Search Weight Loss Topics:

Home » Fitness » Working Out While Locked Down: How the Local Fitness Industry Is Adapting to the Pandemic – Redheaded Blackbelt

As the North Coast contends with the perils of the pandemic, our community has been forced to alter the way we live, how we feed our families, and how we interact with those around us. Redheaded Blackbelt wants to celebrate the resiliency of those individuals, businesses, and organizations that are weathering the storm. In our Weathering the Storm series, we will tell the stories of our community meeting the moment and learning to thrive in the face of adversity.

Sweat Panda CrossFit celebrating its online classes [Photo from Sweat Panda CrossFits Facebook, used with the permission of owner Thomas OKane]

Thomas OKane established Sweat Panda CrossFit in McKinleyville in 2017, opening up another location in Fortuna a year and a half later, and employing eight coaches between the two locations. He described CrossFit as a form of working out that builds camaraderie between the athletes and he says he found an avid community of athletes to train.

When OKane saw the pandemics storm clouds on the horizon, he was gravely concerned because gyms need people to come in to use them. When the doors were officially closed, he began to brainstorm solutions to keeping our athletes moving.

OKane began lending out the gyms equipment to his athletes. He described waiting lists for online orders of fitness equipment and he wanted Sweat Panda CrossFit to step into the gap. OKane and his coaches worked out a system where they would home-deliver equipment our athletes desired and if there is a high demand for that item, they return it for others to use.

OKane said that one of CrossFits most enticing characteristics is the group workout energy and the camaraderie it builds. Hoping to maintain that group experience, OKane and his other coaches use a smartphone app to publish a Workout of the Day that is adaptable to the equipment each of their athletes has access to. Using Zoom, coaches lead the athletes through their training and say they have found value in getting people together to enjoy each others company. To cultivate a sense of competition, OKane described dividing the athletes into groups and facilitating an in-gym competition where group members earn points for their team by completing weekly challenges.

The shutdown has affected Sweat Panda CrossFits bottom line. OKane said, many of our athletes are not working right now so obviously they cannot pay their memberships while not working. OKane knows that exercise is essential for sanity and health and has continued to offer coaching and workouts to all his athletes. Were doing the best we can, but the longer this lasts, the harder it becomes, OKane related.

OKane hopes that when considering re-opening, the state does not look at gym regulations in a one-size-fits-all approach. CrossFit gyms have small classes and can limit the number of participants, he explained. They have the ability to adapt to the protocols. I know [we] are fully capable as a gym to keep everyone safe.

Ultimately, OKane said he wants to serve the athletes. He noted, We are a community and they have been super generous. They all want to a gym to come back to when this is over and our athletes have been there with us every step of the way.

Ann Constantino, co-owner of SoHum Yoga, teaching a class via Zoom in the comfort of her home. [Photo taken by her partner Jerry Latsko]

Constantino described how at the end of February, I started to realize the United States was going to be hit by the virus and on March 8, the studio took the initiative to close. Yoga studios are particularly vulnerable to viral transmission because of the shared props and deep breathing, she explained.

Immediately, Constantino moved her classes online leading her students via Zoom. It was important for Constantino to provide her students continuity and give them an opportunity to continue with the healthy practice of yoga. She said that it vital to keep yoga in their lives.

Constantinos students currently pay what they can and she emphasized that what is most important to her is to make connections and keep up the yoga practice. Constantino expressed how lucky she feels to be able to work out of my home and maintain my yoga practice.

Brittney Morettini teaching her Pilates class before the pandemic closed all fitness facilities [Photo from Morettinis Instagram account infernopilatesgirl and used with her permission]

Three weeks after the shelter-in-place, Morettini began to adjust to the online reality. She described taking a Zoom Pilates class from a studio in Petaluma. There were 110 people in the class. It was so much fun taking the class as a student and I decided I can do this and make it fun.

Morettini started facilitating Pilates classes online with the help of Movewell and Vibes and now she describes doing classes four days per week with somewhere between 6-13 students. She spoke of opening up her network of students with participants from across the United States and even in the United Kingdom. The online format has been so successful that she foresees when things go back to normal, Ill probably still do the classes once per week.

Morettini is facilitating all of these classes on a donation basis and though shes lost the majority of her income, she celebrates that she is able to provide something, keeping my fitness, my students[W]hen we go back to normal, I hope they come back to my classes. Morettini always reminds her students that exercise is a powerful tool to raise dopamine and encourages all North Coast residents to stay active.

Sweat Panda Crossfit, Ann Constantino, and Brittney Morettini are all still accepting new members into their exercise communities. Contact them if you would like to join.

If you have a story of resiliency and strength in the face of the pandemic, please email me at [emailprotected] to share.

See original here:
Working Out While Locked Down: How the Local Fitness Industry Is Adapting to the Pandemic - Redheaded Blackbelt

Your Full Name
Your Email
Your Phone Number
Select your age (30+ only)	30313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120
Select Your US State	Select Your StateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWashington,DCWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Program Choice	Select Your ProgramInjectable HGHInjectable TestoteroneInjectable SermorelinInjectable Weight LossInjectable HCG DietInjectable Vitamins
Confirm over 30 years old	Yes
Confirm that you resident in USA	Yes
This is a Serious Inquiry	Yes
Message:

Home » Fitness » Working Out While Locked Down: How the Local Fitness Industry Is Adapting to the Pandemic – Redheaded Blackbelt