OAK HILL, WV (WOAY) – This week’s phase of reopening included gyms. Active Fitness, with locations in Oak Hill and Hico, officially reopened on Monday after two months of being closed.
“I would get message upon message: ‘When can we get back? I want to get back. I want to do this.’ People telling me how depressed they were,” owner and manager Waylon Payne siad. “Even myself, because I wasn’t even allowed to use the facility being one of the owners and yeah, it’s definitely a lot of mental, and I’ve been back at it for five days now, and I can tell a huge difference.”
Despite people returning to their gym routines, some things have definitely changed as new guidelines have been put forth to make sure everyone is staying safe.
“You will see everybody wearing a mask. As you come in, they will take your temperature. They go through all the guidelines and everything for you. You have to sign the waiver that you’ve read them and agree with them,” Payne said.
Each gym goer will also get their own rag and bottle of cleaner.
Even in the CrossFit gym you will find that each person has their own marked off space to work out. Payne says he understands that there might be some frustration and apprehension associated with wearing a mask and working out, but Active Fitness has put up a plastic covering in front of their cardio machines, so people can bring their mask down when doing those types of workouts.
The gym has gone down to 40% capacity and they are using an online scheduler to ensure spread out workout times.
“We do want them to use the scheduler because that’s provided for them to go in and pick up their workout times, but that don’t mean you can’t stop by and see if it’s not at its capacity and come in, so for anybody out there who just wants to run by and see, we haven’t been at capacity yet.”
Right now their hours are 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Mondays-Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays at their Oak Hill location.
The Hico location will be open Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. for now.
They currently have senior only hours for older gym goers (60+) from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
