Like every year, many French people storm the gyms at the end of the end-of-year holidays. With, very often, the desire to start the year on the right foot.
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Treadmill, elliptical bike or dumbbell lifts: there are around thirty of them sweating on the machines. There are insiders but also some new faces. At the start of January, as with every new year, many French people rush to the gyms. Franceinfo met new subscribers in a Parisian room which recorded three times more registrations in January than in December.
“It’s been two weeks since I registered, testifies Zineb, 19, in leggings and black sports bra. We will say that it is a new change, a new year, a new dynamic. I give myself a goal of six months, every day except Sunday.” Her friend Yakout has come to seriously get back into sport. “I want to lose weight, she says. I hope that in a month or two I will see results.”
“When we don’t want to, we force ourselves to move”
Losing weight or toning up before summer is often the goal of newcomers to the gym. But if January is the month when there are the most new registrants, you have to stay motivated throughout. “When people sign up, they go all out as if their lives depended on it. And in fact, they break down and start having severe aches right away, analyzes Tariq, manager of the Keep Cool room on 16e district of Paris. Behind this, it creates a drop in motivation.“
Faced with the risk of seeing these newcomers no longer return, the rooms have set up personalized coaching sessions and group sessions. René, 93 years old and who goes to the gym every day, also provides encouragement to other members. “When we don’t feel like it, we force ourselves to move, not to stay on the sofa”advises the retiree.
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But even if some people abandon their good resolutions, all is not lost. “I have already joined lots of gyms and each time I lost motivation”, says Jade, 28 years old. She signed up with her colleague Julie, in the middle of a sports session. “So it’s called the ‘kick back’. It’s really the action of kicking back to work the glutes.”she explains. After January, the months with the most new registrations are those of the start of the school year, September and October. Between them, they represent 40% of annual memberships.