Although the end of the most recent lockdown is in sight, the introduction of the newly revised tier system still has a great impact on gyms and health clubs across the country with group classes still unable to go ahead. And many of your members may still be hesitant about returning to your facility whilst the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing.

During an incredibly uncertain time, the fitness sector continues to be confronted with the challenge of trying to keep their members active and engaged – outside of the gym!

Finding solutions to keep your members engaged during this time is crucial, providing them with resources and frequent contact, however this shouldn’t just be seen as a short-term fix. The more ways your members’ can engage with your club, the more enhanced their overall experience and satisfaction will be. So you need to have ideas that work as a long-term solution.

Although this may be a new challenge you are facing, remember that to your members, you are still the expert! Many of your members see you as their source of all information relating to their fitness and health. Use your knowledge to inform your members and give them recommendations as to what they should do when exercising at home. Many people will feel demotivated and want to give up, so do your best to make sure this isn’t your members!

YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD OUR MAINTAINING ENGAGEMENT GUIDE

If you don’t have time to read the blog, then you can always download our maintaining engagement guide right now, and discover ways in which you can encourage interaction with your members amongst all the uncertainty.

FIND YOUR ONLINE VOICE

Whether your club will be remaining closed or getting ready to re-open it is crucially important to maintain clear and regular communication with your members. To not only keep them informed, but to also help them feel reassured.

But beforehand, you need to define your brand’s voice. Think about what you want to say and more importantly how you want to say it.

As a gym or fitness studio, you will have already identified what your goal is and what you hope to bring to the fitness industry which sets you apart from your competitors, but it’s time to think about taking that one step further.

What is your purpose? 

You need to communicate your value and deliver high-quality content to your members and remember how powerful social media and the internet can be! But only if used correctly.

Your members are ready and willing to hear from you, so utilise the communication channel which works best for your audience whether that be via email, SMS, social media or your website. By making the right choice of communication method you are more likely to build a rapport with your members.

CREATE HIGH QUALITY ONLINE CONTENT

Keeping your members informed is one thing, but that isn’t enough to keep them actively invested in your gym. You want to keep your members motivated and provide them with a dose of normality, so offering them regular content is vital to keep them moving and boost their engagement.

Gyms and fitness studios across the country are quickly turning their attention to harnessing the skills of their instructors and personal
trainers to provide digital workouts and classes for their members.

So don’t let physical distance stop you keeping your members in check. Create a timetable to release content to your members so they have something to look forward to and continue to look to your facility for their health and fitness information.

Live Stream Workouts

Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or through video conferencing APPS like Zoom; live streaming is a great tool to reach out to your members! Trainers could run daily classes at the same time every day. Get your members involved and for those who aren’t members of your gym now, it’s a great way to capture their attention and convince them to join. Live streams can then be saved and turned into video workouts…

Video Workouts

Use pre-recorded workout videos to offer your members a form of exercise they can do at any time. Those with children may not be able to join you for your live stream at specific times, so it’s a great way to engage those with time constraints. You can use video through an email campaign to reach only your members or reach out to non-members through social, similar to the live stream workouts.

Recipes

Provide healthy recipes to keep your members engaged and to help them carry on their health transformation that they started at your club!

MAKE YOUR CONTENT RELIABLE

Virtual classes and online training and support has come out as king during a year of virtual services.

While these have proven to be very successful at keeping members paying to some degree, and cementing your gym in your customer’s mind even whilst you’re closed, this is still unchartered territory for so many clubs and gyms.

But whilst hosting an online class might sound easy, there is certainly a great deal to consider in order to make sure you are providing your
members with a valuable, quality experience. And although your customer experience is at the forefront of your mind, you as a business owner, must also ensure you consider your business needs and choose a streaming platform that is not only reliable, but also cost effective.

To discover more about the cost-friendly platforms available, read our blog about the best platforms available to host your online gym classes.

SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE

During isolation, times of lockdown and when members are not ready to return to your gym, it is easy for your members to feel isolated and alone. Many people turn to exercise to increase their mood and the motivation they get from others – whether it be your trainers or fellow members can be really encouraging.

This is your chance to bring your members together and create an online community. Encouraging your users to interact with the content you produce and make available is a great way to foster two-way conversations between your club and your members. On your social media pages your trainers can set challenges to your members or feature “workouts of the day” and ask your members to comment with their videos or pictures using specific hashtags to bring your online community together.

Social media channels, such as Instagram, also feature interaction tools such as polls, questions and sliders via Instagram stories, making it easier than ever to ask your audience a question and get real-time responses. For example, you could host a weekly “Let your members decide workout” and ask your online community what type of workout (i.e. strength or cardio) they would prefer that day. Give them a 60-90 minute window to answer and then host a workout based on the most popular response.

This not only allows your members to feel valued but also gives them the opportunity to receive what they would feel as tailored training from your club.

MAINTAIN YOUR MEMBERS ACCOUNTABILITY

Staying motivated to visit your gym or complete your workout is hard enough, even when gyms are open! So imagine how much more difficult this is when you are required to stay at home, with no fitness trainer in sight to provide you with encouragement. It’ll come as no surprise that to encourage your members to keep training, it is going to require a little extra effort, not only from them but from you and your team.

Many people rely on their routine to maintain their motivation, so offering a class schedule which almost mirrors your typical gym
schedule will be beneficial to your members. It will feel familiar to them and therefore will be much easier to maintain, as you’re not expecting them to show up at times which may otherwise be out of the ordinary.

You also have a prime opportunity here to utilise your coaches and personal trainers. The likelihood of your team being less busy than usual is high when your gym is closed or you are unable to host group classes, so try to utilise their skillset elsewhere. Give them the task of becoming ‘Accountability Coaches’ to those individual members or groups that might need extra support and encouragement to stay active and continue maintaining or reaching their fitness goal.

YOUR FUTURE IS POSITIVE

It’s easy to see the negative side of the ongoing disruption to the fitness industry and the uncertainty this brings to gym owners and gym goers, but it is important to focus on the positive outcomes this time can in fact provide.

With your clubs doors having been closed, you’ve been able to spend time looking at any repairs or upgrades to your equipment which you might have been delaying as it would typically cause disruption to your members. But now has been the perfect time.

With the help of schemes such as the government business interruption loan scheme, it might also be possible for you to invest in your facility and have something for your members to look forward to when they individually decide it’s the right time for them to come back.

And of course, make sure to keep your members updated on every club development that happens during your closures and even once you have reopened again. This will help you build up a buzz between your current and potential members as they patiently wait to get back inside of your newly improved facility.

This doesn’t need to be expensive either, even giving your club a little facelift with some redecorating is often enough to build excitement amongst your members.

ASHBOURNE CAN HELP WITH EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR CLUB

Unlike most club management services which just give you some basic software and collect your direct debits, the team at Ashbourne knows that there’s a lot more to managing a successful club than simply collecting payments.

From debt collection, to web design, marketing ideas and more – the entire team at Ashbourne Membership Management is at your disposal to help you succeed and master every single element of being a successful gym.

If you want to chat about what we offer, or simply run through how we can help your particular health club, then get in touch with us and our sales manager Grant will be back in touch to talk through everything.

Membership retention at gyms is something that has always been a challenge, long before the COVID-19 pandemic. With many people choosing to embark on their fitness journey, it is no surprise that around half of people who start an exercise program will drop out within the first six months.

And with the onset of this pandemic, gyms are facing an entirely different set of challenges in order to to retain their members. Due to the overwhelming uncertainty that came with COVID-19, many people opted to cancel their gym memberships for a range of reasons.

Many people faced uncertainty over their employment. With many people placed on the government furlough scheme and although some businesses have been fortunate enough to reopen and employees return to work, this hasn’t been the case for everyone and therefore there was and still is a fear of economic downturn. This has resulted in people trying to save where they could.

Even if you opted to freeze your memberships throughout lockdown periods, you will have noticed that some of your members will have proceeded with cancelling their memberships anyway as a precautionary measure.

But you rely on your members for the long-term survival of your gym, so try and get ahead of members cancellations by making sure you provide enough value to make them stick around.

YOU CAN ALSO DOWNLOAD OUR MEMBERSHIP RETENTION GUIDE

If you don’t have time to read the blog, then you can always download our membership retention guide right now, and discover the steps you need to consider in order to improve your membership retention percentage.

REGAIN CONFIDENCE, BUILD TRUST

Understandably, many of your members may be reluctant to return to your facility once it is able to open again. People may be unable to due to an underlying health condition, or they might be hesitant due to the many concerns that surround returning to a public place.

People have become used to spending increased time at home and at the same time are fearful of the virus. Your members need your help and support in order to navigate through this time and they will gradually feel safe enough to return. Although, you must anticipate that not all members will return to feeling the same way they did prior to COVID-19 and some members may cancel their membership for good.

To begin rebuilding the confidence in your members you must have consistent, open and honest communication with your members. Let them know about your new safety protocols and sanitation guidelines. Do this via email, SMS and through your social media channels to ensure that as many of your members as being exposed to your new measures. Your members need to know that you are doing everything possible to keep them safe and although this won’t be enough for everyone, don’t let that discourage you as your members would need to know this information anyone to ensure they follow your new guidelines.

It may also be beneficial to share research and information from other sources to try and help fight negatives feelings caused by the overwhelming amount of COVID-19 updates. Early research conducted by the Norwegian Research Council found that there is no evidence to suggest that gyms pose any additional risk to spreading COVID-19 when following appropriate social distancing and hygiene protocols. This type of research sharing will reassure your members and will encourage them to trust that you are doing your best to stay informed and act accordingly.

IMPLEMENT NEW SAFETY PROTOCOLS

When your gym or studio is ready and allowed to reopen, one of the biggest obstacles you may face is encouraging your members that your facility is safe to return to and they should feel comfortable in doing so.

So during your closure, pay particular attention to communicating your plans to keep your gym COVID-safe across as many communication channels as possible. You want to reach your current members and well as potential new customers, so utilise your social media channels, your website, emails and SMS.

Clearly define the measures you are putting in place and go the extra mile above social distancing & 1 way systems. It’s time to focus on your customer experience more than ever and focus on instilling confidence in your members and provide them with the means to cope with the situation. Be empathetic to those people who are slightly more concerned and reserved than others and prioritise safety first and foremost. This might disrupt how your gym and any classes were previously run, but by taking the approach of putting your members above all else and providing them with the guidance and reassurance they need, your gym will stand out and you’ll be able to build a loyal customer base.

CREATE DISCOUNTED REJOINING OFFERS

How many times have you looked online with the intent of buying something and then for one reason or another decided not to bother? But then perhaps you’ve been tempted to go and purchase whatever item you were interested in when the company email you with a discount code to try and tempt you to reconsider.

This is a very common sales tactic and has a pretty high success rate. I mean, who wouldn’t feel encouraged to buy a product they were already interested in when someone offers them money off!

This same tactic could be used on your memberships with a small tweak here and there. Perhaps you have members who are getting in touch to cancel or you’ve members on a 6 or 12 month membership who don’t opt to renew and their membership lapses. These are your ideal candidates to test out an offer to encourage them to think twice about cancelling or to encourage them to reinstate their membership.

You don’t always have to go straight down the route of offer them a discounted membership either if you don’t feel comfortable with that, but here are some offers you could consider:

• 1 month free membership (when purchasing 6 months or more)
• Discount on month of membership (for those with rolling contracts)
• Free personal training session
• Free access to additional resources (if available)
• Free nutrition guide

NURTURE YOUR NEW MEMBERS

When a new member signs up to your gym, it’s down to you to give them a great experience from the outset to ensure they don’t immediately feel dissatisfied with their choice to join.

Hopefully your sign up process was nice and straight forward for them, so you are able to get off on the right foot. Being able to sign up online via direct debit is preferable for many people as it means they can make their decision on whether to join in the comfort of their home and can complete their subscription in their own time. So making sure this is easy to do is crucial to giving your members a premium experience from the start.

Once their membership is confirmed, you should have an automated welcome email sent straight to them. This is your opportunity to give a warm and friendly welcome to your new member, whilst providing them with information about the services and resources they can access as well as pointing them in the right direction for when they may have questions. This will help your member feel confident that they have made the right choice to join your gym.

This message should be personalised as much as possible, to make your gym personable and make your member feel as though you are approachable. You should also invite your member to get in touch with you to arrange their induction at your facility. You want every person who enters your gym to feel confident and comfortable with the equipment they are using. Some people may already be confident with the gym equipment you have on site as they are moving from another facility, but you should make this offer to everyone, to show that you are focused on providing a quality and fair experience to all of your members.

MAKE CURRENT MEMBERS HAPPIER

COVID-19 has brought uncertainty to many people so taking additional time to go above and beyond to ensure your members are happy is an important step to take to ensure they don’t consider cancelling their membership.

With many gyms temporarily closed, connecting with your members is becoming more difficult than ever. Some people may have opted to freeze their memberships whereas others may have chosen to continue if you are able to provide online classes for them to take advantage of. No
matter which route your members have decided to take, you should make the effort to engage with them all the same.

You should encourage a thriving and engaging community to bring your members together, they are likeminded individuals with one certain thing in common, they attend your gym or fitness studio! Create dedicated online networking areas for your members (frozen & current), for
example a Facebook group. Here you can share updates about your gym and the COVID-19 protocols you will be adopting to keep everyone up to date, as well as also encouraging your trainers to share fitness tips or daily exercise challenges. This will encourage your members to not only interact with you, but also with one another. Whilst also providing them with a forum to share things themselves. This will keep them engaged with your gym and is also likely to decrease any sense of loneliness they may be feeling.

For your members who choose to continue paying you can create closed Facebook groups for them to have exclusive access to the online classes you will be offering. This will make them feel like part of an elite club and give them direct access to your trainers. What you share here also isn’t limited just to the classes you run, you could also think about sharing other fitness resources, such as recipes or nutrition guidance.

Ask yourself: why did your members join in the first place? What value were they looking for? Once you know the answer to this it makes it much easier to begin curating content you can share with them and activities you can do to ensure they receive the value you perceive they signed up for.

WHY DID YOUR MEMBERS LEAVE?

It’s inevitable that no matter how hard you try, some members will still choose to leave. This can be for any number of reasons, but there is no point in presuming or trying to guess these for yourself. You must ask your members what prompted their decision to leave.

Being able to collate this kind of information will provide you with insight into your club and how your members perceive it and will highlight any issues that you may need to address moving forward in order to prevent more members leaving.

So when your member contacts you to request cancellation of their membership, ask them if they’d like to share why they have chosen to leave. Of course they do not have to answer this if they would rather not, but by providing them with the forum to give feedback you are much more likely to find out why.

Keep a report of the reasons members are choosing to leave and if you begin to notice any trends in this information, it’s your chance to address this and see if you can turn things round. By making these changes you may also be able to attract old members back by addressing the specific thing which caused them to leave in the first place.

But remember, during these current uncertain times the information you may gather at the moment will be limited. Many of your members will be choosing to leave for financial reasons and although this doesn’t provide you with information on how to improve your club, it does provide you with the opportunity to consider offering discounted membership rates if your retention percentage falls too low.

CONSIDER MEMBERSHIP TIER LEVELS

Whilst your facility remains temporarily closed and members are restricted to only accessing content online if they wish to, or even once your gym reopens there will be some members uncomfortable with returning. This is your opportunity to consider introducing tiered membership levels.

Some of your members may opt to cancel their membership because they don’t feel like they are getting the value for the money they are paying. And the easiest way to address this and keep your members active is by creating a new membership level which lessens the cost they are liable for paying which makes it easier for your member to justify paying, whilst still giving them access to some of the core resources of your gym.

For example, for members who don’t feel comfortable returning to your gym when it reopens or for those who are unhappy to pay their full membership cost for online class replacements during your temporary closure, introduce a reduced membership cost which gives them access to your online classes only.

This would enable your members to stay engaged with your gym without having to attend if they are unhappy to. And similarly during your closure addresses those members who feel they are loosing significant value by continuing to pay their full membership cost when they are unable to access your facility.

You could take your online classes membership one step further by introducing further elements at increased cost, such as access to exclusive recipes or personal online sessions with one of your trainers.

You want to make sure your gym is able to offer something for everyone and during a time where many people will be evaluating aspects of their life prior to COVID-19 and deciding whether or not there are changes they might wish to make following the pandemic, you are at least giving your very best effort to ensure you offer enough value to entice people in varying personal situations.

But be careful not to make your reduced membership tiers too attractive, otherwise you risk loosing some of your other paying members who are attracted by this downgrade option.

LET MEMBERS FREEZE THEIR MEMBERSHIPS

You will have noticed how we mention frozen memberships throughout this post, however it’s important enough that it really needs its own explanation!

COVID-19 has brought overwhelming uncertainty across the globe, in a way which the majority of people have never seen before. And it’s more likely than ever that for those of your members who are asking to cancel their membership it is for one simple reason, they just simply aren’t in the current financial position to continue paying for your membership.

But instead of just proceeding with their cancellation, why not give them the option to pause their membership?

By utilising this option, they can continue to receive updates and remain a part of your community and then when they are in a financial position to start their membership again, they will be more motivated to do so.

All of their membership details will still exist, so they won’t have to go through the process of starting their membership from scratch. Not only will you have less admin work to do, but your member will also find it really straight forward to start their membership again as all they will need to do is get in touch.

BUILD YOUR ONLINE REVIEWS

With your members spending an increased amount of time at home, many of their usual habits will be impacted also. With more spare time, this is your opportunity to ask your members who are delighted with the experience they receive at your gym to leave a positive review for you. Whether that be through google reviews or through your social media, use whichever resource you think is likely to resonate with your members more.

Unfortunately this is also an opportunity for you to hear from any disgruntled members as well. But at least by encouraging this opinion sharing you will be able to address any negative reviews you are faced with.

Ultimately, new members or current members questioning whether to continue their membership are likely to look to other peoples opinions within the community to help reinforce their decision, so by curating reviews you are building a strong brand image.

This won’t only be helpful during COVID-19 either and will stand the test of time as it serves as your book of testimonials for your gym or fitness studio for its entire lifespan. Be sure to thank your members for leaving their reviews as well, or offer them something in return for leaving one. This will build your rapport with them and make them feel like a valued member of your community. Their opinion is important to you and it’s nice to hear if you are doing something well, so take the time to read all of your reviews and feel assured that you are doing right by your community.

ASHBOURNE CAN HELP YOU WITH EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR CLUB

Unlike most club management services which just give you some basic software and collect your direct debits, the team at Ashbourne knows that there’s a lot more to managing a successful club than simply collecting payments.

From debt collection, to web design, marketing ideas and more – the entire team at Ashbourne Membership Management is at your disposal to help you succeed and master every single element of being a successful gym.

If you want to chat about what we offer, or simply run through how we can help your particular health club, then get in touch with us and our sales manager Grant will be back in touch to talk through everything.

When clubs and gyms are reopened in the UK after lockdown restrictions lift, it’s no surprise that social distancing rules are going to drastically change the average gym session for both members and staff alike.

While social distancing is going to be an important change to gym life for the months to come, the question remains:

What does a successful socially distanced gym actually look like?

We’ve already seen lots of creative ideas thrown around, with certain gyms in the US actually sectioning off 2 metre workout areas draped in protective PPE covering. But for the average club owner, they need simple and effective methods to quickly make their gym safe and socially distanced, while keeping everything simple for their members and staff to quickly get into a routine and stay healthy.

So on the theme of keeping things simple, let’s run through what social distancing in a health club is actually going to look like on the day-to-day.

A Socially Distanced Club Means…

All Gym Equipment Will Be Spaced Out Across The Club

If you want to keep your members socially distanced during their workouts, that means you’re going to have to distance all of your workout equipment.

Overall, clubs are going to have to minimise the equipment available on the gym floor because every member is going to need to be able to exercise in an area that allows them to distance from other gym users.

This will take some planning and a lot of heavy lifting in order to best use your space efficiently in order to have as wide of a variety of equipment available in your club, while also adequately spacing out your equipment around your facility.

All of this could account for you needing to cut your equipment down by at least 50%.

However, this is also an opportunity to maximise your space. If you have areas that you would usually use for classes, you could potentially use these as part of your main gym floor in order to keep as much of your equipment available for your members to use.

Increased Signage & One Way Systems Throught The Club

In light of your entire gym layout changing, this will require some new signage in order to help your members learn the new rules and guide themselves around the facility.

All of your efforts will be for nil if your members aren’t following the protocols to keep themselves and your club safe and healthy. And with minimal staff on the floor, you can’t have confused members asking for help from your already busy staff members.

Clear and simple to understand signage should decorate your club and you should be ready to update and change signage based on your member’s feedback or confusion.

One way systems may also be required for some clubs, depending on their layout, which will require further markings on the floor in order to clearly create a path for your members to work their way around your facility.

Cleaning Equipment & Sanitisers On Every Machine

Club members should be no stranger to wiping down equipment after a workout (well…most of them anyway). That process is going to continue, but is going to be enforced far more strictly.

Hand sanitiser should be found at the following locations:

1 – Every entrance and exit to the gym

2 – Next to every single piece of equipment, to be used before and after use

3 – Outside any locker or toilet facilities

Along with hand sanitiser, equipment should also have a complete cleaning facility, including paper towels and anti bacterial spray, which members should be requested to clean the equipment with after use…without fail!

Overall, your team should be visibly cleaning the facility throughout the day, which is partly for cleanliness and partly to demonstrate that you’re taking the situation seriously and keeping your members feeling comfortable and safe.

Limited or Zero Access To Showers / Saunas / Steam Rooms

While there is little evidence that Coronavirus is spread easier in environments like Showers and Saunas (we have information like this in our Coronavirus FAQ that clubs can send out to their members), the fact remains that they are high contact environments that are difficult to control.

Because of this, it is likely that clubs are going to have to completely close, or largely restrict access to certain areas of thier facility, such as showers, saunas, steam rooms and changing rooms.

In surveys that we’ve conducted with our gym Prime Fitness Redditch, we asked our own members their opinions on limiting access to locker rooms and our shower facilities. The good news is that a majority of our members were completely fine with this given the circumstances, although several mentioned they would not like this on a long term basis.

Regardless of your members’ response, it’s clear that in order to keep your members safe and make sure your gym is not a source of contamination, that you will likely have to close your changing facilities and saunas where you cannot guarantee social distancing.

However, the best practice with this is to use surveys in order to keep your members updated and get their feedback so that you can quickly respond and relieve any confusion or frustrations that your members may have.

Gym Sessions Booked By Appointment

Restricting the actual numer of members who can enter your facility at any one time is a major part of social distancing.

Afterall, it would be self defeating to half the equipment in your gym, only for a packed gym full of members to be impatiently waiting to use the limited equipment.

Having a system in place for your members to book appointments in order to use the gym is the best way to do this. If you have a class booking system in place, this will be best retrofitted to take bookings for the gym in general.

Ashbourne customers already have access to a specially built gym sessions booking system, as well as an automated system that creates a reservation list and gives members the ability to come to the gym earlier if there is a cancellation – all done automatically without the need for staff to keep track of it.

Once again, clear communication with your members is key here, so they understand how the process works, but also understand why the process is in place in order to ease the transition into a socially distanced club environment.

A Continuing Focus On Online Classes & Online Only Memberships

Based on our own findings, we’ve discovered that members over 50 are far more likely to be concerned about returning to gyms immediately after they reopen.

Why do we mention this?

Because the data shows that all members aren’t the same.

Club owners are going to have to be highly aware of the demographics of their gym and fit their reopen plan to them.

As a business, you’re also need to find a way to give a valuable service to your members who are inevitably going to become impatient with the fact that they can’t enter the gym whenever they want, with social distancing and session booking in place.

Between the issue of members potentially not wanting to return to the club straight away, and the restrictions place on those that are returning, there needs to be a huge focus on providing online classes, workouts and support to keep your members engaged with your gym.

But this isn’t a cause for concern, this can be a huge opportunity to deliver a wider service:

Any classes you run, you can now livestream.

You can create extra revenue by providing an online only membership.

Post more free help and support to your members online to get them believing in your brand.

There Are Big Opportunities For Your Club Here…

Today’s obstacles can evolve into a better service for your members, if you plan your relaunch correctly.

The current restrictions can provide the inspiration to you to come up with smarter ways to increase your revenue.

A successful post-COVID club needs to implement social distancing changes quickly, while also using the new setup to maximise their revenue and demonstrate to their members that they care and are listening.

The socially distanced club is a strange new frontier, but if we pull together and plan ahead, we can leave lockdown with an industry that has greater reach to our customers, reaching far into the future when social distancing is a thing of the past.

If you want to talk to Ashbourne about helping you get your gym “social distance” ready, then get in touch with us and we can give you the support, software and tools you need to hit the ground running for your reopen date.

When it comes to health clubs and coronavirus, there are so many questions coming from all sides. Many members are cautious about returning to their gym due to the numerous unknowns that COVID-19 is causing.

And on the other side, gym owners are also uncertain about many key COVID-19 facts, such as how easily it can spread in a gym and what is the best way to keep your club clean and free from the virus.

To help answer the most frequently asked questions, we’ve put together our very own Coronavirus FAQ For Clubs & Gyms, which we are giving away as blank template for you to download, rebrand with your own gym’s logo and then send out to your members to answer their questions and put their minds at ease about coronavirus.

We’ve answered all of the most common questions below, so feel free to download your free unbranded Coronavirus FAQ template here, so you can out your member’s minds at ease and get them back into your club and using your facility when indoor clubs open later in the year.

How Can We Keep The Gym Clean?

All gyms will need to be deep cleaned overnight and regularly throughout the day, using high-grade disinfectants that will kill the virus. It is impossible to keep any environment 100% clean, however it is possible to make environments ‘safe’ by undertaking appropriate cleaning measures. COVID-19 is easy to kill with most readily available cleaning products and with thorough hand washing with soap for 20 seconds or more.

Can You Catch COVID-19 From Sweat?

No, COVID-19 cannot be transmitted through sweat. However, don’t forget that wiping sweat from your face could lead to the virus being passed from your hands to your face. So it is important to regularly use hand sanitisers which are 60% alcohol or more and avoid touching your face as much as possible. Make sure there are hand sanitising stations throughout the gym, so they are easily accessible to your members.

Can Physical Activity Help Against COVID-19?

Being physically fit has a number of health benefits, including being highly protective against a range of illnesses. People with underlying health conditions, diabetes etc and those who are overweight are more at risk to being affected by COVID-19, so given that the virus is now considered to be ‘endemic’ within the community, it is more important than ever to maintain your fitness – which in turn will boost your immune system.

Are Gyms Higher Risk Than Other Enclosed Spaces?

Not at all. There is the same chance of getting COVID-19 in all indoor areas. What is important is that people follow social distancing, cleanliness and aerosolisation guidelines. The COVID-19 R rate (the rate the infection is spread by one person) is much higher indoors, including shops, households and workplaces. Although gyms fall into this same category, this can be mitigated through special measures and guidelines put in place.

Should I Wear A Mask To The Gym?

No, wearing a mask is not a requirement when attending the gym, unless it makes you or your members feel more comfortable. A mask protects people from droplet spread from an infected peron to another person, it does not protect the wearer and following social distancing is of greater importance.

Should I Wear Gloves To The Gym?

No, you do not need to wear gloves at the gym. Gloves should be reserved for those responsible for certain tasks such as caring for the sick, working in a hospital environment or by cleaning staff. Gloves can harbour a high viral load and could contaminate surfaces. Washing your hands is far more important.

Can I Get COVID-19 From The Air?

COVID-19 survives in droplets or possibly aerosols (very fine particles) and can be transmitted person to person via close contact. There is no evidence to suggest that COVID-19 can be transmitted through the air. Maintaining social distancing greatly reduces risk of spreading as the majority of droplets fall to the ground at this distance.

How Can I Help Reduce The Spread of Infection?

If you have any concerns that you may have contracted, or been in contact with anyone infected with COVID-19 – stay home. When you are in the gym, follow the simple guidelines, keep your distance, wash your hands and clean equipment before and after use. When speaking, stand beside one another and make sure to cough/sneeze into the inside of your elbow.

Is Using The Club Showers Safe?

Clothes are considered a low-risk source of infection from COVID-19 and washing at 60 degrees celcius or above kills the virus. However, they can become contaminated so should be handled with care and being sure to wash your hands thoroughly after touching. Do not hand wash clothes and be sure to change immediately after reaching home.
There is currently no evidence to support the suggestion that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the use of showers, hot tubs, pools or spas. It is, therefore, safe to shower but once again ensuring that social distancing is followed. For the time being, members should be encouraged to arrived and leave in gym kit wherever possible.