Written by Newport City Commissioner Aaron Sutherland
From January 1st through mid-March, gyms are packed. The treadmills are full, group classes are waitlisted, and motivation is high. By spring, the crowds thin out, and by summer, they’re gone. The cycle repeats every year. Most people who begin the new year energized and determined to get in shape abandon their routine within 90 days. Not because they are lazy, lack discipline, or because they don’t want better health.
Gyms, particularly large corporate ones, are built around this annual cycle. January brings sales, discounted training, and irresistible promotions aimed at people newly resolved to change. The industry depends on this pattern.
So why does this keep happening?
It’s not that people don’t care about their health. Ask almost anyone, and the answer is obvious: of course they want to feel better, and more capable in their bodies. The real problem is that we’ve reduced “health” to a single activity:going to the gym. Real health has never worked that way. Health is not just physical. It is biological, social, psychological, and spiritual. When one of those aspects is neglected, the others eventually suffer. Exercise becomes another isolated task, powered briefly by motivation and willpower, rather than a sustainable expression of a well-ordered life.
We ask people to train consistently while they’re chronically stressed, emotionally disconnected, under-slept, overworked, and spiritually depleted. Then we act surprised when motivation fades. January gym culture fails not because people lack resolve, but because it offers a false promise: commit to working out and you will be healthy, you will be different. Real, lasting change has never worked that way.
The Answer:
If your goal this year is to exercise diligently, be more mindful of your nutrition, and prioritize sleep, but have failed in the past, there is hope for you You must develop a routine that you cannot adopt from anyone else. You must develop a belief for trying to change that is not dependent upon a gym, a trainer, or anyone else. You must be consistent because you have begun to realize that no one can ever do the work for you.
Between my wife and I, we have 9 years of personal training experience. The clients who succeed are ones who have taken ownership over their own journey. They have started to develop a routine of fitness that makes sense with their own life. They have begun to give what effort they can towards nutrition without overwhelming themselves. What I have noticed is that when we take ownership we: become more emotionally attuned to our internal world, we realize that taking care of ourselves must be a “me” decision, and we begin to see health not as a conglomerate of behaviors, but a different way to live.
In order to change long term, this cognitive/soulful shift must take place. Instead of looking at fitness like a list of rules to follow or a club to join, we must start looking at fitness as a different way to live. A way of life that allows us to legitimately flourish. That is a far more compelling vision of fitness than simply saying, “do this diet and lose 20lbs a month,” or “join us and get a month of free group classes.” Let’s start being honest with ourselves, we don’t want more fad diets, training deals, or class discounts, we want higher quality lives.