A popular gym in Bromsgrove is looking forward to reopening for outdoor activities on Monday (March 29.)

The Ryland Centre on New Road will be offering outdoor sports such as football and athletics, outdoor fitness sessions and running track sessions from Monday.

This comes as COVID restrictions are set to ease from March 29 allowing outdoor sports facilities to reopen and organised sports to restart.

Michelle Jones, facility manager at The Ryland Centre said:“It’s such a relief to be opening again, for both my staff and I, but also the people of Bromsgrove - who also see it as a new lease of life. We’ve been keeping them active and motivated since November with our various online classes and it’s been a real success for all concerned in terms of physical and mental wellbeing, but sometimes you can’t beat the real thing.

Bromsgrove Advertiser:

Michelle Jones, facility manager at The Ryland Centre, teaching online classes. 

“I used the downtime to explore online options via Facebook Live and Zoom and quickly bought into it as demand took off. A small team of instructors, including myself, started developing engaging videos and very quickly we had a rapidly growing following for our daily Yoga, Pilates, Fat Burn and Gym-style classes, HIIT workouts, plus Strength & Conditioning sessions."

The team built an online fitness community during the pandemic of around 450 people.

Michelle added: “It got so popular we made the digital programme part of the membership at the start of the year when we briefly opened again, during Tier three status, as some people actually prefer the online option because of work, family and health reasons and we do appreciate that not all will rush back.

“We’ve also developed some bootcamp-style sessions as they’ve proved very popular before, but as indoor activities are allowed again, we’ll be introducing some exciting but different alternatives to the online and outdoor programmes.”

Phase two of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown is planned to begin from April 12, allowing gyms and leisure centres to reopen indoors.