By KENNETH HART - The Independent
ASHLAND — Apparently, local residents aren’t letting tough economic times interfere with their New Year’s resolutions to get in shape.
Gym usage typically peaks in January, and the operators of local health and fitness centers say they’re experiencing their usual first-of-the-year bumps in business, as folks hit the treadmills and Stairmaster machines to try to work off those excess pounds they picked up during the holidays.
“Ever since the first of the year, it’s been wide-open here,” said Mike Lusk, director of Ashland Physical Therapy. “We’re booming right now.”
Lusk said the number of both physical therapy patients and gym users had increased sharply during the initial days of 2009.
“We’re busier now than we’ve been at any time in the past three months,” he said.
Lusk said he believed that Ashland Physical Therapy’s business might have actually been helped by the sour economy because it offers gym memberships that are comparatively low in cost.
“A lot of people are looking for a way to stay in shape without having to spend as much money,” he said.
Business also is booming at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital’s Human Motion Vitality Center, said Debbie Martin, interim manager of cardiopulmonary and wellness programs at the facility.
Community health club memberships have remained relatively stable, Martin said. But the facility has still seen an increase in traffic because of more people being referred there by their physicians, she said.
“Where we are really seeing the difference is in the patient population,” she said.
Martin said many patients — particularly older ones on fixed incomes — stopped coming to the center last summer because of high gas prices. A lot of those are now returning, she said.
Ashland Area YMCA Executive Director Richard Richie said the Y was experiencing a new year’s surge in business. However, he said it wouldn’t be known until the numbers are run at the end of the month whether that increase “is as big as it has been historically.”
For the Y, the period from January to April is akin to what the Christmas shopping season is to retailers, with Jan. 2 being sort of the Y’s version of Black Friday, Richie said. And, just as is the case with retail establishments, income from that busy period helps tide the Y through leaner times, he said.
Income from fitness club memberships helps to subsidize many of the community programs offered by the YMCA, particularly those for young people.
“We would be really hard-pressed to find a way to pay for those programs without the additional income we receive during January, February, March and April,” he said.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.
