Fitness tops resolutions; but motivation is not easy

From the Clinton Item, February 8, 2008

By Ken Cleveland ITEM CORRESPONDENT

It’s been a week since the ball fell and you’re looking over that list of New Year’s resolutions. How many are checked off?

On many lists each year are resolutions to get fit and lose weight. Those who started by buying exercise equipment for their own home, if they actually assembled it, may have found it is not quite doing the job, although the equipment may function very well as a place to hang clothes.

For those who take it step further, joining a club of some sort is a common approach.

Even there, success is not assured.

“You’ve got to want to do it,” according to Jim Buck III. At Anytime Fitness, 300A High St., Clinton, he tries to add motivational incentives.

Besides big plasma televisions and wireless service, Buck uses contests to keep members challenged and motivated. A contest beginning this week rewards those who lose the most percentage of body weight. Beginning in February, Anytime Fitness will partner with St. Jude’s to raise money for that charity.

The simple advice offered by Rose Earley, assistant general manager of Orchard Hills Athletic Club, Lancaster, is this: “set realistic goals.”

“People set themselves up for failure if they don’t set realistic goals,” Earley said. She discourages people from coming in every day doing a heavy routine to start. “Anything is better than nothing,” she said, but advised three to four times a week as a good workout. Especially when starting out, light weights are better than heavy weights that will just lead to discouraging soreness the next day.

She said most people seem to be motivated the first couple of weeks, but it takes more. “You have to make up your mind. I’ve seen a lot of success stories.”

Staying motivated
“We have a ton of classes,” Robert Velez, administrative manager at Ciccone Family Fitness Center in Clinton, said. “We really keep you motivated.” That includes offering personal training sessions.

“Sometimes people get bored with the same old, same old,” he said, which is where a group workout comes in.

“A lot of people are coming together,” Buck said. “It forces the other one to go.” Partnering up is a good way to make sure it is not too easy to stop exercising.

At Ciccone Family Fitness Center on High Street, a mix of programs and classes helps to keep people motivated.

The objective is to ensure people don’t feel overwhelmed. “We get a program adjusted to their goals, from weight loss to fitness,” Velez said.

“We try to make it as fun as possible and make it an entertainment value,” Velez said. That includes Zumba, which is “like a club atmosphere” Friday nights.

Many people don’t continue, even after the best of intentions and joining a gym.

Buck estimates 25 percent to 30 percent drop off after initially signing up.

“We set them up on a program, instead of them coming in and being by themselves,” Buck said. “That’s the plus of the gym.”

Still, he cautions, “Nothing’s going to happen over night.”

That means building it into a routine.

“Most people that don’t stick with it, fail in the first month,” he said. “If they stay with it three to four weeks, they end sticking with it. It becomes part of your routine.”

Buck said he would rather see members at the gym and using their membership. If a member doesn’t show up for a while, they get a postcard to see if they can get back into the gym.

Ciccone’s Zumba “combines high energy and motivating music with unique moves and combinations that allow the Zumba participants to dance away their worries. It is based on the principle that a workout should be fun and easy to do.”

“It’s a really big social gathering,” where people mingle, network and as stay healthy, Velez said. “It’s a little bit more fun, whatever you’re trying to do.”

The programs keep people’s minds off the work part of the workout. “When they see the results and are having fun, it’s much more of a bonus.”

And the program changes. Just as experts suggest changing the workout routine once reaching a plateau, change is the name of the game at Ciccone.

“We keep adding new things,” Velez said. “Every few months, we change things. It’s new, it’s fresh.”

Earley said that, with an emphasis on good health, “I try to direct people to a sensible way to start.”

Orchard Hills also has private trainers, which helps with setting each person’s plan.

“It changes with each individual,” Earley said. “It has to be personalized to be effective.”

Encouraging members to “start slow and work up,” Earley noted that the best exercise is walking. “We have a ton of treadmills and an indoor track.”

In addition, an aquafitness class is among those available.

Orchard Hills also offers free coffee, which some members take advantage of as soon as they walk in. Earley noted a group of senior citizens, after their morning water aerobics program, stays for coffee and plying cards.

“It’s a social thing, too.”

A lot of kids programs are also offered, offering the chance for an entire family to get fit together.

“It’s a home away from home” for many people, Earley said, and that comfortable, friendly atmosphere is an incentive for many members to continue their fitness programs.

“In the long run, it’s going to make you feel better,” Buck said about a fitness program. It’s about more than checking off an item on a list of resolutions. The biggest part? “Getting over that hump.”

Try something new
For Maureen Kittredge of the Clinton Wellness Center on Church Street, “It’s very personalized; we’re there with them on their resolution.” She offers Pilates as well as acupuncture and massage.

“It’s cheaper to come in more often, and then they get results, which is always a motivating factor,” Kittredge said. “Anything that’s one-on-one has some element of coaching to it. When you spend an hour or more one-on-one, you know what’s going to motivate them.”

A change can also help when past resolutions haven’t worked.

“Sometimes the resolution is trying something new, like Pilates or acupuncture, something outside the comfort zone,” she said. “The whole idea of wellness, there’s more to it.” And she has also referred people to the gym as part of their wellness program, although “Pilates is a great core thing” featuring low-impact workouts.

Nutrition
Part of any fitness program is eating right.

Earley advises people to talk to a nutritionist before they start a new program to ensure the whole program is in place, as well as seeing their doctor before such a lifestyle change.

Buck said Anytime Fitness also offers an interactive, online nutrition program to ensure people are addressing the diet part of the get fit program.

Velez noted the nutritional component is important as well.

“They’re changing their entire lifestyle. Eating properly gets you that much more ahead,” Velez said, which is why Ciccone Family Fitness offers their CityBlends, a nutritional supplement, featuring flavored shakes.

Reimbursements and incentives
Some health plans encourage members to participate in health clubs. Fallon Community Health Plan, for instance, offers a program, It Fits, that reimburses part of the cost of gym memberships, Pilates and yoga classes, Weight Watchers programs and other activities, including school and town sports leagues and programs.

“It’s a pretty generous fitness reimbursement program,” according to Christine Cassidy, director of corporate communications for Fallon Community Health Plan. She said it is designed to encourage people to take advantage of it.

The reimbursement program offers up to $150 individual or $300 per family contract, making the financial hurdle to join an organized fitness program easier to overcome.

The $300 family fitness reimbursement, she said, can also apply to school user fees as well as fees for organized sports like Little League.

“It is great. A lot of people respond to that,” she said. “It can definitely be a barrier; it’s not cheap,” Cassidy said of the cost for fitness center memberships.

In addition, she said, Fallon offers a discount program for some fitness centers on top of the reimbursement benefit.

“It definitely helps, if it removes a potential barrier,” Cassidy said.

Other health programs, such as those to stop smoking, also get support. Quit to Win is a “very successful program,” she said, and offers support meetings and help developing a personalized stop-smoking plan.

“Health – that’s the biggest part of it,” she said. The nutrition component is also stressed. Cassidy noted the Weight Watchers coupons as an example.

“Prevention is key. If you can help people become healthy and stay healthy, it saves on costs. You want to really impact members lives in a positive way.”