Element Fitness is open again

Jul 22, 2020

Having your business shut down, with no warning, for over 4 months, can be a bitter pill.

Karley Heyman, of Elements Fitness in Sydenham, was excited last week that she would be able to open again at 5:30am (people like to work out at all hours) on Monday, July 20th.

But she also took the shutdown in stride.

“It was necessary,” she said, “our entire goal is for our members to be healthy and that was what the lockdown was all about.”

In order to support the gym members and the community at large, workouts were regularly posted on the Elements Fitness website and Facebook page over the last four months. And for the last few weeks, planning has been underway to open Elements safely once the go-ahead came from the provincial government.

On July 13th, the Premier announced that as of Friday, the 17th, gyms and fitness centres were included in the list of businesses that could reopen’

“One of the advantages that we have at Elements, is that we have a large outdoor facility in addition to our indoor facility, and that makes everything a lot easier to manage when we look at the distancing requirements.”

Since it is located on a rural property, Elements does not normally attract as many people at one time that urban gyms might attract, so the limit of 50 people in a building at one time is not a major issue either.

“We are spending the week measuring and designing where the equipment stations are located in order to make sure we have everything in place when we open on Monday, “Heyman said in an interview on Thursday (July 16th).

But there was one piece of the puzzle that concerned her. She was not sure how she would handle it if gym members needed to wear masks while using equipment or participating in fitness classes.

“As an instructor, one of the main ways I can tell how people are handling their workout is by monitoring their breath,” she said, “and I am worried not only about how masks may make it harder to breathe and about how I will be able to know how they are handling the workout.”

Fortunately for Heyman, KFL&A Public Health announced on Friday that masks do not need to be worn during workout, but they must still be worn on the way in and out of the facility, and when walking around between sessions.

One of the positive offshoots of closing was that it gave Elements staff a chance to evaluate how the gym was operated, how scheduling was done, and a host of other aspects of the business that may be changing in the coming weeks and months.

“It is hard to make changes while operating day to day, so it has been a chance to think about what we are doing and how we are doing it, and that is good for us to be able to do,” she said.

For information, go to Elementsfitnessandwellness.ca or search on Facebook for Elements Sydenham