A Message From The Founder and CEO
Clean. Safe. Spacious. Welcome Back to FFC!
Safety has always been one of our five Core Values (Safety, Superior Service, Friendliness, Integrity, and Improvement). Safety is more important now than ever and will be paramount in garnering your confidence as we move forward. We get one chance to make a great first impression, and we don’t take that responsibility lightly.
These FitSafe guidelines are designed to keep our staff and their families, our members and their families, and each of our surrounding communities as safe as possible. This framework has been established in conjunction with the Restore Illinois plans, most specifically, Phase IV. Please pay close attention to the FitPledge, which we are asking both team and members alike to abide by.
On behalf of the entire FFC Team, we look forward to working together to keep FFC a FitSafe and FitClean network of clubs. Thank you for your understanding, support and continued patronage during this extraordinary time!
Be well,
Gale Landers
CEO and Founder
Fitness Formula Clubs
Watch Both Of Our Welcome Back Videos!
Member Responsibility
FitPledge
Our number one goal is to keep our clubs FitClean and FitSafe. To do this, we need your help. The FitPledge is designed to clearly lay out our expectations for our staff and members. Together, we can limit the spread of COVID-19 and keep our community safe.
Social Responsibility Agreement
We have emailed out a Social Responsibility Agreement for you to review and sign. ***Members must sign this agreement digitally, through the email link sent, prior to your first visit/use of any FFC location. Thanks in advance for your prompt attention to this agreement.
General Member Guidelines
- Avoid person-to-person contact, including handshakes, hugs and high fives.
- Please practice safe social distancing when in close, shared spaces like locker rooms and bathrooms. Follow the markers placed around the club to maintain a safe distance.
- FFC will be providing small cleaning spray bottles for you with a black cleaning towel to use to wipe down equipment before and after use. The bottles are filled with our Tersano Stabilized Aqueous Ozone Solution. Bottles will be available at Sanitizing Stations throughout the facility and will be cleaned after each use.
- Alternately, you are welcome to use the disinfecting gym wipes on all equipment surfaces before and after use. These can be used to disinfect your hands as well.
- Wash hands at the beginning and end of your visit and after coughing, sneezing, blowing your nose or touching your face.
- If you have a cough, fever or symptoms of COVID-19, please do not attend the club until these symptoms have subsided.
- If you have tested positive for COVID-19, or have knowingly come into close contact with someone who has, we ask that you do not come to the club for 14 days or until you’ve tested negative for COVID-19.
- If you don’t feel well or have any concerns about coming to the club, please stay home and stay safe.
- Wearing masks: Wearing masks over the nose and mouth while in the club AND working out is required by the state of Illinois and city of Chicago as well as upon entry, in elevators and temperature checks. All FFC staff are required to wear a mask at all times.
FitClean Technology, Tools and Ventilation
- The FFC FitClean Guideline: All staff, regardless of position, are responsible for cleaning. First, members will clean their equipment/areas used with disinfecting wipes, then staff provide a secondary disinfection with Stabilized Aqueous Ozone solution.
- We will expand our daily cleaning protocols to include a detailed, periodic sanitation schedule, inclusive of post-closing procedures. Particular attention will be paid to high touch contact points.
- This expectation extends to our facilities and equipment, with cutting edge housekeeping technologies and tools.
- Click the link below to learn more about our new technologies and tools, like: airphx, which continually sanitizes the air at all FFC Locations, Tersano SAO, our powerful and safe new cleaning solution, and Matsana, which sanitizes our yoga mats.
Superior Ventilation & Air Quality
- Chicago’s building code for mechanical ventilation in various commercial spaces is measured by minimum cubic feet per minute (CFM). Here are some common CFM code specs: Fitness Centers: 20; Retail, Restaurants & Bars: 7.5; Offices and Place of Worship: 5. All 11 FFC locations has at least 4 times the ventilation of offices and churches, and 2.7 times more than retail, bars and restaurants.
- Air vents at all club locations are monitored and cleaned monthly.
- Air filters for all HVAC units are monitored monthly and replaced every 90 days.
- In addition to all of the above, All 11 FFC locations have multiple airPHX units. This technology provides continual coverage against bacteria and viruses, generating sanitizing air. airPHX units consistently result in 95.6% to 98.2% fewer airborne germs and 92% fewer surface germs.
FitSafe Guidelines By Area
Universal Guidelines for All Areas of the Club
- Members and staff will together follow the FFC FitClean Guidelines.
- Throughout our facilities, please look for signage, floor markings and other changes to minimize bottlenecks and congregation areas and to provide safe social distancing between members.
- Accessory tools such as bands, ropes and other permeable items that may be difficult to properly disinfect between users may be removed from fitness areas. These items will be checked out at the front desk with a photo ID, and sanitized by staff before and after each use.
- Disinfecting wipes and hand sanitizer stations will be visible, labeled and available throughout all fitness areas.
- All personal items (gym bags, coats, shoes, etc) must be kept in a daily locker during your workout.
Occupancy Trackers and Club Limits
- Club operating hours will initially be reduced and may vary by location.
- ffc.com will feature an occupancy tracker per location, providing members with a real-time view on check-ins relative to the current maximum, as well as trending averages across the day so members can better plan their visits. Should maximum occupancy be reached, access will be restricted to one in/one out.
- Guests of members may initially be prohibited in the club. Guests of Premier members are being allowed. Scheduled appointments for tours will be allowed.
Front Desk: Member Arrival and Circulation
- Upon arrival, your reservation will be secured for you. You will have access to hand sanitizer and your temperature will be taken with a contactless temporal thermometer. If you have a temperature reading of 100.4 or above, or if you refuse to have your temperature taken, you will be asked to leave.
- A protective screen may separate you from our staff at the check-in desk and other transaction points in the club.
- Please note that for the foreseeable future, towel service will be available at the check-in desk only.
- Elevator capacity will be limited to abide by all social distancing guidelines.
Cardio and Strength: DIY Fitness Areas
- Cardio equipment will be selectively decommissioned or removed to allow for appropriate spacing and to minimize potential germ transfer.
- Strength benches and free weights will be spaced to allow for appropriate physical distancing. All equipment is to remain in place and is not to be moved.
- FFC staff will be readily visible in all fitness areas, providing periodic cleaning and assurance that all guidelines are being followed.
- Eucalyptus towels will not be available for the foreseeable future.
Basketball Courts
- Basketball courts will be decommissioned for competitive play. These spaces may be repurposed for appropriate alternative uses with appropriate safe social distancing measures in place.
- Basketballs will be kept at the front desk for check out for individual shoot arounds, in exchange for a member photo ID. Basketballs will be sanitized by staff after each use.
- All teams and leagues will be suspended. These will resume as circumstances evolve that support the safe functioning of teams and leagues.
Signature Group Fitness Studios
***We are offering live online classes – see the schedule at ffc.com/schedule. ***
Due to the government mandate effective November 20, 2020, indoor group fitness classes as you currently know them are not allowed indoors. However, we have several options available. Outdoor classes will continue to be offered wherever possible. We also have expanded options for virtual fitness. Virtual instruction is available throughout the day at every location. You can use this instruction at your convenience. In addition, all members will have the option to redeem a complimentary 30-day trial of FFC On Demand, which houses more than 650 fitness classes. We have significantly increased the amount of live streaming instruction daily. For more information on our virtual group fitness options, please visit ffc.com/schedule.
HIIT Corner (Boxing)
The following protocols will be followed:
- Hanging bags will be selectively removed to allow for safe social distancing.
- Members must bring their own boxing gloves or practice shadow boxing; no communal gloves will be available.
Personal Training, Small Group Training, Pilates
- Personal training will resume.
- Spotting, hands on assists or stretching will be reduced to only when absolutely necessary for the needs of the client, and upon member consent.
- Trainers will adhere to social distancing guidelines.
- Trainers will wash or sanitize their hands prior to all PT sessions.
- Pilates reformer machines will be selectively available to allow for safe social distancing.
Pool, Steam, Sauna and Whirlpool Facilities
The reopening of our swimming pool facilities (indoor and outdoor) will be made in the context of relevant government and health authority guidance and best practices under the following protocols:
- Pools may be used for lap swimming only. Lap lanes may be occupied by only one member at a time; no sharing of lanes will be permitted. Similar social distancing will be required at outdoor pools.
- For indoor lap swimming, you must reserve a lane to swim via the BOOKING section of the main FFC app. The reservation system will be active 24 hours in advance. For example, for Wednesday, July 1, the reservation system will be active on Tuesday, June 30.
- Pools will initially be adult only; no children will be allowed until further notice.
- Indoor furniture will be removed from the pool deck.
- Outdoor furniture and chaise lounges will be positioned at a safe social distance. Families can group furniture as needed, to be repositioned after use. Furniture and lounges will be sanitized after each use.
- Members will be required to place a towel on all seats and lounges before use; towels must be returned to a towel drop location. Towels will only be available at front desk check-in.
- Private swimming lessons will be permitted. Private and semi-private lessons (two participants) will resume. Group lessons will be evaluated individually and phased in over time.
- Steam, sauna and whirlpool facilities will be decommissioned due to government guidelines. Decisions on the reopening of these spaces will be made in the context of relevant government and health authority guidance and best practices.
Locker Rooms
Locker rooms will be available in limited capacity, including:
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- Secure Belongings storage
- Cleansing showers for swimmers
- Restroom access
Local’84 Cafes and Retail
- All food service facilities will be reduced to grab-and-go beverages and pre-packaged food.
- The full reopening of our cafes and restaurants will be made in the context of relevant government and health authority guidance and best practices.
- Staff will wear PPE while preparing food, cleaning food areas and in any member-facing function.
- Pay points may have a plexiglass barrier between staff and members. All sales will be cashless transactions.
- Pay points and counters will be wiped with disinfectant after each use.
- All shared condiments, cups, and amenities (e.g. coffee, water) will be removed.
Spa
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- Therapeutic massage services are currently available at all clubs.
- Appointments are required and can be made via the Booking section of the FFC app.
- Upon arrival, clients will check in for spa appointments at the front desk of the club.
- At check-in, clients will be required to pass a temperature check and sign a Social Responsibility Agreement on their first visit back.
- Suburban and city locations: Face masks must be worn at all times for spa appointments.
- All clients will be asked to fill out an intake form before their service that includes the following questions:
- Have you had a fever of 100ºF or above, sore throat, cough or any other flu like symptoms in the last 24 hours?
- Have you been in contact with anyone in the last 14 days who has been diagnosed with COVID-19?
- Have you traveled to a state with a high COVID infection rate within the last two weeks (state designated “hotspots”)?
- Ortanic Airbrush Tanning not available at this time.
- Robes, slippers and water will not be offered at this time.
Kids Club
Kids Club will be available upon re-opening our clubs on a limited schedule at certain locations, and will be phased in at others. Please check your club location specifically at ffc.com/club-locations.
Advance reservations are required for all Kids Club use via the BOOKING section of the main FFC app.
