Ever since we saw the tentacles of this pandemic take hold in countries like China, Spain, Italy, the US etc. a deluge of emails and social media posts containing volumes of home based and outdoor training programs has ended up in my inbox. All of them for FREE. Most use body weight for resistance. But there are quite a few that involve the use of equipment like kettlebells and dumbbells. I really like kettlebells. They’re versatile, effective and really easy to transport. You can use them for a Met Con or just plain strength training.
As a result. We have access to a tonne of home based workouts for the isolationists among us. It’s safe to say we gym owners saw this coming a few miles back!
And the level of support from the programmers and trainers who supply this content is really great to see and experience too. I participate in a number of really fantastic online affiliate owner forums and the level of support we’re receiving inside of these networks right now is also really great. It really is.
Then there are our members. They’re incredible. We’re really small right now. COVID-19 could not have hit at a worse time for us. Gyms and facilities like ours were among the first to come under scrutiny as potential high risk environments for the transmission of the virus. So we did what we were supposed to do and tried to reduce that risk as much as possible. And our members … small in number as they are … are still with us. We obviously really appreciate that, and so we’re reciprocating by pulling out all the stops to keep them training.
Now it looks like the inevitable is here. Across the country gyms are closing. There’s definitely a divergence of views as to whether CrossFit affiliates are the high risk environments that they’re portrayed as. In reality – affiliate owners will do whatever it takes to stay open for their members. As a result we probably have some of the cleanest and most hygienic boxes anywhere in the world right now. But the point is moot. Having a clean gym isn’t actually the aim. It’s actually about changing human behavior, and whether or not we as a community are doing whatever we can, collaboratively, to slow the spread of this virus? I’ll leave the answer to that question to others more qualified than I to ponder. Because at our facility, our focus is on the things we can control. Right now, we can help our members keep up with their training. We need to keep people moving to benefit their mental well-being as well as their physical health.
So this is our response to the crisis and it will be the way of things for quite some time to come. It’s a challenge. Don’t get me wrong on that point. But we embrace the challenge. From next week we’ll be convening regular zoom hook-ups with members. Our CrossFit program will move to an online format and will consist of individualized home based programs and online remote fitness and nutritional coaching. We see many gyms pumping out home based programs for their members with no additional support. In truth, you can access weeks of online programming for less than $20 these days … straight to your phone. You don’t need to belong to a gym for that … let alone hire a PT. So we’re not doing that.
We provide a wrap-around service to each member based on their specific goals. Programming is not cookie-cutter. Remote PT is intense fitness coaching delivered online and uses a range of metrics to chart progress. The coach is always available. Experiencing a training and motivational slump? Talk to coach. Can’t figure out your macros? Talk to coach. Discovered a tub of classic vanilla ice-cream in the freezer and have spoon at the ready? Talk to coach. Immediately! That’s what it’s about.
We’re explaining this plan in much more detail for our members this Tuesday night at 7.15pm via zoom. If you’re interested you can certainly join us. Just follow the link.
Coach Gaz