Fremont — The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many setbacks to bars and restaurants, but the fitness industry has also felt the sting of shutdowns and restrictions.
Due to an epidemic that spread like wildfires in Ohio in the spring and fall, many stadiums were closed for three months or more.
When his gym was forced to close on March 16, 2020, Tom Price was frustrated because he had no chance to make this decision on his own. When the door to CrossFit 1926 was still closed, Price rented out equipment for members to use for home exercise.
“We have a pick-up day where people can come in and get whatever they want in our gym. We just signed it and we wrote down who it was [and] what they got, so we know when they When we brought it back, we got everything they took,” Price said. “They hold dumbbells, kettlebells, exercise balls, bicycles, rowing machines-anything they try to do at home.”
CrossFit 1926 co-owners Price and Jarrod Hunt (Jarrod Hunt) are not financially struggling like other business owners when they went out of business because they had a job in addition to a gym job; Price Owning The Cookie Lady, Hunt is the CEO of Wynn-Reeth.
In addition to renting equipment, CrossFit 1926 also performed virtual exercises through Zoom, which provides exercise options for members who do not have equipment at home.
When the stadium reopened on May 26, 2020, Price and Hunter moved into a new location across the street from the old stadium to make it easier to maintain social distancing.
Since starting their business about three years ago, Price and Hunt have enforced equipment cleaning and disinfection after exercise. Thanks to his position as the CEO of Wynn-Reeth, Hunter was able to obtain cleaning supplies for the gym during the shortage of cleaning supplies.
As Ohio lifted restrictions on gyms, Price expressed gratitude for the increase in membership in the past year. During that time, 80 people joined CrossFit in 1926.
“God has given us so many blessings,” Price said. “It’s great, people want to reinvest in it. We just hurriedly said,’Let’s go, let’s start CrossFit again.’”
The members of CrossFit 1926 are happy to return to the gym and reunite with their CrossFit community when the gym opens again.
“We are a very, very close community,” said Cori Frankart, a member of Crossfit 1926. “So it’s hard, when we don’t exercise together, because we do consume each other’s energy here.”
When exercising at home, gym members use social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook to keep in touch.
“We all feel that we are still working together because we communicate on social media, and then once we can go back to the gym, that’s really good, because everyone misses the social aspect and motivation to be together,” CrossFit 1926 Member Becky Goodwin (Becky Goodwin) said. “I think everyone really misses each other, many people are not so active at home.”
Jay Glaspy, who co-owns JG3 Fitness with his wife Debbie, also moved into a new building in 2020. However, they could only use the building for about six days before Governor Mike DeWine closed the gym.
JG3 Fitness suffered financial losses. When members can no longer exercise in person, some people choose to cancel their membership. Glaspy understands this decision, but it does affect the amount of money entering the company.
He said that after the reopening under restricted circumstances, due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, there are still not many members eager to return to the gym.
Glaspy said: “There is a lot of uncertainty about the impact of the restrictions, so not everyone comes back immediately. Even if it’s one person, if it’s two people, if it’s four people, you don’t have to consider the fact that there were 10 people in the past. Give those two, four, or six people-no matter who they are-the experience as if it were a class; you can’t let your coaching ability be affected by your expectations.”
In order to follow the health guidelines, JG3 Fitness taped the 6-foot part of the gym to maintain social distance. The gym also has a personal hygiene bucket filled with disinfectants, wipes and sprays. Everyone in a class has their own equipment, and everyone will disinfect everything at the end of the course.
He said: “When you have to keep everyone so far away and keep everything independent, it really becomes very challenging to hold a group course.”
The gym is now running without restrictions, and Glaspy said the number of members is on the rise. The class size is now about 5 to 10 people. Before the pandemic, the class size was between 8 and 12 people.
Lexis Bauer, who owns the recently opened CrossFit Port Clinton and her husband Brett, did not operate a gym during the COVID-19 closure and restrictions, but tried to build one in downtown Port Clinton.
Bauer and her husband kept the gym together when they had a lot of time during the pandemic, and they opened the gym after DeWine announced the order to wear masks. The pandemic has made building materials more expensive, but the process of building a gym is simple.
“We are lucky because we are in the final stage of everything,” Bauer said. “I know that many gyms suffered losses during that time, so we opened up a perfect time.”
Every CrossFit gym owner has noticed that COVID-19 has raised concerns about the importance of health and fitness.
Gasby expressed a similar view when saying that the pandemic revealed the importance of health and wellness.
Glaspy said: “If you get any benefit from the COVID 19 pandemic, then health and wellness should be your top priority.”
Price emphasized the important role of CrossFit gyms in inspiring people to live healthier lifestyles.
“You want to be in the gym, where you are motivated by friends, other members, coaches, or anything else,” Price said. “If we are healthier, we will fight against viruses, diseases, diseases, injuries [or] anything else, and if we can continue to do this [go to the gym], we will become better…”
Post time: Sep-01-2021