THE BUSINESS OF KEEPING FIT IN THE TIME OF COVID

By Adam Urquhart, Granite State News Collaborative

For some, keeping active amidst an ongoing pandemic has posed many challenges, but for those operating various fitness centers in the Monadnock Region, a whole new set of obstacles are stretching them thin.

This past summer, local gyms and yoga studios were able to ease back into in-person activities, which helped these businesses gain momentum. But as the winter approached — and the second wave of the pandemic hit our area — gym and yoga studio attendance has fallen by the wayside.

Keene, New Hampshire

This has been the case for Ryann Singleton, owner of Form 603 Personal Fitness & Cycling Studio in Keene, New Hampshire, who has noticed a recent slowdown. Singleton says that over the last couple of months, people have started to freeze their memberships as they become more cautious with the number of rising COVID-19 cases. With those freeze requests coming in, it is becoming more challenging for Singleton to run her business.

Owner of Form 603 Personal Fitness & Cycling Studio in Keene, Ryann Singleton, has set up individual bubble barriers around the spin bikes in her studio using shower curtains to provide an extra level of comfort and safety for participants.

“It drops down our income big time,” Singleton says. “We were already working at a limited, just a slower, operation with the same expenses, and now it’s slowing down more, which is obviously challenging as a business, but we’re working our way to try to survive the best we can.”

Those who do end up freezing their memberships still have access to workouts, Singleton explains. Members have access to a library of workouts that were developed during the first shutdown in the spring. Singleton also offers her members the chance to take equipment home to train and exercise.

When Singleton reopened after the shutdown earlier in 2020, her facility opened at limited capacity — meaning more classes with fewer people in each to allow for more spacing. Aside from allowing more time between scheduling classes, spacing people out and limiting occupancy, people are now also wearing masks the entire time they are in the studio as an extra precaution. Singleton also got creative when it came to those working out on the spin bikes by installing innovative bubble barriers that wrap around the entire bike. These individual bubbles are done by hanging shower curtains from the ceiling, creating a “bubble” for extra safety.

Brattleboro, Vermont

As Singleton works to continue offering people an outlet for exercise, Carla Grant is also doing what she can to make business work during these challenging times. Grant is the owner of Supreme Fitness in Brattleboro, Vermont. She has been experiencing fewer people coming in, especially the over 60s crowd. She has been doing some online classes for that older group. When she reopened the facility, she continued with the Zoom and opened up the classroom to some people.

“When we [re]opened in June, a bunch of people came back, and they slowly came back, but now with the [pandemic] spike, people are disappearing again,” Grant says.

Supreme Fitness used to have spin classes, and Grant has recently rented out all of the bikes, so people are now doing it in the comfort of their own home. Aside from offering those online opportunities and renting out bikes, Supreme Fitness has stepped up its cleaning game. Grant says that people who exercise at her fitness center are also walking around with their own spray bottles and cleaning towels so that they can wipe things down before and after touching equipment.

While people are still using her facility, the numbers are much less than that of last year.

“Probably a year ago, we were looking at more like 140 people or 150 people in a day, and we’re probably half of that now,” Grant says.

Supreme Fitness is now seeing 60 or 70 people in a day. Grant says that includes in-person and online combined. Like many other business owners, she is awaiting the COVID-19 vaccine. She’s also hoping Supreme Fitness can hold on as long as it can. In the meantime, funding is what has helped her business get by.

“What’s helped us is the grant money,” Grant says, adding that she received both federal and state help. “That’s the only reason we’re still here.”

Grant explains that her business took advantage of the PPP, which is how she was able to rehire her staff in June 2020 when they reopened. She says without that money, she would not have been able to hire people back, adding that the state of Vermont also came through with assistance in the form of grants, one of which she is waiting to hear.

Without the grant and the PPP, Grant says she would not be open and that business would not have been able to come this far, citing how there are not enough members to keep the place going.

“As soon as the money’s gone, we’re gone,” Grant says.

In terms of whether or not she will need more of that sort of funding, Grant says it will depend on how long the pandemic lasts and if her members feel safe to exercise with others. It is all going to depend on timing and how long Supreme Fitness can hold on for.

“We’re not alone,” Grant says. “I know the other businesses, the other gyms I know in town are feeling the same way.”

Peterborough, New Hampshire

Cassandra Sullivan is also adjusting her yoga business to the ever-changing circumstances caused by the pandemic. She is the owner of Healing Yoga NH in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where she operates in a few different ways. Sullivan says she works mostly with private clients and small group classes, usually consisting of just four people for individual focus and attention. She has also taught larger group classes of up to about 18 people in a different space in downtown Peterborough.

“In March, all of that was stopped,” Sullivan says. “All of the in-person stuff was stopped, of course, and I switched to online pretty quickly.”

It took her about two weeks to figure out the online logistics and get up and running. Sullivan had been using Zoom previously for some of her private clients who weren’t always in the area, and so she continued with that and then brought her group classes online. Over the summer, she started in-person classes. Sullivan also conducted outdoor classes in a local park downtown, which ran almost through October. But now, things have slowed down. Her in-person classes were whittled down to just six students instead of 12 to 18 students to allow for a little bit more than six feet between mats on all sides. However, now with cases rising, she has decided to reel things back in.

Sullivan felt confident that she was doing everything to keep people as safe as possible, such as wearing face masks and social distancing. The larger studio space that she was operating out of also got an air purifier, and she says the windows were open to get more airflow. Nonetheless, just seeing the way things are trending, Sullivan has decided not to continue with group classes in person.

“I am still seeing a few private clients one-on-one, individual sessions, but that is, at this point, it’s just a few existing clients, and everything else just went back to the Zoom land,” Sullivan says.

With the exception of those few single private sessions, everything is online now. Still, some of Sullivan’s students do not have reliable internet service where they live, so to do a video class is not a great experience for them when the internet is cut, dropped or delayed. Additionally, Sullivan explains that there are also people who want nothing to do with online yoga; instead, they are only interested in doing in-person classes. Plus, online classes are not as appealing to those new to yoga. While she once offered services in several ways, online, outdoors and the studio, now that COVID-19 cases are increasing, it has made Sullivan kind of pause and consider what she is comfortable with.

“Even though I feel like it was safe, I just thought it’s probably a good time for me to take a little break from the in-person stuff and not have that stress on my shoulders if something were to happen or someone were to get sick,” Sullivan says.

As far as the benefits of doing yoga during these tough times go, Sullivan believes there are a lot of benefits of just moving the body, adding that with the level of ongoing anxiety that we are probably all experiencing, that yoga is also beneficial for downregulating through the breathing practices, and meditation and mindfulness.

“It’s definitely a beneficial practice,” Sullivan says. “It always is, but when we’re going through something like this, to have something to kind of anchor and ground you a bit is so necessary right now.”

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org