A JOINT owner of an independent city gym says they have spent thousands on being ready to re-open, to ensure people feel safe to workout again.

The government has announced indoor gyms can reopen on July 25, and Jason Eacock, who runs Revolution Fitness with his twin brother Kristian, said they were really happy about the news having been at the gym virtually every day in lockdown preparing to reopen.

Jason said: “We are ecstatic we get to see everybody again. There are people we haven’t seen for four months who we would see every day. They have not been able to do a proper workout, all they could have done was a run outside.

“We saw from other businesses what would be needed. Our spend has been around £15,000-£20,000 - it cost about £5,000 to get safe. But we wanted to use lockdown as an opportunity, we wanted to make it better than it has ever been.”

Among the new features at the Tolladine Road gym are spray bottles with each member having their own, sanitising stations all over the premises, a restriction of 100 people on site at any one time, equipment spaced out and, for kit that can’t be separated there are screens between them, and an upgraded air handling system to constantly circulate fresh air.

The gym now also has a new entrance lobby to help with social distancing, new lighting, and a new studio.

“We did it because if we re-opened there would be nothing worse than people feeling scared,” Jason said.

“We want people to feel welcome, and staff and members to feel safe. We felt it was better to do too much.”

Meanwhile Freedom Leisure, which runs several gyms in Worcester - Perdiswell Leisure Centre, St John’s Sports Centre, Nunnery Wood Sports Complex - as well as the Malvern Splash Leisure Complex and Sport Dyson Perrins Leisure Centre and Sport Martley Leisure Centre, welcomed the announcement gyms could re-open.

Managing director Ivan Horsfall Turner said in a letter on Freedom Leisure’s website: “Although not all our centres will open straightaway, a lot of planning has already been done, and the coming days will be focused on finalising this to ensure we meet the guidance, and we are ready to open safely.

“Further updates will be available shortly on your local centre website and on social media. See you soon.”

In another section on the website ‘what to expect when we open’ it lists a number of changes that have been made.

These include that gym equipment will be spaced out, disinfectant will be provided to clean down machines and equipment before and after use, where outside facilities exist classes could be held outside, capacity of group exercise classes will be reduced, and drinking fountains will not be available.

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