Curious about where this whole (and for many, “annoying”) thing with New Year’s resolutions got started? Well, wonder no longer. The tradition actually goes back more than 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. In an annual 12-day feast honoring their gods (including Marduk, the god of thunderstorms), the Babylonians resolved to pay off their debts and return borrowed items. (It’s probably useless to speculate about how this altruism existed side-by-side with other Babylonian traditions like human sacrifice.)   

If you’ve resolved to make 2025 better than your 2024, you’re not alone. According to a poll conducted by the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center in December of last year, about two thirds of Americans—and especially millennials and Gen Zers—are making New Year’s resolutions. In this survey, 3 in 10 adults are resolving to exercise more. One fourth say they intend to lose weight. All that bodes well for the nation’s nearly 100,000 health and fitness clubs that employ 646,000 people and generate a combined annual revenue of $41.8 billion.

To capitalize on all those healthy resolutions, gyms are really out there advertising this month, some with new campaigns. You just might be persuaded to join up upon seeing Orangetheory’s new TV commercial, a spot called “Every Reason is the Right Reason.”

Orangetheory has a unique approach to physical training that (get this) is actually based in exercise science. Their workouts employ high-intensity interval training in three stations (treadmill, water-resistant rowing machines, and weight training), alternating short, intense periods of exertion with long periods of rest. The whole thing is designed to put you into something called “excess post-exercise oxygen consumption” (EPOC), also known as the “afterburn” effect. The primary benefit of EPOC is that you keep burning calories at a higher rate even after you finish exercising. The Orangetheory regimen has five heart rate zones. Zone 4, where you achieve the “orange effect,” kicks in when you reach roughly 85-90% of your maximum heart rate.      

In the competitive landscape, Orangetheory is considered “upper middle class,” as they sit well above low-price-of-entry gyms like Planet Fitness but below more exclusive clubs like Equinox, mostly frequented by people who (seriously) must be fitness models or perhaps they should be. A premiere Orangetheory membership to their facility on the Upper West Side of Manhattan will cost you $239, compared to $15 a month at the nearby Planet Fitness. So Orangetheory isn’t for everyone—although in terms of age demographics, the new TV spot clearly says, “Come one, come all.”

I gotta be honest: I usually hate this kind of testimonial advertising. However, through either good casting or good direction (and the good writing helps here) or both, the people in “Every Reason is the Right Reason” feel real—or at least human-like. They give us a litany of reasons why they joined Orangetheory that range from a full-figured woman in her 50s on a treadmill saying, “I’m getting married… again,” to a hip-looking grandpa with a grey Fu Manchu on a rowing machine who informs us, “My granddaughter calls it my ‘revenge bod.’” The spot ends on a pretty young woman, who obviously has a sweet tooth, licking a soft serve ice cream cone with sprinkles. She simply says, “This,” indicating the ice cream as her reason. But her look says everything, and we get that there’s a svelte girl inside her who is dying to get out.

Among other things, this spot shows that Orangetheory knows what segment of their market is the most profitable. Though there are twenty-somethings in the spot and even thirty-somethings, middle-aged adults and seniors are well represented. The kids (adults 18-34) make up 40% of the market in gym memberships. However, grownups and seniors comprise 55% of that market. They’re also the sweeter segment for two reasons. The first is that they typically have more time to go to the gym than the younger members. Second, they generally have more money, so they won’t feel that $239 debit on their VISA card every month the same way a Gen Zer would.

If fitness is your resolution, I say go for it. But know that statistically most New Year's Resolutions get cancelled by February. So before you join any gym, make sure you read the contract and know what their cancellation policy is. I might just check out Orangetheory. If their TV commercial is an accurate representation, they may just offer something we only get attending the random family reunion: a truly multigenerational experience.    

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