While fitness centers and yoga studios in neighboring states are reopening with restricted capacity and mandatory mask use, New York has so far kept the doors on these businesses closed. Locally, business owners are frustrated at being left out of the state’s phased reopening plans, with some signing on to a lawsuit filed earlier this month against New York, the state Attorney General’s office, and Governor Andrew Cuomo.
“[The state has] put us on the back burner, but there’s got to be some economic guidance or help, because no industry is equipped to shut down for a year,” said Christina Krzywonos, co-owner of Kingston Athletics, a crossfit gym located in the Hudson Valley Mall. “There’s no business that could survive that.”
Like gyms and yoga studios across the state, Kingston Athletics was forced to shut its doors in mid-March as the pandemic began its march across the country. After being dropped from Phase 4 of the state’s reopening plans last month, with no later date provided, hundreds of gym-owners joined the lawsuit filed in mid-July by Attorney James Mermigis, seeking an injunction of the executive order to allow gyms to reopen, along with compensation for revenue lost during the closure.
“We are part of the lawsuit because we want answers,” said Krzywonos, who owns Kingston Athletics with her husband, Nick Krzywonos, and two others. “What is the science? Is there anything we can do? What’s our timeline? What are the plans? We want to open up a conversation that we feel has not been happening.”
Not all local gyms are plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Holly Snow-Schuler, owner of MAC Fitness in Kingston Plaza, is a member of the New York State Fitness Alliance (NYSFA), a group of around 100 fitness center owners who’ve attempted to deliver plans to safely reopen to state officials. Snow-Schuler said the lawsuit brought by other gyms may be doing more harm than good.
“They have definitely taken all of our efforts five steps backwards because [Cuomo] is so mad about it,” said Snow-Schuler. “[The state] won’t even look at the protocols we’ve set forth because of the group that’s suing them.”
Tom Van Pelt is the director of operations for IXL, a fitness center with locations in Saugerties and Rhinebeck. IXL is also a member of NYFSA and not affiliated with the lawsuit against the state.
“The alliance was developed by club owners who, when removed from any phase of reopening, were left to wonder what will happen to these important small businesses essential to the health and well-being of the communities they serve,” said Van Pelt.
Though they may not all agree about how to get state officials to listen, local gym owners do share other things in common: They believe that they offer an important service to people who’ve had their health and wellness adversely impacted by the pandemic. They feel they’re well equipped to ensure they’re able to offer a safe and clean environment for area residents to work out because that’s what they’ve always done; and they’ve taken the pandemic very seriously.
In addition to co-owning Kingston Athletics, Christina Krzywonos and her husband are teachers at Kingston High School. They’re also parents of a seven-year-old. Like many gym owners, Krzywonos is wondering why schools are reopening and gyms aren’t.
“We’re looking at sending thousands and thousands of little kids back to school,” she said. “There’s no AC in my son’s school, so what’s the circulation like? And they’re going to have gym.”
Like many gyms, Kingston Athletics shifted gears a bit when the pandemic hit, moving their schedule to virtual classes and allowing some members to sign out equipment to work out from home. More recently, they put up a tent in the parking lot at the Hudson Valley Mall and began holding some socially distant classes there.
“And that was disappointing, because we just moved into a 15,000 square foot space with air conditioning, which we’ve never had before,” she said. “Now we’re outside in 90-degree weather working in a canopy.”
IXL also quickly moved their offerings online, streaming classes in mid-March for free after freezing membership dues. They’ve since added outdoor events once gatherings of up to 50 socially distanced people were allowed when the region entered Phase 4. But like other gyms, it’s a struggle.
“We are a small business that has served the Saugerties and Rhinebeck communities for more than 25 years and we had to adapt to continue to do this,” said Van Pelt. “The response has been good, but the challenge gets more difficult as time goes on.”
Snow-Schuler agreed. While MAC Fitness hasn’t moved outdoors, they have incorporated an online component to stay connected with their members.
“We haven’t done it outdoors for the simple fact that it’s just been too hot out,” she said. “The weather is against us. It’s been in the 90s all the time.”
Like gyms, yoga studios are also still closed in New York State and still wondering when they might be allowed to reopen. But some are also wondering why the state is classifying them similarly to gyms in the first place.
“Yoga centers are very different than gyms,” said Corinne Gervai, founder and director of Euphoria Yoga in Woodstock. “People bring their own mat; it’s a very easy thing to throw over your shoulder in your car, and then basically there’s no equipment. We’re not the same.”
But, at least at the moment, they’re in the same boat, hoping to reopen to serve their communities, but working to stay afloat in the meantime.
Jacqueline Nash, co-owner of The Yoga House in Kingston said they were able to quickly transition to an online presence because her business partner was already offering popular pre-recorded classes on YouTube.
“Some people really like the pre-recorded classes because they can practice it anytime during the day and fit it into their schedule,” said Nash. “For my own sanity I need to connect with people. This is my community and these are my friends, and we started to offer Zoom classes additionally.”
Zoom is one of a handful of live video-conferencing services that have increased in popularity during the pandemic, as everything from business meetings to school have gone online. Gyms and yoga studios have also enlisted the service as a means of keeping their clients active and engaged. But the transition hasn’t been as easy for some as it has for others.
“Our studio is intentionally low-tech,” said Gervai of Euphoria Yoga. “We don’t have Wi-Fi at the studios or, computers. So this is a new era. But very quickly I figured it out and the teachers figured it out, and we walked students through it.”
Gervai said that the online courses have had a positive side effect, with former members returning digitally after relocating far from the Hudson Valley.
“Many of our students moved out of town, or were visitors, like a couple from London that came in,” she said. “Students have moved to Oregon or Pennsylvania or happened to be in New Jersey during the pandemic, and we were able to keep the connection with them at the serve them. And that’s been a really beautiful gift.”
Some yoga studios are also moving outdoors, like The Yoga House, which is offering small in-person classes in Nash’s backyard.
But while local gym and yoga studio owners are adapting to the pandemic, their current methods are probably not sustainable in the long term.
“In terms of the financial hit, I won’t lie to you, it’s been a big hit,” said Gervai. “We’re surviving, but no one was getting rich on this anyway. We do it because we love it. But yoga center owners are trying to make decisions if they’re going to close, if they’re going to stop paying rent, if they’re going to put their equipment into storage for a year. The dates and timing are critical in making that decision.”
But they’re still waiting for some news while the pandemic continues.
“We’re going into the fifth month for everybody right now,” said Snow-Schuler, who employs 67 people at MAC Fitness. “Everybody is definitely super nervous. There is no talk of another PPP or stimulus coming out specifically for gyms…I can hold on the rest of the year if I have to, and I’m going to. But that’s not true for everybody.”
In the meantime, some local gyms have prepared their spaces to accommodate what they feel are sensible safety options with little to no guidance from the state.
“We started marking out six-foot boxes in the gym,” said Krzywonos. “We have space already created for individual workouts stations with spray bottles and disinfectant and social distance markings. We were ready to go. Because of the phases went through and thinking we were Phase 4, we were ready to reopen. Our members were excited, we were stoked. And then all of a sudden our industry was in a boat of its own and everybody stopped talking about it.”
Like many, Krzywonos believed pandemic-related economic restrictions would be over by now.
“It was great to get (Paycheck Protection Program) aid in the beginning,” she said. “We were really optimistic and I can’t say we were really worried for a while. But now we’ve started to worry. We had so many questions that were left unanswered, and that was the hardest part for us to really swallow. We don’t know how to reopen, if we can reopen, when we can reopen. There’s been nothing.”
Join the family! 
