Gyms and fitness outlets can now officially reopen in Los Angeles County tomorrow, as of Friday, with restrictions and many new regulations.
Silverlake pilates studio, Avenir LA wil reopen on Monday. Owner Kate Andrews reconfigured the studio so that each student is six feet or more apart. The studio will also re-start with a reduced class schedule to make time for sanitizing pilates machines.
Andrews told KPCC/LAist that per the new regulations, class attendees will be required to line up outside, 6-feet apart and wait for an instructor to open the doors (so that no one touches them). Studio members "will be getting an email [explainig] that our bathroom, our lobby space, and our water dispenser will be temporarily unavailable," Andrews said.
Since gyms were forced to close in mid-March, Avenir has been running free classes via Instagram Live five days a week to keep their community engaged.
Andrews recently polled her clients on Instagram to gauge how many of them would want to resume in-person workouts. She found about 50 percent were eager to return to in-person classes, while the other half was hesitant.
A few blocks from Avenir, on Hyperion Avenue, owner Adrienne DiMatteo has been figuring out the logistics of reopening her spin and yoga studio, Hype Silverlake.
She decided to convert the studio's parking lot into an outdoor gym, with bikes placed 8 to 12-feet apart. Because the virus can spead more easily inside, the indoor spin, yoga and HIIT classes will require guests to stay between 8 and 15-feet away from each other. So Hype will now be running ourdoor, indoor and virtual classes, for those who'd rather workout at home.
"This has been pretty challenging," DiMatteo said. "We know the coronavirus can travel 6-feet, but if there's more exertion it might be a little farther, so in my mind that means more than 6-feet," she told LAist. "It's like, far be it for me to say 6-feet isn't far enough. It's more to make me feel comfortable coming to the studio. So hopefully it works for other people as well."
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