Our primary goal at PG FIT is to ensure the safety, health, and fitness of our members. We are continuously monitoring the COVID-19 situation, more commonly known as the Coronavirus. As you know, this is an unprecedented event for all of us, and we are doing our best to cope with the situation. We have been taking preventative measures for weeks to ensure your safety, health and fitness, and as of today, we have started taking more stringent steps. I will share some of them with you below. We will also be discussing these preventative measures in classes or sessions over the next couple of weeks.
We are carefully monitoring the recommendations of governmental health agencies, such as the Center for Disease Control (CDC), local health organizations, and Cy-Fair ISD. As many of you are aware, Cy-Fair ISD is closed through April 9th. This is a precautionary measure even though there are no confirmed cases of Coronavirus in Cy-Fair ISD at this time. Many of our members have been traveling during spring break, making our efforts to fully assess health risks more difficult. We are asking that if you have been traveling abroad or to areas where people have been exposed or quarantined due to the Coronavirus that you avoid coming into the gym for at least 14 days.
We have further elevated our stringent cleaning and sanitation protocol and adjusted our programs and services to provide you with additional tools and resources to help you reach your health and fitness goals. Here are some examples of what we are doing:
- Disinfecting high-touch hard surfaces throughout the gym hourly, such as door handles, mats, foam rollers, dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, and all other fitness and cardio equipment. We will be using Simple Green, Clorox and Lysol to clean these areas. We are also using diffusers to help with air purification, and enhancing deep cleaning every night in the entire facility, including doors, bathrooms, floors, and equipment.
- Increasing the use of anti-bacterial hand sanitizers and spray bottles within the gym. We have modified our warm-up and cool-down processes to include washing your hands before class and using hand sanitizer before and after each and every class. Hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and towels will be made available to every member during a class or session.
- We will be educating our staff and members on COVID-19 symptoms as well as preventative measures we can take. All of our coaches will wash their hands at least hourly, which has been proven by the CDC to be the most effective preventative measure.
- We will not be making any physical contact with our members, such as a high-five or fist bump, to avoid contamination. Only the occasional shoe tap or elbow bump will be permitted. 🙂
- We have halted all new business, and we will not be allowing anyone outside of our PG FIT family to attend classes or sessions for the next couple of weeks.
- We are modifying our group classes to follow a command-style approach to ensure that clients stay in the same area and use the same pieces of equipment instead of rotating to stations or in a circuit-style format. We have asked our members to thoroughly wipe down all of the equipment (i.e. foam rollers, bands, dumbbells, mats) that they use during classes with the additional towels and spray bottles assigned to their workout area. All of the towels and stretch out straps will be cleaned at the end of the business day.
- We will be live streaming some of our group classes every day in the event that our clients are not able to make it into the facility. We will also create a daily workout video that they can follow at home and will be offering virtual calls to help our clients with their health and fitness goals. We will be updating our membership site and providing our members with additional tools and resources to help them stay committed to their health and fitness during this unusual time.
- We are adding a new in-home service to visit some of our clients that are involved in our PT program to provide them with workouts that they can do safely and effectively in the convenience of their own homes. We will also be providing them with nutrition coaching to help them learn healthy eating habits and how to make better lifestyle choices.
- We will be adjusting our hours of operation, class schedule and class size to accommodate clients that may have additional needs or that would prefer to train at times without others present. Please be sure to sign up for classes at least 24 hours in advance. If you are sick, you can cancel a class or session at the last minute without penalty. We will only allow six people to train in our group classes and three in our personal training sessions.
- We are already taking precautionary measures in the event that we need to suspend, freeze, or cancel memberships if the gym is closed for an extended period of time. If you have any questions or concerns about your membership, please don’t hesitate to contact me and we can set up a time to talk.
Once again, we cannot stress enough the importance of acting responsibly during this situation. If you are exhibiting flu-like symptoms, please do not come to the gym. Contact your healthcare provider before your arrival to let them know you are symptomatic. If you have traveled or plan to travel abroad or to places where people have been affected, we request that you refrain from coming into the gym for at least a few weeks.
There is no denying that COVID-19 has had an impact on our communities. PG FIT will remain in close contact with local governmental health agencies and is taking the proper precautions as this situation evolves. I can assure you that if the situation continues to escalate, it would be irresponsible of us not to cancel classes and close the gym for a period of time. However, we do not feel that this is necessary at the time or to make any changes to our memberships.
During my fitness career, I have never been prouder of our PG FIT family as I was when we came together during Hurricane Harvey. We are in unchartered territory, and we will need to remain flexible to once again demonstrate this truly remarkable teamwork. I can’t think of a better place to go to lift your spirits, relieve stress, focus on your health and fitness, and support each other than PG FIT. Together, I know that we will continue that commitment, even in this difficult situation.
Your Friend and Coach,
Michael Romig
832-303-7007
michael@pgfit.org
