The tendency around this time of year is to go nuts, pig out, drink too much and then make some New Year’s resolutions, one of them involving a gym membership that you’ll probably break within the first two weeks of 2019.

But what if this year, you did things a little differently?

Instead of getting that food hangover, that booze hangover and that dad bod on the go, make a resolution to get ahead of 2019 by making and maintaining some fitness goals – starting now.

To get you on your way, we’ve made a list of our top five gyms, in no particular order, that you should check out if you live in Cape Town.

Finding the right gym is important when it comes to fitness, so choose wisely and find the program that works for you.

PLANET FITNESS

Planet Fitness has a state-of-the-art cardio room. You could also try out a new fitness trend like power box, aqua-thai-chi, or bosu (classes using a stability ball). The gym is popular in Jozi, but you can find branches in Cape Town in Claremont, Durbanville, Kuilsrivier, Plattekloof, Soneike and Parklands.

ARMOURY BOXING

If you want to achieve the ultimate level of fitness and strength while developing a killer right hook, this is the place for you. The coaches in the club are trained and qualified.

Best practice is to contact The Armoury to discuss your training objectives and membership options.

CARTEL FIT WORKOUTS

Work up a sweat in a selection of Cartel Fit’s live workouts, hosted by their community of personal trainers in the Ideas Cartel app and on the Cartel Connect Online website.

Cartel Connect Online (CCO) is a digital membership with community values at its heart. Unlock access to live streams featuring business leaders, fitness gurus, celebrity chefs and more.

Aimed at creating the same environment you would find in a gym, Cartel Fit’s live workouts take place from Monday to Friday:

• Monday to Friday 7:30AM  – Run Your Own Adventure
• Monday to Thursday 5:30PM – TagFiit
• Saturday 9:30AM – TagFiit with Pascal and Pearce live DJ set

If you prefer to do workouts in your own time, there are also specially curated workouts for access in your own time, categorised by muscle group and sport type.

There is also the option to book one of three private, serviced workout pods, called FitPods, which are located in Cape Town at 113 Loop Street.

Each pod comes fitted with Technogym equipment, and all bookings can be made via the Ideas Cartel app (Apple or Android), under ‘Book Facilities’.

CURVES

Curves is geared specifically towards women, and celebrates the female form in all its shapes and sizes. The gym focuses on the feel-good factor, and offers 30-minute circuits, involving strength training, cardio and stretching, that can burn up to 500 calories per hour.

There is also an online nutritional system that you can follow.

BOLD

At BOLD the focus is on good training coupled with a healthy lifestyle. They offer challenging, fun, constantly varied, affordable group training (as well as personal training) to help you learn how to beat your own limits, get fit and enjoy exercising.

Ready to go for it? Use this last month and a half of 2018 to set things up for 2019. You’ll be glad you did.

Especially when you start the year on top of your game, feeling healthier than your co-workers. Be sure to mention this, it will make you wildly popular around the office.