Tim Paulson is a multi-time CrossFit Games athlete and consistently ranks among the fittest men in America. He’s also one of the owners of CrossFit Pallas in Ithaca, New York. As COVID-19 began changing life for people around the globe, New York quickly became one of the hardest-hit states in America.
Facing a mandatory, temporary closure of the gym to comply with social distancing rules, Tim and his business partners were faced with a question: How could they continue to support their membership and community when people could no longer come to the gym?
The answer was to lend out a massive amount of equipment — Tim estimates it was $40,000 worth — so members could continue to follow programming while at home. The CrossFit Pallas coaches now have regular video calls with members, including group workouts and one-on-one checkins, so the community can continue to train hard.
Of course, Tim knows the equipment will generally come back home when the period of isolation ends:
“They have to bring it back, it’s going to be in good condition, there were some parameters like that. Please treat it as your own, stuff like that, but we didn’t take any money or anything like that. It was just a goodwill loan.”
Tim says the gym’s kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, and wallballs were picked clean, and there’s virtually no small equipment left in the facility.
The one thing Tim was surprised members didn’t take? Rowers.
“Honestly, I’m kind of surprised, because of how much variety it would add to the routine.”
Though it’s an unprecedented time in the fitness community and beyond, Tim and the team at CrossFit Pallas are convinced their members will come out stronger and fitter than ever.
“Our members are going to come away so fit!”