After too much turkey on Thanksgiving, too many cookies around Christmas and more than enough champagne on New Year?s Eve, it?s time to go to the gym.
New Year?s resolutions to get in shape in 2008 will mean long lines for treadmills and packed aerobics classes at local health clubs ? for a few months, at least.
January and February are always the busiest months for health clubs in terms of new memberships and attendance. After several weeks of excessive eating and drinking, people want to get in the gym and shed pounds in the months before warm weather returns, said Eric Frank, general manager of Merritt?s Downtown Athletic Club in Baltimore.
“People are coming in for a complete lifestyle change,” Frank said. “It?s after the holidays, and people are already thinking that spring is around the corner and they want to look good in a bathing suit.”
Knowing that they?ll see a lot of first-timers walk through the health club doors in January, area clubs are cutting enrollment fees for new members. Merritt?s Downtown Athletic Club, the Maryland Athletic Club and Brick Bodies in Baltimore are dropping enrollment fees for all or part of January.
“We?re headed into our key time of the year,” said Sharon Ehasz, vice president of marketing for the Maryland Athletic Club. “Everyone has those New Year?s resolutions.”
Ehasz said memberships and attendance numbers are up noticeably in January, February and March each year before those figures tend to trail off in the spring and summer. Memberships pick up again in September when students start going back to school and people are spending less time outside.
Almost 43 million Americans belonged to more than 29,000 health clubs in 2006, according to the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association. The industry has grown steadily since the mid-1990s, as gym attendance has increased 23 percent since 2001, with health club revenues totaling $17.6 billion in 2006.
Popular fitness equipment
» 1. Treadmills
» 2. Stationary cycles
» 3. Weight/resistance machines
» 4. Abdominal machines
» 5. Elliptical motion trainers
Source: Sports Goods Manufacturers Association
