Creating a virus conscious workout environment by restricting access to your club.

With COVID-19 being at the forefront of everyone’s minds we’ve been reviewing additional set-up options that might be worth considering if your business runs on the GymMaster gym management system.

Please note these suggestions are only for gym management looking to be cautious during this period and any and all government closure recommendations should be followed. However, for those clients where these measures aren’t in effect or for those who may have them lifted in the future, the following set-up options may be of use.

Method 1: Limiting access to only members with bookings. (Recommended)

If you’re still open, the best thing we can do is limit the number of people present at any one time to assist with social distancing, reducing the chances of the virus spreading and making members and staff more comfortable when in the club. This can be particularly difficult for unstaffed facilities but there are some gym management software features that can help.

“Deny entry without bookings on resource” is a fairly specialized feature which ties into your gym access control system allowing for an additional restriction to be set-up on your entry points. This restriction requires the member to have a booking to gain entry to the facility. You can then divide your schedule up into timeframes by adding classes with lengths you can choose.

The number of attendees allowed in each class can be limited, reducing the number of people which can enter the club and providing a more structured way for members to utilize the facility (or specific areas within it) without crowding.

To reduce unnecessary contact with staff during this time, while improving convenience for your members, these bookings can be carried out through a gym member portal on your website.

There are a few steps involved with setting this up. Below we run through an example of how you might set this up to limit your facility to ten visitors per hour.

Step 1. You will need a blank schedule for your classes to be added to. Navigate to Settings > Bookings and Classes > Resource Configuration > [Add New Resource]. Give the resource a name (something like “Gym Floor”), you should be able to leave the other settings as their defaults. Double-check that ‘Allow Class Bookings’ is enabled.

Step 2. Next, setup a new class. Here’s where you will set up your member limit and timeframe. Navigate to Settings > Bookings and Classes > Class Configuration > [Add New Class]. We’ll outline the important settings:

• Class Name: This needs to make it obvious to your members what they are booking, e.g. “Gym Session” Default Class Length: This is your timeframe, for this example 1 hour

• Enable Booking Online: Tick this box

• Description: It might be a good idea to add some extra clarity here so members really know what they are booking

• Maximum Students: This is your limit, for this example 10

• Member Casual Price: Only necessary if this will not be a free service for your members Any other class settings you can set as you like.

Step 3. Add the timeslots to your schedule. Navigate to the Schedule, switch to the weekly view, then select the resource we made earlier from the dropdown menu. You will need to add a class to each timeslot depending on the hours your facility will be open. The number of these you will have to do will also depend on your faciltiies open hours. Below we will outline how to set up one timeslot that recurs daily.

1. Click in the time slot, e.g. 6am
2. Add Class
3. Select your newly created class type, e.g. Gym Session
4. Select Repeats: Daily
5. Save Class

Step 4. Ensure you have online bookings enabled. Navigate to Settings > Member Portal > Class Booking > Enable class booking

Step 5. The final step is to restrict access to anyone without a booking. Navigate to Settings > Door Readers > [edit] Your Desired Doors Name > Deny Entry Without Bookings on Resource > Select the Resource you just set up, e.g. Gym Floor.

To lift your restrictions, just remove the selected resource from the ‘Deny Entry Without Bookings on Resource’ field. Then cancel the classes in your Schedule.

Method 2: Limiting access to a certain number of members at a time

GymMaster has the ability to limit how many people are allowed through your doors within a certain time frame. Both the limit, and the timeframe are configurable. For example, you might only wish to allow 10 people in your facility during an hour, any subsequent visitors during the hour would then be denied. This restriction operates using a rolling queue. A member will no longer be considered as in the facility if their arrival time + the restriction timeframe has been reached, opening up a space for someone new.

Members that are denied will show up in your Visitors section with the denied reason stating the visits flow control limit was reached. As members do not have access to this information they may not be aware of why they are getting denied. Because of this we recommend using the booking restirction method instead.

To set this up, you’ll need to get in touch with the GymMaster Support Team. Send through an email to support@gymmaster.com with your request, be sure to include your preferred member limit and timeframe. Ensure your Gatekeeper is online so that it can recieve the new restrictions. These methods can be carried out remotely without the need for staff to be present, however, please note that while we would like to believe that all people will handle the current scenario in a mature and serious fashion there can always be those who do not take these precautions seriously.

Therefore, if your facility operates with gym tailgating cameras, we’d recommend being more vigilant with any flagged events or if you’re using a normal camera system periodic review is generally a good idea not only to catch anyone letting in friends but also to ensure members aren’t overstaying their allotted time. We would also recommend highlighting the importance of following more stringent guidelines with additional fines and bans as well as encouraging members to report violators promptly.

If you are interested in other ways you can run your gym remotely, be sure to check out our blog here.

If you have suggestions or questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.