EPIC spring cleaning and Getting Ready for You
Over the last ten weeks, many of you have perfected your banana bread recipe, written the outline for your quarantine memoir, learned to crochet, and adjusted to life at home, all while logging into Facebook Live for one of our Balance workouts! We are so appreciative of how each of you has supported the community in big and little ways.
We are excited to share that the Mayor has included gyms in Phase 2 of her re-opening plan, and we are hopeful that we will be able to open Balance locations again in the coming weeks. We won’t have a concrete date until Phase 1 commences, but we promise you will know as soon as we do!
The Balance Gym crew cannot wait to have you back in our clubs! Over the last ten weeks, our team has been working around the clock on deep-cleaning, repairing, and renovating our locations, and developing new protocols to make sure that when we re-open our doors, we will provide members with a safe, clean workout space.
Here is a broad overview of our plans for re-opening; these are subject to change as Mayor Bowser gives additional guidance, and we will have the most up-to-date plans and instructions on our website. We’d also love to hear from you! Once you read through our plans, please take our re-opening survey.
What’s the Plan?
What follows is a broad overview of our plans for re-opening—better grab a cup of Joe! As with anything these days, our plans are subject to change as Mayor Bowser gives additional guidance. We’ll post updates here on our blog and drop hints on our social channels as well when that happens.
Preparing Our Gyms
Here’s what we’re already doing to make sure our facilities are safe and sanitary from day one:
- Deep-cleaning every corner of every gym.
- Adding signage to remind members to wear masks, clean equipment after use, and stay at least six feet from others at all times.
- Installing sanitation stations inside each facility.
- Ensuring members can maintain social distance by limiting access to the locker rooms, closing the pool at Foggy Bottom, and spacing out equipment throughout the facilities.
Cleaning Protocols
All staff are being trained in our new cleaning protocols to ensure we are consistently providing a clean and sanitary environment.
- Restrooms will be cleaned hourly and the facilities will be cleaned continuously. We will provide wipes in bathrooms to wipe down faucets and use touchless paper towel dispensers.
- A cleaning crew will stay after hours to clean while the gym is closed.
- All clubs will have a sanitation center immediately upon entrance with access to purchase masks, sign in, and disinfect.
Employee Protocols
We’re also making sure our employees are safe and healthy when they show up to work.
- Employees will have temperature checks at the beginning of every shift. We will instruct employees not to report to work if they have symptoms and to return home and quarantine for 14 days if they experience symptoms.
- Employees will be required to wear face masks at all times.
- Cleaners and front desk staff will be required to wear gloves at all times.
- Employees will clean all personal areas (desk space, laptop keyboards, etc.) and wash hands at every shift change and during the gap between workout slots.
Member Protocols
- Register for workouts in advance: Members are required to register in advance for 90-minute workout slots.
- A staff person will check members in and out to monitor the number of people in the facility at all times.
- Bring your own water: Only touch-free water fill stations will be open.
- Come dressed to work out: Locker rooms are limited to sinks and toilets only, so bring as little as possible with you.
- Wear a face mask: Masks are required at all times while inside the gym. You may remove your mask whenever you are vigorously training outdoors or while hydrating.
- Don’t have a face mask yet? We’ll be selling them at the front desk.
- Look out for limited group fitness options: We can’t hold indoor Group Exercise classes quite yet, but we’ll have outdoor classes (limited to 10 people) as the weather warms up!
- Commit to safety: All members will have to agree to abide by a COVID-19 Member Acknowledgement when they return to the gym.
If you’re not ready to come back…
Don’t worry! We will continue to run virtual programming once we reopen.
We want to hear from you
We’d love to hear your feedback on our plans – please take our re-opening survey to let us know what you think!
Looking for more?
If you haven’t already, check out our Ask Balance Q&A series which covers everything from how to get motivated to building a yoga practice to how to maintain strength during quarantine. Active members can request access to our Facebook group or email [email protected] for more details.