CALGARY -- Kohl Kehler was always a gym guy – not a computer guy.
But he’s had a crash course in developing digital programming over the last six weeks, putting together live, online workouts for clients of his gym, Urban Athlete Fitness Studio.
"We’ve been shut down since March 17 or 18 when we finally closed up and sent everyone home," he says. "The next day, we ran our first virtual classes. Those have been a big hit for people who want to say you active at home."
But Kehler says many of his clients are now ready to get off their exercise bikes at home and onto the ones at the gym.
"We’ve got windows all the way around the building here and almost every day someone walks by who is a client, sticks their head against the glass and asks, 'When are you going to be open?'"
Kehler is one of hundreds of boutique gym owners who’ve signed a petition, asking the province relax the rules for their operations.
Right now, gyms are not scheduled to reopen until Stage 3 of the provincial relaunch plan – which may not be until late summer, possibly even the fall.
However, these owners say they can stay in business while respecting public health rules which include frequently cleaning equipment, keeping clients two metres apart while they work out and limiting the number of people allowed in their facilities at once.
"There is staff here all the time," says Kehler. "It's not a 24-hour free-for-all, it's not thousands of members who go through the turnstile at university gyms or big box gyms, it's a different environment. At peak times there might be 15 to 20 people in the whole facility."
Alberta's chief medical officer of health says there is no guarantee that businesses will be able to shift between the stages they’ve a ready been told they can open. However, she also isn’t ruling it out.
"If there are businesses or sectors that are looking through the workplace guidance documents and feeling like they can take measures to comply, I would encourage them to do so," says Dr. Deena Hinshaw. "The way forward would be for businesses thinking through how they would make sure to keep business and patrons safe."
Kehler says his gym can easily keep people as far apart as several already-open businesses, such as major grocery chains and hardware stores.
He just asks that, if the province agrees to let them open, gym owners have enough notice to bring back staff and impose new safety measures.
"I think the ones who want to open should be able to open," he says. "Especially if there is less risk to patrons compared to those other businesses that have been able to be open for weeks."
