FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARСH 26, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 35
buzz
Ridgewood gym sends daily workout
videos during coronavirus pandemic
BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
For fi tness lovers stuck at home, one
Ridgewood-based fi tness club has the
answer: an email blast with workouts and
recipes, sent daily.
Force Fitness Club which has a membership
Live streamed classes and events
keep Astoria community connected
BY JESSICA MILITELLO
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
As bars, restaurants, stores and gyms
have been closed in a state-mandated
eff ort to slow the spread of the coronavirus,
Photo via
Getty Images
residents have been mostly stuck at
home unable to enjoy their usual fi tness
classes, meet up with friends and take
part in Astoria nightlife.
However, many businesses and event
organizers have been using livestreams
and social media to continue reaching
out to the community by having online
classes and digital events for their audiences
to maintain a sense of normalcy
and a source of relief while the city is
at a standstill.
James Orfanos, the co-owner of New
York Martial Arts Academy, which has
one of its four locations on Broadway
and Crescent, has been letting his students
continue their Jeet Kune Do training
by providing live streamed classes via
the school’s Instagram and YouTube pages
Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. and a
Saturday class at noon.
Orfanos immediately made the decision
to keep classes going in some way for students
to continue enjoying the benefi ts of
the martial art from home.
“Our live streamed classes will be taught
the same as regular class,” said Orfanos.
“Our students can still get good information
and train in their living room. We’re
obviously not giving up. I want to make
sure that the students are still training,
especially now when everyone
is stir-crazy at home. It’ll be
a good way to get the students
energy up.”
While personal trainers
and fi tness facilities
seem to be following
suit in off ering
their classes online
for members to work
on their physical health, Astoria Music
Collective founders Miguel Hernandez
and Karen Adelman have decided to keep
their music showcases going through live
sessions called “AMC Digital Sessions”
streamed through their Facebook page for
artists and listeners to enjoy.
Normally, the AMC performs throughout
bars and venues in the neighborhood,
but the duo is determined
to keep the show going
any way they
can.
“Although we can’t gather in person,
through digital sessions we can come
together to support and rejoice in each
other, and maybe bring a little warmth to
uncertain times,” Adelman said. “It may
not be exactly a sense of normalcy, but it’s
extremely comforting to see and hear our
friends continue to celebrate life through
our shared love of music.”
Queens Craft Brigade, which holds
monthly makers markets, will be having
an online event on April 19 in order
to bring people together and to continue
being a platform for artists to show
and sell their work. As their events
for the next few months will likely be
postponed, the group’s founder Robert
Duff y took their event online which
will also include showing home-bound
residents diff erent ways to tap into their
creative side as well as continuing to show
other’s work.
“We want to fi nd a way for people to
still connect,” Duff y said. “We hope to
have a forum for people to talk with each
other, maybe learn a skill, and just be with
each other. If it goes well we may do them
on a more regular basis; we’re all in this
together.”
of more than 2,000 people has
been sending a daily email out at 9 a.m.
fi lled with workout video instruction, a
recipe for the day and motivation.
“Everybody’s gonna be stuck at home,
our members, the community, so we
wanted to put out as much content as
possible,” said Michael Romer, owner of
Force Fitness Club.
Signing up for the daily email is free,
even for those without a membership to
the club.
“Being stuck at home is an easy way to
get out of shape,” said Romer.
Th e response the club has seen to the
online instruction is more than the club
anticipated, with about 130 people without
a membership opting into the email
in the last few days.
Th e videos are created by fi ve to six
coaches working for the gym in their
homes, as the gym had to shutter its doors
March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Th e gym did see the need to close before
it was asked to, so Romer started making
videos about a week before the closure.
Force Fitness Club, which opened in
2008 and is located at 63-03 Fresh Pond
Rd., estimates it can survive as a business
for no more than six months, but does
see itself surviving for a couple of months
because of the memberships it has previously
sold.
Th e health and fi tness industry has
started to petition for federal assistance
to help during the pandemic that has now
grown to 21,689 cases reported in New
York state as of Tuesday morning and
33,404 reported cases nationwide.
Th e $2 trillion dollar stimulus package
has yet to pass Congress as of Tuesday,
with Democratic and Republican legislators
failing to agree on what to include
in the comprehensive federal aid package
set to help companies and Americans
nationwide.
Courtesy of Force Fitness Club
Michael Romer (r.) with co-owner Vincent Ruddy and Ruddy’s daughter Gianna.
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