Burning Holiday Calories During The Coronavirus: Gym Sets Up Massive Tents Off Highway 50
FOLSOM (CBS13) — If you're ready to burn your Thanksgiving meal calories away, the coronavirus may make that more difficult with indoor gym closures across California. But some gyms have gone to great lengths to stay open outside.
Off Highway 50 at night, a new bright light shows a brand new attraction in the city of Folsom. It may look as big as a carnival tent, but it's actually a cardio tent, set up to comply with coronavirus restrictions.
Folsom's Lifetime Athletic gym set up an elaborate campus of tents for their clients to get their workouts in outdoors after their big Thanksgiving meals.
"As we get through Thanksgiving and the holiday season, we will see a surge in people saying 'I'm ready to get back at it,'" Lifetime Athletic's Nick Routson said.
The gym decided to invest in the tents after predicting the state could be in the restrictive 'purple tier' for a long time.
"We have four tents set up as you can see, encompassing 7,800 square feet of available fitness floor," Routson said.
Lifetime Athletic got their massive tents at a time when tents have been hard to find. They found theirs at the business run out of West Sacramento. Valley Luxury Events specializes in tent rentals at a time tent manufacturers are trying to play coronavirus catch up. Tent-makers are four to five months behind in orders.
"There is a huge shortage," Valley Luxury Events owner Rasikh Jamil said.
Jamil says despite the increased business, his company is charging standard rates for its tent rentals. His inventory is nearly wiped out.
"We are working non-stop seven days," Jamil said.
This holiday season, gyms are forced to turn inside out. Going under the big top, to protect their business' bottom lines.
"With the purple tier there are no options," Routson said. "Outdoor functionality only. There are no indoor operations allowed."
Lifetime Fitness is planning on keeping those big tents up for the foreseeable future. The company has no plans to take them down even if Sacramento County moves up to the less restrictive 'red' tier.
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