A fitness instructor has praised those joining the gym in January and branded other personal trainers as “boring” for making fun of them.
Rachel Henley, a fitness guru who runs her own business and boasts a sizeable following as @henleyfitness on Instagram, posted a blistering defence of new year beginners, calling them “legends”. She said in a video: “I’ve already seen PTs on my feed taking the p*** out of people going to the gym in January – like, shut up. You’re boring.”
Bolstering the spirits of the rookies, she continued: “You’re a legend for doing something that is out of your comfort zone, giving it a go, f*****g up and then going back and trying it again. That is what the gym is about. We need to stop taking the p*** out of people for going in and giving it a go.”
She also offered words of reinforcement by affirming that the gym community was mostly supportive: “The vast majority of the gym community are rooting for you. Most people aren’t judging you. Go forth, wiggle on and may the gains be with you.”
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Addressing those sticking to their new year’s resolutions, Rachel also shared another nugget of advice in a separate video as reported by Kent Live: “If you’re currently heading into the gym like an anxious little pickle… I’m going to give you a little thing you can do when you first start going into the gym, ease your mind and help you start your journey.”
Rachel, who took the plunge into full-time fitness instruction in 2020 after leaving her job in bathroom sales and design, opened up about her gruelling schedule, where during lockdown she would “do evening Zoom workouts after work, coaching at weekends, never taking a day off”.
She switched careers for more than just a change of scenery as, according to her Instagram page, she “wanted a job where I could impact people”.
Her resolve resonated with Stateside fitness influencer Joey Swoll, known for his gym etiquette advocacy. He posted on X: “To everyone making fun and complaining about ‘New Year’s Resolutioners’ in the gym: don’t. Maybe if you help them instead of make fun of them, they’ll feel welcome and stay all year.”
The comments from both Rachel and Joey came amid a surge in gym attendance nationwide, as countless individuals rush to secure memberships.
PureGym’s 2024/25 UK Fitness Report stated that January gym visits peaked in 2024, but it was the months of February and March that witness some of the most crowded days of the gym calendar year.
Straying from the norm during this typically bumper period, some fitness centres are shutting out new sign-ups. Clayton Leah, director of Ascendancy Fitness in Penketh, Warrington, is zeroing in on existing clients this January.
He explained his decision to the ECHO: “We thought this year there was a real chance we could get a lot of sign ups in the New Year – because even through November and December, we just continuously had grown in memberships.
“That was a warning sign that in January we could have a significantly busy month and that would then just annoy all of our existing members who have been with us for so long. We wanted to try and break the mould. Try and take an unconventional approach and protect our existing members – that is the most important thing for us.”