How to stick with it
Iryn Tushabe
News Writer
Getting into shape and losing weight has been one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions since the calendar was invented.
The University of Regina’s gym was abuzz with activity late last Friday morning. People were coming in through the door every five seconds to make use of the gym’s equipment. Some of them regulars, others people who have determined to get into shape and lose those extra pounds this year.
Danielle Pieracci, in her first year of her masters in Justice Studies, and Bruce Anderson, a fourth year Kinesiology and Health studies student, were on duty at the gym. They knew, being January, there would be a considerable increase in gym attendance and they were prepared for it.
“January is our busiest month of the year,” said Anderson. “In the next 40 minutes the next set of classes is going to be out and people will pile up in here; it will be hard to breath. It’s like that every year.”
Karen Fahlman, manager of the Fitness and Lifestyles Centre, has not had a chance to run this year’s statistics yet, but she figures they will hit a record one of the next two Mondays. “The attendance is what I expect it will be at this time of year. We usually get between 1,500 and 2,000 people in each week day.” said Karen
But not all of these people carry through with their resolution. According to Pieracci, gym attendance starts to go down by mid-February. She thinks that Reading Week is partly to blame for the loss of steam for going to the gym.
“The reading week causes kind of a rift in people coming to the gym because they go home if they are not from Regina and then they lose their initial determination because of that break in their routine,” she said
Fahlman attributes this drop in gym attendance to the pressure of midterms and assignments being due.
Anderson agrees, “At some point, in March, it gets back to the regular people that you see on and off that are always coming.” He adds it does not take long for the resolve to die down.
Ashely Stevens is in her second year in the faculty of arts. She has determined to go the gym at least twice every week this year.
In her defense, Stevens didn’t know students didn’t have to pay gym membership fees, since they are incorporated into our tuition. “I didn’t go last year because I thought I had to pay a membership fee until I heard some guys in class talking about going to the gym before lunch and asked them how much they paid and they told me it was free,” she says, looking a little bit embarrassed.
Steven’s goal is to lose the weight she put on during the holidays so her clothes can fit better again.
“You go home and there’s all this food and cookies lying around. It seemed like they were calling out to me and I just couldn’t help myself.” She said laughing.
Karen says that the best way to go about staying with your resolution is to put it in your schedule.
“If you say you will do it later, later will never come. Challenge yourself and make goals. A yoga studio I heard about has the 40-day challenge because that is how long it takes to make something a habit. I am trying that myself, to workout or do physical activity for at least the first 40 days everyday; even though it is already my habit.”
