We’ve all made New Year's resolutions countless times.

Losing weight is probably the most popular one — not that anyone’s tried to lift me since I was an infant. Then again, perhaps that the goal, to be able to lift your feet off the floor when somebody hugs you.

Getting more exercise is a big one, and not necessarily related to the first one. You still have to eat less to lose weight.

Along with those two goals, I’d like to get more sleep, write more poems for my wife, save up for the house, and keep the car clean.

But you have start somewhere, and it seems getting more exercise will probably give you the energy to accomplish those other resolutions.

What motivates me to exercise is to have a really good mix tape or — should I say in this iPod age — playlist. That means no Yanni.

So I’ll be putting that together, and then definitely join a health club, because I need to be motivated by a membership fee.

Peter Garaventa, systems manager at Healthquest Fitness Center in Napa, said a lot of people sign up this time of year.

“It’s a little bit of an increase, and we gear up for it so it doesn’t catch us off guard. You know when it’s coming,” he said.

They also know when it’s going, so they have trainers who make sure you don’t get intimidated by others or run yourself into the ground.

“You can get two basic-training sessions with a trainer where you discuss your goals, your resolutions, fill out a health history form, and the trainer fixes you up with something realistic, so  you don’t go out there and get blown away by it all,” Garavanta said. “If you’re not used to doing a lot of workouts, you can get pretty sore pretty quick, and that will discourage you, too.

“It’s not fun when can’t get out of bed the next morning. It makes it hard to want to go back. It turns what should be a positive experience into a negative. You don’t have to come in seven days a week, three hours a day. You can come in three days a week for 45 minutes or an hour. We have the rest of our lives to live, too, other things we want to spend time doing.”

Joining a club isn’t just about energy and weight loss, either.

“I was washing the bottoms of my feet one day in the shower and realized my balance wasn’t as good it should be,” Garavanta said. “I was leaning on the side of the shower, and that’s not right. I’m not so old that I shouldn’t be able to stand on one foot. So I took a class here for the mind-body connection. Fitness clubs are about a lot more than guys bench-pressing.”

A fitness club also provides social opportunities, for teenagers to retirees.

“Every morning you can count on the lobby being full of retirees and other people sitting there and having a cup of coffee and chatting with each other, the same way they do at Butter Cream Bakery, but it’s a totally different beast but. It’s a special place because of that.”

Up on the stair-climbing machines, Napa first-grade teachers Marian Moffett and Laurie Woodward didn’t stop what they were doing after agreeing to be interviewed, yet trudged away. They definitely didn’t seem to be fulfilling New Year’s resolutions, with one exception.

“I made one for her,” Moffett, who comes in at 5 a.m. on weekdays, said of Woodward. “She’s coming in one morning a week with me now.”

“So I have a workout partner now,” chimed in Woodward, who isn’t quite as consistent with her club visits. “Sometimes it’s just hard to get here. Marian runs a lot, too. But I always know I have place I can come to.”

Woodward expects the club to get a rush in the coming weeks.

“We’re going to see the parking lot packed with people, and I think it’s definitely a healthy thing,” she said.

“A lot of people have hope,” added Moffett, “big ideas to make exercise a part of their lives. A lot of them will go back to their old ways because it’s not something they enjoy. It’s hard to start a new program, unless you’re running with a buddy. I think a club becomes a buddy. Workers greet you encouragingly. They might get to know you if you come in at a certain time, then they’ll question you with humor if you haven’t been there.”

Moffett, a mother of three, relishes workouts.

“For me, it’s one of the only things I do for myself, a gift to myself,” she said, “to have time where I’m not someone at work or someone in the home. It’s mental therapy, releasing a little of that stress.”

Even after a long day around first-graders, a workout is energizing, Woodward said.

“Believe it or not, you could be really maxed out, but you make yourself come in and you know you’re really tired and you don’t have much left. But you do your workout and, I don’t know if it’s a mental thing or physical thing, you actually do leave with more energy.”

Huffing away, Moffett agreed.

“Sprinting shoes can’t be fast enough in our jobs,” she quipped. “But something about the endorphins cranking in your body does give you that boost.

“You’ll never be upset or mad at yourself that you worked out. You will grumble that you didn’t do it. No matter how tired you are, rarely will you get done with a workout and say ‘I shouldn’t be here,’ whether it’s rowing on the Napa River or ice skating. The key is movement.”

A second wind for these busy working moms?

“For round two with our teenagers,” Woodward said.

“It helps with boxing gloves,” cracked Moffett. “The most important thing all people can do is just move the juice inside of you. Whatever activity makes you happy, healthier and happier.”

Best wishes in the new year to all of us exercise newbies, and may we stick with it.

Andy Wilcox can be reached at 256-2212 or awilcox@napanews.com.