Unlike most retail industries that make their money in the run up to Christmas, health clubs get their big financial hit after the holidays in the wake of those New Year’s resolutions.

But by September, 80 to 90 percent of those new members will have stopped exercising.

Character flaw? Inability to stick with it? No willpower?

Not so according to people who pay attention to such things.

Willpower is only relevant when you start exercising regularly. In the run up to that change, in getting ready to change, most people go through stages that prepare them to change.

First, you might have some vague idea that exercise is a good thing, but don’t pay much attention to it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I need to exercise, but I don’t have time.

Or you might be paying attention, but don’t quite know what you want to do. Is walking enough? Should I go to a gym? Get a personal trainer?

Or you might know what you want, but haven’t gotten the emotional push to commit to change.

The people who are at the gym in September? They were ready to commit. The others were not ready. This isn’t a character flaw. It’s how people prepare themselves for change.

And know that even many of those virtuous people at the gym in September are likely to stop exercising and go through several rounds of the this ready-set-go routine before they change for good.

Again, not a character flaw. Just how people prepare themselves for change.

In another realm of physical intimacy, think of the stages we go through in romance. First you wonder whether to ask someone out. Then you start dating regularly. Then you commit to the relationship. And then you’re living together.

Stages of change. Getting yourself ready for intimacy.

If you don’t move in with someone after the first date, have you failed at romance? Do you suffer from a character flaw? An inability to stick with it? A lack of will power?

Of course not. Just so with exercise.

Most of the people who join health clubs, something like 60%, join to lose weight. Yet people keep exercising whether or not they lose weight. They keep exercising because of how it makes them feel physically and emotionally.

If you’re in a stage of change, getting yourself ready to exercise regularly, you have much to look forward to: a romance with your body.