A New Year means hundreds of thousands of people have decided that 2015 is finally the year they are going to get fit. They are tired of being overweight and out of shape and have decided that they are going to go to the gym every day of 2015.  

Gym owners look forward to January 1st because the number of gym memberships skyrockets at the beginning of the year. For the steady gym goers, this means a much more crowded gym no matter when you go. Here are a few tips that can help you deal with an overly crowded gym until it starts to die down in March.

1. Gym attendance changes many times throughout the year. 

It peaks during the beginning of a New Year, and then again before Spring Break, and then before the summer starts. Attendance picks up again right around the holiday season as people start to pack on the pounds. New Year’s is especially bad. Most of these new gym goers are new and have rarely worked out, if ever at all. This not only means crowded cardio equipment, but also a line for the bench and the power rack as well. The most important thing you can do to get ready for the New Year’s bump in attendance is to prepare yourself before you go to the gym.   

2. Go with an expectation of the gym being unbelievably packed. 

If you go hoping that no one will be there, you are going to be disappointed. Plan to be at the gym a little longer than you would normally; anticipate and make sure you are in the right frame of mind. If you go to the gym angry that it will be too crowded to get a workout in, that anger will only escalate when you get there.                                            

3. Make sure that you have a plan before you go to the gym. 

Don’t just decide that it's chest day and you are going to wing it from there. You need a plan for what you are going to do and in what order you are going to do it. Without a plan, you will spend half your time at the gym running around from machine to machine asking people how many sets they have left. You don’t want to be that person. Be prepared to have some back up exercises ready if you need to. When the gym becomes this crowded, you need to be flexible. You might be at the gym for two hours and something you want to use may never open up.   

4. It's important to be open to using machines you might not normally use to get your workout in. 

When the gym becomes this crowded, it can also be a good time to mix it up. Try grabbing a few dumbbells and do a circuit or interval training that uses more body weight exercises than equipment. 

The most important thing to keep in mind when the gym gets too crowded is that everyone started somewhere. Don't be discouraged if it's your first time working out and you find the gym packed. Just like everything else in life, patience is important. Keep a cool head and do what you can to get that workout in. Follow these steps and these extra gym crowds will become irrelevant.