Doing an online yoga or gym class in your lounge room may still be attractive to some, but as the world of fitness opens up in Lismore this week, more people are heading back to gyms, yoga and martial arts studios.

The Lismore App had a chat to fitness service operators Summit, GSAC's Switch Fitness, Dynamic Yoga, Lismore Yoga Studio, Mandala Garden Yoga and Kenshinryu Judo to see who’s open and what future looks like under Covid regulations.

While restrictions have opened up, gyms and studios are operating under strict distancing guidelines of one person per 4m squared and customers can expect to see a few changes to gym and class layouts.

Some yoga studios are encouraging people to bring their own mats and check in first to see if you need to book into class.

If you’ve been following exercise classes in their online versions, don’t worry – some studios are continuing to broadcast sessions in a virtual format, so you can choose to get out to the studio in person – or continue to stay at home.

Summit Sport and Fitness Centre - Goonellabah

Summit owner Matt George said he was excited to open up Summit again this week and would be operating under the guidelines of ten people per class and encouraged people to bring along their own mats if possible.

“We will restart people’s memberships which were frozen when the centre closed in March,” Matt said. “If they need more time before restarting, we will be totally flexible with it.

“We will also honour the three weeks of swim term membership people missed on in March.

“We won’t take on new members for the first 30 days either while we get established again.”

Matt said the challenges of operating under Covid regulation meant some practices needed to be modified – such as changing class starting times.

“We need a 30 minute cleaning time between classes so we can’t just run classes back to back anymore.,” Matt said. “Cleaning is the new warm down.

“We used to run 50 classes a week but have cut down on classes, but still offer Les Mills favourites like Body Pump,” he said.

“We’ve set up hygiene sanitisation stations with bacterial wipes and people need to scan in and out when using the gym to facilitate contact tracing later if needed.

“Bathroom and gym floors are being cleaned hourly throughout the day."

Matt said that under the Covid lockdown, Summit’s online membership welcomed 150 members.

“One of the bright point of the lockdown is that we were forced into digital age and we will continue with a hybrid model and offer live or at home classes so people can keep doing it at home.”

For information, visit http://summitcentre.com.au/ or Facebook.

Switch Fitness - Goonellabah Sports and Aquatic Centre (GSAC)

If your membership at GSAC gym was put on hold in March, Kim from GSAC’s Switch Fitness said they restarted as of Monday this week. If you want to wait a little longer to restart, let gym staff know.

“Everyone has been excited to get back again,” Kim said. “It was a bit quieter yesterday but it’s a lot busier today."

Kim said there’s been a few changes in the gym, and some of the gym equipment has been moved onto different locations to accommodate distancing regulations.

“We’ve moved group classes into the stadium space downstairs and have stickers on floor 1.5 metres apart for spacing,” she said.

“Last night we held our first RPM class and there was a good number in the class.

“There’s more space in the upstairs gym too because we moved the equipment around to create 1.5 metres of space between stations.”

Mandala Garden Yoga – 161 Dawson St, Lismore

Gentle yoga and hatha vinyasa yoga classes with Liina in the Girard’s Hill studio resume next Monday, June 22.

Gentle yoga is on Mondays at 5.30pm and hatha vinyasa yoga is on Tuesdays 5.30pm. For information, phone Liina on 0478 155 114.

Kundalini yoga classes with Siri in the studio resume on June 17. Classes run Wednesdays 6.30am and 6pm and will continue to be broadcast via zoom link, as well as holding live group sessions.

To book your spot, or for information about weekly classes and monthly sound baths, phone Siri Shakti on 0431 094 483.

For information, visit the website https://mandalagardenyogaandwellness.business.site/ or Facebook site

https://www.facebook.com/MandalaGardenYogaWellness/

Lismore Yoga Studio – 142 Keen Street, Lismore

Iyengar yoga classes with Julie Hodges resume this week also with a limited timetable, with online zoom classes continuing for a while longer.

For information, phone Julie on 0417 464 308 or visit https://lismoreyogastudio.com.au/

Yoga and Martial Arts - Inner Light Centre (Apollo Centre), 131 Keen Street, Lismore     

Dynamic Yoga classes with Christina Sharman resume Tuesday, June 16. Classes run Tuesdays at 6pm and Saturdays at 9am.

Martial Arts Kenshinryu Jodo classes resumed this week and run on Mondays 6.30-8.30pm.

Instructor Jonathan Smith said the practice presents an opportunity to learn a traditional martial art of Shinto Muso Ryu (SMR) which improves posture, focus and coordination.

If you’re interested, book a spot by phoning 0411 105 718 or visit the website www.kenshin.com.au

Snap Fitness – Lismore Square

Snap Fitness 24 hour gym has also opened its doors this week.