When Masks Meet Mats –– How workout studios are adapting during covid-19

When Masks Meet Mats

Sweat dripped down junior Sam Stedry’s face as he shouted, “One more, you got this,” to the students of his 4:00 p.m. barre class at Power Life Yoga. After class ended, he slipped on his Made in KC mask and reminded his students to do the same, which is an addition to the routine that’s taking a bit to get used to.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, Power Life has made changes to ensure the safety of their students. In the larger studio, class sizes decreased from 45 participants to 15, and everyone is required to wear masks while they practice yoga six feet apart.

Stedry cues his playlist full of upbeat remixes to get his students’ adrenaline running. After he leads them through a rigorous barre class, Stedry and his co-workers deep clean every weight, barre and door handle to exterminate any remaining germs, adding an extra 30 minutes to his normal routine everyday.

Stedry has been teaching at Power Life for a year now, but these past months have been nothing like what he was used to. Stedry no longer has room to walk around the studio and connect with his students in a personal way. Since he’s only able to instruct from his Lululemon mat at the front of the studio, Stedry’s voice slowly gets lost with his encouraging yelling throughout the class.

“I miss being able to roam around the room a little more and really connect with students,” Stedry said. “Being six feet apart at all times is obviously mandatory, but it makes it some harder to really get to know who I’m teaching.”

Sophomore Kate Cronenwett has attended weekly classes at Power Life with her mom for almost two years to de-stress. 

“During lockdown my motivation to workout wasn’t the same,” Cronenwett said . “I didn’t really feel the need to workout and whenever I did, it didn’t last long.”

Once she heard workout studios were reopening, she was eager to get back to Power Life.

“Being in that kind of environment and getting pushed to your limits feels more productive than doing a short Youtube ab workout on my own carpet,”  Cronenwett said. “Hearing the shouts of ‘You can do it!’ and ‘Keep going!’ make me work harder.”

East alumni Grace Cantril also teaches at three different Power Life locations around Kansas City. Cantril has been going to classes for three years at a variety of studios and only took teaching classes to advance her own knowledge.

“I honestly saw they were doing teacher classes and thought this would be an easy way for me to get better at my own yoga,” Cantril said. “I was never a regular there and I would look for deals inconsistently for classes, until I got the job and decided why not.”

“The amount of love, enthusiasm and dedication I put into each student and creating a fun atmosphere is something and didn’t and won’t change,” Cantril said. 

Power Life, along with other KC workout studios including Health House and Fusion Fitness are doing their best to keep students safe. Health House has decreased their class size to half capacity and requires people sign up ahead of time for classes, rather than having the option of a walk-in class. Fusion now caps class size at 30 people, keeping everyone six feet apart and requiring students to bring their own equipment.

The well-being of each and every fitness student is prioritized with social distancing and sanitization in hopes they can get back to the “normal” again soon.