My name is Jamie Cormier.  My husband and I own CrossFit Candor in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I as well as many other CrossFit gym owners feel as though we should not be categorized with all gyms when deciding the phases of reopening.

CrossFit gyms do not have thousands of members walking through their doors daily. We have somewhere between 50 and 200 members total and everyone is broken up into 8+ classes a day. Therefore, we tend to have less than 10 people per class. Since classes are so small, CrossFit owners and trainers can easily manage the CDC guidelines for COVID-19 and social distancing. Furthermore, our gyms are not in shopping centers and confined to just indoor space. They are in warehouses with several garage doors reaching to a 13+ foot ceiling, allowing them to practically be outside. In the warehouse, members have their own space where they get their own equipment and sometimes, no equipment is required. For many CrossFit owners, their gym is their only form of income given the endless hours needed to keep members engaged, happy, healthy, and fit. We work tirelessly on end to do just that because our gym and our members mean everything to us. We know every person that walks through our doors, what each member does for a living, and their family and friends. We will continue to do everything we can to keep them safe while remaining open.

CrossFit gyms can easily incorporate social distancing and follow all CDC guidelines for COVID-19. Their guidelines state: stay at least 6 feet (2 meters) from other people; do not gather in groups; stay out of crowded places and avoid mass gatherings; clean hands often; and clean and disinfect all equipment before and after use.  CrossFit gyms are not corporate establishments and therefore, we can change schedules, procedures, and guidelines at any time, and we are happy to do so, according to what the city decides. We will disinfect prior to and after all equipment use, members will not share equipment in class, and they will be able to maintain any social distancing requirements the city requires. They will disinfect any equipment used during class before leaving, and we will perform a second disinfecting clean of the entire facility prior to the next new use.  We will implement sign up classes only with less than 10 people per class leaving plenty of open space, (our building is approximately 8500 Square feet). Finally, garage doors will remain open for a constant supply of fresh air.  We are open to starting with  NO classes, but simply individuals in their own equipped space training per city requirements or personal training options initially at a certain capacity.

We do not feel that we should be grouped with large global gyms that have 1000+ members walking in at their leisure every day. We should not even be on the same spectrum as them, given our characteristics compared to theirs and should be categorized differently when projecting the phases of reopening.   Fitness and activity are essential to fighting COVID-19. Healthy lifestyles can add years to a someone’s life, helping to increase lung capacity; decrease hypertension; and reduce the risk of many diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, cancer, and obesity. These are all things that put people at a higher risk of Covid-19. Please consider a phase 1 or 2 status for small group or personal training-type fitness centers when making the guidelines for the COVID-19 reopening phases or please give us any indication of what we can do to be included in an earlier phase.  Thank you so much for your consideration.  Our livelihood and the health of our members hangs in the balance.