By Lisa Kava
Have you cancelled your gym membership since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic?
If you have stopped working out or moved your workouts outdoors or online: gyms and exercise studios want you back!
To that end, New York City is in the middle of the first-ever NYC Fitness Week, which began on June 5th and runs through the weekend until Sunday, June 12th. (Sorry for the late notice, but there’s still time!)
NYC Fitness Week is the brainchild of fitness professionals Debra Strougo of Fitizens Holdings, and Brian Chappon of Centred Wellness. Their goal is to “give the profoundly disrupted fitness industry the support and awareness needed for a strong recovery from the pandemic,” according to their website.
Strougo previously worked in marketing on both NYC Restaurant Week and Broadway Week. “These were amazing programs to help stimulate the NYC restaurant and theater industries,” she said. As a fitness professional who watched her industry suffer during the pandemic, Strougo was inspired to create a similar program to help gyms and exercise studios.
During NYC Fitness Week, exercise enthusiasts will be able to “BOGO” (buy one get one free) at participating fitness centers. BOGO could also refer to a day pass for the gym, according to the event organizers. Participating gyms and studios may additionally offer their own individual promotions.
Gyms and fitness studios in NYC were among the last establishments to reopen as part of the NYC reopening plan. When they did finally re-open, there were limited capacity rules in place. Many Covid-cautious New Yorkers are still hesitant to return to indoor group exercise classes and gyms.
“Fitness was one of the industries most disrupted by the pandemic. New York saw 40% of fitness doors permanently close,” Alex Machado, social media and content manager of Fhitting Room, an exercise studio at 584 Columbus Avenue at 88th Street, told West Side Rag. “We are excited to participate in this event and continue to help New Yorkers stay physically and mentally healthy.”
The following Upper West Side gyms and fitness studios are some of those participating in NYC Fitness Week:
New York Sports Clubs:
The fitness chain has three Upper West Side locations: 2527 Broadway at 94th Street, 240 West 80th Street at Broadway, and 23 West 73rd Street between Columbus and Central Park West.
Crunch UWS:
162 West 83rd St between Columbus and Amsterdam.
Fhitting Room:
584 Columbus Avenue at 88th Street.
Barry’s Boot Camp:
72-74 West 69th St between Columbus and Central Park West.
If you would like to try out a fitness center during NYC Fitness Week, head to the NYC Fitness Week website and find the gyms or studios that appeal to you. You can also contact local gyms to see if they’re offering promotions. Click on the links to the fitness centers above to learn more about what they’re specifically offering, and to sign up.
Not a word as to what the gyms are doing to make a return safer for their clients. Or maybe the whole covid thing is lover and no one told me.
This is so great. Thanks for the information. I feel like it has been limited finding classes for working out. This will motivate me now.
Equinox requires proof of vax on file. Everyone checks in at the front desk. All employees except trainers wear masks. No work of any outbreaks since they reopened last year. I feel safer there than in the supermarket.
here’s a novel idea: lower the cost to these places.
As per a recent NY Times article, a study showed that indoor gyms can be Covid breeding grounds without mandatory mask wearing (even with, perhaps). “A new study found exercisers expel a shocking number of tiny aerosol particles when they are working hard.” Caveat Emptor. I’m staying outdoors to exercise. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/well/move/covid-gym-air.html
I’ve been living in another state for a year and going to a large gym with no vax mandates, no mask mandates and a full gym of happy people. No health issues what so ever. If people choose to, they wear masks and everyone gets along. Don’t be angry, just letting you all know.