Well, it’s happened…
As of 8:00 tonight, all gyms in New York State will be closed “until further notice.” It’s not as if we didn’t see this coming, right? The hysteria and panic that has set in since the Coronavirus made its way to the US has been incredible. Public events being canceled, Professional Sports being postponed, toilet paper sold out at the grocery store. It’s crazy. I’m not going to use this as a platform to give my opinion on whether the reaction has been overblown, and I don’t really care about yours, either. I do know that if we can take steps to control an outbreak, we should probably take those steps. So I get it. Even if I disagreed, It is what it is. The question now is: how do we move forward?
If you’re familiar with the CrossFit Webster story, then you know we’ve been here before. We were basically in the exact same spot one year ago today – we had closed in September of 2018, and by March of 2019 we were still 2 months away from our Grand Re-Opening. The thought of having to close again had me crying on more than one occasion today. All the hard work, the dedication, the 5:00 AM classes. Watching new members progress and push themselves past what they thought was possible. I’ve seen it now. I know that it works. It’s been a very rewarding 10 months. Plus, our membership has grown to the point of sustainability, and the thought of losing members and having to start over or even worse, shut down for good absolutely terrifies me.
Life has a funny way of giving you exactly what you need, right when you need it most. As soon as I announced to our members that we had to close and that I had no idea when we’d be opening again, the outpouring of support and love brought me to tears, again. I love this gym, and the community we’ve created. I’ve fought like hell to get here, and I’ll do the same moving forward. I refuse to let this gym die. Not like this.
I’ve spent past blogs discussing the concept of “controlling the controllables” (/controlling-the-controllables). There are only so many things that are in your control. You can’t control the weather, for example. You can’t control whether or not you win the lottery (try as you might). Chalk this one up, too: you can’t control how the government is going to manage a situation like this. The only thing you can do is take it in stride. “Where do I go from here?”
I mentioned above that this wasn’t unexpected. We’ve got at least a month of at home workouts ready to go, starting today. These workouts can be completed with a set of Dumbbells or Kettlebells, a jump rope, a spot on a wall, and a place to run. We’ll be running remote training sessions where our members can log on and get some coaching and hopefully get that sense of community that keeps us all together. If our members don’t have the necessary equipment to complete the workouts, they’ll be able to lease them from us, too. Earlier this month, we introduced Individual Programming and One on One coaching. Control what I can control.
It is very important to recognize that now is not the time to give up on your health and fitness. This is something that each of our members (and everyone reading this) has 100% control over. Along with the at home programming, staying focused and controlling your nutrition, sleep, recovery, and outlook on life will go a long way toward keeping you fit. This is a very good time to make changes in each of those four categories to improve or maintain your health through the uncertain times ahead.
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