.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} tr.d0 td { background-color: #ccccff; color: black; }
January is for gyms what December is for retailers, and it’s looking brighter than ever.

Membership at Aspen Athletic Club’s six facilities is up to 24,233 people, compared with 16,375 a year ago. That gain was augmented by the opening of two new gyms. At its longtime Hickman Road facility, membership is up to 6,976 from 5,121 in January 2007, and at its Southeast 14th Street location, membership is at 6,691, compared with 5,096 a year ago.

“New membership growth has grown 10 percent per club, but retention has been better as well,” said Jason Pelt, co-owner and vice president, which he attributes to a focus on personal training and programming as well as new gyms.

In January, 7 Flags Fitness & Racquet Club set a record for its facility by signing up 59 new members in one day, said owner Frank Santana. The average during the winter is between 300 and 350 new members per month, he said, and expects that will pick up now that his club also offers free membership to Sports Plex West in Waukee.

The YMCA of Greater Des Moines has enlisted 1,000 new members since Jan. 1, aided in part by the opening of a new Y in Grimes, its eighth location in Greater Des Moines.

Gym FX downtown didn’t have comparable year-to-year figures because it opened in September 2006, but manager Doug Van Wyk said “traffic at the gym is a lot busier than in the past for us.” Membership more than doubled, but “that’s expected in the first year.”