“He fell flat on the floor with the bar on the back of his neck and then got up as if nothing happened,“ says Bathija. Last January, when Bathija, a gym patron of six years, was lifting weights, he recalls a newbie trying to show him up by lifting a heavier set. Sometimes, though, he villain is the good old ego. Also, inexperienced trainers, who end to join in January, could cause injuries and sore muscles, leading new patrons o the nearest exit. Experts say a typical mistake newbies make is over-exerci ing. “I tell them they need the practice,“ says Poojary, who employs the “divide and rule“ principle to deal with the spurt.“I make two people do crunches while the other two use the treadmill.“ Needless to say, the charge of their re olutions runs out fast. For personal trainer Yashvaraj Poojary, this period involves dealing with newbie questions such as “Will protein shakes cause sexual dysfunc ion?“ on the one hand and cajoling rigid egulars into letting the newbies use the readmill. This means instructors have to double up as mediators. Despite this, he admits si uations arise where regulars get upset. Loyalty programs that include free training ses ions also help. “We offer free yoga and core exercise sessions as well as non-peak-hour discounts,“ says G Ramachandran, promoter and director, Gold's Gym. So, to retain clients and to discourage machine poachers, gyms re ort to an efficient crowd-control strategy: distraction. “The price of replacing or adding equipment is enormous,“ says Zumba instructor Ruth Gabriel, who has worked with various fitness studios. Logistically, preparing for peak-hour crowd is a challenge for these gyms. However, some gyms cash in on the ever just by rebranding old classes as New Year sessions, says fitness enthusias Nithij Arenja. “An in-house dieti cian is a big draw,“ says Leena Mogre, di rector, LM Fitness, adding that most cli ents who join in January suffer weight is sues. While most offer highly coveted discounts in August, they confide off he record about a curious trend-a few members avail the monsoon membership only to join in January. Unlike the monsoon, when the weather and the prospect of college spurs youngsters to join the muscle shrines, this period sees patrons driven by weight issues, medical conditions, prospective bike ours and, generally, “the social obligation o look good,“ as fitness consultant Shahzad Daver puts it. The reasons for this January influx are many. This entails seasoned gym goers adapting to a teeth-clenching aerobic routine: queuing up at the cardio station, politely complaining to the management about newbies hogging machines and grudgingly following the etiquette of waiting for others to clear up floor space.To survive, they must fight or flight. As holiday indulgence spurs both newbies and slacking gym members to hit the treadmill, gyms across Mumbai report at least a 20 per cent membership surge at the start of every year. For gym regulars though, this encroachment period is about as appealing as an empty calorie. January is a good month for the fitness industry, which seduces the stampede of resolute newbies with several New Year offers and discounts. Till then, his new Firefox bike is helping him flee the “shortterm problem“. “I usually give it a month,“ says the gym regular, who knows that's when resolutions grow meek, will power wears off, treadmills free up and the gym goes back to being comfortingly monotonous. This is why, Shenoy, whose annual membership at a Borivali gym expired last week, is only planning to renew it in February. Every January, when a fresh deluge of `resolutioners' hits the gyms, his bleak, quiet sanctuary of solitude and routine morphs into an over-caffeinated, cramped bubble of adrenaline and guilt. Wristbands.Not to mention gym selfies that the 30-year-old bachelor knows “no woman is impressed by“. App developer Sunil Shenoy has been developing his abs in vario us Borivali gyms for eight years now.
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