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Home » Fitness » Fitness centers included in Phase One of Trumps reopening plan – fox4kc.com

WASHINGTON D.C. When President Donald Trumprevealed his guidelinesfor opening up America again last week,among the bolded namesof businesses and institutions that could reopen were restaurants, movie theaters and places of worship so long as they adhered to strict social distancing protocols. Gyms were also included.

While an integral part of many Americans routines, gyms and fitness clubs would seem to present a particular risk for contact spread of a contagious virus.

Their inclusion follows a last-minute lobbying push by an industry not known for flexing its muscles in Washington. While not every major company was part of the effort, conversations with 10 leaders in the fitness-club business reveal an influential network of relationships that kicked into gear over the past few weeks and helped move gyms to the front of the line even to the surprise of many in the industry.

Among the most influential advocates is an Iranian-born founder of one of the countrys largest fitness club chains, Bahram Akradi of Life Time Fitness. Akradi has been pitching governors and the Trump administration on what he calls a comprehensive, multifaceted tactical plan to fight the coronavirus and rebuild the economy. He now finds himself on one of Trumps economic recovery working groups and in conference calls with the President himself, including on the day before Trump released his new guidelines.

Multiple people at fitness-center companies from executives at giants like Golds Gym to independent health clubs told CNN they did not expect gyms to be mentioned in reopening plans from either the Trump administration or Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp,who announced Mondayfitness centers were included in several public-space business that could begin reopening by the end of the week.

We just really lucked out and were able to get our message into a couple of the right peoples hands, said Meredith Poppler, a top official at the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, the industrys main trade group.

Poppler told CNN that in recent weeks IHRSA, which receives funding from many of the brand-name gym companies, began a full-court press to deal with the economic fallout hitting gyms and fitness clubs. That included hiring more lobbyists and aggressively pressing its message about the importance of physical fitness during a pandemic to lawmakers in Washington as well as officials in the Trump administration.

The messaging worked even better than theyd hoped.

We were as surprised as anyone when we saw President Trump announce the three phases and that gyms were in the first phase, said Poppler.

There are some with serious concerns that gyms that open in Phase One could become vectors for the virus just as the outbreak might otherwise be winding down. One of them is Dr. Saju Mathew, a family medicine specialist in Atlanta, Georgia who studied public health at Emory University.

How are they going to make sure that people work out where theyre six feet apart from each other at all times? Are they going to only let people stagger in? I just have a lot of health and safety concerns. And then locker rooms could be even a bigger issue, Mathew told CNN.

Many of the gym executives that spoke to CNN said they have been busy planning how they will reopen and trying to do so carefully. The accelerated timeline in Georgia, they said, means many are unlikely to be ready to reopen facilities there on Friday. A spokesperson for Planet Fitness told CNN there is no set date for reopening their clubs in Georgia or elsewhere around the country. Orangetheory Fitness will reopen some franchised Georgia locations on May 11, the company confirmed to CNN in a statement.

The executive chairman of Equinox Group, Harvey Spevak, told CNNs Cristina Alesci the companywill not opentheir SoulCycle studios in Georgia on Friday, when the restrictions on gyms lift in that state. Spevak said the company is working with outside infectious disease experts who will help the company make decisions on reopening.

And some executives who spoke to CNN expressed some hesitance at a lack of federal guidance dictating what measures they should follow when they reopen. Adam Zeitsiff, the CEO of Golds Gym, said that even in Mongolia, where Golds Gym also operates, the government has mandated distances between members, a quota capacity for gyms and guidelines about testing employees.

There still hasnt been a final guideline given to us as to how were going to reopen, Zeitsiff said.

Every gym executive CNN spoke with said they had been working to develop company-wide standards for cleaning and social distancing measures to keep members safe when they do reopen. Zeitsiff said that during Phase One, employees will be asked to wear a mask and gloves, and people will be assigned to monitor who is using what machine going in and cleaning after members clean themselves. They also plan to temperature check employees.

Other gym conglomerates like Planet Fitness and 24 Hour Fitness said they plan to use their company app to check people into their clubs with less contact between members and employees, including eliminating touch-screen check-in machines. 24 Hour Fitness said they plan to open their gyms in 60-minute sessions through the day, followed by a 30-minute closed gym cleaning period, according to a statement they provided to CNN.

Jim Rowley, CEO of Crunch Global, said part of their procedures when reopening will be to use the gym app in order to limit class sizes for group fitness classes. He said they are also considering using it to check members in. Since closing Crunch gyms, Rowley says his staff has been working on a 37-page manual on their procedures for reopening.

The franchise is investing in special cleaning methods and hiring more staff to handle the increased cleaning demand.

Were spending and this is the tough part, Rowley said. We dont have any revenue but were having to spend money to reopen on labor, hiring new staff members, having more hours for janitorial disinfectant and buying products that are more expensive thinking about safety.

Anthony Geisler, CEO and founder of Xponential Fitness which manages eight boutique fitness chains, including the popular Row House, Pure Barre and Club Pilates, said he believes boutique fitness studios are safer to reopen than big gym franchises, because they are often smaller spaces and that it will be easier to track people taking classes if someone were to become sick.

Theres a massive difference between a gym like a 40,000 big box facility and 1,000 square foot Pilates studio, Geisler told CNN.

Mathew said gyms with large numbers of people coming in and out of the building is likely going to be a huge health hazard.

You can imagine in a gym setting, if you just traced people from weight to weight, if one person is infected, he or she can infect three or four people around them and then the chain begins, Mathew said.

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Fitness centers included in Phase One of Trumps reopening plan - fox4kc.com

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Home » Fitness » Fitness centers included in Phase One of Trumps reopening plan – fox4kc.com