Gyms In CT Will Reopen Wednesday. Will Anyone Show Up?

CONNECTICUT — It's time to lose your "quarantine 15," buddy: Gyms will be reopening throughout the state on June 17.

Gyms join indoor dining, the lodging industry, indoor recreation and personal services such as tattoo parlors in the business sector allowed to hang shingles out once again. The governor shuttered them all as part of his "Stay Safe, Stay Home" lockdown begun in March, intended to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

But before you drop and give us 20, you should check with the management of your local torture mill to make sure it's both open and up to code.

Frank Rios, owner of Trinity CrossFit reopening in Ridgefield, has approached Gov. Ned Lamont's reopening regulations in the same manner CrossFit athletes like to approach their exercise regimen: he's overdoing it.

The new rules dictate that capacity be cut in half, and at Trinity that meant trimming the 12 people per class down to six. But Rios says his classes will be no larger than five, and he is also paring the number of classes per day to four. This will allow for larger gaps in between the sessions, thereby minimizing the chance of cross-contamination between the athletes coming and going.

Gyms that require customers to wear a mask while exercising must maintain 6 feet of space between equipment, otherwise the mandated distancing is twice that.

The state has instituted strict disinfection protocols for gyms, but it's all pretty straightforward if your experience is treadmills and elliptical machines. If you typically climb walls and ropes like Batman, or CrossFit trainees, it's a bit more involved. Rios said he will drop rope climbing from the "workouts of the day," as well as the assault bikes, focusing instead on barbells and dumbbells. Each athlete's station will have its own exclusive set of weights which will be sanitized before and after each workout.

"We're also going to be live-Zooming every one of the classes, so that people who reserve themselves into a class they later decide they can't attend physically can still benefit." Rios said he is lending out equipment to gym members so they can properly participate at home.

Brian Bakalar, co-owner of Gymnastics Revolution/Ninja Revolution in Danbury, says he got a jump on Lamont's reopening plan by moving his obstacle courses outside and classifying them as an "outdoor recreational facility."

Smooth move, "but the sun is killing us," Bakalar said. "So we're going to be indoors starting Wednesday under heavily modified schedules and capacities with more cleaning and sterilization."

Bakalar says the new state regulations for gyms can be classified three ways.

"Quite honestly, some of it is more for appearance than anything else and some of it is necessary and some of it is stuff that a lot of us should have been thinking of all along."

Bakalar's employees are busy installing touch-less light switches everywhere — a recommendation by the state — and washing down each piece of equipment once an hour with a bleach solution. He says he is looking into investing in new fogger machines which take the disinfecting agents airborne, to facilitate the nightly cleanings.

Smaller and fewer classes, and investments in new technology are all going to take a big bite out Connecticut gyms' operating costs. Worse, there are no assurances the revenue will return to pre-COVID levels. Rios and Bakalar are worried many are going to take a hard pass until they think the virus is gone for good.

CrossFit Trinity surveyed its clientele about a week ago, Rios said, and learned that "about 60-65 percent" of its membership is ready to start sweating again. He's counting on the favorable word of mouth from them about sanitary and other conditions at the gym to lure back the skeptical 35-40 percent.

The Gym/Ninja Revolution clientele are kids, but their parents are the ones making the call whether to return. Bakalar says the parents with whom he has spoken run the gamut from "very, very conservative" and not anxious to tempt the fates in the Age of COVID, to "people who think we never should've closed in the first place."

Bakalar says he is taking advantage of the state pressing the pause button on his business to evaluate what makes best practices for a ninja gym. Is he better off with more classes containing fewer coaches and athletes? Can his coaches do in an hour and twenty minutes what they used to need two or three hours to do? He hopes the business can "reach a stasis in two or three months" and we can make some really good decisions going forward."

One thing is certain: Things have to change.

"If everything stays exactly how it is today, we're out of business" Bakalar said.

But the gym landscape is fluid, and some of the competition is starting to buckle. A rival gym just announced it is closing its doors permanently, "and all of a sudden my phone starts to ring," the gym owner said. "And I have an influx of new students."

And that "quarantine 15?" Turns out it's a real thing, according to the Mayo Clinic. So get to the gym, bud. As of June 17, you're out of excuses...

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