Gym at Beginning of the New Year

Ok I have to vent.  I understand that a lot of people have new year's resolutions of getting in better shape and the gym is usually more crowded in the beginning of the new year.  After a couple weeks, most people stop going.  At least that was the case in prior years.  But this year, they just keep on coming!!  It's already March!  What's going on here?!?

I'm annoyed because all of a sudden the gym is twice as full as it used to be at 6 am.  I take this boot camp class at 6 am on Tuesday and Thursdays which has always been popular.  But normally I could show up at 5:55 and still be able to get a decent spot.  Ever since the new year, that class has been PACKED!  I now have to show up at 5:45 at the latest and I'm still not able to get my usual spot.  I guess I have to start going at 5:30 or so?! Ugh, whatever, at least that gives me plenty of time to run on the treadmill before class, and I will burn at least an extra 200 calories.

Also, my amazing spin class on Wednesdays have been filling up super fast!  Equinox lets you sign up for spin class online up to 26 hours before class starts.  They reserve a small number of bikes for in club sign up up to 30 minutes before class actually starts too.  So normally I wouldn't even need to sign up online because there was always a bike open the day of.  However, since the new year started, the class has been "full" from online sign up about 22 hours before class!  So I showed up at 6 am (class starts at 6:15) one day thinking that I would be able to sign up for a bike in club, but those were full already too from people that showed up before 6 am!  So lately I've had to set an alarm on my phone at 5:30 am on Tuesdays to sign up for my Wednesday 6:15 am spin class.  Ridiculous.

I keep telling myself that these new year's resolutionists will give up soon, but they are really not budging!  At first I thought Feb would be better, but no, it may even be worse.  Then I thought maybe people want to work out until Valentine's day and will stop after that.  Still they kept on coming.  Today is March 3, and I suppose people will continue coming until spring break??  Then summer will be right around the corner.  Sooo I guess there's no hope of the gym returning to its prior state!

Good for Equinox I guess.  But aren't we in a recession??  Still so many people willing to pay $150 a month for a gym during these hard times??  Seriously I've never seen my gym so full in the past 3 years I've been going to this location.  I am very confused.  Perhaps it's because they cancelled their pricey initiation fee for new members due to the economy?

One of the reasons I am willing to pay the premium price is because of how I never had to wait for a machine.  It's just not a motivator to think about getting up at 5 am everyday and having to fight people for a spot in a class.  Makes me want to stay in bed.  I still love Equinox, but it's just not the same anymore.