Who will stick it out?
Bill Gardner used to work for Weight Watchers as a lecturer. He noticed then that attendance more than doubled three times a year — the week after school started, when school ended for the summer, and just after New Year’s Day. A regular gym-goer for the past nine years, he’s learned to brace for an influx of gym rookies every January. “I don’t want to sound mean or cruel, but it’s kind of become sport because the regulars expect it,” he says. Yes, folks, gym regulars bet on which rookies will stick with it and which ones they’ll never see again. “I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting just by looking at them.” Dead giveaways? Exercisers wearing new, color-coordinated outfits who are going full throttle on the machines. Not that Gardner minds the annual rush. “A couple of gyms I’ve gone to have gone under financially, so I always like seeing people coming in and supporting the gym,” says Gardner, 52, director of corporate growth and development at Advanced Micro Devices. His advice to
