FAQs
Is my membership frozen? Yes all memberships are frozen until the Club reopens.
What about recurring services? Recurring monthly billing for services such as Personal Training, lockers and Kids Club have all been placed on a freeze.
When do you plan on reopening? We are hoping to open back up in early May. Please stay tuned here and on social media for updates.
Can I still train with my Personal Trainer? Yes, please reach out to your trainer to arrange for virtual training while the Club is closed.
What are you doing virtually? Personal training, and we launched a Digital RVC membership. Learn more here – www.RiverValleyClub.com/Digital
Below you’ll see the feed of member communication we have sent via email to all members in regards to the Coronavirus outbreak and what it means for our business and your membership.
March 29, 2020
There is a French word dépaysement which describes a complex set of human feelings, of not feeling at home or maybe even not knowing where home really is. There is no real antonym for this word, but during these strange days I feel a distinct sense of really knowing where home is. Our community has come together more strongly than ever, and we at FitKids and the River Valley Club are proud to contribute our part to the health and wellbeing of us all.
We are deeply touched by your desire to help support our employees in this time of need. Recent legislation can seem complicated so we are assisting employees who have seen a reduction in work to find access to these funds during the time that FitKids and the Club are closed. Our team (working from home) is trying to keep personal trainers and instructors as busy as possible supporting your fitness needs and on the payroll. As well, we are formulating a plan to take care of the family needs of the medical professionals and their support staff in our community, providing child care to them. As always, we bear in mind that taking good care of our team members makes it possible for them to take good care of you.
Memberships are still frozen
As a reminder, all existing memberships and recurring payments are frozen at no cost to you until the Club reopens. You may also check the website for updates; click on “Coronavirus” at the top, and select “Members Update Feed.” Here are some new programs we think you will like:
RVC Digital $50 membership
Beginning this Wednesday, April 1, RVC Digital will be offering 10+ LIVE classes per week through a private Facebook Live Group/Zoom. The classes will likely range from Forever Fit, to Pilates, to Cardio HIIT, to Strength Conditioning, and even Spinning (if you don’t have a bike you can do this class on whatever piece of cardio equipment you have!).
All classes will be taught by our own Certified Personal Trainers from their own remote locations. There will be a choice of classes every day, each lasting from 30 – 55 minutes. The live classes will also be recorded and available for you to do whenever it is most convenient.
For more information on RVC Digital classes click here www.RiverValleyClub.com/Digital to fill out a form and activate your $50 digital membership. This form will be sent to our team and we will contact you to collect credit card payment information.
Also starting on April 1, we will be offering LIVE Zoom classes for anyone who has an active CrossFit membership. We will start with 1 class/day and the more members we get the more classes we can add. No equipment is necessary, there will be multiple options available in every workout. You can sign up by emailing CrossFit@RiverValleyClub.com.
Equipment loan for Digital members
For all RVC Digital members, we have a very special offer available for a limited time only. We want to help you stay fit during your time away from us! We have put together the following fitness bundles of RVC gym equipment tailored to your needs and available for loan until May 1, just before we open back up to the public on May 4. This offer is aimed at those who do not have equipment at home:
General fitness bundle: includes pair of 8lb dumbbells and a red band
Medium fitness bundle: includes pair of 12lb dumbbells and a red band
Heavy fitness bundle: includes pair of 15lb dumbbells and a red band
CrossFit bundle for active wodify clients only: 1 barbell with clips and 1 set plates or 2 sets plates (with no barbell); 1 set dumbbells; 2 kettle balls
Pickup date for General, Medium, and Heavy bundles is Tuesday, March 31 between 11am-2pm, or April 1 between 8-9am. Return date is Friday, May 1 between 7-9am or Saturday, May 2 between 9-11am.
Pickup date for CrossFit bundles is Tuesday, March 31 between 2-4pm and Wednesday, April 1 between 11am-1pm. Return date is Friday, May 1 between 11am-1pm or Saturday, May 2 between 11am-1pm.
Each member who registers for a bundle will place a deposit on their Club account to be refunded to the account when the equipment is returned. Please return by May 2 so we can give you the refund! The deposit for General, Medium, and Heavy bundles is $200. The deposit for CrossFit bundles is $400.
Please email General Manager Janet.Fletcher@RiverValleyClub.com to reserve your bundle. Remember, due to extremely limited quantities this is offered on a first-come-first-served basis to RVC Digital members only. Good luck!
Virtual Personal Training
We want to make sure that we are providing you with the best possible experience while you are away from RVC. If you were training before we closed the Club, you can continue training with your Personal Trainer virtually – just reach out directly to them. If you have not trained with one of our world-class Personal Trainers before, we are offering a free one-on-one trial virtual Personal Training session.
Sign up by emailing Jennifer.Karr@RiverValleyClub.com, and she will get you set up with a trainer that aligns with your fitness goals.
On to the future
Our aim is to re-open on May 4. I will write to you every Sunday with tips and inspiration.
Please check out fitness tips with JK: https://www.facebook.com/TheRiverValleyClub/videos/240951270418126/
Or this class with Amy: https://www.facebook.com/123022251053965/videos/631147577668567/
Or these fitness tips with Alex: https://www.facebook.com/123022251053965/videos/567829407157842/
You can find more digital content on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
Stay healthy, stay strong, and see you soon.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth
March 20, 2020
During this tumultuous time, River Valley Club team has done everything in our power to support your family and fitness needs. I am proud of the work we have done, and grateful for your recognition.
Last night our friends at Dartmouth-Hitchcock told us that limitations to testing capabilities across the state pose serious challenges. Consequently, for the foreseeable future the only way to reduce spread of the virus is through stringent limitations on community activity. We must insulate ourselves from one another in order to remain physically healthy.
Despite plans announced yesterday, I have now taken the decision to close our doors and send everyone home. We will reassess the situation the first week of April. All existing RVC memberships are now frozen at no cost to you.
This week while most of you have stayed away from the Club, we have been busy brainstorming how to deliver remotely the professional support upon which you have come to depend. Our strength flows from the creativity and synergy of the team, coupled with our ability to listen to you. Remote fitness programs are now open for business directly with your personal trainer (if applicable), and our amazing fitness professionals will be posting fitness tips on Facebook and Instagram while we are away.
Please let us show you how we can still be by your side, even while we are miles apart.
Stay healthy, stay strong, and see you soon at the Club.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth, Owner
March 19, 2020
Starting tomorrow Friday, March 20, 2020 the River Valley Club will be open by appointment only.
You will be able to schedule last-minute visits to the Club via the RVC app, which you can download here for Apple, and for Android.
Personal training clients will be contacted by their trainer or a member of the team, so that your normal fitness routine can continue if that is your preference. Other clients are already training in person at home with visits from the trainer, or via live interactive media. These options are available to all members.
Many group exercise classes are available either by appointment at the Club or via live streaming. Please check the RVC app for details. The number of live participants is limited so please be sure to reserve in advance.
The children’s swim lessons have been suspended until further notice.
A core crew of dedicated RVC professionals is working hard to create new, remote fitness options for you. These tools provide the quality on which you have come to depend, while making it possible for you to work out remotely from home. Some of these programs are already happening, please stay tuned for more information on our web site, social media and on the app.
Many of you have reached out to me and members of my team offering encouragement or making recommendations. We have been too busy to respond to all of you, but please know that we are listening. Taking care of you and our team members remains our #1 priority.
In the interest of maintaining strength for the times to come, today we announced plans to convert some of our employees to furlough status for a time period which we hope will be short. Our operations staff remains in place, working harder than ever before to sanitize, keep the air fresh, and deliver the safest environment possible for those who choose to come here.
The River Valley Club is here for you today and in the future. Thank you for your support.
Stay healthy, stay strong, and we’ll see you some time soon at the Club.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth
P. S. FitKids Childcare remains open for business.
March 16, 2020
FitKids Childcare and the River Valley Club remain open for business.
Here is some information you may find helpful. In the early days of March, the number of people coming in to work out was up about 150% over the same time last year. Beginning on March 11, our numbers started to decline dramatically. Yesterday the number of check-ins was down by 58%, and today looks to be similar.
This is good news. It means that for those of you who do wish to work out here, the Club is safer than ever. Although we have instituted a cap to the number of participants in a class, even marking the floor with a minimum of 8’ between people, classes are small because most people are staying away.
Your class instructors and personal trainers are working hard to bring you the ability to participate in classes and training sessions remotely. We are experimenting with our first live sessions today and will keep you posted via email, the app, and social media.
Last Friday, I wrote to you about the new cleaning and hygiene measures we are putting in place. Today we added additional protocols such as asking at check-in about symptoms, exposure to infected persons, and travel to hotspot locations. If you are at risk, please stay home. We can’t say that these will be the only restrictions that we may put in place. This is a dynamic situation. Restrictions are likely to become more strict.
Stay healthy, stay strong, and we’ll see you at the Club.
Kind regards,
Elizabeth Asch, Owner
March 13, 2020
Thanks to the diligent attention of members like you and our hard-working staff, I am happy to report that our community remains healthy. Please take a moment to read this email and learn about our latest steps in keeping the Club a safe haven for you to work out and protect your health through maintaining fitness.
You already know that we have installed more hand sanitizer stations and are providing extra wipes for equipment and other surfaces. Hand washing and hygiene notices appear throughout the Club to remind us all to wash, rinse, and repeat. These are the most critical of the new hygiene practices we have put in place in recent weeks.
Here are a few additional changes. Yoga mats and blankets have been taken out of circulation, as have the loanable MyZone belts at the front desk. You are most welcome to bring your own similar items from home, thereby protecting both you and other members.
We have closed the steam rooms, but the higher temperatures of the saunas enables us to keep them in use.
By mid-April, we will be using an additional, new overnight cleaning system. You can look it up here: https://www.cloroxpro.com/products/clorox/total-360/. The Clorox 360 Electrostatic Sprayer will improve our disinfectant process. Electrostatic spray surface cleaning is the process of spraying an electrostatically charged mist onto surfaces and objects.
Electrostatic spray uses a specialized solution that is combined with air and atomized by an electrode inside the sprayer. The spray contains positively charged particles that are able to aggressively adhere to surfaces and objects. Because the particles in the spray are positively charged, they cling to and coat any surface at which they are aimed.
For those of you who are personal training clients, please know that your trainer will now be using Available to Public in a spray bottle to keep the equipment fresh and clean for your use. This will be used on each piece of equipment you touch, at the time of use. The product itself is a broad spectrum anti-bacterial, virucide and fungicide and your trainer has been instructed in how to use it. Should you have reason to wish to remain at home, you will be able to keep your personalized training appointments by working one-on-one remotely, using whatever video platform you like. Just ask your trainer!
Our swimming pools and tubs remain open. This is a quote from the CDC.gov website: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/water.html “There is no evidence that COVID-19 can be spread to humans through the use of pools and hot tubs. Proper operation, maintenance, and disinfection (e.g., with chlorine and bromine) of pools and hot tubs should remove or inactivate the virus that causes COVID-19.”
Please know that your health and fitness, and that of our RVC team, is my #1 priority.
See you at the Club!
Elizabeth Asch
Owner
