Resolving to get fit in 2008

The new year is a good time to ‘kick yourself in the butt,’ one woman said.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — The idea of making a New Year’s resolution may seem a bit old-fashioned to some people — like, say, stamp collecting or using a typewriter.

The idea that someone would take up the task of changing his or her life just because the calendar reads Jan. 1 might seem a bit hokey.

Just how many people are still losing weight or avoiding cigarettes Feb. 1, we say.

But to find people serious about resolutions, all you need to do is visit a health club.

At the Global Health and Fitness center on Elm Road last week, it appeared most of the people there had come to reach a goal, even if it wasn’t quite a New Year’s resolution.

For 27-year-old Cortland man Marc Lawrence, it came down to a Christmas present.

A month before Christmas, Lawrence’s wife asked what he wanted as a gift, and the first thing that came to mind was a hunting bow.

As Christmas neared, however, Lawrence started to consider a gym membership instead.

The former Howland High School football player had started to feel a bit self-conscious about the nearly 100 pounds he had gained in the past six years.

“I said I could be fat with a new bow or skinny with an old bow,” Lawrence said, as he worked out on an elliptical trainer, a device that works the legs and arms with low impact on Lawrence’s injured knee. “So I’ll be coming here for the next couple of months.”

Lawrence said he doesn’t blame his new bride, but he gained weight after getting married recently. Now the couple is thinking about having children.

“I want to have kids, but I want to be able to chase them around the house,” said Lawrence, a cell phone store manager.

Not far away, Nicole Derico, 24, of Johnston was spending her first week at the club, walking on a treadmill as part of an exercise program set by a personal trainer at the club.

“My goal this year is to get down to what I was before I had my third kid,” she said, adding that this is the first time she has made a New Year’s resolution.

“With the first two, I lost the weight no problem, but with this one, it doesn’t want to leave.”

Derico said the timing of her fitness push isn’t related to the new year. She just waited until her doctor released her to resume normal exercise. Her youngest child was born six months ago.

Derico said she already feels better after just a couple of workouts and is finding that the time spent exercising while her children 5, 2 and 6 months play in the nursery has given her a welcome diversion.

“It’s relaxing to have two hours to yourself,” she said. “I already feel more energized, more relaxed, not so tired.”

Pam Politsky, 47, of Warren, said she’s never been big on New Year’s resolutions, rather preferring to work on exercise and other goals throughout the year, especially now that she has a swimming pool at home.

“I’m always doing something,” said Politsky, a real estate sales person. “I think you have to do something every day to stay healthy, to get the blood circulating.”

Other forms of exercise she and her husband, Sean Bernard, use regularly are bike riding, walking and working out at home.

Politsky says she does take stock of herself about this time of year, however, and tries to rededicate herself to some sort of physical activity.

“You have to kind of kick yourself in the butt a little bit. It gets dark really early, so you have to remind yourself to focus,” she said.

runyan@vindy.com