Want to get fit in 2025? Here’s some tips on how to keep your New Year’s fitness resolution

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – With health and fitness near the top of most people’s New Year’s goals, folks from around the Mississippi Gulf Coast flocked to area gyms to get their sweat on.

Nationally speaking, data reported by CBS from Fitness on Demand shows about 12 percent of new fitness club memberships begin in January. However, 50 percent of those members quit within the first six months.

“For a lot of people, you have the holidays, you’ve got Thanksgiving, you’ve got Christmas, New Year’s, and people are kinda celebrating, and indulging and eating, and on the first of the year, they decide, ‘Let’s correct some of this,’” Bayou View Fitness owner Nick Gaspard said. “Let’s get back in the gym, let’s get started. It just kind of becomes a new start.”

For some, the start of a new fitness routine can come with challenges – both physical and mental.

“Any new things we do in life, there is a lot of anxiety that comes with that,” Planet Fitness Biloxi Club Manager Cynthia Gieseler said. “They are worried about if they are going to be judged or if they are doing the exercises correctly. We offer free fitness training to help provide people with a comfortable environment to reach their goals.”

Gaspard concurred.

“One of my old boxing trainers said, ‘Everyone has their first day in the gym,’” he shared.  “He said, ‘Mike Tyson had his first day in the gym.’ So just understanding that everyone has to start somewhere… the biggest thing is getting started.”

Getting started is exactly what Roniaya Hardy did on Wednesday.

The 17-year-old Gulfport High School student signed up at Gaspard’s gym hoping to kickstart a healthier 2025.

“It’s a new year, new start,” Hardy told WLOX.

Hardy, who said her – and her family’s goal – was to keep the commitment to health and fitness throughout the year.

However, the decision didn’t come easy.

“It took me a while to decide if I want to come into the gym and be dedicated to this,” she admitted. “This is what I’m dedicated to…stay in the gym and stay fit.”

For Army National Guard veteran Justin Jauregui, who turns 40 next month, he understands the tendency to lose interest and fall short of his goals. He said he’s personally started and stopped his fitness journey many times.

“They kinda fall off, and I speak from experience myself,” he said. ” You get in that rut where you aren’t seeing anything come quick enough. I would be good for about two months and then I would stop because it wasn’t coming fast enough. But nutrition, resting, and sleep play a huge role in body recomposition and getting into shape.”

Gaspard said it is critical to make moderate changes to your diet and exercise and develop a plan for what you like to do.

“If you don’t like to run, then don’t try to run three days a week,” he explained. “Setting realistic goals, a pound to two pounds of body fat per week… setting moderate expectations. You know, ‘I’m gonna get in the gym three to four days a week’, versus, ‘I’m gonna train seven days a week an hour a day’, going overboard. It takes time for your body to get in shape. It takes time for your body to see changes. I’d say give it at least six to eight weeks to start seeing changes in your body.”

While gyms like Bayou View Fitness and Planet Fitness Biloxi are busy welcoming new and returning members, both agree getting fit does not have to be a hassle or expensive.

“You can get good exercise just walking outside, doing sit-ups at your house, doing pushups, bodyweight squats,” Gaspard said. “Just figuring out things you like to do that are going to work for you and your schedule.”

Gieseler said the benefits of fitness go beyond simply being physical.

“Taking the opportunity to step into wellness is one of the most beneficial things people can do for their mental, emotional, and spiritual health,” she said.

Gaspard, author of ‘The Cheat Code, also stressed you can’t out-train a bad diet. So making proper nutrition choices is critical.

According to Gaspard, losing weight and getting in shape is not a short-term solution, but every ounce of sweat equity is definitely worth the effort.

“Just get through he first couple of weeks, it becomes fun, which sounds strange, but once you get into the routine and once you start to see results there’s no better feeling than when someone tells you ‘Man, you look good… you know you look like you lost a couple of pounds, you look like your clothes are fitting better – I mean that’s priceless.”

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