(Enlarge) Catonsville resident Bob Clark focuses on his lifting technique as he works out at the Catonsville Family Center Y. For more on how some residents plan to put their New Year’s resolutions into motion, (Photo by Kitty R)

With the fall and winter holidays past and a fresh year ahead, scores of men and women file into local fitness centers, determined to get in shape and stay that way, according to Jay Wilson, fitness director at the Catonsville Family Center Y.

The Y encourages such behavior, waiving the $99 initiation fee for members who join through Jan. 18.

"People come in, sign up for new memberships, or you have the old members who haven't been coming in, will come in for their new year's resolution to get back in shape," Wilson said, smiling.

"They usually last a month, month-and-a-half tops."

The men try for "six-pack abs," he said, while the women want to eliminate "the bat wings from under their arms, the bra overhang and the jiggly, wiggly fat from the inner thigh and the gluteus maximus."

With few exceptions, however, those at the 850 S. Rolling Road facility on Jan. 2 seemed a testament to 12 previous months of steady exercise, with scarce need for improvement.

Adults of all ages occupied the dozens of fitness stations, peddling, stepping, jogging, lifting or pulling as if enjoying a familiar routine.

They included Alice Miller, a Catonsville grandmother who said she routinely bicycles, hikes and, at least twice a week, uses the Y's various fitness machines to maintain her trim, healthy appearance.

As for her fellow members who don't return after January or mid-February, many blame the lapse on family- and job-related responsibilities, Wilson said.

"But other than that, you have people who come in, give it one good, hard month and that's that," he said. "It's over."

Southwest Baltimore County residents seeking the nearest gym often turn to the Catonsville Y or, if they qualify for senior status, the Catonsville Senior Center at 501 N. Rolling Road.

Though somewhat less crowded, the senior center was humming with activity Jan. 2. It too offers to waive the $10 new-member registration fee for the fitness center this month.

And while tight-fitting exercise garb dominated the Catonsville Y scene, ordinary street clothes seemed the unofficial uniform for senior center machine peddlers, joggers and cyclers.

"Everybody dresses the way they want," said member Pat Aldave, watching the action from a chair at the blood pressure monitor.

Restricted to men and women age 60 and over who have a physician's approval and belong to the senior center, the fitness center charges fees but offers a variety of senior-friendly exercise programs and equipment.

"The doctor said exercise is what you need,' said heart attack survivor Carl Elliott, explaining his three-times-a-week use of the equipment.

Seated, he pumped his legs and feet against the pedals of a recumbent step machine.

The equipment "is easier on the joints" than a standard upright model, said Allan Wallace, a fitness director with the Baltimore County Department of Aging who oversees the Catonsville fitness center.

The department operates 19 senior centers across the county, including the one in Catonsville and another on Third Avenue in Lansdowne, and offers membership free to anyone age 60 or over and to members' spouses of any age.

Catonsville and seven other sites include fitness centers, which charge an annual fee of $187 and are operated by the county in partnership with Towson University's College of Health Professions.

Participants receive an individualized exercise prescription, but must be cleared by a private physician to qualify for membership.

"We don't take high-risk participants," Wallace said.

Membership rates at the Catonsville Family Center Y vary from $13 per month for a youth to $74 for a two-adult household.

For information about the Catonsville Senior Center's fitness center, call 410-887-0900.

For information about the Catonsville Family Center Y, call 410-747-9622.

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