Virginia cycling company, Good Sweat, has found a way to keep people active from home in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Founder Ali Hashemi, is renting out her stationary bikes to customers and hosting her usual classes live online.
She said her first thought was about what she could do to help the community and figured if people could cycle in her studio they could cycle at home, too.
“Good Sweat is really about community, about bringing people together, about making sure everyone is taken care of physically and mentally and that’s how we are doing that during this time of closure,” Hashemi said.
During this time of stress and uncertainty, staying active will help maintain mental health, according to psychiatrist Dr. James Gordon.
"We are meant to move our bodies, if you can’t go to the gym figure out a way to do it at home,” Gordon said.
For this reason, Hashemi’s program is very helpful for the riders who want to keep up with their exercise routine. One such rider, Liz Rosenbaum, said having the time to be active is really important to her. Rosenbaum now works from home and the one place she said she could depend on to de-stress, Good Sweat, was closed.
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“I was nervous about what I would be able to do if I couldn’t go outside for a run or anything like that,” Rosenbaum said.
But with Hashemi’s idea, Rosenbaum and other riders don’t have to disrupt their routine and Hashemi’s business gets to stay afloat.
“I’ve had so many people who have come to pick up the bikes and said, ‘thank you, thank you you’re helping,’ Hashemi said. "I say thank you right back from them because for us this is how we are going to survive.”
