Should gyms be open?

lifter pro wrestler and chronic pain driver. Both for life is a podcast about living

with the challenges of chronic pain. Our goal is to acknowledge, inspire and relate to people

“living with chronic pain. I believe it is not only possible to survive, but to live a full life”

and thrive with chronic pain. No matter where you are in your journey, our mission is to give you the information and inspiration that will help you become Bolt for Life. Today, on the Bolt for Life podcast, we have Skip and Holly Lenin and they are the owners of TF fitness nutrition. So this is during the time of the pandemic and throughout the country, some of the gyms and fitness centers have opened and some have not. So here in North Carolina,

the gyms are closed as of right now, we're in phase two and that is really tough on our chronic pain community, on our physical fitness community. So we want to get Skip and Holly in here to talk

to us about the current situation with third gym and what they're doing to help get those gyms

open so that people can get in there and continue to be healthy. Well, today on the Bolt for Life podcast, we have with us Skip and Holly Lenin. They are owners of TF fitness nutrition here in Wilmington, North Carolina. They've been in the gym and fitness game for some time now and I'm really honored to have them here at the Bolt for Life podcast. Welcome, guys. Thank you very much. We're excited to be here. Thank you so much for coming in

and to let our listeners know we're recording this during the time of the pandemic and for social distancing. Six people. Yes, we're pretty close. Pretty close.

“We're not wearing masks, though. I think we're okay here. You know here on the Bolt for Life”

podcast, we like to talk about obviously people with chronic pain and chronic injuries, but we very much encourage people to do resistance training, to work out, to get their bodies move and strengthen their bodies. And right now, all of the gyms and fitness centers are still closed down here in North Carolina. I know we have friends in Illinois and Connecticut in New York. It's a similar situation there. So, man, can you guys maybe give us a little background about

yourselves and kind of bring us up to speed where we are today? Well, I guess as far as we're concerned, you know, like you said, we've been in the fitness industry now, myself for about 30 plus years. So, and done every aspect of it. So, it's, and my wife as well, we met in the gym actually, just so I know you and your wife did. So, it's a common thing when you work out, you so we met many, many years ago and she's actually in the health field and you know, we have the gym as well.

So, we have two locations now. We've had up the 15 in the past and gold's gyms, been franchises, non-franchised locations. So, done it all. So, yeah, we actually, a little bit of back story,

we met Holly. It was one of the first people we met when we moved here to Wilmington and it was

gold's gym at the time. Are you guys hadn't even moved? Do you or visiting? That's right. So, we

“actually found the gym before we found the house. So, we were parties there, right? Yeah, right?”

But, seriously, the reputation of the gold's gym, and especially the racing location, we had heard from friends of ours that that's the place to go. There's tons of competitors, and it's just a great atmosphere, and that's definitely was the case. And still is with your gym. So, I appreciate it. A little background for me as my degrees are exercise science and nutrition from University North Carolina Wilmington and East Carolina, and went on to grad school to study

nutrition, and quickly kind of got into the pharmaceutical and medical fields. I'm going on 20 years in medicine. So, I like to say I can bond both the kind of holistic functional medicine, but also bring tremendous knowledge from the medical field, and not only what sort of medications can do to help you, but in some cases, how they can hold you back from healing and recovery. Yeah, definitely the knowledge and the know-how is it a great combination. It is.

And I think specifically regarding the pandemic, I think right now, our largest, our biggest concern is just the general health and welding of our community and our members in South Eastern North Carolina, five of the top 10 preventative causes of death are directly benefited by physical activity, and, you know, right now with the only option for people to social distance and to work out outside or to do home-based videos, you know, we were concerned about a couple things. They maybe

they may not be held accountable, or might not have the self-motivation to do it, but also

exercise, or coming to the gym as part of like their recovery, whether it's for pain management,

“or, you know, just general dealing with stress anxiety. So, I think, you know, our largest”

concerns right now are when are we going to be able to get back to some sort of normal see so we can get back to that physical activity benefiting people both physically and mentally? Yeah, for sure, and I mean, you know, you guys know my story and the listeners in my story and, you know, several different teams of doctors have told me if I didn't do what I do to strengthen and continue to move that I wouldn't be walking, you know, and I'm not the only one. There's tons of people

and we live in an area where we have a lot of military, a lot of PTSD is not to mention our

first responders, you know, who depend on the gym and the fitness centers to stay in great shape,

you know? Yeah, it's really, I mean, a tough time, obviously, you know, the pandemic and the coronavirus situation is challenging, and of course, I was really impressed with your response.

“I saw how you guys were like, right on top of things, keeping the gym clean, providing people”

with stuff and, you know, it's it's hard because it's really one of the biggest things for me, not to mention all the physical benefits and all the benefits you mentioned about the pain management, everything, but the community, you know, I mean, that's where our friends are, that's where you guys are, that's where, you know, those are our people, you know? It's just really a tough situation, and I find it tough, so what have you guys been doing to try to get the message out there,

and what's been going on with that? The message is far as just the fact that we need to open and get going. Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of times, I mean, there's only a small person, the population that works out anyway, and most of those people, at least in our clubs, we have more big box type facilities in the Golds gym or serious, work out people, so they're all winning the workout. I don't know, we need to really tell them, they're calling our phones every day, can we get open, can we get

open? It's unfortunate that it is like that, you know, 85% of the population doesn't work out in 15

“does, if you want to use those numbers, but you know, I think in general, you know, here lately,”

we've just, you know, we've been on the news a lot, been interviewed a lot, talking again to the general public and educating them, but as far as our members go, they're wanting to get back in there, needing to get back in there, so it's just a matter of just time, just when can we get back in there? You know, we've been able to do things, obviously, to meet the COVID-19 CDC requirements, as far as we've added your vacation systems, you know, put in new policies, procedures that

hopefully allow us to get open, so I think it's been good, I mean, the health club industry has

always been, you know, if you're a good operator, your clubs are clean and your sanitary,

but I think this is made everyone step it up a little bit, so I think in the end it would be a good thing for the members, but the way we feel is, you know, we go out now and you can go to Walmart, you can go to Home Depot, but in all these places, and as far as I'm concerned, the gym's a whole lot cleaner than all of those places, so, you know, we're just, you know, hoping we can get going sooner and later, and I know our members are just like yourself and for whatever reason you

use the gym for, I mean, it could be, you know, a whole list of reasons why people come to the gym and have trainers and whatnot, but so, yeah, it's just a matter of timing, when can we get open and hopefully sooner than later, it's just sad that unfortunate that, you know, these present at Trump, put it the first thing, and we're going to put in phase two, and then we're going to phase three, and help them dentists, you know, like the healthy people are almost getting punished,

you know, that, that they're putting this, us in the category, that they are bumping us all the way

at the very end, but yet, they be ceased to or never as close, you know, that type of things, all right,

yeah, and that great piece that you did for the news, it's WWA-Y, believe it's on their webpage, WWA-Y, and Wilmington, and really great interview and great story, and some great quotes from you guys, so that's awesome. I'd love to see you guys getting the word out there, you know, and if I can speak as a member, you know, we want you guys to be there, we appreciate the services that you provide on top of what we already mentioned, you know, just the fact that you guys

are open and it's a great gym and it's clean and it attracts those those same kind of motivated people that we want to be around, you know, we want to see you guys do well and and be able to continue to do what you do. So maybe for for some of our listeners, I mean, I almost feel like we don't need to make more of a case, but, you know, some of the more, I guess some more the science behind what why it's so important and I know, you know, the listeners here know

behalf of the gym, especially your gym and other gyms here and, you know, saying how important

it is for people, but can you talk to us a little bit more about some of the science behind that and just yeah, absolutely. We reached out to local mayor, Bill Saffo and some other club owners in the community who not necessarily had this radical position against, you know, we're going to sue the state because an infringement in constitutional rights or we're going to impulsively open back up, but we really wanted to meet with him so that he could shame be in our message to the

governor, governor Cooper, as to what we thought was kind of misunderstood. And let me back up

“by saying I think so much of health and fitness gets kind of put into this bucket of vanity,”

you know, like elective or, you know, you kept hearing people say, "Oh, the slons and the spas and

the hairs and the nails and the eyelashes and the self-tanners and what we specifically wanted to meet with them about is this is not that. This is not the sweat, shot, meat, head, bodybuilder, sweating everywhere, grunning, standing on stage and performing, clientele that we're concerned about. We're concerned about 90% of our membership that they use this as their prescription of choice. As you know, Garrett, when it comes to pain or chronic pain, it's really easy to meet with

a healthcare provider and to get prescribed a multitude and a plentitude of over-the-counter

prescription medications to help block those receptor sites. What people don't often talk about

is the North of an effort in serotonin response that is produced by 30 minutes to an hour, a physical activity can be equivalent if not exceed the therapeutic benefits of some of those commonly controlled pain medications. The physical activity releases the endorphins in the hormones to also block those receptor sites. What the physical activity doesn't do is it doesn't block your sense of feeling pain and knowing you're in pain like some of those commonly prescribed medications. What that means

is you're able to work out and not only block those receptor sites for the pain but you're still able to know what your limitations are. You're able to keep yourself safe. You're able to get that mental and emotional release. Now, when somebody is in chronic pain and it dictates your day and it dictates your life, that's social aspect of it is so important. Just trying to keep

“somebody's headspace mentally aware and mentally healthy is such a challenge and I think with COVID-19”

one of my biggest concerns and I think your wife Beth shares the same concern is what has this done to the overall health of the additional population, particularly those that were relatively healthy going into it, but now maybe suffering from increased anxiety or depression, social isolation, loneliness, PTSD to your point. My bigger concern at this point is how are things going to look several months from now when we start getting a look at the statistics of what this

is done with mental health in general. Yeah, yeah and to skip point two that you can buy alcohol, you can buy cigarettes, you can buy all these other things and then you know as we're the phase two that we're in here in North Carolina, you can go to physical therapy you know and I think you've really nailed it Holly which is the idea that oh it's just a bunch of meat heads, a bunch of vein people that want to look themselves in the mirror and that's not the case you know I mean

their science behind what we do and the benefit of the gym and you know for me a good practical example is and I love my neighborhood they're awesome there's so many fit people but if I take a walk around the neighborhood people I saw two months ago a lot of them don't look the same you know and and I I'm concerned for them you know and a lot of them are casual gym members they go to this gym or they go to that gym or they go to the wire they do something

“and now they don't have that available to them you know you're exactly right I think some people”

are making jokes with COVID-19 of comparing it to like the freshman 15 the COVID-19 in terms of pounds gained which is equally as unfortunate for those that suffer from diabetes or coronary heart disease or obesity like it is very scary how much you know 16 to 90 days and not having

you know everyone says oh just go work out outside go do a boot camp in the parking lot

on some hot asphalt and you know while that works for some I mean this is Southeast or North Carolina we're quickly approaching you know mid 90s June temperatures and I would say while physical activity outside is appropriate for some of our members there's an equal pot of those members that it's not appropriate for yeah for sure and you know I I applaud like the efforts that you guys have been doing with with getting good information out there for members you

know I see a lot of different fitness centers and gyms um I have a friend of mine has a gyms in Chicago he's lonely and equipment out to certain members you can sign pieces out which seems crazy that you know that's legal but yet he can't allow them in the door to use their equipment you know um but yeah it's it's really I think kind of an unprecedented time yeah the bad thing is obviously with working at gyms and stuff and and we're talking not talking about that small

percentage of people that you know the the bodybuilders stuff we're talking about the general population in there it's a habit and it's not like okay we're gonna open the door and they're gonna all of a sudden okay I'm gonna go back to working out you know three four five times a week it's they're just out of the routine out of the habit you know we've all started diets and stop diets it's very easy to fall out of that habit and you know working out unfortunately is

“is it's got to be a lifestyle you know and it's something you need to do in a repetitive basis”

you know I tell people all the time it's not about coming in the gym five days a week when you get started you know you're better to be consistent coming in two three times instead of burning

yourself out trying to come every day for the first month so you know some of these people

we were talking about from the health benefits it's just even when we open the club you know it's matter just are they gonna get back into that routine how long is it going to take them to get back in that routine and you know things that we've been doing while we're closed offering the free classes online you know being interactive on social media things like that you want to do the best you can to keep you know in contact with those members and keep them engaged as much as possible

but it's just tough during these times to do that and you know unfortunately we know some people I don't know if they'll get back on the train and when it may be another six months you know like how they said it what's gonna happen over time here once you turn the turn the switch turn the gyms back on they're not gonna come back right away and if they you know so it's just unfortunate but you know hopefully that you know what we're seeing or what I'm

hearing from owners and other states is that once they've opened they are getting a tremendous

“response of people coming back I think people you know whether it's going to restaurants or just”

going out in general people were just kind of done like okay I'm tired of being at home I'm tired of you know I've got the dumbbells from Walmart when when we first went down two months ago but then they're done that now I'm tired of that or I'm tired of cooking in I'm ready to go out and do stuff so I think it's going to be a good thing for North Carolina for us for the local gyms and say bars and restaurants whoever is more we continue to get things going again so

but you never know again it's it's not coming back for that week you know it's it's about creating

the habit and how many people are gonna get back be able to do that and to get those benefits that you know it's not just going to the gym one or two times yeah yeah and you know one of my one of my favorite populations at the gym is the silver sneaker club you know for people that don't know you can you can get a membership through it maybe you guys can explain that but it's for people that are basically retired on Medicare or certain insurance programs and and those are

the elderly people you know there's the people and that brightens my day you know to see them in there

“yeah I mean I think you know I'm highly it has may have a different perspective from”

truth in the medical field but you know I think those people might need to be concerned and they won't come back right away you know whether it's a cleaner environment than the grocery store they're going to but you know the silver sneakers is a great program lot of clubs will offer certain group exercise classes that those people come and it's not only where they come and exercise but it's where they come and socialize so it's in that regard it is a social and physical

activity for them to get out of the house when we've had you know sons and daughters sign up there elderly you know mother of father just to say hey I don't care if they come in here and see them the couch I want them to get out of the house type thing so the silver sneaker's program is a great program at no cost to the to the members obviously through their insurance but you know they come and they socialize and you know a lot of these groups even get together outside of the

gym and go do things so from that population standpoint hopefully they'll they'll get back and feel comfortable coming back but a lot of I've talked to someone so they they won't be coming back

reality we live in but it's unfortunate that they've been scared you know to me it's you know the same concern that they would have getting the flu in a sense I know it's different but you know they they can still come in and it is in clean environment and we can practice the social distancing in our big group rooms and but it is important for them to get out and socialize and stay active you know

“yeah I think it's really important to point out you know that silver sneaker's program is”

or was originally designed for that patient population that's predominantly Medicare over the age of 65 and while age generally isn't a factor with COVID-19 the one thing that doesn't come into play is you know if you're over the age of 65 and you have other comorbid conditions or are in the moderate risk to high risk category you could be more susceptible you know I think we're going to learn more information in the next couple months as we do the community testing and the CCR testing

as well as the antibody testing to understand more about this virus but what I think it's really important for the community to understand prior to getting this information about COVID-19 is generally the healthiest and fittest demographic of individual those that use physical activity and mental health as an ongoing regular part of their routine are not for the most part the

demographic that has been affected by COVID-19 if they have been affected generally there are first

responder that unfortunately has been exposed in the medical environment or the profession that they're doing but also when you look at this statistic that demographic of the healthiest patient population with the strongest immune system is not the patient that's in the hospital it's not the patient that's ending up in debated or on a ventilator they're not the patients that are ending up in the

“fatality bucket of unfortunately losing their life to COVID-19 I think you know it all goes back”

to science at its first and foremost introductory level which is survival of the fittest if you are fit if your body is strong if your mind is strong if you are healthy if your immune system is thriving then your body is better equipped to fight off this virus just as your body is better equipped to fight off chronic pain so I think it's just allowing the community to understand that

you know not only have we always been a safe place to come but this is something that is absolutely

essential for you to incorporate into your routine and I am positively optimistic that hopefully we're kind of waking the sleeping dragon for some you know because this option in this choice has been taken away that people will realize just how much they've missed it you know maybe they're

“seeing that you know couple pounds weight gain or you know softness you know maybe they're feeling”

more anxiety having to homeschool their children or you know be quarantined with their spouse for multiple weeks and months you know maybe they're feeling some depression some anxiety you know maybe they have gone back and looked at their resolutions and goals that they set for themselves in 2020 and realize just how off-paced they are so I am positively optimistic that when we reopen that it can kind of feel like a resolution reset you know come back and meet with us

and let's reassess what your goals are not just your physical goals but let's really dive in and look at your goals for controlling chronic pain obesity maybe their goal is to come off some form in for diabetes or you know lower their cholesterol you know let's really look at what their goals are and individualize some goals and allow for a little reset or reboot oh totally that's

such a great message and I can tell you I've never needed the gym more than when I'm trying to teach

my son first grade math I was like I need to get in there it just um I hate to be a jammer on your parade but wait until first straight grade math turns into middle school new math and then the fight becomes oh but mom that's not the new math way to do it and you're like oh man and for our listeners how many children do you guys have um combined we have five ages three 11 11 13 and 14 blended family well that's awesome I commend you guys that's awesome and how's it been

school work but yeah you know kids in general are so resilient and I think they feed on our responses

“and we've chosen to go at this for the most part as an angle to be like positive and found healthy”

options you know we've definitely rode more bikes and played more soccer and gotten out sad more and um but unfortunately there's been a little more device time too it's a little frustrating but well I'll say too and one of the the big draw for us when we found your gym was like wow there's this great gym you know great atmosphere and you have a great kids care at the gym as well and um and it's it's just so hard for kids not to be around other kids just like it's hard for us not to

be around other people you know um you know we've really value that that time that our son Jake gets to spend there you know and and play with your children and other members children so

Beth and I always joke we're like well we go to the gym and we play with our friends and he plays with

his friends you know and it's kind of what it is yeah I am concerned about what the free entry into schooling is going to look like you know I think it's unfortunate that some of the basics skills like our youngest is three and you know now they're encouraging social isolation and not sharing toys and not sharing books and I'm like oh my goodness what are we teaching kids like it go it goes against like how we're raising them so it'll be interesting to see how things pan out

over the next couple months and then how things pan out again during flu season I think they're still

“just so much unknown but I think honestly the key in the core messages whatever your reason is”

to practice better health and fitness find what works for you individualize the routine and then to skip point or earlier you know make sure it becomes a habit make sure you're consistent and the results will come whether that's a physical result or whether that's you know so much for you and I get which is that chronic pain control or more of that mental awareness their equally is important you know one of the things that's said on the news early on when we were being

interviewed is we would never do not a patient the opportunity to see a physician we would never

close the pharmacy and do not a patient the opportunity to fill a prescription so for many of our members this is their prescription of choice you know my story in 2013 I was in a debilitating cycling crash where I went headfirst down on railroad tracks and when skip came back into my life in 2014 I was on 13 different medications two months prior to COVID-19 I made the decision to tie trade off my last two medications with the support of my neurologist of course and I had to continue

being physically active I had to continue being at the gym and working out every day during COVID-19 or the risk was to have to go back you know on those medications fortunately when you're a gym owner you have access to the equipment so and I know that my story is you know such a common story for so many of our gym members I feel very fortunate that I was able to continue on with my physical fitness but it makes me concerned for those who weren't they're going to be starting

back over again yeah and you know to know you're doing part of that process where you were going through that and the progress you've made is really inspiring I appreciate you sharing that and doing what you do I mean it's it's really impressive and you know a good of good point that you made and I find this to be true for myself and a lot of other people at chronic pain is the beautiful equipment that you guys have and that gym I need that I'm I'm no longer a competitive

power left or I can't just use a barbell in a squat rack and a bench you know I need to specialize the equipment to be able to do things that I can't normally do you know and you guys have I definitely the best equipment in town here and and some of the best equipment I've seen in any gyms and you know for people at chronic pain that that's a huge thing that I've done with clients in the past that have certain issues but we can work around it with this machine we can work

around it with this and you know the at home workouts and you know we're all doing our best

“and we're doing what we can but it but it's not the same you know again that's what we're”

hoping happens here but what they're seeing in other states that are open that again you can't duplicate what you can get in the gym from a social aspect and in the type of equipment you just

has been taking away you really you know realize that you need it whether it's just because you

like that piece of equipment or that you really hey I really felt better when I was working

“out and I really want to get back to that so I think you know that we'll see an insert you know”

surgeons when people come back to what's where open but it's just a matter of you know hopefully people have been educated I mean that you do it all the time here on the podcast is trying to educate people and working out and trying to be healthier but you know unfortunately people don't ever listen and they have to kind of experience for themselves and hopefully those people that we had that we're on a had a habit we're on a regiment coming you know we'll now this been

taken away they'll be like wow it was making a difference there's a lot of times when you're actually in the moment you don't like you know I think Holly works out all the time another day she's like I don't think I'm getting results anymore you know what I mean just you just don't see it yourself and but when it's gone you know hopefully you'll people will see that and get back into it but I wish we could actually put a measurable number behind if exercise were prescribed and the

example I can give you is you always here that you know in the medical and pharmaceutical prescription

industry that about 80% of the adult population over the age of 45 is on some sort of medication for ADHD anxiety or depression 80% in the population like it I've always pondered like is that really accurate you know to skip point earlier a small percentage of the patient population is actually

“physically active on a regular and ongoing basis I think that percentage is what 15%.”

I mean typically people would say 15% of population works out at all maybe even you know in a consistent basis is same more than the three times probably drops you down to five you know those bodybuilders or pyrelifters are probably in one percent it's a it's a very sad statistic unfortunately but it is the reality and you always want to increase that but you know it's kind of like you know not to get in my store but I have chronic kidney disease and stage for kidney disease and when we go to the

doctor because what we talk about in preach and see out there in the health club industry world and I'm like well doc can I should I do this can I do that and they're like I don't know I guess so because you know doctors you know how they can definitely preach to this as this is her world but the unless it's a study that they can look at and it's a number they don't know so I mean they think sure working out make you feel better I'm sure it will but you know it's unfortunately that in

our population it's you know from a doctor's standpoint they'll give you a pill and give you this pill and see what works but you know they can't lock someone in a perfect reality where they're going to eat good get good nutrition and work out in a regular basis to see the benefit and you know living a healthy lifestyle clean living not that you got to be perfect all the time no one's perfect all the time but just you know um do what you can and be healthy is as great as far as getting you off tons of

medication I mean all these things that that people own you know all day long but um again I hope that you know as this disease comes out and they talk about more and they find out more they'll say hey they really look at the healthy population they didn't get they weren't the ones getting sick so I mean again

“that would just reinforce you know we've been trying to tell people all along and I think the people”

know out there you know just they'll go to McDonald's and get their hamburger they'll get their diet coke just why I need to be healthy I need to get my diet coke you know what I mean it's it's sad they're getting there and you know I think what we're seeing what I've seen in the stream for 30 years you know you're you're starting to see you know people go to more plant-based type diets you know just as the general population's getting more educated on just the benefits

of health and fitness that we all know live and preach every day but it's um it's an unfortunate thing that is just lagging behind like you said the cigarettes and you know ABC stores and all that kind of stuff are open and they won't they'll preach all day long how bad cigarettes are and people still do it you know what I mean it's just a weird thing but um hopefully as people come in and they get on those habits and they start seeing the the benefits and feeling better and looking better

and all these things that motivate them that that they'll continue to do and I just hope they they get back in and do that or maybe this will motivate them to come in because they've been just truly been sitting around for you know 60 90 days and ready to go do something so yeah and it's it's it's inspiring to see your journey to and see what you go with this skip and and you know see you and they're working and doing it and making the changes and it's inspiring you know and

that's really you bring you guys bring that that atmosphere to your gym you know it's like I we felt it from the gold stems that you guys had in multiple locations and you you know the

people there we always felt like they cared you know and and the atmosphere was good and it

the people that were there were warm and welcoming and they they walk the talk yeah I think it's

“all you know we we talk about really in industries the people you know you can have an”

an okay gym with great people and it's a great gym you can have a really a very nice brand new gym and have not so good people and staff and it's just an okay gym you know so it's and that's the same way with restaurants or a lot of people and and we're very fortunate because we've been doing this for so long in this market though you know we have you know it's like a family you know the family this is an extension of our family I can't help but to get like

teary at us we're having this conversation because my mind is just going to you know individual members one girl who's getting ready to deploy to co-weight who mentally and physically isn't in the shape that she was in you know two months ago when COVID-19 started and I pray for her and I worry for

“her there's one particular gentleman who is there three to four times a week for three to four”

hours a day and like this is his social outing and you know for all of our first responders

the police and the fire and the military and in last night we went into quarantine because of other politically heated stuff going on right now regarding race and we went into a quarantine last night and I couldn't help but to lose sleep last night worrying about our first responders and worrying that because our doors aren't open what are they using to deal with their stress because for so many of them the minute they get off work or before they go into work they're in our

clothes and that is a reflection of our community that is a reflection of our state that is a

reflection of the men and women that work for Bill Saffa that is a reflection of the men and women

that work for Governor Roy Cooper and we are better because what they put on the line for us and it's a huge concern right now that are they at their best? I don't know the answer to that I do know personally some of them don't feel that they are and they are family and it's you know not only are we local club owners but we live in breathe in that environment every single

“day and we lost one member week two into COVID-19 and I mean I think it's fair and okay to say you”

know we don't want her to die in vain you know she was recovering from substance abuse she was three or sober she was preparing to push her body to the next level and probably do some competition she had found some positive healthy habits in her life week two into COVID-19 we lost our substance abuse you know what does it say when you give people the opportunity to go back to finding unhealthy habits but aren't really doing the best to encourage healthy habits and so I think for

that story and for so many other stories we're so ready to get our doors open and so ready to resume some sort of normalcy you know for those that are moderate or high risk are they ready yet no not they're not ready but for the majority of the other patients population of individuals we're ready to see you and we hope that they're ready to see us. Yeah well I may speak for the members we feel like you guys are family we can't wait for you to be open. So going

forward opening do we have any idea what it may look like or possible dates. Me and possible dates for us you know hopefully you know by the 26 of this month the worst case scenario I guess you might change it again unfortunately we're just literally hurry up and wait and see but um as far as what it would look like again we don't know because they haven't announced what those new procedures are going to look like you can look at surrounding states and different things that they're acquiring

and doing you know again the gyms that I talked to as well as ours I mean we already do so much of that you know what I mean just because of the nature of the gyms and need to be clean and again if you're a good operator all those things are happening so people won't see too many changes and our gyms other than you know again if a member or a staff people want person with the wear face mask they're welcome to we'll have additional hand sanitizers on the

gym we have some now but we'll have additional ones we did install hospital grade filtration systems for purification and sanitization to the equivalent of the one we installed the exact same one

what skip saying is an accurate you know skipping and the group that he's involved with have always

maintained very clean gyms but for the people that are out there that don't necessarily think they're gyms clean or don't really trust going back to their local gym I encourage them to walk in our doors that TF fitness and nutrition to see what it's supposed to look like yeah I mean some gyms are closing down for an hour during the day to clean well I'm like okay well that's great that hour but you know we're going to stay open as we clean all the time you know

I mean so it's kind of like you know you know so that's just part of our protocol again we may from a business standpoint you may not be able to control someone coming in and signing up but you can control it being clean you can clean you know what I mean so kind of control your controlables and to me those are just the very basics of things that you know as a health

“bone or operator or manager whatever you might be that you need to do the basics and you know if you”

look at different surveys out there why people join health clubs locations always going to be

number one but cleaning's probably two or three you know what I mean and things to be clean and from an operation standpoint you're in a reason why you can't have a clean club and you should and again like I said with this going on it really you know probably raise that bar even more and not that the gyms are dirty before but you know instead of having you know 10 different hand sanitizers around the gym you might have 20 now because you're just

in more closer proximity we're like said added the purification system and we had members donate a pallet of CDC required 60% or higher hand sanitizer last week I mean because our members are so ready for I mean I've had people like can you just leave your keys here so we can sneak in the back door like people are so ready to get back out there and you know it's tough this is the time of year going into summer where this community is so much of our life depends on

the outdoors and beaching and boating and this is the time of the year where people are used to being at their peak in regards to performance and health and fitness so again the general population coming in to health clubs whether it be the senior population or what they're typically the health year and it's you know they're not as acceptable as acceptable to it you know it's it's so we're ready to get open excited to get open I think the members are ready to get open and you know if

if you're for some reason you know we can immune system or not feeling good absolutely don't come in

“I mean and that's what's kind of frustrating for us is that the numbers there's no logic behind”

why we're not open but we're a private base facility members only we know who's coming and going we can control that you know and but unfortunately you can go to the ABC store go to Walmart stay in the line with two or three hundred people and well in this morning you know when I got in here I just returned from a trip to South Carolina as you know my accounts are open in South Carolina so it's really frustrating for me that an hour and 20 minute drive and I get down there and everything's

opening and thriving and you know medical offices are back to normal capacity and you know restaurants and gyms are open to 50% capacity now at 50% capacity our location at 11 South Car Avenue could have 200 people in it at one time Garrett ever known 200 people I mean even on a Friday and May at

five third afternoon we've never had 200 people in there so yeah well we are anxious to get you guys

“I'm even more fired up I'm ready to go to the gym now with a gym talking with you guys and I know”

we miss it and and I hope it comes back sooner than later again I you know as a frustrated member and you know with this podcast the one universal thing that we talk about almost every episode is resistance training it's the one universal thing whatever your condition is your injury your pain your disease some former resistance training working out help your body to be the best it can be is is universal you know strengthen that core strengthen that mind I mean it's just two

things that nobody should do without absolutely and and it's so unfortunate front of mine in Indiana that has two gyms um they're restricted and I'm hoping that that our startup process doesn't look like that there's there's some appointments there's check in there's personal training so I mean we've talked with the governor and looking at South Carolina did have a thing and at this point we're fine with whatever right you know okay but the point is just just get this open get going

there were a lot of colleagues actually in the gym community that were actually opening today and so we're waiting to see how that's gone we've had you know couple colleagues that have

we people have had threats made you know we tried to take it from a approach of

“can we just can somebody help to help us understand why we were just blindsided why did this you”

know come down so last minute why did you let this you know booming industry spend hundreds and thousands of dollars of preparing for their doors to open on May 22nd at 5 p.m. just to be told that's not going to happen so for us it's just gathering some understanding as to what happened and why it happened and then trying to use our platforms and our friendships within the community to educate as to how we were ready why we were ready that we are able to do this

hopefully I'm positively optimistic again that North Carolina will allow for a staggered or phased

reopening and the things won't look like they do in the northeast I mean the northeast just

from demographics and sheer number of cases and fatalities due to COVID-19 looks tremendously

“different than North Carolina. Newhandover County looks tremendously different than the state I”

mean with only five deaths in Newhandover County it's really hard for us as local business owners to understand 90 days of lost business lost revenue and members with you know lost access to the physical and mental health benefits of having our doors closed. Yeah I mean it's been hard for us but you know some of the mom-apops it's been very hard on and some of them are say hey we're opening to we're not a choice we got to we're going out of business and unfortunately nationwide I mean

the two largest publicly well not publicly one of them publicly traded one of them's own it's gold's gym international was foul bank reps and so it's 24 our fitness is just foul bank cruxies during the COVID pandemic so that's kind of scary when you say wow these guys are going down but again that's horrible for the whole fitness community everyone thinks we're competitors and we don't want our neighborhood gym or big box gym to do well quite the opposite

if they don't do well our community fails we're not offering those members a service that they need so you know to see to huge major franchises such as gold's and 24 hour fit you know unfortunately come to that conclusion in decision because of COVID-19 is debilitating for the entire industry. Yeah it's it's kind of scary you know and when we know the benefits and we see it and we live it and we want to spread that with everyone and then to have this kind of a setback

but I love the message that you guys put out there let's have it be a reset you know let's see maybe this is you know the the thing that people need to see like you know how can you how can I miss you if you won't go away well we've taken away from us for a little while and we're still relying in there you know and that's absence makes the heart girlfriend right talk about the mental physical I think you know the positive mentality through all this that's all you can really do and

as you can't control that we're closed and fortunately but yeah I think that

“I think we'll see that and again from other states and other owners that's what you're seeing”

and people are ready to get back and um so we're excited we're ready yeah and I encourage all your listeners to the podcast you know reach out front us on social media @tfitness and nutrition.com and let's start you know sharing success stories um quite a few of of your listeners have found this a great option in physical exercise a great option to avoid painkillers and opioids and I'm personally on a mission in advocacy to let's share those stories you know the best way to deal

with that epidemic is to share our knowledge and our information so please just friend us and send me a message that you're a podcast listener and I'm happy to share their story. Thank you so much for that and and thank you so much for supporting the boat for

my podcast we we launched our first episode when you guys over had the grand opening for TF and

you were gracious enough to allow us to have a booth there and have that be our launch date and just really appreciate all the support and appreciate the great business and service that you guys provide and and and last but not least but thank you for being leaders in in this situation in this crisis um to take the lead to get the gym so but not just your gym but all the gym so absolutely we owe it to the community. Well I if I may speak for the community we appreciate it

yeah it's awesome so what do you think we can change after going through this situation and

obviously goal is to get open number one but I think kind of what we talked about a couple times through this is just pure education and then learning more about the disease and that hey physical activity is is a good thing and how the disease is truly transmitted so that they you know when it's

first came out they just shut down everything just knowing what was going on what it was and hopefully

they'll learn from this and learn that hey physical activity is a good thing you can go in and hey help clubs in general can can do this is not just the wild wild west and the health

“glow where what's sweating and they won't shut us down again I think there's even been some places where”

they they didn't shut down you know and they didn't see any increase in numbers so they just will learn from this and I think that's the the biggest goal whether it's a gym or restaurant or what have you that yeah there's there's still so much speculation as to whether they're quarantined or even social isolation and general helped to prevent this spread and again I think those are things that we're going to learn more about you know the location that I visited today in South

Carolina one of the things that we discussed was a clinical research study that they're doing right

now and two patient populations one in the medical community they're actually testing all of their employees for COVID-19 as we speak right now obviously they want to make sure you know medical providers aren't you know non symptomatic but yet a carrier of the disease and they're also doing antibody testing to their community with biweekly blood draws and I think this is just going to allow us to start gathering more science and more clinical information so that we can

help educate the community I mean now they're saying it's no longer spread on sore surfaces it's more of the particles and you know let's face it if it's safe to go to Walmart and not wear gloves and not wear a mask then we're certainly well equipped to provide a healthy and safe and sanitary environment for those that choose to be there now you know if somebody's high risk or moderate risk or if they've undergone you know chemotherapy or radiation or a recent surgery

I don't think now would be the time to come back I mean I would not go visit my elderly you know 87 plus year old nama right now but you know for the majority of the population I think it is acceptable to come back and you know to the question of will this happen again you know it this isn't even blue season so what's blue season gonna look like you know um but as we get more of that information between the clinical science I think we can be better prepared to make more

educated decisions not only as a community but as an individual yeah so I guess if you're in a state where the gyms are open definitely um take advantage of it you're you're very fortunate right now um here in North Carolina if people want to get involved if they want to do something to help get the gyms and fitness centers open what can they do well I mean I would say in North Carolina but any any place your gyms not open I think you know your voice does matter whether it's

reaching out to your local or state or even federal you know officials and just voicing your concern

“you know that's that's what we're we've been trying to do and I think a lot of the fitness community”

in North Carolina is you know when they're passionate about something and you you know it's like taking away your your medication like Holly talked about and people are very vocal and I think that's what they can do I think in addition to that I think just while they may not have direct controller but they have control to stay active and stay healthy the best you can like I said it's not going to be the same it's going to the gym but it's going to be better than nothing and try

to stay in that routine because it is all better routine if you totally drop off the face of the earth then it's going to be very hard to come back so if you if you stay at home and if you exercise every Monday Wednesday Friday if I have a clock try to go for a walk at Monday Wednesday Friday if I have a clock and that'll help motivate you to stay on your diet and stay healthy I mean you

“you know ultimately it's you're in control of your life and you need to continue to do that”

stay in that habit as best you can but I mean I think those are things that anyone can do and they need to do to take that one step further you know not just communicating to your local federal and state officials but make sure you're communicating your why you know not just oh this should happen but this should happen because I was a diabetic and I was obese and I was able to

lose 60 pounds and come off my metformin and I've never been healthier you know my why is because

I'm in the military and I suffer from PTSD and I'm prescribed the gym as part of you know my staggered reentry back into socialization and that was taken away from me and to your point about what we can do go and forward I think it's very important as a community that we share these

you've had increased cholesterol your blood pressure is higher your anxious your depressed you know

you have a debilitating disease you know we need to start looking at what has happened by being sedentary or by limiting your physical activity and access to mental health and physical health during this time period you know not just for physical activity but for for nutrition as well you know we need to share that information and I think if we share our why then we can care

“about why it's important not to do this again because I think we will find I'm actually very”

competent that we will find here post COVID you know you know reopening that we really have to some degree punish the healthy in the sense that some people have taken quite a step backwards yeah and it's such a shame to see and we we know dozens and hundreds of stories from working with clients over the years and it working in gyms and seeing people's health improve see people lose you know huge amounts of weight and change their lives and it's just you're you're right I love

that message to get it out there and and make it personal you know I love that not everyone's comfortable sharing their personal story and that's okay but at least try to put a while behind it even if that why is you know hypothetically asking for a friend or telling from a friend you know you don't know what you don't know so we're not gonna know what this really looks like until people start getting their results back yeah you can't statistics don't lie numbers generally don't

lie and so when you have measurable numbers on a blood panel or a CDC panel that's looking at lipids and cholesterol you know weight body fat percentage you know that is measurable criteria that can go into this clinical aspect that can teach us that is this best way the best way to respond and the event we have another national pandemic to the you know extent of COVID-19 and again going forward God forbid this happens again and it may I know you guys have

put so many things in place to keep the gym open to keep things going forward keep people working out is there anything that we can do as as gym members to help the gym is there anything that we can do that that would help in a situation or help to get any more than information out there I mean in regards of helping I think you know each individual gym owner or small business owner has been impacted differently you know we've had people come to us and say you know hey can I pay a membership in full

“or you know can I re-up now as opposed to waiting to expire so I guess you know the best thing you”

can do is really just ask the individual gym owners and small business owners how you're able to

help the best way to help the biggest act of kindness and grace is always a referral you know for us

the best compliment is always somebody saying this is my home gym and here's why and let me not just tell you about it I'd like to bring you with me so I would say you know the biggest compliment and the biggest help that you can provide for many of the local gyms and many of the local small business owners is you know refer us bring someone with you right on yeah and I like it's a pleasure it would be an honor and a pleasure we want to give as many people in there as we can

and I think that's great advice to our listeners support your local gym support support them you know come out and local gym local restaurant local business I mean I think now more than ever wherever you're at in the country you know it's it's more important especially for the small businesses I think I saw with someone social media is talking about hey during the next phase let's

“shut down all the big boxes and let just small businesses so I mean I think it's it's important and”

I think that's the biggest thing that anyone can do for for any small business again where that your gym or not it's just bring your friend telephone you know so skipping Holly thank you so much for coming on the bolt for life podcast has been an honor and a privilege talking with you guys and having you here and supporting our cause here on the bolt for life podcast is there anything else you guys would like to touch on or talk about yeah we appreciate you

having us and look forward to seeing you on the gym yeah and stay healthy everybody right on well again skip and Holly Lenin from TF Fitness in nutrition thank you so much for being on the bolt for life podcast yes thank you I really want to thanks skip and Holly

for being leaders in the community and not only to get third gym open but all gyms and fitness

can to get their gyms open and for that skip and Holly Lenin you are bolt for life

“hey guys just checking back in this is a few days after we recorded the episode with skip and”

Holly and I'm glad to announce that bill 594 has passed in North Carolina State Senate now the bill

would allow fitness centers to re-open but the bill still has to pass in the house on Monday so

if it passes there we have the two thirds majority and the health centers the fitness centers the gyms

“can open up again which is so important like you just heard in this episode so if you're still fighting”

the same battle in your state keep pushing it is possible contact those government officials let them know what you think open up our gyms we appreciate you listening to bolt for life our goal is to help you

“or anyone that you might know to live and thrive with chronic pain and you can help us out by”

subscribing or giving us a review on iTunes or anywhere else that you hear bolt for life if you guys have any ideas we'd love to hear from you you can reach out to us at info at bolt for life BULTFLR life.com you can find us on facebook instagram and twitter bolt for life thanks again this is Garrett Bolt for bolt for life