By John Simpson

Reporter

One of the most consistently popular New Year’s resolutions is to start working out and living a healthy lifestyle. The Bainbridge YMCA and Anytime Fitness are seeing the influx of people who made that resolution for 2017 and are setting their sights on helping people get in, or back in, the gym.

Both gyms are doing things to bring people in. Anytime Fitness is running a membership drive that is extended through Friday, Jan. 6, that allows new members to only pay $1 for their key and the first month free of dues, according to manager Liv Warren.

The membership drive has been paying off so far. According to Warren, Anytime Fitness signed up 20 new members on Monday, and 15 new members Tuesday. She does not expect it to lose momentum by Friday and hopes to keep the numbers high.

On the other hand, the YMCA is holding what they’re calling the Free Fitness Festival. During this festival, members and potential members alike can partake in 15-minute clips of the different programs offered by the YMCA to see what they like about it.

Each 15 minute activity will be different, according to Program Director Diane Atkinson. There will also be basketball games and different activities that involve all aspects of the YMCA. They will use the basketball court, racquet ball courts, tennis courts, and pool.

This is the first time the YMCA has ever done anyhting like this, so the festival is new territory for them. They hope that it succeeds and brings in new members for the new year, says Atkinson.

The festival will be held on Saturday, Jan. 14, from 8 a.m. until the YMCA closes. The festival is not only an attempt to bring in new members, but to show current members everything that they could be taking advantage of, according Atkinson.

“We hope it stays this way, we want to be busy,” said Atkinson. “We like to be so busy we go home with our tongues hanging out.”

Getting to the gym isn’t the hard part about this particular resolution. The hard part is keeping it up. According to Warren, the average time it takes for the New Year’s rush to taper off is only about a month. Then, it revs back up around Spring Break. Then it drops off again after that and does not pick up until people start to think about summer. 

“A resolution isn’t something you should turn on and off,” said Warren. “It’s something that should be life-changing, it needs to be a way of life.”

Both gyms hope that residents of Bainbridge can keep their New Year’s Resolutions and stay committed to getting healthy. Only time will tell if people stick with it, but the Gyms are prepared if they do.