Keir Hardie has seen it many times: people sign up for a gym membership in the new year, full of plans to keep their resolutions, only to see their resolve crumble by late January.
The 22 year old worked at the front desk of the Barrhaven Movati gym for two years from 2022 and 2024.
“We would see a ton of new faces at the beginning of January,” he said. Their busiest days were the first couple weeks of the year.
Grant Webber, 41 and a Muay Thai coach at the N1 Thai Boxing Academy, knows the phenomenon too.
“Absolutely,” he said, when asked if they get many new memberships in January. “It’s like any gym. I’m sure (other places) see a surge in membership around the New Year just because of those resolutions.”
Research confirms resolutions can be hard to keep.
In 2024, an American study found that 13 per cent of people quit their resolutions less than a month into the year. In a Swedish study, 55 per cent of people who made 2019 resolutions had kept them going into 2020.
Studies have shown comparable findings for the past 40 years. In a study from the 1980s, only 19 per cent of participants continued their resolutions after two years.
Hardie observed similar results during his time at Movati.
“It’s a bit bleak, but I’d say only about 30 per cent actually stick to (their resolutions),” he said. According to him, the busy days would ebb by mid-January and almost disappear by the end of the month.
Memberships are one way that gyms keep clientele sticking to their fitness goals.
N1 offers different memberships on four-month terms, but also class packs, for people who may have different schedules week-to-week.
Gyms with higher membership costs or longer-term deals are in a different situation. Hardie said he found members would show up fewer times to Movati when they had the year-long membership, as they had more time to take advantage of it.
But many people also struggle to find enough hours in the day.
Algonquin student Stephen Sparkes, 19, uses the college’s gym consistently, but his 2026 resolution was to exercise more.
Sparkes is hoping for a career in law enforcement, which has a high fitness requirement.
“I should probably be (going) four to five times (a week),” instead of his current two to three times weekly, which is “a little more moderate.”
The hardest part for Sparkes is finding the time to go. He usually goes at night, but then he feels tired in the morning. “If I focus more on my time management, I’d be able to go more often.”
Sparkes is not alone in struggling with time management. Statistics Canada reported in 2022, that Canadians were more pressed for time than in the past 30 years.
Sparkes finds it useful to set a calendar.
“I’ve done that and it really helps, setting constant reminders,” he said.
Sparkes has also tried establishing a more formal routine. When he exercises, he’s “pretty versatile,” and often bounces from one exercise to another during the same workout. He believes that having a set routine might help keep the habit of going more often.
Webber’s advice is to try different things. At N1, his team offers a variety of classes, from Muay Thai to jiu-jitsu to boxing. If any student asks for help with motivation, he would suggest a different class, “see what piques your interest.”
But why might so many resolutions fail? SMART goals have been the talk of recent years, meaning specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. Otherwise, goals that don’t follow these rules are described as overwhelming because people lose focus or lose sight of the objective.
One suggestion on how people stick to goals is when they follow the “fresh start effect,” says Katy Milkman, professor at the University of Pennsylvania. This phenomenon suggests people are more likely to stick to their goals when they set “temporal landmarks,” which eventually lead to thinking of the bigger picture and achieving larger goals.
Webber feels that progression from one level to the next can also be motivating for many people. It’s a strategy he uses at his gym.
“You’re a beginner for the first three, four months. And then you can have your skill set evaluated and kind of graduate to the intermediate phase,” he said. “That kind of helps people wanting to come back.”
The coach’s best piece of advice for people that are hesitant to tackle their gym resolutions is to simply try it out.
“Roll the dice,” he said. “My only regret is that I didn’t do it 10 years earlier.”
