How to be Safe in a Gym - WATCH THIS VIDEO

Wow. This is the post that has kept me awake at night. Why have I been losing sleep? Coronavirus is airborne. It comes from people's breath. When we breath harder, especially from our mouths, we likely emit more virus into the air. And, people breath harder when they exercise.

I've been serving on work groups to advise Governor Whitmer on how to safely reopen fitness, personal training and gyms in Michigan. With the continued spread of Covid-19, is it even possible to go back to working out? I've read a lot of research - hours of reading.

Then I distilled the information down into a 6-minute video.

10 things your gym should be doing to keep you safe

AND 

...the 7 additional things you can do to protect yourself

2020 How to Be Safe in a Gym 

If you plan to walk back into a gym or fitness center, arm yourself with these tips. Spread the word, it could save some lives.

We are continuing to personal train over Zoom and FaceTime. This will continue to be the safest way to exercise until Covid-19 is gone. If you are not already training with us, try a free fitness consultation. We'd love to help you feel your best and NOW we can train you wherever you are.

Surviving a Pandemic with your Muscles Intact

I’ve worked as a personal trainer for over 20 years. While I am training, I give 100% of my focus to my client. For years I’ve been irritated when someone tries to talk with me while I am working. How can I talk? I am watching every joint in the body moving, reading exertion levels, chatting with my client and counting repetitions. On March 16^th, when one of my fellow trainers nudged me during my training session, I knew it had to be critical. It was. The governor had issued an executive order that would shut us down at 3pm.

One thing I’ve learned from personality testing, it is that I do not change direction well. As a small-business owner, I’ve had to change direction a lot since mid-March. It helped to realize that all decisions came from three immediate priorities: 1. Keep our clients strong and healthy. 2. Keep our business afloat and our staff employed. 3. Prevent a single staff member or client from getting the Covid-19 virus.

Many of our clients are baby boomers and older. We help them keep their backs, spines and legs strong. Our strength training helps our elderly clients remain independent in their own homes. Many are saying now, “Thank God I’m not in a nursing home; that’s because of you!”. My team and I dropped off sanitized dumbbells and exercise bands to our client’s porches to ensure they could keep lifting weights during the stay-at-home period.

While staying at home is keeping us safe from the virus, it is also cutting us off from our community and our support resources. 

April was a scary time for Better Living. Even so, I was encouraged by the local, state and federal responses to help small businesses get through this. So many businesses were suffering as people went into lock down. On Monday, April 13^th, I called the Small Business Association to check our SBA loan status. I was caller 1,526 in cue. It was time to ramp up our efforts to keep people healthy and survive on our own. 

The Better Living team and I started offering Zoom and FaceTime-based training sessions. They were immediately popular. As people lost their access to gyms, fitness classes and other exercise outlets, our exercise training became even more valuable. Clients told us that the sessions worked surprisingly well - "We can train on Zoom the next time there is snow." We had found a new way to help people! 

Over the past 3 months, we have continued to offer our entire staff full-time hours. We continue to listen to our clients for what they need and we seek to pivot our company to serve the community. So far, we have not had a single 'known" case of Covid-19 among our staff or clients.

The isolation of staying-at-home, while necessary, leads to muscle loss, joint deterioration and depression. I believe we all need to take care of each other right now. It is a depressing time so we need to “Focus on what you CAN do, versus what you can’t”. What Better Living can do is keep people strong, so that’s what we are doing.

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Let us help you:

Try a FREE Zoom Full-Body FIT strength class. Use Promo Code: StayAtHome

Or try a COMPLIMENTARY On-line Mobility class with the Promo Code: GetMobile

SIGNUP and SCHEDULE

You don't need any exercise equipment to do these classes, though light dumbbells and/or bands make for an even better workout.