Exercise Wanes During Holidays for Many in Metro Vancouver

Vancouver, BC - With the holiday season upon us, many residents of Metro Vancouver say they will be exercising less during this time of year. A survey, conducted on behalf of Fitness Town, asked adults in Metro Vancouver about their attitudes and habits relating to exercise during the winter months, and in particular, during the holiday season. One-in-three (34%) Metro Vancouverites agree with the statement "I exercise less during the holiday season than at any other time of the year," with just under one-in-ten (7%) who strongly agree.

Survey findings indicate that among Metro Vancouverites who say they exercise less during the holiday season than at any other time of the year, there are a number of reasons for this decrease, including:

• Festive socializing (48%);
• Bad weather (45%);
• Feeling lazy and less motivated (38%);
• Lack of time (38%); and,
• Prioritizing eating and drinking (19%).

When it comes to New Year's resolutions, only a minority of Metro Vancouver residents (25%) say they plan to make fitness resolutions:

• 10% say they plan to make New Year's fitness resolutions and are confident they will keep them;
• 15% say they will make fitness resolutions but admit they will likely break them; and,
• 11% do not plan to make New Year's fitness resolutions this year.
• A further 31% say they never make fitness-related resolutions and 33% say their fitness goals are a priority all year round, not just in the New Year.

The survey also looked at home workouts and found that 52% of Metro Vancouver residents say they workout at home the same amount or more often during the winter months compared to the rest of the year. Residents of Metro Vancouver who say they workout at home more often in the winter months (13%) cite the following reasons for this increase:

• Don't like going out in the rain (57%);
• Cold outside (56%); and,
• Don't want to leave the house when it's dark (56%).

These are the findings of an Ipsos Reid poll conducted on behalf of Peak Communicators and Fitness Town. The poll of 987 adult Metro Vancouver residents was conducted online using Ipsos Reid's online household panel between November 27 and December 13, 2013. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample's age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Metro Vancouver population according to 2011 Census data. The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within +/- 3.6 percentage points had all British Columbia adults been surveyed. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to coverage error, and measurement error.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Michael Rodenburgh
Executive Vice President
Ipsos West
(778) 373-5010
[email protected]

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