Fitness a big 2009 goal

With New Year’s resolutions at the front of everyone’s minds, health-conscious residents are flooding area fitness centers.

“I’ve had quite a few people come in and sign up in the last two weeks,” Madison-based Body Expressions owner Dave Jenkins told The Eagle this past week.

Radiant resident Karrin Temple is one of the many who decided to start up a regular workout routine at the Oak Park Road fitness center recently.

Getting in shape – or, “the thing every woman wants to do for summer” – is just one of Temple’s many resolutions.

“I have a big list of them,” the Wetsel Middle School teacher told The Eagle while walking briskly on a treadmill.

The uptick of gym sign-ups usually starts right around Jan. 1 and continues into February, Jenkins said.

Unfortunately, many of those who sign-up eventually stop attending the fitness center on a regular basis within three months, he said.

“Probably about 75 percent come for about three months and then they’re out,” he said.

Those who do continue on with their membership typically have set aside a regular time each day that they come in, according to Jenkins. Keeping up a regular schedule – which is often immediately after work – helps people stay motivated to keep working out, he said.

Temple – who also coaches volleyball and junior varsity basketball cheerleading – has been trying hard to exercise often although she has hit a few snags as students returned from their winter break earlier this week.

But the Radiant resident has a good track record when it comes to accomplishing her New Year’s goals, she said.

“I had eight of them last year and I did six,” she said. “Let’s hope that this one is just as successful.”

Body Expressions fitness center is at 252 Oak Park Road near downtown Madison. Its phone number is (540) 948-6891.