With the rippling effects of COVID-19, gym owners and trainers have had to create different ways to keep their clients in shape.
Progressive Athletics is a gym located in Columbia, Maryland that focuses on small group training to hone the skills of its members. The training experience is meant to be as personalized as possible. Members train using strengthening techniques similar to cross-fit, but without the Olympic style lifting.
Social distancing, put the minds of the trainers to the test. They had to find a way to create virtual exercises that leave members feeling fulfilled as if they did a workout in the gym.
Mark Covington the owner of Progressive Athletics and his three coaches: Britnie Britton, Jesse Davidson and Joe Soto, split the group of members into their own teams to personalize the experience. The members use an app called “Fitness App” by Trainerize, formulated to create an online personal training experience. Fitness professionals can build workout plans, look up client’s progress statistics, edit their clients’ workouts on the fly, message their clients and communicate using add-ons like Skype. Clients can set fitness and health goals, manage their nutrition, sync body statistics by connecting wearable devices and message their coaches in real time.
After using the app and getting a chance to work out with one of her trainers using their virtual workouts, one member said it was awesome.
“It is super, super helpful,” said Veronica Scrivens, member of Progressive Athletics. “It made me work more. I was doing them on my own, but with Britnie I did a lot more. It was helpful because I didn’t have to look at my phone to see what was next so there was no interruption I was able to finish the exercise” she said.
The gym even found a creative way to keep their clients sweaty and still maintain a sense of community.
“Every person who posts a sweaty selfie gets a point for their team,” said Covington. “and at the end of this whole competition the winning team gets a t-shirt that says I survived ‘Gymageddon’. So, it’s just another fun way to keep them motivated.”
Getting members motivated to put in the work is hard without in-person coaching, but Progressive Athletics chooses to use the strength of their community to keep them fit and healthy. With challenges from sweaty selfies to picture proof scavenger hunts, these members will not let at-home quarantine keep their fitness levels down.
“Keeping people invested is not necessarily about the actual exercising itself, it’s about building the community and the camaraderie” said Covington.
Despite the impact the Coronavirus has on going to the gym, the work put in at Progressive Athletics is a reminder that you can always get your workout in from where ever you are.
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