, even if they don’t come back. I work out at the city Rec Center so more paying members means lower costs for me and less tax dollars going to support it.
Oh, and when I was walking last Monday, some regular stopped me and said “You know, you appear to be a smaller person than when I first saw you here [6 months ago]. I just wanted to let you know.” Not a young dude hitting on me or anything, but it was nice to hear!
ETA: I’m still the fattest person in the weight room, and one of the few obese patrons overall. This sort of disappoints me. On the other hand, lots of nice asses and muscles for me to gawk at 
I disagree that working out at a low intensity is wasted effort. As I said before, even low-intensity workout is better than no workout. As far as tying up the machines, meh. Exercise is exercise. I don’t think person A deserves the use of the treadmill more because she is getting her heartrate higher than person B is. Can’t speak to the point about exercise classes because I don’t take them.
So…now what? If all you wanted was to vent a bit, okay, everybody needs to vent from time to time. Otherwise, I’m kind of at a loss for what your point is. There’re new people at the gym and the noobies don’t do things the way that would suit you best?
It’s hard to tell how much of the new crowd is made of NYRs. The gym recently changed hands and the new owners have been expanding the facilities and really working hard on recruiting new customers.
I was furious in last year’s thread; I may have even started it. Anyways, this year the crowd is almost nonexistent. The SO says in the weight room there’s maybe 1-2 unfamiliar faces, but he hasn’t been around much in the last couple months. The cardio area is full but without huge lines, so maybe 10% increase.
My fitness classes (pilates, weight lifting, dance) have maybe 10% new faces but the actual numbers are good; nobody’s tripping over each other and the class isn’t even at max capcity. The new people are total morons and they’ll be gone by February but they aren’t too noisy or distracting.
I’m very satisfied. A lack of resolutioners is the first positive thing I’ve seen result from the piss poor economy.
Also, my gym is one of the two most expensive in the city. I think that has a lot to do with it. I’m sure Globo Gym is packed.
Yes, I belong to Lifetime Fitness and some of the gyms have been just nuts (my membership level allows me to go to all of the clubs). Parking has been abyssmal, the locker room is crowded with people who will take up large areas to make sure no one can see them change, and there’s lots of random weirdness and poor form.
One of the clubs has one power rack and one squat rack (they have other Smith racks too). One guy was in the only squat rack with one of those green bands he had tied to a side and was doing silly looking, very small range of motion, bicep curls. It would’ve been aerobic if he did more than 5 before stopping and the way his arms were moving and the fact that it was such a light band I can’t imagine that it did much of anything. Someone asked if he could work in and the guy looked at him and said “When I’m done.” I don’t think he got it at all.
Then watching another guy doing military presses behind his neck made me cringe. Part of me wants to help and advise a person from injurying themselves by doing those kinds of things, but I’d rather not be “that guy” either.
I also watched across the gym one guy get pinned under the bar on the incline bench press that was loaded with more weight than I do and he was half my size. Luckily for him, he didn’t put the clamps on correctly as the weight shifted to one side and dumped it on the floor with the clamp.