Indoor gyms a no, kids' day and overnight camps a go: Step 2 of provincial reopening

London, Ont. -

The inside of MVMT Strength gym is nearly empty, but all the action is out in the parking lot.

Owner Isaac Morgado decided to set up shop on the concrete -- moving half of his gym equipment outdoors to allow clients to pump some iron once more.

“We kind of made do with what we had, we have a big portion of our parking lot cornered off for people to do outdoor workouts.”

The region enters the next stage of Ontario’s reopening plan on June 30, but indoor recreational gyms will not allowed to open until Step 3.

In the meantime, outdoor fitness classes are allowed but limited to the number of people who can maintain three metres of physical distance.

The long closure has impacted business for Morgado.

“We had to shut down as early as March of last year, and since then we have been closed for roughly 300 days. Not having bodies inside, it has impacted the bottom line pretty severely.”

But Margado got creative and adapted, even renting out a storage unit to house the gym equipment as he patiently waits for his doors to reopen once more.

"I try to be a blind optimist, but we are super looking forward to the actual gym opening up."

While indoor gyms are off limits for now, kids' day and overnight camps will be allowed to reopen during Step 2 with restrictions.

Mari Hughes, owner of the Little Gym of London, is happily preparing for opening day after a long haul of being closed.

She runs a gymnastics day camp for kids.

"It has been very hard. We have been doing our best to provide people with credits from way back from March of 2020, so money from two years ago is still being carried forward.”

Hughes says that money may never be made up, but what keeps her going is knowing that kids may have a sense of normalcy this summer

“Our goal is just to get better, to do the best we can and to offer the services to as many people as we can…all last summer (kids) left with smiles on their faces, it was wonderful to see them and we are excited to welcome them back.”