COVID UPDATE: WE OUTTA HERE

JakeUncategorized

Well well well.

In the last email I called the situation “fluid”, because nearly every other COVID email I got used the word, and I thought it would be funny.

But, joke is on me.  The situation was so fluid that 48 hours later I’m writing ANOTHER email.  And this one says that we’re closing at the end of the day tomorrow.

Maybe I should make that a little more clear.

Tomorrow will be the last day the gym will be open until further notice.

The Governor’s decree that there can no longer be groups of more than 10 people really throws a wrench into our normal business model.  Beyond that, we’ve been walking a very fine line between offering our service as long as possible, and being alarmist. Some might call that line “responsibility” and this is where we feel it’s taken us.

Here’s what will happen tomorrow:

-Classes will be first come, first serve.  We’ve got large separate rooms for each program, and they have separate occupancy limits, so I’m hoping that’s legit enough for tomorrow.  That’s 9 members or less in each program, since there’s a coach as well. When you get in, sign into Zen Planner. If there’s already 9 in ZP, head your sassy ass on home.  If you just have to come in and get your training in tomorrow and see your gym buds, do it. But you’re probably better off coming by, grabbing your loander gear (read on below), and heading home to begin life as a hermit.

Now, on to the bigger picture.  

There’s a big push on social media to keep your gym memberships, and continue to support other small businesses.  I get it, but really I don’t feel comfortable asking anyone to give us anything without providing equal value.

So here’s what we’re going to do for every active member, starting Monday, 3/23.

  • There will be a daily published workout.  This workout will be comprehensive, progressive, and scalable.  It will be much more than a list of at-home workouts. If you got our 28 workout freebie today, feel free to hit those up if you need a little something extra, but this will be more substantial by a long shot.
  • You’ll receive a daily email, in it will be a link to a super slick video with all of the coaching and demonstration you’ll need to get through that day’s training.
  • We’re going to do multiple live videos each day where a coach will guide you through the day’s workout.  These online classes will be delivered via the Zoom app/website. Please go ahead and download the app! Class times are currently TBD but we’ll let you all know shortly.
  • You’ll be doing a weekly check-in with your coach.  We’ll send out a weekly questionnaire going over lifestyle factors (Sleep, Stress, Nutrition, etc…), the week’s workouts, and figure out how we can best help you each week.
    • This will be a great opportunity to have your coach keep you accountable, and start great conversations to keep you engaged and making progress while not in the gym.  
    • They’ll be able to steer you in the right direction on workout adjustments and working toward specific goals, but this is not custom programming!  If you feel like this is the time for something completely custom, chat with your coach and we’ll figure it out.   
  • We’ll be loaning out equipment.  Here’s the details:
    • You can get up to 2 total pieces of equipment.  No more than 2 dumbbells, 1 Kettlebell, 1 Med Ball, or one Slam Ball.
    • You’ll sign your life away, agree to pay replacement costs, and bring it back when the gym reopens, clean and in the same condition that it left in.
    • We’re loaning out equipment between 12 and 7pm, tomorrow only.  In person only (please no messages requesting to hold things, we’re a little busy right now).  I’m sorry if that’s not super convenient for some of you but we’re in no way ready to start this bright and early tomorrow morning and have a lot on our plate tomorrow morning preparing for all this.
  • We’re creating a Slack workspace for our entire community to be a part of.  If you’re unfamiliar, Slack is a messaging app used by many businesses and organizations.  Our staff has been using it for a long while, and our Barbell program has been taking it for a test drive.  Download the app, and join the workspace here: https://join.slack.com/t/rvaptcommunity/shared_invite/zt-cgkzasub-0CnwWz3iZVJlOtCdq6Ihpg
  • Human Food and Chewy’s Bagels will still deliver!  Please stay on the lookout for guidance from them.

To repeat from my last email, you’re welcome to hold your membership until things blow over.  We’re following our existing policies for holds; membership dates will be extended the length of the hold, billing dates will remain the same.  If there’s any issues please contact us!

However – we hope that you’ll all remain a part of the gym during this time.  We’ll continue to help you toward your goals, and your support will ensure that our staff is paid and that the gym will continue to thrive after this is all over.

We have no idea how long this will last, so I won’t feign a return date.

What I will say is that the whole situation will be hard.  It’ll be hard on those that get sick and their loved ones. It’ll be hard for our members who rely on the gym not just for their fitness, but for their mental and emotional well-being.  It’ll be hard for all of us whose routine and “normal” will be very different than it was just a few days ago.

As we’ve been ironing out the details today, I thought back to our relatively new core values.  About a year ago I took the time to consider what was not only most important to me, but our organization.  It frankly took me forever, because I wanted them to actually mean something, and be something to come back to when there were hard things to do, and hard decisions to make.

Because this email isn’t long enough, here they are:

PERSPECTIVE

We will never trade long term growth for short term gains.

We won’t let our ego determine our outlook.

We will remember that training is a part of life, but not our entire life.  

“It’s just exercise.”

DRIVE

We will commit to improving ourselves so that we may improve the lives of those around us.

We will actively work to develop the skills needed to succeed in that effort.

CANDOR

We will communicate openly and honestly.

We will encourage discussion and are receptive to criticism and differences in opinion.

As an organization, we’re going to do our best to keep perspective, to remember that this is temporary, and that while this disrupts our training (and so much more), our lives are much bigger than the semi-competitive fitness we sometimes do.

We’re going to be driven to deliver the best coaching we can to you, and that will certainly take developing a handful of new skills to change our business model overnight.

Through it all, we’re going to communicate directly and openly with you, and I hope you’ll do the same with us.

If I don’t see you in the gym tomorrow, I’ll see you on the world wide web.

Jake