Health, Fitness, and COVID-19

Happy Sunday CFG Fam,
As we continue to monitor information from the CDC, I feel it’s my duty to keep you all informed on what CFG is doing proactively to be prepared for all scenarios. First, a quick recap from the email I sent Friday. If you read that in it’s entirety you can go ahead and skip to the next section:
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Being a health and fitness community, we place a huge priority on making sure that all of you and your families are healthy and safe. While I made a couple of FB posts earlier this week (here and here) that you are welcome to go back and read, I also wanted to lay out all the precautions we are taking when it comes to the coronavirus.

• We continue to educate our staff and partners with the latest CDC policies
• Our professional cleaning company has already ramped up their cleaning processes
• We’ve stockpiled and added more sanitization wipes, soap and hand sanitizers throughout the gym (need TP? CFG is the place to be!)
• We have instituted a policy of scheduled cleanings throughout the day of all common areas and commonly touched surfaces
• You, our members, have become so OCD (God Bless America, this makes my heart happy) and you’re cleaning like it’s a part of a superset, EMOM, Tabata.. you get the idea and we thank you.
• We’re hearing some singing from the bathrooms lately (“Happy Birthday to Me” is a top choice) while washing hands!

I also spoke with our partners at EXOS and our teams are committed to working together to ensure we are being proactive at all times.
By now, you might be asking yourself ‘What can I do?’ Here are some general guidelines and best practices that you can follow to help keep yourself and others healthy:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
• Avoid shaking hands, giving hi-fives or fist pumps. Thumbs up is good for now!
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth. Put another way – don’t touch your face.
• Stay home when you are sick. Don’t even question this.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash. Or at the very least, do an elbow sneeze!
• Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
• If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.

For information about the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Situation Summary
For information about handwashing, see CDC’s Handwashing website
TRAVELERS: CDC does have specific guidance for travelers.
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Not only do we monitor the CDC, I also work as a mentor with Two-Brain Business, and we oversee roughly 600 gyms around the world so we are constantly gathering data from there too. Currently gyms in Italy, China, Denmark, and Norway have been forced to close by the government. But here’s the cool part – people are still continuing to train. We are learning from them so that we can best help all of you. With that said, here are our plans:
Currently:
1. We will continue to operate our normal class schedule.
2. We are asking that you do not come to the gym if you start to feel sick or show any symptoms of disease. If you feel ill but would still like to work out, email marc@crossfitforglory.com with a list of available equipment and space, and we’ll put something together for you. Please do not come to the gym if you are under the weather.
3. Continue to abide by all the precautions we laid out in Friday’s email and recapped above.
4. We have put together ‘At-Home’ options for all of our workouts going forward indefinitely. Simply scroll to the bottom of the WODIFY app and you’ll see it there. Again, if you need further explanation, email or message a coach and they’ll help out asap – they’ve all been given instruction on this.
Long Term Plan:
We are fully prepared in case the government mandates that we must close.
As a leader in the fitness industry, we have a huge network of resources, and we’ve used that to make you a solid plan.
If we must close, we will not stop providing you with coaching, accountability and programming. Believe it or not, we’ve been delivering remote coaching since our inception more than 8 years ago.
We will use the internet to program and instruct workouts. And thanks to the accessibility of social media, this is an incredibly strong tool we will leverage at that time.
We take a lot of pride in being a lighthouse for our members – we don’t go dark. Ever. Even if you can’t get your workouts in at 16627 FishHawk Blvd, you don’t pay for access to a facility and equipment. You pay for coaching and we can and will continue to deliver that no matter what.
We will program personalized workouts every day, with precise instruction.
We’ll tell you how to use household items if needed, and we’ll leverage technology to coach you.
Here’s what you can do to prepare for this possibility:
1. Go out and buy a kettlebell or a couple of dumbbells. You can probably get something for about $100 or less. Play It Again Sports is minutes from the gym, and there are tons of online retailers. Select a weight that you would use in a conditioning workout (25-, 35- and 55 lb. kettlebells are common, as are 20- and 40- lb. dumbbells). This will be your primary piece of at-home fitness equipment. Don’t worry: You can stay very fit with just one kettlebell or dumbbell.
2. If you have the cash, buy one heavy object and one lighter object. Maybe a few different ones. If you have additional cash, pick up anything else you might want—it will always be useful when things are back to normal.
3. If you don’t have cash, get creative. Fill some jugs with water, clean off that old tire in the garage, and so on.
4. Make a space where you can work out with “CFG online.” It should be about 8 feet by 8 feet. Just don’t knock over plants or do a burpee on the dog’s tail.
5. Create Instagram and Facebook accounts if you don’t have them. We’ll use those platforms to run workouts.
6. Make sure you have a way to set up a phone or iPad so you can see and hear us during the online session.
7. High-five the Internet.
We hope there are no breaks in service at our gym, but if we are required to close, we will obey our government.
But we will not leave you high and dry. We’ll be offering the same enthusiasm, programming and energy over the Internet. You’re a person who works out. And we’re going to make sure that continues.
(Big thanks to our friends at CF 204 and Railroad CF for the above!)
What’s Next?
This may sound cheesy, but then again you’ve all come to expect that from me by now, right? Simple: enjoy the extra time you are likely spending with your loved ones. See the silver lining. Don’t fight over toilet paper.
We are more than prepared for this. So are you. Your health and fitness that you’ve forged at CrossFit For Glory is the ultimate buffer against this virus. And even if you do get sick, that buffer will be the reason you bounce back quick. It’s for this reason that continuing to improve your health and fitness is so important.
I love you, I love our community, and we are blessed to serve you.