Despite having closed numerous corporate-owned locations across several states, Gold’s Gym is preparing to reopen in areas that are poised to lift coronavirus-caused social distancing restrictions.
Gyms were among the businesses included in the first phase of the Trump administration’s plan to reopen the country, but state and local governments still have the ability to regulate those businesses under their own authority.
CEO Adam Zeitsiff told Business Insider that his reopening plan will consider those state and local regulations.
“We’re thankful they’d put [gyms] in phase one, but that doesn’t mean anything until the local states and local governments approve things and get rid of their stay-at-home orders and allow people to go back to the gyms,” Zeitsiff told Business Insider. “So we’re going to look at it locale by locale.”
However, once those orders are lifted, the franchise won’t return to business-as-usual. Instead, Zeitsiff said that the Gold’s Gym plan will follow a phased approach of its own.
In the first phase, strength training and cardio areas would be reopened under social distancing guidelines. Capacity would be limited, and machines would be alternated to allow members to keep their distance, and a rigorous cleaning schedule would be adhered to.
Next, group exercise classes would reopen as part of phase two. Those classes would be capped at 50 percent of normal capacity, but could be cut off at even lower percentages if necessary for social distancing.
Finally, the third phase of the plan would see locations return to normal operation — though Zeitsiff admitted that normal could be “some time down the road.”
"There is no timeline. I think anybody in this industry would be very happy if we could have our gyms open, cardio open, strength open, classrooms open at 50%, people abiding by the rules, keeping us safe, everything as clean as possible," Zeitsiff told Business Insider. "And then we'll figure out what full normalcy is."
