I've been thinking about this quite a bit recently, as I guess a lot of people have been. If "fitness" is a part of your life, then you are probably doing something, fitness-wise, but it's not the same, eh? And if you look at the parameters that are being bandied about, it is difficult to imagine going back to the way things were in at least the next year - until either a vaccine or a cure are universally available.
It occurs to me that gyms could operate for the time being under the following guidelines:
The operating hours of each week would be carved up into 60-minute blocks, including a 5-minute arrival/prep window and a 5 minute cool-down/departure window (theoretically, a 50-minute workout). Although you can arrive late for your session, you cannot leave late, as that would involve unwanted contact with others (i.e., the next group).
Locker rooms would probably just be closed. Get dressed and get cleaned up at home. Period.
On the day before the beginning of each week (say, Saturday), signups for the following week would be available on line - maximum four workouts per week, maximum 25 people in the facility (not including staff) at a time. (This is what some governors have already decreed).
Retired people and people working off-shifts are asked to schedule their workouts between 0900-1200, and 1300-1700, to avoid conflicts with working folks.
So starting at, say, 0600, and going until midnight, each facility would have 18 x 7 = 126 workout periods each week, with a maximum to 25 people = 3,150 potential workouts per week. If the average member schedules three workouts per week, that means that there can only be about a thousand members.
Signing up for the following week would be hectic; the site would need a convenient way to pick your desired times, and it would have to be updated continuously in Real Time, so that you are not wasting your time trying to schedule blocks that are already filled. Obviously, there would be times when the blocks fill up immediately, but given how neurotic most of us are, I think most people would quickly settle into a schedule routine that is tolerable. There would probably also have to be a way of relinquishing blocks in advance when you can't make it, and making those blocks available for others. Penalties for not showing up repeatedly? I think so.
Could the gyms charge the same monthly rate for this? I don't know. The real question is, Could they be viable with this plan? How easy would it be to sell new memberships under these constraints? How many members do they have that NEVER SHOW UP? I suspect there are a lot of them, but I don't have any data.
Will this situation prompt a lot of sales of home-gym equipment?
Obviously, the gyms will have to post a number of in-house rules to promote the safest possible work environment, but those will evolve over the first couple weeks "back." I will personally ignore the rules whenever possible and take my chances.
Thoughts?
It occurs to me that gyms could operate for the time being under the following guidelines:
The operating hours of each week would be carved up into 60-minute blocks, including a 5-minute arrival/prep window and a 5 minute cool-down/departure window (theoretically, a 50-minute workout). Although you can arrive late for your session, you cannot leave late, as that would involve unwanted contact with others (i.e., the next group).
Locker rooms would probably just be closed. Get dressed and get cleaned up at home. Period.
On the day before the beginning of each week (say, Saturday), signups for the following week would be available on line - maximum four workouts per week, maximum 25 people in the facility (not including staff) at a time. (This is what some governors have already decreed).
Retired people and people working off-shifts are asked to schedule their workouts between 0900-1200, and 1300-1700, to avoid conflicts with working folks.
So starting at, say, 0600, and going until midnight, each facility would have 18 x 7 = 126 workout periods each week, with a maximum to 25 people = 3,150 potential workouts per week. If the average member schedules three workouts per week, that means that there can only be about a thousand members.
Signing up for the following week would be hectic; the site would need a convenient way to pick your desired times, and it would have to be updated continuously in Real Time, so that you are not wasting your time trying to schedule blocks that are already filled. Obviously, there would be times when the blocks fill up immediately, but given how neurotic most of us are, I think most people would quickly settle into a schedule routine that is tolerable. There would probably also have to be a way of relinquishing blocks in advance when you can't make it, and making those blocks available for others. Penalties for not showing up repeatedly? I think so.
Could the gyms charge the same monthly rate for this? I don't know. The real question is, Could they be viable with this plan? How easy would it be to sell new memberships under these constraints? How many members do they have that NEVER SHOW UP? I suspect there are a lot of them, but I don't have any data.
Will this situation prompt a lot of sales of home-gym equipment?
Obviously, the gyms will have to post a number of in-house rules to promote the safest possible work environment, but those will evolve over the first couple weeks "back." I will personally ignore the rules whenever possible and take my chances.
Thoughts?
