This Is Why You Don't Go to the Gym

[xchrom]

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/this-is-why-you-dont-go-to-the-gym/251332/



Every January, millions of Americans, brimming with optimism and a little extra belly from the holidays, commemorate the new year by making an unfamiliar urban trek. They go to the gym.

One in eight new members join their fitness club in January, and many gyms see a traffic surge of 30 to 50 percent in the first few weeks of the year. Stop by your local gym today, and the ellipticals will be flush with flush new faces. But next thing you know, it will be April, our gym cards will be mocking us from our wallets, and our tummies will have sprouted, on cue with the tree buds.

Economists make and break gym promises just like the rest of us. And, as they're considerably more likely to run statistical regressions on their personal lives, there's a healthy academic literature about going to the gym. Here's what economics can teach us about fitness and the fitness industry.

WHY CAN'T PEOPLE KEEP THEIR GYM PROMISES?
FOR THE SAME REASON CONGRESS CAN'T PASS DEFICIT REDUCTION.

People are way too optimistic about their willpower to work out, Stefano Dellavigna and Ulrike Malmendier concluded in their famous paper "Paying Not to Go to the Gym." In the study, members were offered a $10-per-visit package or a monthly contract worth $70. More chose the monthly contract and only went to the gym four times a month. As a result, they paid 70 percent more per visit than they would have under the plan they rejected. Why? Because people are too optimistic that they can become gym rats, which would make the monthly package "worth it." Silly them.

[Zalatix]

1. Offtopic: Just buy a PS3/Move, Wii or Xbox 360/Kinect. LOL

Good exercise and it's addictive, too!

[Tripper11]

23. We have the Kinect with one of their excercise games

And I love it...you can vary it daily, it's low impact, for the most part...good for a middle age pudge like me!

[Zalatix]

26. My eldest daughter LOVES Fruit Ninja Kinect.

[Beam Me Up]

2. i practically live at the gym

but hey, that is me.

[DesertRat]

11. Me too

But it wasn't always that way. I've retired from teaching and have lots of free time to devote to working out.

[HillWilliam]

30. My partner and I used to as well

then we discovered the kitchen. Sigh.

We've actually excavated our at-home equipment and trying to get that old rhythm again. With the workout machines, that is. What were y'all thinkin'?

[we can do it]

34. Me Too- the Resolutionists May Be a Pain, But They Help Pay the Bills

[madmom]

3. I started going before xmas am still going, does that count?

[xchrom]

4. it really is all about longevity.

as a long time gym goer myself -- i gave up on all the motivational stuff.

oh i compete against myself and stuff -- but ultimately it boils down to a body in motion tends to stay in motion -- etc. just gotta do it.

[HopeHoops]

5. Hell, I pulled a $300 eliptical machine out of someone's trash pile.

The electronics were ripped off (perhaps in a fit of rage), but who cares? It still works. I think the price was pretty damn good - nothing.

[brewens]

6. I hear people say they didn't like us at the gym. We're snobs or something.

We aren't unfriendly generally, we just don't need to see your newbie ass in there at the start of the year and hear all about how great your workout program is. For a couple of weeks. Then we never see you again.

Try talking to me after you stick with it for a few months. I'll probably tell you I'm impressed and that you're looking great!

[onehandle]

7. I go to the gym almost every day. Miss maybe one day a month.

Every January, the population grows by about 30%.

By the first week of February, they disappear from the gym.

[Cleita]

12. I just came from there right now.

There were five people in the weight room. I was able to do the rounds without interruption or anyone using the machine I wanted. Of course it is Saturday and other people have better things to do I suppose.

[GoCubsGo]

37. Mondays and Tuesdays are the worst.

It trickles off after that. At least that's how it is at my gym. On Monday, it's impossible to find a parking spot. By Thursday, no problem finding one. Then it starts all over again on the next Monday. It goes that way until roughly Super Bowl Sunday, give or take a week or two.

[Initech]

8. I bought a $200 excercise bike. It gets far more use than my gym membership.

[enough]

9. It's a funny thing about the gym: at first you have to force yourself to go.

But after you've forced yourself to go for quite a while, it becomes second nature and you can't imagine not going.

For me, this took about a year. I started when I was about 63. I forced myself to go for about a year, battling against all kinds of excuses and feelings of inadequacy, boredom, etc. etc. etc. I'm 67 now and go six times a week without even thinking about it. And I've never been an athlete.

Of course it doesn't have to be the gym itself. It can be whatever you like to do. I just happened to find things I like at the gym.

[xchrom]

10. for me -- it's all about not thinking about it too much.

now 1 thing i've realized is to keep trying new things at the gym -- so that i don't get too bored -- but the big thing is to just get there.

[JI7]

13. my problem is eating too much, not lack of working out and just being active in general

it would be ok if both were equal or working out mattered more when it comes to weight. but it doesn't.

[xchrom]

15. it was hard to do -- but i learned to substitute salad for several meals a week.

and keep nothing 'extra' in the house.

the longer you work out the more muscle mass you build -- the more muscle mass the more efficient calorie burner you become.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. I know if I signed up for a gym membership, I would never go. I bought a cheap exercycle

and I can use it when it's convenient, works fine.

[riverwalker]

16. ever notice

in the parking lot at the gym, people drive around and around to find a parking space closer to the door so they don't have to walk too far to "work out"?

[GoCubsGo]

24. Yes.

I don't get that any more than I don't understandc shelling out a ton of money for a membership and not using it.

[99th_Monkey]

17. Too funny .. I just logged on as distraction

from going to the gym ... I think maybe this is a message
for me, to get off my arse and actually go, NOW. bye.

[surrealAmerican]

18. Their example is not exactly "optimism".

Most people understand that paying by the visit is a financial disincentive to actually visiting the gym. The monthly payment, although it winds up costing more, is an incentive to go more often. They are merely trying to maximize their likelihood of going.

[Boojatta]

21. That's a good point.

Motivation doesn't automatically exist, but needs to be created. The plan that is most profitable for the gym might also be optimal for motivating an individual to work out. If the gym wanted people to actually work out, then it could charge a bit more per month to create a fund to provide a cash reward per visit to customers who are on the monthly plan.

[Codeine]

19. My fiancee was just complaining about that the other day.

The gym has been packed with lots of people not doing much, sort of sitting on machines with towels draped round their necks. She has to fight to get an elliptical.

The employees told her not to worry, as by the end of the month they'd all be gone and things would return to normal. But they'll still make those monthly payments.

[CoffeeCat]

20. This fits me...

My husband and I joined a gym and have paid monthly fees for years. We rarely go.

However, last year, I joined a "boot camp" program, and I did it for seven months. I quit--thinking
that I was now in great shape and motivated enough to get to the gym.

Uhhh...no. I went three times in six months.

I'm back in another boot camp program--intensive kickboxing, plyometrics, and aerobics that is
six days a week.

I don't know what it is about these programs--but I go. I like the structured classes. My instructors
know me and know when I'm not there. I could never push myself as these instructors do in this
class. When I leave, my ponytail is dripping.

The gym just does not do it for me. I cannot motivate myself to go and I cannot get as good
a workout. Maybe someday that will change for me. However, I think this is pretty typical.
The majority of people do not stick with it.

[HockeyMom]

22. Never been to a gym in my life

and have no desire to go. When you work pushing around wheelchairs, lifting children, and adults, out of them multiple times a day, you need MORE exercise? I weigh 100 lbs. and absoulutely don't need to lose weight, or get in shape.

[DesertRat]

41. Going to the gym can be a good stress reliever

Last edited Mon Jan 16, 2012, 08:42 PM - Edit history (1)

and something that you do just for yourself. Until I retired last year, I had an emotionally (and sometimes physically) exhaustive job. Practicing the postures of yoga, breathing exercises and meditation has made me feel better and healthier in body, mind and spirit.

[flvegan]

25. And January is the most frustrating month for us gym rats.

I love new faces, what I don't love is the groups that obviously join together squatting on machines while they talk, with one of them working out on it every five minutes. Or, they're swinging free weights around damn near killing half the folks within a 20 foot radius. And then the sadness come March when you start to wonder where all those new folks went.

BTW, a note to the gym newbs: don't be afraid to ask the big dude moving the heavy weights how to use a machine or how to do an exercise. 99% of us love it, and it strokes our ego to help. You're doing us a favor.

[MineralMan]

27. Those fitness centers count on you not to show up.

If everyone with a membership showed up, there would be no room to work out. They're profitable because people sign up and pay every month, but rarely show up. It's a great thing. So, you get $70 per month and only have to put out $40 worth of product. After six months, it goes down to just $10 worth.

What a racket!

[Codeine]

29. Yep. Those folks subsidize the regulars.

When my SO joined LA Fitness she did so with several friends, none of whom made more then three visits. Almost year later they're all still paying but never going while she goes six times a week.

[HillWilliam]

31. When I had access to a gym I made sure to go

I'm too cheap not to. Now that I live out back of beyond, it's at least an hour and a half commute each way.

I do miss it along with taking/teaching dance 5 or 6 nights a week. That'll burn the muffins off.

[Edweird]

28. I don't go because there isn't one in the whole state.

The closest one is 2 hours away.

[Dawson Leery]

32. I have noticed NO increase in the population at the local gym

these past few weeks.

[47of74]

42. I don't think I have either

But I have 24 hour access so I try to go later on in the evening or when they're closed on weekends. There aren't as many people there so I can have my pick of machines. The large TVs hanging up at the front of the room are OFF - especially the Fox "News" television. I don't mind the ESPN TV but the CNN and FOX TVs get on my nerves.

[mainer]

33. Cheaper to buy your own treadmill

Put a TV in front of it. Climb on and watch TV. The morning news every AM. You'll use it every day and never have to drive to the gym, find parking, or wait for a machine.

It's the only way I can consistently exercise.

[sarcasmo]

47. Right on, you can get a nice treadmill for the price of a year membership.

[IDemo]

35. The place I work has a free gym for employees, about a 60 second walk from my office.

I've never seen it, and likely never will.

[barbtries]

36. i have one at work as well,

and one in my apartment complex. i've been in the latter 2 or 3 times in the past 4 years. i'm just lazy. i walk the dog and walk around the building at work for exercise. it's not enough but it's better than nothing i suppose.

[Glimmer of Hope]

39. I do videos at home. It is cheap, convenient and I don't have to deal with other people's germs.

[ThatsMyBarack]

40. As a figure skater, I'm supposed to be a gym rat as well,....

But I'm not. I gave up the rink-to-gym routine years ago. Never did anything for me but make me tired.

Skating is all the exercise I need!

[sarcasmo]

48. Hockey is the same way, a great exercise routine.

[47of74]

43. I've been going more lately

Four or five times a week, for a while I was struggling to get up the motivation to even go three times a week. I've noticed the effects too.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. Two things serve as motivators:

Just starting to work out on your own is a drag and very lonely.

1. Find activity that you really like. In my case, it was water aerobics. I've had bad knees since I was 28, and water exercise, especially deep water exercise, where you tread water and/or swim laps for the whole hour, is the perfect low-impact exercise.


2. Find a class or other regular group for that activity--people who will notice if you're not there, people whom you like to associate with.
I first began attending water aerobics when I lived in Portland, and the group that I began with is still going strong through the shutdown of one gym and the move to another.
I now attend two different water aerobics classes in Minneapolis, one deep water and one shallow water. I like the people in both classes.

Coffee Cat's experience above proves my point. Take a class that you enjoy.

The other time I exercised regularly was when I was a graduate student working summers in an un-air-conditioned library and facing the process of biking home to an un-air-conditioned house. After the library closed, I would head to the gym and swim laps. It was the only time of day when I wasn't miserable in the heat.

[nadinbrzezinski]

45. My elliptical is here behind me

only reason it's not gotten used as usual, well I need to call the doc tomorrow...

[DCofVA]

46. Here’s a novel idea; try jogging outside

You get the added benefit of communing with nature and, it’s free!