When it comes to a new year, people become aware of a motto ‘New Year, New You’
It is a phrase that has helped launched new year’s resolutions that often result in an increase of gym memberships.
Sharon Casper, who is the fitness manager at Princeton Fitness & Wellness in Princeton, said that it is important that people have set goals whether it is for a new year’s resolution or not for one.
“There are a lot of people, who just because the calendar turns over to the next year, feel that they need to make that resolution. I like to discourage people from doing resolutions. We want to make sure that people are motivated to make the changes they need to make not just in January but throughout the year,” Casper said.
She said that she and others at Princeton Fitness & Wellness want to set people up for success.
“A lot of what we do is goal setting and motivation. We get a lot of people who say I want to get fit, but what does that really mean or I just want to lose weight. People do not just want to lose weight for the sake of losing weight. They want to lose weight because there is something underlying that. We need to know what that is, so we can help that person move forward with their goal,” Casper said.
She said that the trainers like to set short term and long term goals for their clients.
To stave off distractions from getting to a goal, Casper said that her team looks to accountability.
“We want to get people on a plan that is workable for them. We need to work within what is realistic for them. It is also 100 percent important that people find workouts that best work for them. We go through a whole series of questions to find out what each individual is looking to do. We do not do one size fits all programming,” Casper said.
She said that she has seen people gravitate to both one on one sessions and group classes.
“We end up seeing a spike in clients coming in January. We see the classes get full, we see a lot of people on the treadmill and on the training floor. Ideally we want to keep them here and on a continued set goal,” Casper said.
John Burns, who has been a personal trainer at Princeton Fitness & Wellness for 10 years, said that he would warn someone making a new year’s resolution to not make one. Instead, he revealed, they should make a life resolution.
“Most people want to start the new year off on a good foot. What I find is that people set a big goal in such a short amount of time, that they end up getting frustrated. I prefer that people take little chunks of time and make small goals. We want people to start having better habits. Most people have bad habits. If they can break bad habits whether it is getting more sleep, eating better and getting to the gym more, they have a great opportunity to reach their goals,” Burns said.
He said that it is really all about building better habits over time.
“To keep people on track to their goal I just talk to them about any progress they have made to that point,” Burns said.
Tom O’Leary from Hopewell has been working out at the facility for two years. He said his wife got him going with a personal trainer, Matt Liwosz, who works at the Princeton gym.
“It is the best thing to every happen to me. I was just telling Matt (Liwosz) that I got back to skiing again. I love all the workout that we do. It just never gets boring. When I first started I had chronic back pain and I addressed it with Matt (Liwosz). Weights is now the best part of my workouts,” O’Leary said.
O’Leary said that he did not start working out because of a resolution. He started to workout to get in better shape for the long term. O’Leary started at a weight of 145, he has gained 15 pounds of muscle to be at his present weight of 160.
“For a guy like him to gain 15 pounds of lean muscle is great. He is consistent and works hard,” Liwosz said.
Nancy Mackay of Franklin Township said that working out has provided positive results.
“I feel good physically. My goal at this stage in my life is to stay healthy. I have been coming here for 11 years and prior to that I never stepped foot in a gym,” Mackay said.
She said that she did not start working out because of a resolution, but because of a friend who had come into the facility for an assessment.
Her friend found out through her assessment that her biological age was less than her body age. That inspired Mackay to start working out.
