LIHUE — With New Year’s fast approaching, resolutions are aplenty. New Year’s resolutions could be anything under the sun, from being nicer to people, eating healthier food, or hitting the gym more often. Jerome Hromiak, owner of Kauai CrossFit, has
LIHUE — With New Year’s fast approaching, resolutions are aplenty.
New Year’s resolutions could be anything under the sun, from being nicer to people, eating healthier food, or hitting the gym more often.
Jerome Hromiak, owner of Kauai CrossFit, has a resolution of reading a book every week. While he did admit that his resolution may not be attainable, he’ll give it his best.
“I think it’s a general statistic for anyone who does a New Year’s resolution: 80 to 90 percent of them fall off within the first few weeks,” Hromiak said. “It’s a discipline issue; probably people who want to believe in it and commit to it, but don’t end up following through.”
Hromiak knows firsthand how some people come into his gym every January with an adrenaline rush and sign up to work out, only to watch those same people disappear after two weeks.
While he doesn’t see much of an uptick in membership during the New Year, he doesn’t mind as long as he has his regulars.
“I have a pretty committed base here, it’s a commitment to be a part of CrossFit,” he said. “I might see maybe two or three new numbers, but nothing more than that. And most of the time they fall off. We have a community here so it becomes like joining a club where you get to know people and make friends like that.”
Few folks actually stick with New Year’s resolutions. According to Statistic Brain, only 8 percent of people are successful in achieving their resolution. Nearly 25 percent fail, while about 50 percent see limited success.
The key to success is setting small, attainable goals to start and working toward them gradually, trainers say, and staying positive.
Jimmy Kim, manager at Kauai Muscle and Fitness, also doesn’t see much of an uptick at his gym at the beginning of the year. But that uptick does occur — it’s just a delayed reaction.
“To tell you the truth, normally it’s not during the actual New Year, it’s like the month after the year begins, end of January and early February,” Kim said. “When I used to work in day clubs on the Mainland verses here on the island, it’s totally different. On the island, you get an influx of members in February, which is surprising. Everybody is trying to save up their money, but we do get an influx — it’s just not what people think.”
Last year, membership increases weren’t as much for Kim as the year before when he had about 50 new people join. And out of that 50, about 30 percent stayed and became regular gym-goers.
“About three months in, you start seeing people going back to their old habits and their old ways,” he said. “It’s difficult for them.”