Tuesday, April 14, 2020

Goodbye Nerdstrong

Today I got a message on Facebook about a memory from one year ago, it was one of my many Nerdstrong pictures and I had a sudden overwhelming pain in my heart, like true physical pain, just writing out this blog it's bringing that pain back.

For those who don't know Nerdstrong had to shut down because of the current world crisis. Which would be fine but the timing couldn't have been worse. Nerdstrong's lease was up in April and Coach Andrew (the owner) had found a new location, in the same industrial area just a smaller unit and we were planing to move and then this virus hit and everything changed.

At the beginning of April Andrew had a Zoom meeting with gym members and announced that the gym would be closing permanently. With an uncertain future, no guaranteed income and swarmy building owners Nerdstrong could be no more. I kind of knew this was coming but hearing it out loud was difficult. I think I was in a kind of a shock. I remember not having much of a reaction, until Patty started to tear up and then the waterworks started and I had to turn away from my camera. Afterwards I kind of pulled away from folks, a few Nerdstrong folks messaged me to make sure I was okay but I haven't really talked about it much to anyone and then today when that picture popped up on Facebook and I saw what was, and will probably never be again my heart broke and everything kind of hit me all at once. This idea of not having Nerdstrong Gym when all this craziness is over is heartbreaking. This gym and community has been such a huge part of my life the past 5 + years and I really don't know what I will do without it once we go back to "normal".

I'm happy to say that Nerdstrong isn't dead, it lives online now, Nerdstrong Gym has a Twitch channel with daily workouts, there are also Zoom classes you can join in on. Unfortunately none of this has really clicked for me and I've been mostly absent from the new virtual gym. Don't worry though I'm still working out, that's one of many great things Nerdstrong has instilled in me, my love of fitness. And our community continues to grow as we get new online members from all over the world.

Who knows what the future holds for Nerdstrong Gym but I do know that I am very thankful to Andrew, the coaching staff and the entire community for their continued support of my crazy fitness journey. Nerdstrong Gym will always be a part of me.. literally I have their logo tattooed on me. :)



Thanks Nerdstrong