Some Penticton gyms and fitness centres reopened today, and others are set to soon follow suit.
Today, The Gym Eternal, Pure Gym and Juicery, and Crossfit Penticton reopened to the public, with numerous restrictions and guidelines in place.
The Gym Eternal, like others, is following guidelines set out by Interior Health and WorksafeBC. They installed extra hand sanitizer stations, placed tape on the floor to indicate where individuals can stand, and are discouraging members from using the locker room as much as possible.
They are encouraging members to sanitize before and after using equipment, and the company is sanitizing equipment every hour. Classes are set to resume Monday.
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At Pure Gym and Juicery, they are operating under limited hours, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Starting May 26, they will be operating 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Crossfit Penticton is running five classes a day, starting at 5 a.m. through to the evening.
“It feels awesome. It kind of feels like you never left,” said owner Jodi MacKenzie. “Our class sizes are a lot smaller, so there’s a bit of a difference there. But yeah, the same smiling faces coming in, everyone’s getting a great workout, it feels awesome.”
Beach City Crossfit plans to reopen next week, on May 25, at 6 a.m.
City Centre Fitness will open tomorrow, Wednesday, May 20, at 5 a.m.
When members arrive, they will be given a health questionnaire before they are let inside. Equipment, owner Kirby Layng explained, has been distanced six feet apart, and some stations have been closed. Some equipment has been removed. They will not be offering classes for some time.
Each of the six areas in the 9000-square-foot building have been labeled with occupancy loads; some eight, some ten, others 12. If the capacity is reached, Layng said they will stop letting members in. In future if this continues to happen, he said they may switch to a booking system.
“Being closed for two months, it’s a different feeling that’s for sure,” he said, adding that people are excited to get back in the gym.
Layng said they received tremendous support when they announced they were reopening.
“Sure they’ve been doing stuff outside, but - we’ve even rented some equipment out but people say it’s not the same when you do it at home.”
World Gym will reopen May 25 at 9 a.m. and has taken a handful of extra precatuions to ensure safety and compliance with Interior Health policies. The gym has purchased an Ozonator unit which not only cleans the air, but it is effective in killing viruses.
In addition to having staff clean all surfaces hourly, the gym is also waiting on an order of an electrostatic fogger which they will use twice daily to ensure everything is misted with a disinfectant.
They have also created a new circuit room which will ensure proper spacing between equipment. World Gym staff will also wear masks and gloves any time they leave the front desk which is now protected by plexiglass.
Lockers will remain closed for the first week of opening but they will soon start allowing limited access to that area as they monitor how well everything is going.
“We’re excited to open and share everything with the public,” said Tricia Roy of World Gym.
Some fitness centres were unreachable. Centres with updated information can reach the author at the email below.
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