Residents in the Battleford's are keeping gyms as busy as they can be with COVID-19 restrictions. (Lifetime Fitness 24/7)

By Josh Ryan

New Year's Resolutions

Gyms in the Battlefords busy to start 2021

Jan 8, 2021 | 5:52 PM

Gyms and fitness centres remained busy to start the new year, despite numbers being limited by the province’s mandate.

The busiest season of the fitness industry continues as owners navigate a new normal the best they can. Brent Kauth, owner of Lifetime Fitness 24/7 in North Battleford, said it’s good to see the facility being used regularly in January.

“Maybe not as busy as last year, but it’s still nice and steady,” he said.

Mask use, distancing and capacity restrictions have forced fitness facilities to adapt continuously, with each new direction given by the government. Kauth said in some ways, their community being smaller than bigger cities is an advantage for gym owners.

“You don’t have a ton of people that are trying to get into the gym at the same time, so it’s not like you’re having to weed people out and doing time slots,” he said.

Grey Cup!!!

Everything you wanted and more

Nov 21, 2025

12 Best Tips to Spend Less at Christmas

Nov 18, 2025

Cybercrime response

Prince Albert Police Service 'limited in scope' to properly investigate fraud crimes

Nov 17, 2025

Kauth isn’t expecting major changes in any direction on Jan. 15, but hopes that the government keeps regulations on a consistent path to help businesses stay afloat. He praised his staff in the efforts to adjust to changes.

“A lot of my staff are in sports, which are all cancelled right now, so they’re actually looking to pull more shifts,” he said.

Sports training repurposed

Athlete training in particular has been challenging for fitness facilities, with a limit of eight people at a time. Miranda Wiese, owner of Pipes Fitness, said almost all of their services can be running, though they’ve lost the ability to have a number of groups come in and train.

“Some of the teams have people in town and out of town,” she said. “And then the government having restricted teams to only allowing eight people at a time means our dryland teams aren’t going right now.”

However, Wiese said they are looking to increase opportunities for those teams virtually, an option that’s helped provide opportunities to reach a number of clients. They’re also waiting to see what changes occur January 15. Many hockey teams that are normally a month or two away from playoffs at this time will be able to get back to a number of routines.

“Hopefully things will begin reopening,” Wiese said. “Either things start up again and things slowly go back to normal or we’ll have to re-evaluate what we have to offer to clients moving forward.”

In order to keep offering services for athletes, it’s gone from supplementary training to their sport to the main way to stay active. Wiese said she’s planning to start something similar for the younger age groups soon. One positive that she thinks will come from the pandemic for this group is becoming more prepared for life after competitive sport.

“I see that in lots of clientele I work with, people were athletes all their life, then they weren’t,” she said. “They now have to find that drive about fitness, outside of competition.”

Wiese said she thinks that keeping kids and teens active right now will not only positively impact mental health, serving as a distraction from the day-to-day routine, but helping maximize physical performance in a way that will make adulthood an easier transition.

“They’ve learned a lot about fitness and how it can help them physically and mentally,” she said. “Outside of just training for a sport.”

—

josh.ryan@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JoshRyanSports