SLO County gym adapts to COVID with outdoor workouts: ‘It’s a good place to be’
Avila Bay Athletic Club and Spa manager Nancy Terrell has become something of an expert on barbecue covers recently.
“Interestingly enough, I went out and bought all the barbecue covers I could find,” she told The Tribune in a phone interview.
The Avila Beach gym uses the covers to keep athletic equipment protected from the elements now that all of its classes and athletic offerings have been moved outside, per the state’s coronavirus prevention regulations.
“We found that some of the cheaper flimsy ones would rip, or weren’t as waterproof as we thought, so then we had to invest in a better brand,“ Terrell said with a laugh. “Barbecue covers, who knew?”
Since March 2020, employees and managers of gyms and athletic clubs around the country have had to adapt to ever-changing coronavirus regulations that have sent many businesses into a tailspin.
“We just have to keep adapting, for a while there it just felt like, every day was something new,” Terrell said. “We just keep trying to move with everything to make everybody happy.”
Moving Avila Beach gym outdoors presents challenges
When the state issued orders for all California gyms to shutter and move their operations entirely outdoors, Avila Bay Club was lucky to be in a prime location. The 4-acre property was already well suited to operating outside, requiring only a few modifications.
“We were able to take everything outside,” Terrell said, “and we didn’t have to go in the parking lot like some other places, even though that would have totally been an option.”
A handful of tents are now nestled on green lawns between the Avila Beach club’s seven tennis courts and two swimming pools, where club members can enjoy a variety of health and fitness classes in the socially-distanced safety of the outdoor air.
“We’ve always had some people who will come here and say, ‘I’m going to be here instead of taking a vacation because for me this is a perfect place to escape,’ ” Terrell said.
“Now we’re doing the yoga classes outside under the trees. Now they can use our weights outside,” she continued. “All that stuff that they had to do indoors before, they actually are enjoying doing it outside.”
Natural beauty aside, moving an entire business outdoors has not been without its challenges.
No. 1 on that list is keeping the equipment protected from the ocean air and other elements — hence the barbecue and car covers.
But Terrell said a trickier problem is fickle weather.
Terrell said the gym had the hardest time during the summer of 2020, when the Central Coast experienced record-setting heat and bad air quality due to wildfires raging across California.
“Yeah, I think the hardest time was when the fires were here,” she said. “And we had bad outdoor air quality and we were tracking that, so all of a sudden we’re air quality experts too. And then it was hot on top of it. So, we’ve gone from these extremes, you know.”
In the fall and winter, Avila Bay Athletic Club had to deal with another extreme: cold.
To combat that, the gym invested in a series of outdoor heaters overhead and at ground level to keep gym members comfortable.
“There was a big shortage of heaters that happened right when everybody needed them,” Terrell recalled. “Yeah, that was fun to try to find them.”
In addition, gym employees have had to become experts in sanitizing procedures, Terrell added, to make sure that people can feel safe using the equipment.
“I would like people to be a little bit less scared of gyms, knowing how hard we’re working to keep it clean,” she said. “And we do have really expert training in the sanitizing process, and it’s working.”
Manager says paycheck loans keep employees on payroll
In all, Terrell said Avila Bay Athletic Club has spent “tens of thousands of dollars” adhering to the coronavirus regulations.
Meanwhile, membership at the club has dropped by about 25%, meaning the club’s coffers are tighter than usual.
Terrell said that, at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan helped to keep all 90 of the club’s employees on the payroll.
Almost a year later, Avila Bay Athletic Club’s revenues are still down from what they should be, Terrell said.
“Being down, it’s hard,” she said. “It’s hard because you need to have extra staff, take care of all these extra things and then you have less revenue to deal with.
“We have to cut back and do our best to do more with less,” she added.
Terrell said she felt a second round of PPP loans would “really help” the business and would go to continuing to pay employees and some overhead.
Why does Avila Bay Club stay open? The members.
As difficult as it has been adjusting to a new landscape of state regulations and pandemic fears, Terrell said she is happy to be able to offer people an escape from their daily lives via workouts.
“We do a survey system so I get to see the feedback,” Terrell said. “Sometimes (people) come to you and are crying, like, ‘This is the only place I can come besides, you know, work or go to the grocery store and it means everything to me and you’re the only people keeping me just a little bit sane during these hard times.’ ”
For many Avila Bay Athletic Club members, Terrell said, outdoor classes or exercising at the pool and tennis courts are the only times they get to socialize.
That’s what inspires her through the difficulties of managing a business during a pandemic, Terrell said.
“It just means everything to them and that means everything to us,” she said. “It’s a good place to be.”
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