My gym reopened!

I joined a gym several years ago. It was my first serious attempt at a gym and I embraced the experience.

I went for a tour of @PlanetFitness. I had recently lost weight and was hoping to consult with a personal trainer. Planet Fitness was great, a diverse group as far as age, race and athletic ability. The location was five minutes from my house, and open 24 hours. At the time of my tour, they were in search of a trainer, but she said the would have some any day.

I was going to wait for them to hire a trainer, but then realized that I was just procrastinating, so I joined 3 days later. I was an official Black Card member. Black card allowed you access to tanning beds tanning booths, massage chairs and a hydro massage bed. The hydro massage is so awesome.

Most of the equipment was foreign to me. Each piece of equipment has a QR code that will show you a video of how the machine should be used. Sometimes, on your phone, its hard to see were to place you hands of feet but I found the videos very helpful as I promised myself I would try every device they had. Most are self explanatory, some require a slight learning curve. For instance, the elliptical. It feels so completely unnatural, I thought I must not have it adjusted correctly, and would get off as fast as I got on. I have tried this contraption a couple times and immediately got off thinking its not built or adjusted for a tall person like myself.

The first time I got on the elliptical at Planet Fitness, I must have looked like a giraffe on roller skates. but this time I stuck with it. There is a trick to using an elliptical. Keep you feet flat until you get comfortable with the stride. Seems like such a simple adjustment, but it really works. Once you get a custom to the foot rest and stride, then you can lift you heel as you move. Makes and incredible difference to a first timer.

I committed to 30 days everyday, lets see if it makes a difference…and IT DID. I was surprised, things were tightening up. When you loose a lot of weight your skin is not always forgiving and you have saggy parts. I know its gross, but its true.

I would alter target areas for my workouts, but didn’t worry much about my legs, I figured that the cardio days would take care of tightening them. Im not looking to be an adonis, but I liked the results that I was seeing. My 30 day commitment passed and I kept with my routine. A bad day at work could easily be forgoten with 30-40 minutes of cardio. I easily get board so I switch programed workouts, and machines often. My favorite machine, funny enough, became the elliptical, It had a physical training programs that had you switching every few minutes. Made a 40 minute experience bearable and actually enjoyable.

Six month in and I was still committed. I wish I would have taken before and after pics because I feel like a different person. My body responded well to my new training and routine. I was by-no-means becoming a huge muscled guy. That was never my intention. I was becoming, fit and toned and healthy overall. That was my goal!

You get to know the gym. The staff. And the inner workings. The gym is clean. Super clean usually. It was an odd thing to ever see something on the floor. The staff is constantly cleaning and maintaining the gym.

I stayed committed and everything was great until around February of this year. When the virus was first starting out in the United States. So little was know about the spread. People touch everything at the gym, and some people come when they were obviously under the weather. That worried me with this virus. I was a black card member at the time and had concerns about leaving my home and going anywhere that wasn’t necessary. I loved the gym but didn’t want to die from something so silly. I went one last day and thought I would just feel it out, see if I felt safe…I didn’t. I went to the desk and changed my member ship to the Classic. I thought that maybe I would still come but less often. The Black Card spa is in closed areas so that felt like it could be easy point of easy transmission.

I sill wanted to stay committed but maybe its time to take a little break. I felt so much better about my decision when everything closed about a week later. I was sad, I really came to enjoy the gym, but my decision was bolstered with the shutdown.

I cant tell you how much I missed it. I tried home workouts. Best intentions, but my attention wained. I came to rely so heavily on the machines that Planet Fitness had i was afraid I would injure myself if I tried to emulate the workouts at home with my equipment. Ab crunches area great example. I cant do them correctly at home, but with teh equipment at PF I have fantastic results. Cardio was pretty easy. I pulled my 20yo bike out of storage and watch a Youtube tutorial on “How to replace a bike tire tube” With just a $4.95 purchase my bike was as good as new and I was on the road.

I missed Planet Fitness. How much did I miss it? I would drive by like I was swooning for a lost love. Silly I know. No one was ever there, it was like it had been temporarily erased or wiped away.

One day there was a car over near my PF location. I noticed it, and it drew me like a moth to a flame. As I crawled through the parking lot, my neck straining to see it there was life inside. I glimmer of hope that life pre-Covid, may return.

I came home and immediately went to Planet Fitness’ web page. They were reopening on June 26. OMG maybe our lives will get back to normal? the website stated all of the precautions that they have enacted. they were temperature scanning employees as they entered. My immediate thought was why wouldn’t they scan everyone as a precaution. It seemed like they had thought this through, so felt comfortable going back.

I was so excited when I saw that Planet Fitness was reopening, and I was confident that they would adopt safety measures that would keep me protected and safe. I must say that I was quite disappointed when I got there.

Reopening day I was there by mid day. The sign at the door almost made me turn around. It stated that masks were required to enter the building. Once you were checked in and on the gym floor, you can remove your mask. Whaaaaaat? This went against every guidance that I had read about or saw on the news.

I checked in. They had a plexi barrier, however it wasn’t were the card reader was located. Seemed useless at the location that it was positioned. It was nice to see familiar faces behind the desk, with each of them now also wearing masks. I walked to to my old starting point for my work out. I looked around and there were maybe 20 people in the entire gym. To my astonishment, just one other person, besides myself, had a mask on. I not only wore a mask but reached into my pocket and pulled out my nitrile gloves. I went through my workout routine with mask and gloves. Its not pleasant, trying to work out wearing a mask that prohibits airflow, but I would do it, with respect for others and with no hesitation. I cleaned each piece of equipment before and after I used it. The sanitizing stations looked exactly the same, but now each station had a yellow flag attached. Not sure why, you can easily see the stations from anywhere in the gym even before adding the flags. There are at least 6-8 stations though out the gym. I cringed as other member walked by me with no mask on. How could this be safe? Its not, its not safe!

Planet Fitness, I stand behind you as a no judgment fitness center, but you need to enhance the safety of your guests.

Some easy and low cost, suggestions could be to, temperature scan, each member as they come in. Also, masks should be worn at all times while inside the gym. At the vary least, have designated times that are for mask wearing only members.

I want to be back with Planet Fitness, just as much as you want to reopen. However, I know that you would never want to knowingly be a source of virus spread. My fear is that your facilities and other gyms may become an epicenter of virus spread if you choose not to enhance your safety measures. And worse, you will be forced to close again.

My first intention, was to contact Planet Fitness directly with my concerns. I would have preferred a one on one communication, regarding my safety concerns rather than a blog post. After scouring the Planet Fitness website, they do not accept comments at their headquarters. You can send a message to your gym location only.

My best to you Planet Fitness, I know you want the best for your guests.

Sincerely, a P-Fit 4 Life member.

Update July 9, 2020: I have and update to this post. With concern for my own safety, I have not returned to my everyday commitment to fitness. Its summer and I decided to get my cardio from outdoor activity. This area has excelent bike and hiking trails. This greatly reduces the need to have cardio workouts at an indoor gym by half. I also wanted to mention that each time I went back to Planet Fitness, more and more members were wearing masks. The ratio was more like 90% of the members were wearing masks. It was great to see that members took the initiative to protect each other whether it was required or not.

On Monday, I noticed that the signs on the doors were now removed and replaced with signs that stated masks were to be worn at all times. Im truly not sure if Planet Fitness changed their policy, saw that members were demanding it, or more thoroughly reviewed the states policy on indoor business operations. Its a little unfortunate that they confused members, because now I still see a few people removing their masks once on the gym floor. I still love Planet Fitness, and I am doing my part to make sure my gym stays health and open for business.

Update July 31, 2020: Im not sure what is going on at my gym. The signs on the door have changed more than four times. Today the sign read, beginning August 1st, masks would be required. Whaaaaaaaaat? My friends are quitting in droves. They don’t feel safe. I have to agree. When I go to the gym, I’d say there are less than 20 people. The sad thing is, many have their mask pulled down under there nose or worse, under their chin. It makes me so angry that I fastidiously wear a mask to protect them, yet they dont have the same consideration for my well being.

Unfortunately if the gym won’t enforce the CDC rules, my only recourse is to cancel my membership and I really dont want to give up on my fitness. I am in the best shape of my life and want to continue. I’ve already eliminated cardio in the gym. I moved to outdoor cardio. My 15yo bike is holding up amazingly well, Im now biking up to about 75 miles-a-week.

#PlanetFitness, #coronaVirus, #Covid19 #Rona #slowthespread