I was asked “How did you do with your 2024 health and fitness goals for 2024?” Almost immediately I proudly said, "I killed it!"
Did I in fact “kill it?” Aside from posting half-naked pictures on Instagram how else do can I quantify that I hit my 2024 health and fitness goals? I decided to review the data!
When I considered my nutrition, sleep, and weight goals, I realized I nailed them. My Oura ring data showed I averaged at least seven hours of sleep per night in 2024, and the scale throughout the year also reflected alignment with my goal. But what about my workouts? Did I consistently make it to the gym in 2024? Fortunately, to address this question, I was able to access my gym attendance history from my online profile at my local gym's website.
I knew I was consistent, but I didn’t have a clear picture of how consistent I’d been in making it to the gym in 2024!
The following analysis reflects documented gym visits to my local gym via the attendance data from their website tracking my attendance. With this data, I answered my initial question about consistency and the following questions for some additional insights.
- Was I consistent in making it to the gym?
- How often did I make it to the gym?
- When did I generally make it to the gym?
- What membership plan would have saved me the most money?
2024 Attendance Patterns
- The number of visits to my local gym varies across the year, with a peak in the summer months (June and July) and a noticeable dip in February and November.
- The highest number of visits occurs in the Summer and Fall seasons, closely followed by Spring, with Winter having slightly fewer visits.
- A vast majority of my gym visits occur in the Morning, which is a indication of my schedule and not my preference.
Weekly Stats Breakdown for 2024
Out of the 52 weeks in 2024, I logged visits to my local gym for 43 weeks, leaving 9 weeks without any recorded visits. However, these gaps had specific reasons:
- Work-Related Travel (5 weeks): During these weeks, I still worked out at a company gym or a local gym near my work location. Not always convenient but always fun changing up the atmosphere every now and then
- Vacation (3 weeks): While traveling, I worked out at a local gym for 2 of these 3 weeks. The third week consisted of mountain biking, white water rafting and kept me pretty active while giving me a chance to apply some of that fitness!
- Deload Week (1 week): This week was intentionally planned as a recovery week to give my body time to rest and recover. This was the only deload week that I completely skipped the gym. Frankly, I just did not enjoy it and do not plan to repeat.
Gym Visits per Week Breakdown for 2024
- Mean Weekly Visits: On average, I visited the gym 3.64 times per week. This number accounts for fluctuations throughout the year, including travel, recovery weeks, and illness.
- Median Weekly Visits: The middle value was 5 visits per week, reflecting my most consistent routine and aligning with my fitness goals.
- Mode Weekly Visits: Interestingly, the most frequently occurring number of visits was also 5 per week. Most of my programming is 5 days per week. I had a one training block of 6 days per week that I can recall during the summer in 2024 between kids sports seasons.
While the mean accounts for the occasional dip in activity, the median and mode highlight my habit of hitting the gym at least five times a week.
Morning Workouts: A Necessary Evil
Mornings have become my go-to time for workouts—not necessarily because I love them, but because they’re the best fit for my current season of life. If I want to stay consistent, morning workouts are the only legitimate option as this timeslot presents the least amount of schedule conflict between driving kids around and my work schedule. That said, I’ll admit, that my personality doesn’t fully wake up this early—so it is not all smiles and excitement for me in the mornings! Add that to my introverted nature and you get a pretty grumpy guy just wanting to focus on hitting the weights and getting the work done.
According to the data, I’m most likely to be at my local gym on Monday through Thursday mornings. Fridays, however, are more flexible due to my work schedule, leading to more variations on when I will find may way over to the gym. While I was aware of my flexibility on Fridays, seeing it visualized in this way highlighted just how much my routine shifts on that day.
Standard vs. Variable Gym Membership Rate
My gym provides two membership options:
- Standard Rate: A flat monthly fee of $15, regardless of how often you visit.
- Variable Rate: A rate that fluctuates based on the number of visits per month:
- $7/month: If you visit the gym more than 11 times in a month.
- $34.99/month: If you visit the gym 11 times or fewer in a month.
To determine which plan was the most cost-effective for me in 2024, I analyzed my monthly visits and calculated the total cost for each option. Here’s what I found.
- Total Gym Cost for 2024 at Standard Rate: $180.00
- Total Gym Cost for 2024 at Variable Rate: 139.98
Variable Rate for 2025?
In 2024, the variable rate would have saved me $40.02 compared to the standard rate (excluding taxes and additional fees). However, I don’t plan to switch to the variable rate in 2025. I prefer the simplicity of the standard rate, as it eliminates the need to track my visits while balancing the other demands on my time to avoid the $34.99 monthly charge penalty.
Conclusion
This exercise was fun for this data nerd and it sparked some ideas about how much more insightful this analysis could be with the right data to optimize my training and drive better recovery. While consistency in hitting the gym is foundational, it would be even more valuable to quantify that I’m consistently driving measurable progress. Perhaps one day, advancements in wearables will make it easier to track and analyze this data holistically. And yes
Reflecting on my gym habits confirmed what I already suspected:
Q: Was I consistent in making it to the gym?
A: Very consistent!
Q: How often did I make it to the gym?
A: Generally 5 times a week
Q: When did I generally make it to the gym?
A: In the morning
Q: What membership plan would have saved me the most money?
A: The variable rate plan
Bonus:
Q: How consistent will I be in 2025?
A: Only time will tell!
