Partial gym reopenings helping some, but others remain concerned

Nine-year-old Julie Bongiovanni, of Philadelphia, did a roundoff into a back handspring on the floor mat. Her coach, Tracey Blake-Rossell, assisted her. She’s still working to perfect it.

They worked on the back handspring a few more times, then went over to the hand sanitizer station and disinfected their hands.

Julie then practiced some beginner tricks on the balance beam. Blake-Rossell stood next to the beam and guided her. After a few tricks, the two sanitized their hands again and proceeded to the uneven bars.

“We sanitize like crazy,” Blake-Rossell said through her mask.

This is what one-on-one training looks like now at Blake’s Gymnastics Training in Northfield amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gymnastic studios, batting cages and arcades in New Jersey were allowed to reopen July 2 at 25% capacity, and it’s working in Blake-Rossell’s favor.

The 57-year-old, who owns the gymnastics facility, has been holding small classes since reopening, as well as private lessons. The private lessons, though, have become really popular, as some people are still nervous about a class setting, she said.

“We keep our classes relatively small. I’ve always been small,” she said. “I want quality. It’s not about quantity.”

The classes have a maximum of 10 students in them, with two coaches, in an 8,000-square-foot gym. Safety protocols include 15 hand sanitizing stations around the gym, rigorous cleaning and temperature checks. Everyone must also wear masks, except for students while they are taking a lesson.

Because she’s doing more private lessons and keeping her class sizes small, Blake-Rossell said her new business model is working, and she’s hopeful for the future.

Hometown Health and Fitness, in Mays Landing, is making business work, too.

“We pretty much started right away with whatever we could do,” said owner Joe LaCerra.

Under Gov. Phil Murphy’s July 2 executive order, fitness gyms are permitted to offer individualized indoor instruction to individuals and their families. If multiple training sessions are taking place at once in the same facility, they must be in separate rooms or be separated by a floor-to-ceiling barrier.

LaCerra’s facility works to the order’s advantage in that the gym has multiple fitness studios, so multiple personal training sessions can take place simultaneously.

“It’s been a little tricky just coordinating everybody, but we’ve had, I believe, no more than three trainers in the gym,” he said. “We have multiple fitness studios where people can go and shut the door and be distanced properly.”

Clients get their temperature checked at the door and receive their own disinfectant spray bottle. All other safety protocols and guidelines have been implemented, LaCerra said.

Trainers wear masks, but clients aren’t forced to.

“When it’s a close-quarter setting, both people are wearing a mask, but if the client is doing something where it’s a hard physical exertion, like a burpee, we do understand that it’s hard to breathe through the mask,” he said.

As the order states “individualized instruction by appointment only,” LaCerra said that could be perceived as, “Well, if I have a group of people I can individualize the workout for each person.” But he didn’t want to take any chances.

“We’re trying to do everything by the book,” he said.

Atilis Gym in Wildwood is also offering individual training, but the training is taking place in one room.

“We’re doing everything we can, as per the guidelines, which is one-on-one training,” said Chris Lambert, who also owns Atilis gyms in Egg Harbor Township, Ocean City and Sea Isle City.

Last week, Lambert received a summons from Egg Harbor Township police after he allowed multiple people into that location to train.

“I did open up my club, and I don’t feel bad about it,” he said. “I allowed my friends, my family and others the opportunity to come in and get strong, get healthy and train. I fully knew the risk, and I opened. Because you know why? My bills, nobody’s paying my bills. Nobody’s helping me in any way. I have to support my family.”

In Wildwood, cleaning protocols were in place, but the gym was allowing multiple people to train at once. While gymgoers were encouraged to wear masks, none was seen.

“To me, if you get into an intense workout and you’re breathing in your own oxygen, that’s more hazardous,” Lambert said.

At a COVID-19 media briefing this week, Murphy was asked when he thinks gyms could reopen fully, but his response left gym owners, and goers, with little hope.

“I have enormous sympathy for the industries both restaurant and hospitality as well as the gyms,” Murphy said Monday. “The answer is, I hope we get there. We’re not there yet. We need to see these (COVID-19) numbers consistently and sustained down.”

Lambert believes Murphy isn’t reopening gyms because of the two gym owners in Bellmawr who repeatedly opened their Atilis Gym against the governor’s orders. Bellmawr Borough Council has since voted to rescind the gym’s business license.

“We all feel very clearly that fitness centers are not open ... because of the actions of the Atilis Gym in Bellmawr,” Lambert said. “How is it that the state of New Jersey can just close businesses and expect us yet to still pay all of our utilities, all of our mortgages, rent?”

And the cost to operate one-on-one sessions doesn’t help, either, he said.

“I’ve got to come here, turn on all my lights, turn my AC on. … My average bill would be $180 a day,” Lambert said. “So I’m going to bring in one person per hour, and I’m only going to be able to make $50 in personal training. It doesn’t add up.”

But he wants to provide a place for people to stay healthy.

“Do I think I’m going to continue to obey the rules and laws for a long time? Probably not,” he said. “Let us be able to operate like everybody else, give us a piece of that pie.”

When gyms are allowed to reopen, even if at a low capacity, LaCerra wants to be ready.

“We want to be hitting the ground running as soon as we’re allowed to open,” he said.

But with no end in sight, the worry remains. If gyms remain closed for another two or three months, or even longer, LaCerra said he would have to get creative, like offering online sessions.

“I hope it doesn’t come to that,” he said. “But it is a little fearful not knowing the future, but we’re just going to keep doing everything day by day and hopefully things change soon.”