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What resolution almost always tops the list every January 1? You guessed it: to lose weight, a promise made by more than 20 percent of people setting New Year's goals last year. Getting more exercise also typically falls in the top 10. With these numbers in mind, you might be scouting out a new gym to get your workout on.

RELATED: The 6 Biggest Mistakes Trainers See You Making at the Gym

Even though you know the weight room and classes will be crazy busy this time of year, it’s also the perfect time to sign up. Many gyms are offering discounts on new membership fees (or they're charging nada—sweet!). They're also setting up new programs and even offering prize money to encourage you to be your best self. Here are 11 fitness centers with locations nationwide that are making it easier for you to start 2018 on the right healthy foot.

Planet Fitness

From January 1 until January 10, the enrollment fee is just $1. Then, it’s $10 per month for a standard membership or $21.99 per month for the PF Black Card membership. (The PF Black Card includes additional benefits like the ability to bring a guest for free every visit, access to all 1,400-plus locations, use of HydroMassage beds, massage chairs, and more.)

Gold’s Gym

Starting in January, Gold’s Gym will kick off its signature 12-week body transformation contest at participating gyms across the United States. Exclusively available to members, the contest will not only help improve overall health, but participants will have a chance to win one of many cash prizes totaling $100,000.

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Life Time Fitness

Now through January 1, all Life Time Fitness destinations are open to everyone, whether you're a member or not. From January 1 to January 30, all locations will host the Commit to Fit movement for members and non-members, which includes promotions like Yoga Week, Studio Week, and Cycle Week. If you’d like to become a member, talk to them about special pricing.

Set your alarm: On January 1 at 10 a.m., the sixth annual Commitment Day 5K Fun Run and Social is happening at 40 Life Time destinations across the country. This event is open to everyone and aims to help people make a commitment to a healthy year ahead. Come January 21, 40 locations will host an Indoor Triathlon ($30 registration).

24 Hour Fitness

On December 26, this chain is launching 24GO, a customized coaching app that connects you with personalized workouts for in the gym or at home, available for members and non-members. Beginning January 2018, there's a $0 initiation fee on select all-club monthly payment memberships. (Initiation fees vary by club, but they range between $39.99-$89.99.) By becoming a member, you'll also get access to two new programs: Strong by Zumba (a 60-minute high-intensity workout) and Team USA Bootcamp (so you can train like an Olympian during the Winter Games 2018).

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XSport Fitness

You’ll score with a $0 enrollment fee in January. To prevent the attendance drop-off that naturally seems to happen in February, XSport plans the Get Fit Challenge, a 100-day program that offers a $50K prize pack at the end. Participants work with a trainer weekly, take supplements that support their goals, and are weighed in when the program is completed. Women and men who lost the greatest percentage of body fat at each club level will be awarded a prize. The Get Fit Challenge Grand Prize Winner will take home the $50K prize pack.

UFC Gyms

This one you have to hop on before January 1, but you still have time. From December 18 through December 31, receive a $25 gift card when you purchase an Ultimate or Fitness Membership at UFC GYM, at participating locations.

Exhale

The barre-yoga-spa hybrid has a new promo that’s open to everyone (not just newbies!). You can buy a new membership type—“spa + yoga”—for $200, which includes four classes and spa therapy. It also features 10% off boutique purchases and private training sessions, and five complementary passes for friends and family.

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Anytime Fitness

The majority of this gym's 2,400 locations will be participating in an annual January new member campaign. While most charge an enrollment fee (ranging from $19 to $69), from January 1 to January 12, the enrollment at participating gyms will be just $1. New members also receive a free personal-training or group-training session. Plus, most gyms give new members free fitness consultations and a personalized 30-Day Get Started Plan. The monthly membership fee is usually $40 per month.

Crunch

New members can join with a $0 enrollment fee on a month-to-month membership. If you buy a personal-training package upon joining, you’ll snag one month free. The deal is available at Crunch Signature locations through January 29.

Snap Fitness

Their Commit To Your Fit 90-Day Challenge begins January 1. Members can sign up to get exercises, nutrition ideas, motivational quotes, and more by email. You'll also receive tips and videos from country music superstar and fitness advocate Tim McGraw. Members who complete the Challenge and submit their story will have a chance win two concert tickets and to meet the country legend himself.

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Equinox

New members who join Equinox in January will be able to earn back their initiation fee ($300 to $500 depending on location) if they work out 12 times in their first month, which includes attending group fitness classes like The Cut: Jump Rope, The Muse, and Pure Strength, as well as personal training sessions. (Join on January 27, for example, and you'll have 30 days to work out and 12 times to be refunded the initiation fee).

Try the Blogilates founder's favorite moves for stronger abs, leaner legs, and a perkier butt.

Yoga 216's Nicole Katz demonstrates three yoga moves to strengthen the muscles around your spine.

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This article originally appeared on Time.com.

Simple though it may be, walking is one of the best things you can do for your body. Research has shown that it can extend your life and improve your heart health, along with a host of other health metrics.

A new study published in the Lancet, however, suggests that where you walk matters. Strolling along heavily polluted streets, researchers found, may actually cancel out many of the benefits associated with walking.

A team of researchers recruited 119 people over age 60. Of these, 40 were healthy; 40 had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), an inflammatory lung disease; and 39 had ischemic heart disease, which is caused by a narrowing of the arteries.

Some of the people were instructed to walk for two hours per day along London’s Oxford Street, a downtown thoroughfare heavily trafficked by buses and cars, while the others spent the same amount of time walking through a quiet part of the city’s Hyde Park. Three to eight weeks later, the groups swapped routes. After each outing, researchers measured pollutant concentrations in each environment, along with a number of health markers in the participants, including lung capacity, breathlessness, wheezing, coughing and arterial stiffness, which is related to high blood pressure.

After walking through Hyde Park, the healthy people saw big improvements in their lung capacity and arterial stiffness. But after walking along Oxford Street—and breathing in a number of airborne pollutants—people saw only modest improvements in lung capacity and a worsening of arterial stiffness, suggesting that the air quality nullified many of walking’s health benefits, according to the paper.

MORE: Here’s How Many People Die from Pollution Around the World

People with COPD and those with heart disease both experienced negligible improvements in lung capacity after walking in either location. However, people with COPD showed more respiratory issues—including coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath—after walking along Oxford Street, as well more arterial stiffness. People with heart disease also saw more severe arterial stiffness after walking through the urban environment, unless they were taking cardiovascular drugs, which appear to offer some protective benefits.

“You should avoid polluted areas for doing any form of exercise, specifically walking,” explains lead researcher Kian Fan Chung, a professor of respiratory medicine at Imperial College London’s National Heart and Lung Institute. “In London, we have a lot of open spaces, green space, where the amount of pollution is going to be less than what it is outside the park. If that’s not available, people should probably exercise indoors.”

Without a sedentary control group, the researchers note, it’s not possible to say that walking was directly responsible for the physical changes observed in the study. But the results suggest that where you exercise matters, perhaps as much as the activity itself.

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This article originally appeared on DailyBurn.com.

One thing most gym-goers probably don’t focus on enough: body alignment outside the studio walls. While you may work on cardio and strength, paying attention to your everyday posture is also crucial. “If you have pain or movement issues, checking posture can give you insight into what needs to be fixed and why,” says Nike coach and S10 trainer Joe Holder. “Looking at the way someone stands, from the feet all the way up to the neck, can give a lot of insight into over or underactive muscles in the body,” he adds. And while your posture doesn’t need to be perfect, improving it can reduce pain issues and boost your athletic performance.

Luckily, certain exercises do just that. The exercises below, chosen by Holder, include a mix of both strengthening and stretching moves, which will help correct imbalances and keep you aligned. For instance, when it comes to the shoulder rotation exercise, this helps remedy internally rotated shoulders associated with tight pecs and a weak back. (Computer junkies and text addicts, we’re looking at you.)

Set yourself straight and balance out your body by checking out the six exercises below. It’s your complete guide to standing stronger and taller.

RELATED: 7 Ways Exercises Helps Relieve Back Pain

6 Posture Exercises to Help You Stand Straighter

GIFs: Daily Burn

1. Scarecrow

How to: Start standing with feet hip-width apart. Holding light weights, hinge at the hips to begin in a starting position similar to a bent-over row. Your back should be flat and arms straight down in front of you, just above your knees (a). Row your elbows back using your upper back muscles, so you hit a broken T shape (b). Rotate your hands up toward your shoulders (c). Staying in the hinge position, extend your arms straight forward and up to your ears (d). Then return them to the starting position (e). That’s one rep. Perform 3 sets of 8 reps.

RELATED: 50 Ab Exercises to Score a Stronger Core

2. Swimmers

How to: Begin lying on your stomach, with arms and legs extended. Keep your head in a neutral position by looking down to the floor in front of you (a). In a swimming motion, swing your arms down by your sides (b). Then bring them back up and overhead by your ears (c). Focus on keeping shoulders relaxed and moving from the lats and mid back. That is one rep. Perform 3 sets of 8 reps.

RELATED: 5 No-Equipment Back Exercises You Need in Your Life

3. Shoulder External Rotation

How to: Grab a dumbbell in each hand or wrap a light, looped resistance band around your hands. Palms face up. Bend your elbows and keep them against your torso (a). Rotate your palms away from your torso until your arms are almost facing outward. You should feel your back and shoulder muscles fire (b). Slowly bring your hands back together (c). Perform 3 sets of 10 reps.

RELATED: 5 Yoga-Inspired Shoulder Openers

4. Seated T-Spine Openers

How to: Begin sitting on a bench, hands behind your neck and elbows in close to each other (a). Lift your chest and elbows toward the ceiling, moving from your upper back. Try not to arch from your lower back (b). That’s one rep. Perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

RELATED: The 5 Best Barbell Exercises to Build Total-Body Strength

5. Farmer’s Walks

How to: Hold a dumbbell in each hand, with arm extended down by your side. Make sure to keep your shoulders down away from your ears (a). Walk forward, keeping your core engaged and taking strong and deliberate steps (b). Walk for 30-50 yards, then rest. That’s one rep. Perform 5-8 sets.

6. Halos

How to: Hold either a kettlebell or dumbbell in each hand at your chest (a). Pull your shoulder blades back and down away from your ears, as you move the weight up and around your head in a circle, returning them back to your chest. Keep your head upright and neck neutral (b). Do 10 rotations one way, then 10 the other. That’s one set. Perform 3 sets.