Covid 19 and The Fitness Industry – All Gyms Were NOT Created Equal

As we all continue to endure this horrible pandemic, it seems that some of the larger, commercial gym corporations are currently making news with their plans to re-open.  As with most things in the gym industry, these huge corporations seem to “block out the sun” for the many smaller, independent gyms.  As such, we feel compelled to comment on these headlines.  In short, we find many of these publicized announcements to be annoyingly self-righteous, self serving, and quite sanctimonious.  

First of all, it’s pretty obvious that once allowed to re-open, any responsible gym owner will zealously be taking the following steps among many others, to protect their members.

• Doubling up on all cleaning with an emphasis on continually disinfecting of equipment, doors, change rooms, etc.
• Signs, reminders of social distancing, and extra hand sanitizer.
• Physical barriers where required between members using equipment.
• Following all of the government guidelines presented for our industry.

Yet, these highly publicized plans for many of the largest gym corporations include many of the following Draconian measures:

• Restricted access for members due to new reduced capacity limits 
• Restricted and limited hours for members to attend these gyms 
• Forced shutdowns of these gyms, multiple times per day for disinfecting
• Strict time limits for workouts, for example – under 1 hour
• Members will be required to pre-schedule their visits to these gyms
• Strict limits on the number of workouts allowed per week
• Cancelling amenities for which members $ paid – pools, towels, saunas, etc.
• Mandatory health/temperature checks required to enter these gyms

Okay, seems reasonable.  Harsh but required, given this terrible pandemic.  

What is most important to know though is that most of what these huge gym corporations are now dictating DOES NOT APPLY TO SMALL INDEPENDENT GYMS, WHATSOEVER!   

Simply put, their business models absolutely require these harsh new rules because they are based on maximizing revenues and profits by jamming as many members as possible into their gym locations.  It is also interesting to note that the burden of these harsh, onerous new requirements falls mostly on the shoulders of their paying members.  

For gyms like ours which are filled primarily with 7 foot Olympic barbells, racks and platforms, “social distancing” has been a constant long before this pandemic.  These structural differences in concept and business strategy mean that we will have no need to burden our  already “Covid-fatigued” members with similar harsh new rules.  Rather, we have mostly good news for our members and anyone who cares to listen.  

The fact is, our larger corporate competitors embrace a business model based on the need to maximize revenues and profits above all else.  The result is gyms with lower monthly membership fees, but that are jammed with as many people as possible.  These gyms can have as many as 20,000 members or even more with masses of people showing up at daily prime times.  Even with their large spaces, they cannot begin to match the open space we provide for our members.  Then again, we do not have anywhere near their revenues or profits.  At times like this especially, we are quite proud of that.  

For example, at our gym we have just under 10,000 square feet of space and merely hundreds of members, NOT multiple thousands.  Our camera and access systems indicate clearly that even during our busy times, the most people we have attending our gym is from 30-35.  That represents about 300 square feet of space per person.  There are times during the day and night when fewer than 2-5 members are attending our gym.  Given the 24/7 access; for many hours of the day the gym is empty.  

Now the very business models that have made these corporations so much money and allowed them to dominate the market have created their own existential crisis.  The problems created by this crisis will now be sloughed off onto the very members who made that success possible.  Members who were already treated like “human ATM machines” will have the displeasure of navigating their new dystopian gym environments.  How ironic.  How convenient for these large corporations. 

As for the recent industry mega-trend of pushing this idea to its limits and jamming tens of thousands of members into a gym for $10 per month, the questions of how members will be safe without forcing them to follow similar inconvenient and harsh new measures remains to be seen.  Again, these structural problems simply do not exist for many small, independent gyms.  

This is mainly because we aren’t publicly traded, we have no investors, board members or shareholders to whom we must cow or show ever increasing profits and revenues.  This is true for all the smaller independent gyms of which I am aware.  

Indeed, as the shroud lifts and these harsh new measures (or lack thereof) are communicated loudly by the huge corporate players in our industry, other differences between the largest and smallest facilities become apparent.  If you attend any gym, please ask yourself the following questions:

•  WHO OWNS YOUR GYM?  
•  Is it a corporation?  
•  Do you even know the owner?  
•  Do you ever see the owner at the gym?

The independent gym owners I know don’t wear suits to work.  They do not work in a far away office building somewhere.  You will find them on the gym floor, working out beside you, competing beside you, coaching and helping members, cleaning bathrooms and repairing equipment.  They will consistently be found making sure their respective members are happy and getting the results for which they joined.  

I look up to many of these wonderful people and some have been great mentors to me.  They have given much of their lives to their respective sports and disciplines.  They are BJJ black belts, hockey players, weightlifters, wrestlers, Olympians, runners, Muay Thai fighters, boxers, power-lifters, football players, MMA fighters, Strongmen, kick boxers and natural movement practitioners, among a multitude of other sports and athletic disciplines.  Most of these fine men and women bear the scars from years of competition in their respective sport.  Their passion and dedication are unmistakable.  

They hold degrees in physical education, biomechanics, kinesiology, bio-chemistry, nutrition and various other sciences.  They also hold internships and certifications from the top experts in their respective fields of practice.  Their knowledge took decades to collect.  It is based on science, efficacy and athletic proof in practice only.  

Their gyms are not in prime locations, nor are they in any way “glitzy” or “pretty” or trendy.  The gym is their “office”.  For these people, financial gain is NOT the priority.  It is a distant after-thought.  What is paramount is helping members improve and pursuing excellence.  These are the things to which they demonstrate total commitment.  Further, when you join one of these gyms, you quickly realize that they represent more a community than a business.  The result is a unique camaraderie and fellowship among members.  .  

When it comes to actually “giving a s&%t” about the people who honor us with memberships I submit that many small independent gyms are actually much, much larger than our monstrous competitors.  The improved health and progress of our members marks our success or failure – always has and always will.  Small gym owners are abundant in something our large corporate competitors lack – passion.  

These existential facts help to explain the odious nature of much of our unregulated industry.  This is something that so many small, passionate gym operators have been “screaming into the wind” about for years.  That is the general failure and lack of credibility rife in our modern commercial gym and fitness industry.  The triumph of money and hucksterism over efficacy and the forsaking of sound physiological truths for the “next shiny, glittery thing or trend” presented to you so professionally by a high paid and painfully physically-perfect fitness model.  And so the grand illusion continues.  

So if what I am saying is true, and I know it to be so, then why and how is it that huge commercial gym corporations always default as the “bullhorn” of our industry?  Why do they get most of the new members and we, the smaller gyms continually struggle?   Why are they interviewed on CNN and quoted in the newspapers?  Shouldn’t it be the other way around?  

It seems that hundreds and sometimes thousands of huge, high profile gym locations filled with the latest trendy equipment have helped to create this situation.  Impossibly low membership $ fees to attract the highest number of members per location have also helped seal the deal in monopolizing public attention.  High profile fitness models and celebrities and $ millions spent on sales, marketing and public relations fueled by huge amounts of investment $ money demanding a return – all seem to contribute to this intellectual paradox.   

The Rolling Stones sum up this situation very well, in their song “Sympathy for the Devil”:  

“Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name
…but what’s confusion’ you is just the nature of my game”

Unfortunately, when money is of foremost importance, the truth can easily be obfuscated and hidden; compromised or mixed with ineffective fitness bulls&%t.  Profits and “what will sell” come first, not efficacy.  This creates said “confusion” in the brains of the public who are increasingly out of shape and just trying to improve.  

One of the mantras we live by is proudly stated on our website.  It has been displayed for years, long before this crisis.  I know it applies to many of the other small, independent gyms in our industry:

“Our goal has never been to be the best gym business…It has always been to be the best gym”

At times like this we are most proud of living by these words.