CEO, President of Self Esteem Brands: $1.9T Stimulus Package Fails the Fitness Industry – Keep Fighting For the GYMS Act

Let’s face it: Good health and physical fitness have proven themselves time and again as critical tools to combat COVID 19. Simply put, people who use exercise and movement to manage their risk factors – like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, depression and more –stand a better chance against this deadly virus – or any illness, for that matter.

Heck, even President Biden knows this: he insisted on bringing his own exercise bike to the White House.

However, most Americans don’t have fancy workout equipment in their homes. Instead, millions of Americans count on access to a fitness center, health club or studio for equipment, training, coaching, nutritional guidance and more to help them manage their health and wellness.

Sadly, the fitness industry has been amongst the hardest hit, especially those run by small business owners. More than 6,000 gyms, fitness clubs and studios in the U.S. closed in the past year – a rate five times higher than restaurants, and a third higher than bars or nightclubs. Since March of 2020, more than 1.4 million fitness jobs have been lost. Many small gyms and fitness studios in the country don’t expect to survive this year without federal support.

So, wouldn’t we expect Congress to place a value on this industry and support it through the pandemic?

Apparently not.

We are extremely disappointed that direct stimulus relief for small business owners of health and fitness businesses, like franchisees of Anytime Fitness, The Bar Method and Basecamp Fitness, was left out of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 Relief bill passed Sunday by the U.S. Senate, which is likely to be signed this week by President Biden.

Particularly frustrating is that the Senate turned a blind eye toward the GYMS Act, a fitness industry-endorsed bill they had in hand that would have provided direct relief to the fitness industry within the stimulus package.

The utter failure by Congress to include direct financial relief to independent fitness studios and gyms in communities across the United States speaks volumes concerning prevailing attitudes toward fitness. It reflects a lack of appreciation by our lawmakers of the importance of providing Americans with access to coaching, training, equipment and more to help individuals manage their risk factors and maintain their health during this pandemic.

Congress’s failure to act threatens national health and leaves abandoned an entire class of small business owners that support fitness and wellness.

But while Congress failed to support the fitness industry this time, we are not giving up the fight for fitness as an essential business worthy of direct stimulus relief. The GYMS Act is still alive with nearly 50 sponsors in the House, including Reps. Quigley and Fitzpatrick, and additional support in the Senate, including Senator Amy Klobuchar.

We will continue to stand in partnership with the Community Gyms Coalition, the International Franchise Association, and IHRSA, our international fitness industry group, to lobby the House and Senate to pass the GYMS Act and provide direct federal relief for owners of gyms, clubs and studios nationwide.

And we will again ask those in Congress who really care about health and wellness to support us in this work.

Keep in mind, we have not yet emerged from the deadly COVID 19 pandemic. Millions of Americans rely on gyms, clubs and studios for coaching, training, nutrition counseling, and more to manage their risk factors and stay healthy.

We will work tirelessly to get the help we need to keep our studios open for our members, for our communities and for our health.

Fitness is essential.

Chuck Runyon, co-founder and CEO
David Mortensen, co-founder and president
Self Esteem Brands
Anytime Fitness, Basecamp Fitness, The Bar Method, Waxing the City