New Year rush to join the gym? It’s better to wait until spring if you really want to work on your fitness

After indulging in Christmas, thousands will sign up for a traditional gym membership in January.

But if you go to the gym a little later, in the spring, you can reduce the risk of wasting money for some people, who may therefore exercise up to 50 percent more often.

A study of more than 1,700 people who signed up for an annual gym membership found that they were more likely to continue exercising if they attended in the spring or fall.

People who competed in these seasons went to the gym an average of about 4.5 times a month – the equivalent of once a week.

But those who signed up in the winter only went about 2.9 times per month, based on the average of everyone's participation in the study.

Researchers say that starting to exercise because of New Year's resolutions, or the desire for the perfect summer beach body, may not provide enough motivation to continue if the results are initially disappointing.

Enrolling in the cold, dark winter months can also make it harder to muster the enthusiasm to leave the house.

That could help explain another finding from the study, which is that people who enrolled in the spring or fall — rather than in the summer or winter months like January — would still visit the gym nine to 12 months later (SUBS – pls save).

But for those still up for a New Year's fitness kick, the study also offers guidance on how to stick to it.

The study found that people who went to the same gym on the same day and around the same time were more likely to still go nine to 12 months later (SUBS – must remain high).

By getting into a routine, rather than going at random times, going to the gym can become more of a habit, which people then automatically follow without thinking about it too much (SUBS – must stay high).

Dr. Matthew Rand, who led the research while at the University of Sheffield, said: 'There is a powerful message of 'new me' and 'fresh start' at this time of year that could encourage people to take up membership of to close a gym. .

'But this motivation, based on social pressure and the beginning of the year feeling, may not be as strong as the motivation to register at another time of the year, because you have individually decided that you are fitter and healthier. must be.

'Not everyone will have the motivation to go to the gym after January, so some should probably sign up then.

'But for many, participating in the spring could mean that they go more often and are more likely to stick to it, because it is not just a New Year's resolution

“Alternatively, for future years, they could consider signing up before New Year's, before the weather turns gloomy, and making a plan on how to maintain the habit (SUBS – save the last three sentences).”

The study, published in the journal Sport & Exercise, examined 1,726 people aged between 19 and 70 who had signed up for a one-year, non-refundable membership to a chain of six health and fitness centers with fitness facilities in Sheffield.

The results show that people went to the fitness centers more than seven times a month in the first four weeks after registration.

But only by the following month had this dropped to just under five visits per month, and a year after joining, people were showing up less than once per month on average.

While 100 percent of people who joined the fitness chain attended at least once in their first month of membership, that dropped to just 22 percent of people in their twelfth month of membership.

The study found that older people still show up nine to 12 months after signing up, which may be due to having more time for fitness in retirement.

Dr. Rand said: 'We saw that many people, despite having decided to get fitter, were actually paying not to go to the gym.'

The study found that older people still show up nine to 12 months after signing up, which may be due to having more time for fitness in retirement.

But attendance also remained higher among people who went to the same gym at least once on the same day within the same three-hour window.

Dr. Rand said (SUBS – keep quoting): 'Ideally, we want people to go to the gym simply because that's what they normally do on a certain day and at a certain time, like before work.

'By repeating the same activity at the same time, the habit is more likely to stick, making it an automatic behavior.

'It means that exercise classes, which take place at the same time every week, can be particularly useful for people who want to get into the habit of going to a fitness centre.'

More research is needed to determine whether specific exercise classes, or a certain type of exercise, encourage people to keep going to the gym.

But the study suggests that it may be more difficult to get to the gym in winter due to bad weather, making it less attractive to leave the house, while if you join in summer, visits may be disrupted by holidays, making it more difficult to get into shape. routine.