Planet Fitness has announced that members and guests will be required to wear a mask at all times while inside facilities beginning August 1. Currently, all Planet Fitness employees are required to wear masks at the roughly 1,450 facilities that are open across 46 states, Washington, DC, Canada, and Australia.
Planet Fitness CEO Chris Rondeau told Cheddar his company is looking to do its part in combating the virus.
"I think, for the time being, it's the right move for us to take it one step higher."
Rondeau said that for those without a mask, Planet Fitness will supply masks for sale at the front desk and are allowing all members who don't want to wear a mask to freeze their membership while the new mask policy is in effect.
Masks aren't the only changes members will see at one of the largest and fastest-growing fitness companies. To ensure cleanliness, locations have made changes such as increasing the number of sanitization stations and spreading out equipment to promote physical distancing.
"We've stepped up our game here," Rondeau said. "A new feature we just launched is our Crowd Meter, where you're able to open up your app on your phone before you leave the house, see how busy the club is or isn't, and make adjustments to your schedule to be sure you want to come in when it's less busy and to avoid the crowds."
Rondeau said his gyms, which are 20,000 square feet on average, can accommodate upwards of 400 members, but joked, "We don't even have that many parking spots at most facilities." However, the Planet Fitness CEO said that in addition to the large spaces found in the gyms, people working from home have helped prevent overcrowding. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, gyms would be packed before 7:00 am, as people tried to fit in a workout before heading to the office, and after 5:00 pm as they headed home. But those times have changed.
"What's happening now is it's actually spreading out. People are coming in between 9 am and 11 am, they're coming in at 2:00 or 3:00 in the afternoon," said Rondeau. "It helped spread the usage out, which has alleviated a lot of those issues."
One other factor in limiting gym crowds is Planet Fitness' at-home offerings. Usage has spiked since the start of the pandemic. These online workouts, which are streamed weekday evenings, involve certified trainers and celebrity guests. They are also available on Facebook and YouTube once the broadcast is over. Rondeau says his company's digital workout programs have had 20 million views to date, and plenty of downloads from members and non-members alike. "People are utilizing Planet Fitness as a trusted name in fitness at home."
Still, Rondeau says the digital experience doesn't compare to working out at a real gym and thinks gyms play an essential role in keeping people healthy.
"The energy is unbeatable compared to working out in my basement. 70 percent of the U.S. adults are obese or overweight today so anything we can do to get people active is extremely helpful," Rondeau said. "I really think that gyms are really part of the solution, not the problem, so to shut the gyms down in this kind of situation seems counterproductive to me."
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