For 22-year old Alexis Nickl, Wake Forest student and current resident of downtown, the restricted openings of gyms in downtown Winston Salem back in September 2020, came with timid excitement as the need to exercise was dampened by the need to keep herself and those around her safe.
“It’s harder to workout alone regardless of Covid or not. I choose to workout at CycleBar because I enjoy being pushed by an instructor and the comrodierty of being in a class. Being in quarantine really sucked becuase I had to push myself in my living room.” Nickl explained.
It was up to gyms to take on the responsibility of providing a workout environment that allowed for the community’s thirst of exercise to be quenched while also keeping the community safe. This unfortunate process began with shutting down in March of 2020.
Dixon Douglas, 3-year owner of CycleBar Winston Salem explained, “We all thought it was going to be a few weeks or two. We thought it was going to be just like a blip. So while taking it very seriously, we didn’t have the data in front of us. So I used bigger companies as kind of like the domino effect. If I see X closing, then I need to think about lowering capacity. If I see Y closing, then we will shut down too.”
Once more information was available and owners began to understand the gravity of what COVID-19 was and how long their businesses would be affected, they had to figure out ways to keep their customers engaged.
“We kind of quickly got back on our feet and decided to offer Facebook groups to our members, offering nutrition and cooking classes. We just really got innovative in what we were doing.” said Dee Dugan 2-year co-owner of F45 Fitness Winston Salem.
For downtown Winston Salem exercise facilities, innovation has been the key to staying afloat during the past year, specifically during times of total lockdown.
Once the realization came in May of 2020 that things wouldn’t be the same for a while, Douglas and his team at Cyclebar made the decision to rent out around 40 bikes to members and post workouts Instagram Live using the instructors that the members would be accustomed to working with.
“We wanted to keep our people as engaged as possible and keep things as normal as we possibly could, so we gave the community the bikes and had our instructors continue instructing just so cyclers would have that escape.” said Douglas.
Exercise was a mental and physical escape for many confined to their homes during the quarantine.
“Everyone has some sort of story. If it’s in a narcissistic way or they’re doing it for their grandmother who passed away from Alzheimer’s and uses that time to build a stronger mind and body. It’s not just about losing weight at Cyclebar, it’s literally 45 minutes of an escape to allow you to focus on a better self.” Douglass explained
“I think it reinforces that outlet that people need, that emotional outlet to relieve peoples stress and anxieties. I think a lot of people felt really confined when it happened because I think a lot of people look at exercise and fitness as a way to make themselves feel alot better physically and mentally. It’s kind of your own kind of therapy.” explained 21-year old Julia Xie, a frequent F45 goer, Wake Forest University student and resident of downtown Winston Salem.
But this need to exercise did not come without hesitation.
“You never know how seriously other people are taking it.”21 year old Alexis Nickl, Cyclebar member and downtown resident explained. “You want to work out but you don’t want to put your family and circle at risk.”
Restrictions on gyms, bowling alleys, museums, and aquariums were lightened from complete closure to 30% capacity in North Carolina on September 5th, 2020 and exercise facilities were given the opportunity to prove their seriousness.
F45 Training began their reopening process a few weeks after restrictions were lifted with small outdoor classes at the Coal Pit located behind Cugino Forno on N Patterson Ave and then moved onto larger outdoor classes. Now, they offer a combination of indoor and outdoor classes at a limited capacity with social distancing. Cyclebar followed a similar trend and now has cycling on the patio space that they share with Village Juice Co. on the corner of W Fourth Street and N Marshall Street, and have smaller indoor classes. Mask wearing is mandated at both facilities.
“We ask everyone to wear a mask. Then we ask everyone to wipe their bikes down, and then we go back in and wipe the bikes down. We then sanitize the room after breaks with the sanitation fogger. We installed an air purification system in our ductwork. The purification uses UV light to kill any kind of airborne virus coming in.” Douglas explained.
F45 Training has also implemented increased cleaning and social distance policies.
“Before customers are allowed to come to class, we temperature check at the door. We also have an extensive cleaning regime which includes each customer having their own set of cleaning solution wipes, so before and after they touch any equipment we ask that they wipe it down. We also go back behind and wipe down equipment as well as incorporate a sanitation fogger.” Dugan explained.
“Everyone is wearing masks. Everyone is spaced out. All the equipment is 6ft apart so you have your own personal space. Everyone has their own rag and spray bottle so you’re not touching everyone’s germs. So like if you use weights, for example, that someone is going to use at the next station you have a 30-second break in between sets to clean everything down and then move on, or if you’re using a yoga mat and you get sweat on it, you can clean it before someone else uses it. So it’s very safe.” Xie explained about F45 Training. 
While things are starting to look up and customers are beginning to feel safer, unfortunately both exercise facilities took a major financial hit during the last year. F45 Training opened in January 2020, and closed its doors in March. Dugan explained, “We lost 80% of our memberships we gained within that two month period.” Cyclebar experienced the same kind of losses.
Reopening isn’t just allowing for these facilities to get back to a normal flow of income, it is also reinstating the sense of community that exercise provides.
“When everyone is in a room sweating, with lactic acid build-up, pumping abs to a great song you feel that you are one with everyone there and when you’ve finished a tough workout, you feel like you have accomplished something as a group,” Nickl explained, “That sense of community was missing during Covid and I’m glad to have a piece of that back.”
