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| fitness club |
For nearly eight weeks, Lakeshore Sport & Fitness has been overhauling its two Chicago clubs, spending more than $200,000 on new cleaning equipment and making other changes to meet new standards for hygiene and personal space, even as members’ dues stopped flowing.
But like other fitness club operators, Lakeshore managing partner Peter Goldman still has little sense of when he’ll be able to roll out the changes, even after Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced a five-phase plan to reopen the state’s economy.
That’s a problem for gyms that have seen little if any revenue while forced to shut their doors to slow the spread of COVID-19. When they can reopen, it’s uncertain how eager people who have spent weeks avoiding physical contact with others will be to start working out with a bunch of sweaty strangers — especially if they’ve bought home workout equipment while cut off from their favorite studio.
At Lakeshore, members will be able to reserve 10-foot-by-10-foot workout “pods” with a piece of cardio equipment, exercise mat, and their choice of bands and weights, all of which will be sanitized between uses.
Both the total number of members in clubs at a time and participation in group classes will be limited and require registration through Lakeshore’s app. And the facilities will step up cleaning procedures, spraying disinfectant throughout the day, and using ultraviolet light to clean overnight.
Under Pritzker’s plan, announced Tuesday, health and fitness clubs can begin conducting personal training sessions and outdoor classes in the third phase of recovery when the rate of infection is stable or declining. That phase would begin no earlier than the end of the month when the state’s stay-at-home order is set to expire.
To reach the following phase, which would allow gyms to open with capacity limits, will require “a continued decline in the rate of infection” and enough capacity in hospitals to keep up with surges in new cases. It’s not clear how long that could take.
That’s a tough pill to swallow for fitness clubs that hoped the next step would mean reopening their doors, even with strict limits, for something closer to normal operations.
“This solution does not keep us in business or help us reopen and pay people,” Goldman said.
Just how tough it will be depends on the gym.
At Runaway Fitness, which has offered classes that mix treadmill running and strength training at a studio in Streeterville since late 2018, being a small, independent studio makes it easier to adapt and host workouts that comply with Illinois’ limits, said owners Ted and Kristine Theodore.
But they’re unlikely to break even on outdoor workouts and personal training alone. That usually requires five or six busy classes a day.
Without help from their landlord on rent, “we have a real problem,” Ted Theodore said. “That’s why it’s day today. Those kinds of rules could paralyze us.”
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| Fitness centers |
Personal training was never a big source of business for Runaway Fitness, and people struggling with the financial fallout from the pandemic will be even more hesitant to pay for it. There’s a park nearby where the company can hold outdoor classes, but it would likely have to cut fees since participants wouldn’t have access to the usual equipment and facilities.
The Theodores had hoped to open sooner with limits on the number of participants in a class, which could be offset with more frequent sessions.
“At least then they’re getting on the treadmill and slinging weights. They can do a lot of the outdoor stuff on their own,” Ted Theodore said. “We have a loyal following, but they pay for the experience here and you don’t fully get that outside.”
Larger gyms with spacious facilities and a variety of activities, including individual workouts, are more confident they can weather the shutdown but said they weren’t sure it was worth reopening for the earliest, most restrictive phase of the governor’s plan.
Life Time Fitness, which has more than 150 clubs in the U.S. and Canada, has chosen to wait to reopen clubs in other parts of the country that have started to allow gyms to operate. In some cases, that’s due to local restrictions like closed locker rooms and shower facilities. Life Time also waits until employee and member surveys indicate most people in a particular location are ready to return.
The first reopened Friday in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
When clubs reopen, in addition to stepped-up cleaning and capacity limits, group fitness classes will require reservations and there will be half-hour breaks between each class so instructors can sanitize equipment. To encourage social distancing, fitness equipment has been spaced out and in the locker rooms, every other shower and certain lockers are off-limits.
During personal training sessions, employees will stay six feet away from clients and sanitize equipment before and after each use. Basketball courts will be open but games, at least initially, will not be permitted and on tennis courts, only pros — not players — will retrieve balls.
“We want to get back in business as soon as we can in all markets, but we need to do it in the right way,” Bushaw said.
David Blitz, CEO of Chicago-based Studio Three, which has studios in the Park West and River North neighborhoods, said the company’s high-intensity interval training, cycling, and yoga classes would be hard to conduct outside. It likely wouldn’t be worth resuming operations on such a limited scale, he said.
“Consumers want more from us than that,” he said.
First Ascent, an indoor rock climbing company with five Chicago-area gyms and one in Peoria, could provide something close to its usual experience if climbers can visit in groups of two while practicing social distancing, said co-founder Dan Bartz. Climbers usually work in pairs, with one person on the wall and another holding their rope, ready to catch them if they fall.
But if each member must be paired with an employee, it likely wouldn’t be worth reopening until later phases of the recovery because so few people would be able to take advantage of the one-on-one sessions, he said.
But he would rather see Illinois follow the lead of other states that have let gyms allow members inside, with restrictions.
“What we’re seeing as a better plan is member management — ensuring people can keep six feet apart and opening activities that allow that,” he said.
In Texas, for instance, fitness centers will be allowed to reopen at 25% capacity May 18, but locker rooms and showers must remain closed. Gyms in Georgia were told to limit capacity to a level that allows for social distancing and to check members’ temperatures at the entrance. Group classes, pools, basketball courts, hot tubs, and saunas are also off-limits.
LifeStart is preparing to reopen a handful of gyms in Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville, Flanagan said. Members can sign up for access in 45-minute slots, separated by 15-minute periods when clubs will close for cleaning. No group classes are planned, but members can reserve studios and take virtual classes on their own.
LifeStart also purchased $4,000 electrostatic disinfectant sprayers for all 100 locations and is providing reusable antimicrobial hand grips members can use to avoid directly touching equipment.
While they wait, fitness clubs and gyms say they are investing in protective equipment like masks and new cleaning equipment and planning to allow extra time for cleaning between classes.
Studio Three, like LifeStart, plans to check people’s temperatures before they can use facilities and install plexiglass partitions, like the “sneeze guards” at grocery store checkout counters, between cardio equipment.
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| Running |
Runaway Fitness has been buying extra dumbbells, kettlebells, benches, and ropes so people won’t have to share as much equipment and developing cleaning protocols.
First Ascent is setting up a reservation system that will let gyms control capacity and plans to split the day into morning and afternoon sessions, with a mid-day cleaning break. Different climbing routes would be open during each period, both to encourage social distancing and help employees keep up with cleaning.
Gyms have also been creating virtual workouts and fitness challenges for customers who can no longer visit in person. Some charge reduced rates for online classes. Others make them available for free to keep members engaged.
But online, they’re competing with gyms across the country and companies that specialize in virtual fitness, like Peloton, which makes indoor bikes and treadmills that let users stream live or pre-recorded classes.
On Wednesday, Peloton reported a 66% increase in sales during the quarter that ended March 31, despite canceling some planned advertising because it was having trouble keeping up with demand.
Overall sales of fitness equipment rose about 130% in March compared with the same month last year, according to market research firm The NPD Group.
Chicago-area fitness club owners said they are confident people will be eager to return and reconnect with friends or a favorite instructor. But some were concerned regulars will be slow to come back, whether because the shift to remote work means the gym near the office is no longer convenient, or because they remain wary.
“We need to figure out how to tamp (the fear) down at some point, or consumers aren’t going to come back,” Lakeshore’s Goldman said.
