Gym owners guide to reopen safely

Covid-19 outbreak in the US led to the earliest shutting down of gyms and fitness studios. Now, with White House’s three-phase reopening plan, gyms are among the first places to reopen among ‘personal and social activities’. The guide to reopen gyms and studios safely is to adopt scientific solutions and redefine the gym ambience with Covid prevention and preparedness plan.

The CDC has updated safety guidelines for both gym owners and users to follow. Gym and studio owners specifically would want to follow the ground-rules for ensuring maximum safety of its members. The idea is to play smart when it comes to reopening gyms!

The three vital points to consider while opening your gyms are-

1. Gyms are high-touch businesses
2. Involves heavy breathing and sweating
3. Crowds
   

Identifying these three points necessarily sums up the decisive plan of action. Following fundamental steps should be taken while reopening gyms safely this season-

1. Routine Sanitization:

As gyms and fitness classes are high-touch territories with both small and massive equipment, dumbbells, cables, mirrors, weights, railings, lockers, changing rooms etc, it is mandatory for studio owners to give dire importance to cleanliness and frequent sanitization, more than ever! Gyms could fix blocks of time and dedicate a section of staff towards the disinfection process. Gym and studio owners should also provide sanitizer sprays and wipes to each member upon entry to implement hygiene protocol at personal level. Such visible hygiene practices will only make the gym members feel comfortable to visit your facility.

2. Social Distancing:

At any given normal circumstance, one would find gyms to be heavily crowded. Sometimes people wait even hours to finally get hold of their favorite equipment or treadmill. But now capacity management is what gyms are all about to facilitate social distancing. Gyms and fitness studios are required to maintain a safe distance of at least six feet between individuals as per the CDC guidelines. Additionally, gyms should modify their layout by installing barriers (7 by 7 foot floor tapes or plastic sheets)  around some stations or equipment where a person will workout, space-out equipment like treadmills if there is enough room or allow the running of alternate treadmills in a row incase of space constraints.

3. Use of Technology

‍Omnify user-friendly and low-cost online reservation system enables gym and studio owners to smartly make bookings and arrange schedules to control all aspects of registration. With Omnify’s ‘limiting access to members-only’ feature gym owners get equipped for capacity management which is the core to actualizing ‘social distancing’. Moreover, it provides gym owners with maximum control over occupancy at a given slot, avoid walk-ins, block preferred time slots for disinfection processes, facilitate contactless check-ins and much more. 

4. Use of Masks

‍Wearing face masks is mandatory for both gym staff and members. Instructors need to keep their masks on all the time to avoid aerosolizing micro-droplets while instructing. Gyms and studios should be well ventilated with constant airflows. But it is always handy for everyone to keep more than one mask as sweating will wet the masks rendering it ineffective.

Reopening businesses is not easy. Gym owners will find themselves doubly responsible now to bring back fitness in the safest and most competent way possible. Omnify has helped many other businesses reopen safely. So, it is all about smart planning to deliver your clients the peace of mind they deserve while working out! 

To start your communication with Omnify, CLICK HERE. Sign up or Schedule a Demo.

Read How Coach Eric Chung launched a full virtual studio in less than 48 hours.