Gym owners, patrons warm up to working out

Connecticut fitness centers prepare for June 17 return to indoor business

Alyssa Buckheit could not have asked for a better billboard for her startup last Saturday, as she led a morning fitness class through an outdoors warmup, as vehicles trundled by en route to Whole Foods Market and Danbury Fair mall.

But Buckheit said she is ready to get her new Fluxfit program back indoors, after opening in early March on Backus Avenue in Danbury. She barely had time to turn the lights on before Gov. Ned Lamont shut down gyms statewide as part of his “stay safe, stay home” orders to limit the spread of COVID-19.

With Lamont including fitness centers in the state’s newest phase of reopening set for June 17, Buckheit has begun helping FluxFit members work out the kinks via outdoor classes in advance of indoor workouts next week.

“Hopefully, we can slowly add on to the class numbers and get up to full capacity by the end of the year,” Buckheit said. “That’s the hope.”

Heather Amaral was among a half-dozen women signing up for FluxFit’s first outdoors class on Saturday morning, with the New Milford resident indicating she is still easing back into the idea of moving to indoors routines, but looking forward to the first step of that process.

“It’s more comfortable having it outside,” Amaral said. “I think when it moves inside is when my anxiety level would go up.”

Buckheit said she is following to the letter Connecticut’s guidebook for gyms, which recycle many rules for retailers and offices such as frequent cleansing of surfaces, operating at half capacity, maintaining personal distances of at least six feet, and increasing the ventilation of air from outside.

Gyms were given one major allowance in allowing people not to have to wear face masks if they remain 12 feet apart, with other businesses asked to have adults wear masks unless they have a medical condition putting them at risk of complications by doing so.

In addition to its own rules, Connecticut is referring gym owners to coronavirus safety guidelines published by the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association based in Boston.

Planet Fitness is having its centers adhere to a 100-page manual for operations as a result of the pandemic, with the chain operating 30 locations in Connecticut. Last week, Planet Fitness indicated about 60 percent of its clients are returning for workouts in locales where fitness centers are operating again.

“You’ve got to weather the storm to get through it,” said CEO Chris Rondeau, speaking in early May on a conference call. “I don’t think, coming out of this, people are going to want to be less healthy or less active.”

Alexander Soule / Hearst Connecticut Media FluxFit owner Alyssa Buckheit leads an outdoor workout at her newly opened center across from Danbury Fair mall. FluxFit is one of a number of fitness centers that have been offering outdoor or virtual sessions during hiatuses forced by the COVID-19 pandemic.