A gradual return of gyms, fitness centers
Phase 1 of Shelby County’s reopening plan started Monday
Ahmed Alaina was greeted right on time Monday by a group of nine eager early birds.
Alaina, who also works full-time as a physical therapist, was among the first fitness center owners to reopen as part of Phase 1 of Shelby County’s Back-to-business plan.
“Oh, yeah, everyone was super excited,” said Alaina, who opened Crossfit Silver Bull in east Memphis in May 2015.
“Ecstatic. Everyone was either early, which is not usually normal for a 5 a.m. crossfit class, or right on time. Everything went fairly smooth.”
Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris and the mayors of Shelby County’s suburbs unveiled their plan to gradually bring the local economy back to life on April 27 – six weeks into the COVID-19 shutdown. Three days later, officials announced the plan would begin in earnest Monday.
Phase 1 allowed a range of businesses to reopen as long as a set of strict guidelines were followed. Included among them for gyms and fitness centers were limited occupancy, face mask requirements for employees and workouts limited to no more than 45 minutes.
In addition to Crossfit Silver Bull, NBS Fitness in Cordova also resumed operations. David Allen, who has run NBS Fitness for nine years, said he spent the past few weeks communicating with other independent facilities around the country about how they were handling the reopening process.
“So we were able to kind of game plan ahead (based on) what we thought might be the guidelines and procedures,” said Allen. “When we got the guidelines, we were just waiting for them to say ‘Go.’ When they did, we were like, ‘Perfect, man. Let’s execute.’ ”
Alaina and Allen, however, were exceptions Monday, as a number of other gyms around the Mid-south elected to keep their doors shut — for a little while longer, at least. ATC Fitness, a 24-hour workout facility with 18 locations in and around Memphis, will reopen May 11. F45 Training in Germantown will also take an extra week to prepare to reopen. F45 Training owner Emily Acree, who runs the facility with her husband, Steve, said she wanted to make sure her members and staff were fully prepared.
“We are very excited. (But) we are, I guess, approaching this not scared, but prepared,” Acree said. “We’re doing everything we feel like is socially responsible, just to make sure we fall within all the rules. But the response has been overwhelmingly positive from the members we’ve heard from. There’s been a great deal of interest and excitement regarding getting back in the studio and training together.”
Life Time Fitness in Collierville, one of 150 locations in the United States, did not reopen Monday and has not set a concrete date to do so, according to senior director of corporate communications Natalie Bushaw. She said the company, which is set to reopen its first location (Oklahoma City) later this week, is taking its cues from its membership.
“How are they feeling? Are they ready to come back to the club?” Bushaw said. “Once we know most of our members are ready to come back, that’s when we’ll make the decision to open our doors. It can’t come soon enough, but we want to make sure they’re ready to come back.”