Remaining 'online' for June
Happy Friday Folks! What a gorgeous sunny day it's been again.
Haven't we been lucky to have had such great weather during this lock down period? Life surely would have been a lot more gloomy these past 10 weeks if we had had our usual grey skies and rain . And, from next Monday, we can start to enjoy sharing this hot spell with more members of our family and friendship groups (outdoors and appropriately distanced of course)...hooray.
Unfortunately however, this Government guidance does not yet extend to outdoor group exercise sessions and certainly not to indoor group exercise.
As far as they 'can' advise currently, the fitness professional governing body EMDUK, is currently advising instructors to continue using online classes alongside making preparations for what it assumes will be a staged approach to returning to face to face, group sessions in the future.
This staged approach will of course be greatly influenced by decisions made on the re-opening of community centres, churches and schools etc and all use will have to meet social distancing and hygiene requirements at that time.
In short, in the first wave of return, it is expected that classes won't be as we have known them. Key changes will be:
-No hugging or social contact at all times
-Remaining 2 metres apart at all times
-No access to changing rooms
-Limited '1 in 1 out' use of toilets
-Limited numbers in class to ensure correct spacing
-Class bookings essential to ensure max numbers not exceeded
-Shorter sessions to allow equipment /venue cleaning time
-Clients required to bring their own equipment where possible
-Sessions adapted to reflect the space and equipment available
-Hand hygiene stations to be used at beginning and end
-Potential requirement to wear masks
-No cash payments allowed
There is also a big question mark about how first aid would be administered should it be required!
I don't know about you but that list doesn't sound very appealing and certainly doesn't capture the Class Fitness spirit that I know and love!
What are your thoughts? Can you see yourselves returning to classes in that environment? How many of you would actually prefer the online experience? I'd love to hear your views to aid my planning process. Do get in touch.
So it's fair to say, that as we stand going into June, we are once again planning to run our current class timetable via the online platforms of Facebook and ZOOM for the month ahead.
Now for many of you I know these sessions are working really well and you have been enjoying the many 'creative' sessions that we have been delivering (see the pic below). They have certainly been well received by those of you who have had to return to work and have benefited from the 'recorded' classes which you can access at any time. I also know that we have manged to help out folk from various regions across the UK who's local classes are currently unavailable. This has been great and a rewarding aspect to 'online' working for me.
However, I'm also conscious that some of our regulars have not made the transition over and are currently without our support. This is something that troubles me and at the moment all I can advise you to do is to consider making the leap across into online? It really isn't that scary. I'd certainly be happy to help guide you through the technical stuff of Facebook or ZOOM and if you needed it perhaps a 1:1 session first before you join a ZOOM group? Please do let me know if you have had a change of heart and want to try.
So, as in the last couple of months, all online classes can be viewed, booked into and paid for via the Gym Catch app.
Please follow the link below to access:
https://app.gymcatch.com/provider/1469/events
Or download the app to your phone or tablet.
ZOOM sessions can all be bought independently for £5 each or Monthly Membership Packages starting at £25 (Members Club, Pilates and Fitsteps) are all available which entitle you to access a bank of recorded sessions alongside LIVE content delivered via the Facebook Groups and ZOOM.
For the month of June, once again though, please do use the discount code CFloyalty for any class or package purchases you wish to make, entitling you to 25% discount on the above prices.
Those of you with current memberships, please do check the app for your renewal date and be sure to activate the 'automatic renewal' button in good time should you like to re-subscribe.
Likewise, if you pay by standing order and are happy to continue for another month with your current fee please be advised that payment will be taken on the 1st June.
Any questions on fees, memberships or bookings please do get in touch.
And once again, if your financial circumstances have changed don't hesitate to let me know so we can come up with a plan to suit you.
A big thank you to all who have taken part in our online classes during May... whether it be celebrating VE day with a colourful Fitsteps class, learning 101 ways to exercise with a backpack in Cardio and Conditioning or practising your pilates balance exercises off a pile of cookery books...these will be memories we will hold forever!
Stay safe folks and I look forward to coming up with more crazy, 'creative' ideas for you all in June.
Di