Is going to the gym the healthiest option this year?
Being healthy is no easy task, especially during a pandemic. Those who want to work out feel like they are choosing between their safety and getting to the gym. After Governor DeWine’s remarks on reevaluating gyms and their operation during Ohio’s uptick of cases, gym owners want to assure patrons that they are doing everything they can to make sure their facilities are clean and safe during the pandemic.
Local gyms struggle to survive the pandemic
When the state of Ohio shut down in March, Kurt Oboczky, the owner of Patriot Fitness 24/7 in Ravenna Ohio, temporarily cancelled all of his member’s payments. For just under three months, Patriot Fitness was essentially out of business.
“Financially, it took us totally out of the game,” Oboczky said. “My gym is 24 hours, so everybody has key access so they can come no matter what shifts they work. They can come in the middle of the night if they want. Instead of taking memberships from them when I couldn’t provide a service, I just immediately went into billing and shut everybody’s stuff off and said ‘for now, we’re out of business and I’m not going to charge anyone any money.’”
Suddenly, Oboczky went from making a monthly income to making nothing.
Photo provided by Hellekson.
Leslee Keegan, the owner of IMPOWER Fitness Center in Ravenna, and Lauren Hellekson, the owner of Moksha Yoga and Meditation in Ravenna, were both in similar situations.
The shutdown was announced on a Tuesday. By Thursday of that week, Keegan was able to move almost all of her classes online. But she still saw a huge drop in membership, especially when it came to members who are over the age of 50.
Hellekson had to refund tickets for summer retreats that had already been sold. She survived due to the generosity of customers who purchased yoga packages despite not being able to attend, and due to her landlord telling her to not worry about the rent for a few months.
At the end of May, Ohio, and all of it’s gyms, reopened. But even though a lot of people did want to return, with Oboczky saying he received calls from long time customers throughout the shut down asking if they could come back, the gyms still aren’t making as much money as they had been in March. Hellekson made essentially no money for the first few months of being reopened.
“Tina comes in with her 35 classes, because she bought a package to help us out when we first closed,” Hellekson said. “And now, she has 35 classes to use up before she’s going to buy any more.”
A poll conducted on twitter during the week of Nov. 9 showed that over 50 percent of the 106 respondents still had not returned to the gym.
On the date of reopening, a total of 37,746 COVID-19 cases had been reported in Ohio. As of November 17, Ohio has reported a total of 312,443. Even more jarring, Ohio went from having a daily total of 556 cases on May 26 to 8,128 cases on November 9. This drastic rise in cases has led many to wonder if gyms are close to being shut down yet again.
If gyms are forced to shut down again, Oboczky would go into “full blown panic mode.”
Even without a full shutdown, many people have started to stay clear of the gym.
“Even since last week when the governor said he had an announcement to make, some of my morning crowd, my retirees, that freaked them out,” Oboczky said. “So they’ve stopped coming for the last week. It’s hit or miss right now.”
Any savings Oboczky had, he used during the original shutdown. He doesn’t have any money he can use if they are forced to close again.
Hellekson isn’t as concerned about the possibility of a shutdown. She has received grant money that has been enough for her to pay the next five months of her rent, and as she watched COVID-19 case numbers steadily rise, she has been preparing to move her studio completely online.
“We’re ready to go full on virtual,” Hellekson said. “We’re not worried, we’re ready for battle.”
But Hellekson got the grant due to pure luck, something she readily admits. It can be hard for businesses to find help during this time.
“I’ve lost revenue,” Keegan said. “Its been challenging for me to hear that they are trying to help small businesses, when in fact a lot of us have not seen anything, or have seen very little. However, we’ve applied for everything, or we’ve chased this down and we’ve had to spend a little extra time with our financial person, our tax person. That’s an extra charge, it’s more work.”
During the original “shutdown” in Ohio, 35 independent gyms sued to be allowed to reopen.
The lawsuit was brought against Dr. Amy Acton, who was at the time the director of the Ohio Department of Health, and the Lake County General Health District. It said that by forcing gyms to close during the pandemic, they had violated Ohioan’s constitutional rights. The ruling, which was in favor of the gyms, was issued just a few days before the state voluntarily lifted it’s shutdown order on May 26.
No matter what happens, all three gyms are pretty sure they won’t see the normal “post holiday boom” that they normally have around December and January. Keegan worries about the toll it might take on people’s mental and physical health if they aren’t working out during the winter months.
“I think, with everything going on in the world, with winter starting in Northeast Ohio, that concerns me, the mental health of everybody” Keegan said. “And we also know, studies are everywhere that regular consistent exercise helps keep your immune system nice and strong.”
But there isn’t anything Keegan, Oboczky or Hellekson, can do to solve that problem. All they can do is hope to survive the winter and any future shutdown.
Work Divided:
Lexi – created the article, her portion of the story, and the graphic seen above, and posted her promotive tweet.
Gina – created the Twitter poll, her portion of the story, and posted her promotive tweet.
