Manitoba gyms pump up call to reopen

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/05/2020 (1994 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After weeks of at-home workouts, online fitness classes and significantly decreased incomes, Manitoba gym owners are anxious to get back in business — and are looking to the provincial government for guidance and approval to reopen.

Amie Seier, owner of the Community Gym in the Exchange District, said the COVID-19 pandemic sparked a quick pivot from community fitness classes and group training to a robust set of online offerings.

The Winnipeg gym’s doors closed March 14, and within a matter of days the space was converted to a recording studio for staff to film and upload classes. Soon after, the business began renting out equipment — notably its stationary bikes — and delivering them to patrons around the city.

The Community was always meant to be nimble, Seier said, so the pivot wasn’t too challenging at first. Two months later, however, the strain is showing.

“Looking ahead, if the province doesn’t let us open and we can’t figure out how to pivot again, going towards July it’s pretty dire for most businesses,” Seier said. “This isn’t a sustainable business model.

“It’s been able to help us stay afloat but it’s not what we were meant to do, so it’s not a feasible approach for the long-term haul.”

On Wednesday, the Manitoba Fitness Council, a body representing fitness leaders and personal trainers, called on government to allow gyms and fitness centres an opportunity to reopen under provincial health and safety guidelines.

So far, the province projects it will allow such centres to open in one of the “future phases” of its reopening plan, though dates for those phases have yet to be announced.

“We’re not asking to open the doors and have it be status quo as it was before, we know that’s not realistic,” MFC executive director Stephanie Jeffrey said in an interview. “We’re asking for reasonable measures to be taken and also to give us kind of a heads-up — because if there are going to be things that are implemented, then we need to be prepared for that.”

Gyms in British Columbia were given the go-ahead Tuesday, so long as they adhere to a litany of government safety protocols. Jeffrey said Manitoba, which has recorded much lower novel coronavirus infection rates than B.C., should offer its gym owners the same opportunity.

At Blue Sky Fitness, owner Kathryn Dzikowicz has already outfitted the floors, walls and doors with decals outlining physical-distancing and handwashing protocols. Over the past two months, the Winnipeg boutique gym has been closed to in-person classes but has run a combination of online workouts and outdoor bootcamps.

As time stretches on, however, Dzikowicz said bills have been stacking up and government support hasn’t been enough to cover the revenue gaps.

“I would be okay if I had to do this for potentially another three to four weeks… but I think people are getting pretty anxious for the smaller studios to open,” she said.

MFC surveyed more than 250 Manitoban gyms to gauge the industry’s preparedness to return to work. Overwhelmingly, the response indicated, given a set of government safety guidelines, fitness facilities would be ready to open within two weeks of an announcement.

Christina Teixeira, sales manager for Shapes Fitness Centres, said larger gyms are also prepared to start working again, as they prepare safety protocols ranging from encouraging patrons to book gym slots to ramping up sanitation practices.

“We don’t want to be a place people are afraid of coming back to. We wanted to eliminate a lot of those fears so when our members are ready to come back, they’re coming back to a clean and sterile environment,” she said.

“Even though we may be a bigger facility, we’re doing our best and we will continue to do our best to keep it a clean and safe environment for our members.”

Gym owners have stressed the future of indoor fitness will be a hybrid one: online classes for those who would prefer not to rush back in, while reopening in-person classes for those who want it.

“We’re going to follow what the government allows us, but we’re also going to rely on our community to tell us what they want to see,” said Seier about Community Gym’s reopening plan.

As the waiting continues, unrest among private gym owners is on the rise. Petitions have circulated and coalitions have been formed to call on government to either bolster financial support or provide the information to allow gyms to start planning to reopen safely.

“Every facility, it’s going to be up to them to determine what it looks like… but at least if we have a pre-opening checklist or some parameters, then we can be ready,” Jeffrey said.

julia-simone.rutgers@freepress.mb.ca