Leighton Buzzard gym ready to welcome members back safely next week

A locally owned and operated gym in Leighton Buzzard is ready to welcome back its members with a number of safety measures in place, which they have deemed `Safe Exercise'.

Following government guidance indoor gyms, swimming pools and sports facilities can reopen from Saturday, July 25.

Darren Rossiter, Operations Director with Energie Fitness in Leighton Buzzard, is looking forward to welcoming back its members in a safe, spacious and service driven manner.

As well as hand sanitiser stations around the gym, all staff will have fully comprehensive PPE available, and members will need to pre-book their session at the gym, there will also be 2 metre markings clearly evident and visible throughout.

He said: "We have been following the government guidance every step of the way, and are ready to welcome back our members on July 25.

"One of the key criteria that our Club, and our Industry excels in, is the test & trace system. Our Membership database systems, linked to Member Fob Entry and now with the addition of Member APP Booking, ensure we have complete control of every single visit, both past, present and future.

"Members will have to book in advance through the app to come to the gym. Our Club is staffed every minute of every day, so should queries or concerns arise, we can control and support those in real – time too.

"We will work on the capacity of 100sq ft per person as clearly outlined by our governing bodies. At each of our Clubs we will initially operate at 80 per cent capacity and following a sufficient period of success, we will look to increase further.

"We have got the booking app and each session is 60 minutes, once a day and there will be a 15 minutes down time where intense cleaning will take place.

"Our staff and cleaning team will be continually cleaning throughout the day as well.

"Previously, our Club operated under the 24 Hour Model – but we have not hesitated to remove this, not only for our Members utmost safety, but also for our Staff. This has allowed us to almost double the AM/PM cleaning schedule, to that of Pre Lockdown.

"We have invested well in our PPE, and gone above and beyond in terms of Staff Training – paying additionally for every single Staff Member across all our businesses, to become `COVID Compliant, and Customer Centric in The New Normal.

"Do not be surprised to see our Staff `fogging` your Gym on regular occasions, with the investment of a handheld fogging machine.

"These measures are all about creating consumer confidence, and we are very proud to be able to showcase the lengths we have gone for our people.

"Social distancing will be in place and we have a minimum 2 metre between each equipment, which will all be marked out.

"There will be a maximum of 45 people in the club at any one time, there will also be a one way system and staggered times so there will not be too many people coming in or out at any one time.

"We will be asking people to clean the equipment after they have used it and there will be equipment available for them to clean.

"The final point is the air handling and air supply - we have exceeded the recommendation on this.

"We are very proud that we actually got this in place back in December 2019, following a significant investment into our Ventilation, Extraction and Supply system.

"For Indoor Leisure facilities right now, the 100 sq ft per person rule is all geared towards ensuring an Air Supply of minimal 20 ltr / pp / ps flow rate.

"At Leighton Buzzard, we have almost doubled the government requirement. A really important point to note, is that having good Air Conditioning, is not the same as having good Air Ventilation, Extraction and Supply.

During lockdown the gym moved a lot of it's services online, and launched a digital fitness TV Channel, TRENDFIIT TV with lots of classes for everyone, of all abilities and all ages.

They also had classes on Zoom which allowed them to interact with their members throughout the lockdown.

Darren added: "Like everyone else, we had our hearts set on a July 4, opening date, but the announcement for us did not come and our initial disappointment, quickly turned to one of pride, as we witnessed such an outpour of members, ex-members alike being so vocal about their #ClubsBeforePubs stance.

"We have been overwhelmed by the love and support from the public, especially here in Leighton Buzzard. If we ever needed a motivation to return, stronger, safer and more service driven than ever, we need not look any further than our awesome members."