Statistics show that people are happy to be working at home for a week or two, but after that many suffer from the lack of social interaction. We are innately social creatures! We understand that for many people, the gym is an important source of social contact.
Your “Third Place” is simply a place you spend time at outside of home or work. This place offers a personal experience and fulfills an individual need.
When Dirk and I go to the local coffee shop, they know our usual drink and food order. Last week my local coffee shopping closing was the thing that put me over the edge. THAT was the thing that made me break down and cry.
I felt like I could handle taking care of my 3 kids at home. I felt like I had a good plan to move our business completely on-line and take care of our members better than ever. But when I heard that I wouldn’t have access to my morning coffee to help get me through all of this – that was where I broke.
The barista knows I always get decaf and whole milk. She makes Dirk’s drink just the way he likes it – with a dab of honey. This is our third place. This is the place we spend time at outside of home or work (since the gym is our work) where we are happy and comfortable and people know us.
For most people, their third place is a gym like Recursive. A place you go to hang out with friends outside of your home and your work. The place you feel comfortable and welcome. The place that makes you feel glad you came!
From the moment we started talking about opening a gym, the concept of the third place was there. We wanted to create more than just a place that people came to for an hour a day to workout at. We wanted a place where there was a huge sense of community. We chose comfy couches in the front lobby so people could chill out between classes.
The gym is so many peoples’ third place – and we are honored that so many people consider Recursive to be theirs!
But that has recently, very quickly, changed. As it became clear that the right thing to do was social distancing, people (seemingly) immediately lost their third place. People’s community and sense of belonging now has to adapt and change.
You hear us talk about making choices and using the concept of good, better, best. We can’t have our classes at the gym and happy hours afterwards, but we can still be connected and stay safe!
We are offering Remote Coaching and daily, coached workouts. We are still meeting with our Personal Training clients from the comfort and safety of their homes. We are offering Yoga, Mindfulness, and Mobility classes to help the whole person. We have weekly challenges, daily questions, and other fun interactive activities.
We don’t want you to lose this buffer of health and fitness that you have built. We are working hard to continue to make Recursive a source of community for everyone.