PIVOT. PIVOT. PIVOT!
These past two months, after closing the physical gym, have been a blur. One of those situations where you feel like you’ve been going nonstop, but also haven’t accomplished much. Maybe both are true.
I’ve heard and used the word “pivot” more times than Ross Gheller in the last few months and, you know what? I still love it. I still love knowing that no matter what, I’ll be able to figure something out. I still love knowing that life is in constant motion, which means MY life should be too. I still love knowing that I am strong enough and smart enough to manage whatever is thrown at me, at any given time. I also love the challenge of a new adventure, so closing the gym space never meant giving up. It simply meant pivoting to something new.
Being able to find the appropriate version, scaling variation, or modification for someone in a workout is literally what I do all day. Doing that for the business was no different. I needed to be able to identify the issue, create a few solutions, and give something a shot. I was either going to succeed or be forced to pivot yet again. Both options were ok.
Equipment was sold or donated to local organizations and schools. My personal garage gym was upgraded and renovated into a full lifting gym. Online classes were increased to 4 times a week. Home programming access was made available 6 days a week with major upgrades to the programming itself. In-home personal and small group training offerings were added, and on top of all that, we also kept group classes going 3 days a week at the “Garage”.
It’s been amazing to say the least.
We have made new connections in the community and reached folks who never would have found us before, through our classes at the Davidson Town Hall. Being that our mission is to make fitness accessible to everyone, especially folks who haven’t found comfortability in a gym setting before, this is a huge win. We are thrilled to be more accessible to seniors in our community, as well as kids, and adults trying to squeeze in classes after school drop off or after work.
We had members seamlessly transition to the Programming Only membership and have had great success. Their early involvement and feedback helped identify areas in need of improvement and helped create an amazing program that includes warm ups, workouts, videos, suggested substitutions, leaderboards, access to coaches, and more! Their input has been invaluable, and they never missed a day of workouts. Bonus!
Other members opted to step right into our in-person workouts at the “Garage”. They’ve seen the space set up in a hundred ways and have rolled with it each and every time. They’ve managed new PRs, rehabbed injuries, made modifications, called dibs on spots in front of the fans and gotten stronger all along the way. It’s been humbling to watch and even more so to coach.
Did we get everything figured out 100%? Absolutely not. We’ve already pivoted away from some of the original ideas we had (Noon class was a failure to launch…so now it’s private training time!). We also expect to pivot some more in the future. (You like lifting classes? Great, more to come!) Will those changes be all we need to change? Nope. We know there will be more pivots down the road. We expect it. We welcome it.
In truth, now, we look forward to it. Shaking life up shows you how strong you truly are, which friends are there for the hard times, what is worth holding on to, and what is worth letting go of. So, for now we’ll see how this adventure plays out and we’ll pivot whenever we need to next. All while shouting, “Pivot! PiVOT! PIVOT!”
