Dear 13 Stripes family,
The coronavirus is creating a lot of chaos, but there are many bright spots. Here are just a few:
No. 1: You’ve prioritized your health and fitness throughout the last few months or years. You’ve done everything you can to prepare for anything. You’re either in the best shape of your lives or are working hard to get there and are well on your way.
No. 2: We have had time to prepare. While gyms in Italy, China, Croatia, and Denmark have been shut down with very little warning, we have time to plan. We’ll be very prepared to help you stay fit as governments work to manage the pandemic.
No. 3: Spring is on the way, and we’ll be able to use large, well ventilated outside spaces soon to gather as a community within recommended size limits.
No. 4: We’re talking to the best gym owners and business mentors daily to learn how we can serve you best right now. We know and work with other gyms around the world on a daily basis, and as a client of ours, you’ll benefit from that. You can expect a world-class response to the coronavirus. Read on.
General Procedures
Short-Term Plans
- Most important of all: Don’t come to the gym if you are feeling ill or have disease symptoms. Starting March 16th, you will have access to in-home workouts as part of your membership. We will also provide our online customized programming during this time to our current members as part of the regular membership upon request.
- If you need customized workouts, please email [email protected] to get set up with a Trainerize account and with a list of equipment you have and the space you will be using. We’ll get you moving.
- Wash your hands often with warm water and lots of soap. Scrub and sing “Happy Birthday” to make sure you’re washing long enough. Don’t touch your face.
- If you sneeze or cough or sneeze, cover your mouth with a tissue or an elbow.
- Thoroughly clean any equipment you touch including the rig and the floors. All cleaning supplies will be on hand. Staff have also added extra cleaning measures before and after classes.
Long-Term Plans
Given the situation occurring throughout the world and in our very own state, we are preparing for public places to be closed. We take a lot of pride in being part of your lives and we want you to keep working out, even if the government requests we stop gathering at 13 Stripes for the time being. We know you pay us for coaching and we will continue to do that through this temporary closure without interruption to your workouts. While we know that gathering together is part of the fun at 13 Stripes, we will use social media and online virtual classes to continue to have fun as a family, get a good workout in, and inspire each other.
We will program workouts every day, with precise instruction. We’ll tell you how to use household items, and we’ll leverage technology to coach you. We are more than prepared for this.
Given the ability to gather in parks in small groups, we will run outside workouts so we can meet as a community.
We also will be adding in-home virtual yoga sessions led by Monica Foster as an additional bonus for being 13 Stripes members.
To help you prepare, here’s a quick equipment list from 13 Stripes that might make training from home easier:
- A kettlebell or a set of dumbbells. You can probably get something for about $75 or less. Walmart and Amazon Prime have reasonably priced options that do hold up. Select a weight that you would use in a conditioning workout (25-, 35- and 55 lb. kettlebells are common, as are 20- and 40- lb. dumbbells). This will be your primary piece of at-home fitness equipment. Don’t worry: You can stay very fit with just one kettlebell or dumbbell.
- If you have the cash, buy one heavy object and one lighter object. Maybe a few different ones. If you have additional cash, pick up anything else you might want—it can all go to the cottage when things are back to normal. If you don’t have cash, get creative. Fill some jugs with water, clean off that old tire in the garage, and so on.
- Make a space where you can work out with “13 Stripes online.” It should be about 8 feet by 8 feet. Just don’t knock over plants or do a burpee on the dog’s tail.
- Create Instagram and Facebook accounts if you don’t have them. We’ll likely use those platforms to run workouts.
- Make sure you have a way to set up a phone or iPad so you can see and hear us during the online session. We will still run classes!
- High-five the Internet.
We sincerely hope to avoid any government-mandated closures, but we are prepared for everything.
You will be taken care of. We’ll show the exact same enthusiasm and care over the internet. You won’t get a physical fist bump after a great workout, but our emoji game is very, very strong.
Your 13 Stripes Team