As the New Year begins, so does the desire to inject positivity into our lives hence the need to set resolutions. People make promises to do acts of self-improvement and nice things in their dealings with others.
Resolutions are well intended declarations meant to hold individuals to their word therefore cleansing them of the bad habits that they supposedly got hooked on through the previous year. The sad reality is that by March, and for some way earlier, the majority would have fallen off that holy wagon and probably become worse than before.
Renewal of gym membership is one such step in the right direction of self cleansing and is supposed to signal the beginning of good living. It has become the most famous New Year’s resolution but it is also amongst the most challenging. For the past four years Hulela Modise, a vibrant 24 year old Gym Instructor and Personal Trainer at Super Fit Molapo Crossing bares testament to the above statement and does so with no doubt in his mind. “I’ve only been working in this particular gym since May last year and just as I anticipated, since the last two weeks of December, people have flocked in which is good for business but unfortunately that’s all that the situation is good for,” said Modise.
He said he has noticed this trend from his clientele throughout his career and attributes it to the resolutions that are made at the beginning of each year. He said once one stops exercising and eating well all that effort is thrown out the window and when they resume whenever they do, past efforts will not matter.
“Women take the lead when it comes to not keeping the gym promise. My research has led me to believe that it is because most of them come to the gym for the wrong reasons compared to men.
It’s not uncommon for ladies to start gym because they want to fit into certain clothes and therefore must get rid of cellulite, also consider they are the most body conscious of the sexes,” said Modise. He said after a couple of weeks of intense training, the ladies are then convinced that they are well toned and therefore don’t need gym anymore. “And this is the mentality that kills most of the ladies who walk through these doors,” he said.
Modise said people must understand the decision to join gym has to mark a change in lifestyle as a lifelong commitment and not just a resolution made from one year to another. “It’s such an easy thing to predict, gyms are packed in January and empty by March,” said Modise. He said change means exactly that and must be applied in every area of one’s life.
“When one decides to start a life of gym they need to understand that the binge drinking and eating have an ugly ripple effect. These are just examples of habits that counter the good effort put in during the week. Ultimately one loses focus and fuel for gym,” he said.
