Fayetteville gym memberships swell as January begins, but will they stay

Source: The Fayetteville Observer, N.迷你倉旺角C.Jan. 06--It's the day after New Year's day, and it's hard to find an empty parking space near the entrance of Fayetteville's Omni Health & Fitness Center.Inside, heads bob up and down on nearly every one of the dozens of machines -- treadmills, elliptical trainers and stationary bikes. Men, women and a few teens work the weight-lifting machines throughout.The post-holiday rush of people seeking to lose weight with the new year has begun, says personal fitness trainer Mike Kamaka. Yet few of these customers are new faces. Most are regulars who put on extra pounds over the holidays."The average person will leave the gym -- if they're coming to the gym -- Halloween, all the way through the second week of January," says Kamaka. "They'll gain anywhere from 15 to 18 unanswered pounds for a man, and 12 to 15 for women."In a few days, the parking lot and gym will be much more crowded. That's when the New Years resolution-makers show up."It's going to be nuts next week," Kamaka predicts. "You'll probably see an increase of about 50 to 60 percent of people coming into the gym the first three months of the year."Omni will be full of people like Erin Hartman.Hartman, 25, works at the Omni's front desk, where she checks in new customers. Even though she works at a gym, she doesn't work out regularly.She doesn't look overweight, but in adulthood, Hartmanmini storagehas slowed down and put on 25 more pounds than she would like."Growing up, I played every sport there was, and I rode horses for 12 years," Hartman says. "I've always been very athletic."Kamaka doesn't think Hartman should lose any more than 15pounds. He makes a plan for her to tone up and build muscle.He gently steps her through her first workout.As Hartman pushes on the bars of a weight machine, Kamaka keeps his hands underneath to help if her arms give out and counts the reps."One. Good. Two. Good. Three. Slow and smooth. Four. Beautiful." They continue on through 12 repetitions. Kamaka marks her progress on a workout log and sets her goals for next time.The key question for Hartman and all of the resolution makers: Will there be a next time?"On the national average ... only 12 percent of the people stay, which is a terrible number," Kamaka says. "Our goal is to bump the number up to about 35percent retention."Hartman could have bailed on her first day. She forgot to bring her sneakers. So she does her first workout in knee-high fashion boots.She wasn't going to let the wrong shoes stop her, she says.Staff writer Paul Woolverton can be reached at woolvertonp@fayobserver.com or 486-3512.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) Visit The Fayetteville Observer (Fayetteville, N.C.) at .fayobserver.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉