Resolutions ahoy
Others it seems have had New Year’s resolutions of their own. A few days ago I headed off to my usual aqua aerobics class at the pool (yes I’ve finally found an exercise I enjoy after 37 years of not really doing anything much with my body apart from eating and drinking beer – I think it’s the appeal of not getting sweaty, no-one seeing me while I exercise and best of all the fact that the majority of the class are at least 20 years older than me so I can kid myself I am still young and lithe…well until I walk past the actual gym where amazing looking people my age are doing full on pump and body attack classes..) but I digress, I headed to my class expecting to see a dozen or so of the regular old ducks and dears that do the class with me when I was greeted with an extraordinary sight – 38 people leaping into the pool, mostly strangers, but all with a weird gleam in their eye. When I looked at my instructor she rolled her eyes and said “oh it’s always like this in the New Year”.
It’s true, I remember this scenario when I worked at the Opera House. Once the new year had been rung in and the bottles and chocolates swept away suddenly the paths around the Botanic Gardens would be crowded with throngs of over zealous exercisers wearing brand new trainers and tracksuits throwing themselves about vigorously. By around Australia day mysteriously they would have disappeared, shoes and trackies presumably hurled to the back of the cupboard as the allure of the pub, café or even just a nice lie down started to win out over those resolutionsfor yet another year.
I’m researching an article on gymnasiums at the moment and I have uncovered an interesting factoid in this vein. 80 percent of people that join a gym stop going after approximately 12 weeks.... never to be seen again. Of course for the gym this is the perfect paying customer, the one they never see, and subsequently most gyms build their business model around over subscription.
I will bear this in mind when I try to enforce my own blogging resolution – do you give me approximately til Australia Day before the Tigers and Teapots get foisted to the back of the wardrobe of my mind?
It’s true, I remember this scenario when I worked at the Opera House. Once the new year had been rung in and the bottles and chocolates swept away suddenly the paths around the Botanic Gardens would be crowded with throngs of over zealous exercisers wearing brand new trainers and tracksuits throwing themselves about vigorously. By around Australia day mysteriously they would have disappeared, shoes and trackies presumably hurled to the back of the cupboard as the allure of the pub, café or even just a nice lie down started to win out over those resolutionsfor yet another year.
I’m researching an article on gymnasiums at the moment and I have uncovered an interesting factoid in this vein. 80 percent of people that join a gym stop going after approximately 12 weeks.... never to be seen again. Of course for the gym this is the perfect paying customer, the one they never see, and subsequently most gyms build their business model around over subscription.
I will bear this in mind when I try to enforce my own blogging resolution – do you give me approximately til Australia Day before the Tigers and Teapots get foisted to the back of the wardrobe of my mind?
posted by Kate Browne at 7:03 PM
3 Comments:
The 12-weeks statistic's interesting: on the other hand, according to Weight Watchers magazine (which I read at the gym), it only takes 21 days for an activity to become a habit. I.e., blog every day for three weeks, and you'll be bloggering for life.
Happy new 'ear, luvvy.
x
Ha ha - nice one Lexi. We always laugh at work that when we find one study saying something we will always find another saying the opposite.
Love that you are consulting Weight Watchers mag - it's a fine publication. Have you been reading it for 21 days now?
Happy new year to you too darlink XXXXX
Yes, forget The Monthly. Bugger off, London Review of Books. Weight Watchers is where discerning readers go for hard-hitting journalism.
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