When Gov. Andy Beshear announced gyms had to close
down effective March 18 because of the coronavirus, it was hard to
hear for several locals.
“In our view, the gym is also an essential business,” said JR
McKinney, who owns Richmond Athletic Club with his wife, April. “A
lot of people come here for therapy, just the same as if they go to a
therapist or social worker.
“Evidence has shown that you release different nuero-transmitters,
endorphins while you work out, and that was unfortunately taken away
from members,” he explained.
Kara Evans, manager at Anytime Fitness, agreed.
“This has been hard for a lot of people,” she explained. “Because …
fitness centers are more than just where you go and sweat and work
out and stuff. And for a lot of people, this is their mental break. This is
their way that they deal with the stress of life and how they get away
from life for a second. They can leave the kids … and spend time to
be selfish.
“When you’re at the gym, you’re selfish. All you’re working on is
you. You’re listening to your own music. You’re in your own little world.”
Now, gyms are open again, but they look a lot different, as both
Anytime Fitness and Richmond Athletic Club used the break to renovate.
At Anytime, Evans focused on redoing the floor in the back part of
the gym. From people constantly dropping their weights on the floor
after finishing their sets, the floor had indentations that Evans wanted
to have repaired.
One hole was under the deadlift platform.
Crews were hired to start drilling so they could fill the holes/indentations.
Once they started drilling, part of the floor caved in, Evans said.
All of a sudden, repairing the floors went from a three-day project
to a three-week project.
Additionally, Evans ordered new equipment for Anytime Fitness,
including a cable crossover, heavier dumbbells, a new punching bag
and a zero runner, which allows people to get in cardio if they have
knee issues that prevent them from running, for example. She also
invested in a sauna, which was on backorder in late May.
“We’ve had a lot of people request it and ask that during a tour,” she
said. While introducing new members to the gym, Evans would say,
“’We’ve got pretty much everything else you need, but not a sauna.’”
She said it’s more of a selling point.
Meanwhile, JR and April have also worked on improving the
Richmond Athletic Club.
“We have worked on restructuring things from the operational side
of the facility,” April said. “We have also been working on updates on
the inside.”
For example, they replaced the sinks, fixtures and countertops in
the locker rooms, as well as improving the front desk in the gym, she
explained.
The couple has also tried to get paperless billing underway for
members of their gym.
“We’ve done all this without charging our members while we’ve
been shut down,” JR said.
JR and April were members before becoming owners at Richmond
Athletic Club, April explained. So they still have a member mindset
when making decisions.
“Every decision that we make, we try to look at it as not just what
benefits us as owners, but also what is going to benefit our members,”
April explained. “How would we like someone to have treated us or
what would we have liked to see them do?
“… Our pocketbook was not the right thing to be on the lookout for
during this time. My response to my members when they came in asking
if were continuing to bill was absolutely not. We will not bill you for
as long as we can possibly go without billing you because our members
were losing their jobs as well.”
They said they don’t see the gym as JR and April’s gym, but as all of
the members’ gym. Therefore, they are constantly re-investing members’
monthly payments back into the gym.
As workers began to fix
indentations in the floor
at Anytime Fitness, the
floor fell in at the back
of the gym.
June- July 2020 Madison Magazine 7