It is that time of the year again when students are trying to stay on track with their New Year’s resolutions. According to a survey conducted by YouGov in December 2019, 50% of Americans said their New Year resolution is exercising more and 43% said they want to eat healthier. Now that the holidays are over, students can start to focus on the gym and lose all those extra holiday pounds. 

Since the majority of the resolutions are towards exercising and eating healthy, it is very common to see new faces at the CWU Recreation Center. Assistant Director of Operations Michael Montgomery shares about the increased number of students at the recreation center in January compared to other months of the year.

“January is always big [for people going to the gym]. One, there’s a lot of resolutions. Two, as you see the snow right now, activities outside are pretty limited,” Montgomery said.

Resolutions play a huge part in the increase of students at the recreation center. The recreation center keeps track of how many students and employees come to the gym every week through connection card swipes. 

The number of students that came to the recreation center in the first week of November 2019 was 7,259. For the second week of January 2020, 11,807 swipes were made by students and employees. There is a 4,548 increase between those two weeks. 

The increase in students at the gym is noticeable. According to Montgomery, when he goes to work out, he has noticed about 12 to 15 more students than usual. 

The increase in students does make it harder at times to find machines available. Due to less machines being available it can take longer to finish a workout or even change someone’s workout. 

According to Time Magazine, most people give up on their New Year’s resolutions by June. The question is, how many students are going to stick to their New Year’s health resolutions in 2020?

For CWU students the decline does not happen around June but typically around midterms of winter quarter, according to Montgomery.  

“As the academic course load increases we see a little bit of a decline,” Montgomery said. 

It is very easy to experience setbacks with resolutions, according to Montgomery. If a student is experiencing setbacks, the recreation center offers resources and encourages students to ask for help.

The recreation center also offers personal training and group training. The Functional 50 program is offered during this time of the year. This program is targeted towards New Year’s resolutions. 

Hannah Allen, a fitness and health coordinator for university recreation, focuses primarily on Group X and personal training programs. She even sits down one-on-one with students and helps them set up goals. 

Typically weight loss is one of the most common resolutions for Americans. In the YouGov survey, 37% of Americans’ resolutions are wanting to lose weight. 

According to Allen, not many students are looking to lose weight. Students are more interested in their health overall. 

“You might set these lofty resolutions but it’s okay if you don’t necessarily reach them. Try to keep striving even if you might not reach these goals, be gracious with yourself [and] applaud yourself for small victories as well,” Allen said. 

Although the majority of students are focusing on their overall health, there are also some students with weight loss and weight lifting New Year’s resolutions. Adarsh Sharma, an aviation major, is focusing primarily on weight loss. 

“My goal is to lose weight, nothing specific but just lose it. I have to reach a certain weight goal to be able to continue to be part of aviation. Flying planes has been a dream since I was a child, I can’t let my weight get in the way,” Sharma said. 

According to Montgomery, the recreation center focuses primarily on promoting positivity. Everyone has their own set of goals, the biggest thing is not to look down or shame people. It is a journey. 

“Start today. Don’t put it off till next Monday or whatnot. Start today,” Montgomery said.