Working out is more than just a business for Fara McNeil. The mother of three opened her CKO Kickboxing studio in Allendale because the sport helped her mentally and physically after her third child.

“Now that we’re going to be back together, it feels like Christmas,” McNeil said.

She said she wanted to empower others in the community.

“We were open about 15 months before the pandemic hit,” she said.

McNeil has done virtual classes, personal training and outdoor classes to stay afloat but it still only covers about 25% of what she would typically make financially.

When Gov. Phil Murphy finally set the Sept. 1 reopening date for gyms, McNeil said it was a huge sigh of relief.

To reopen under state health guidelines, gyms will have to limit capacity to 25% and one person per 200 square feet for any fitness classes. People have to wear masks at all times. Equipment has to be six feet apart and sanitized between uses. A log of everyone entering the facility must be kept for contact tracing, in case someone tests positive.

“Given where we are in this fight, we believe we are ready to take this step forward,” Murphy said. “I know this has been a long time coming and I thank the many, many, overwhelmingly, the many, many responsible gym owners who have done the right things.”

It might be too late for Atilis Gym, whose owners made headlines after defying the governor’s executive order to close. Now, they are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and had their license taken away for opening their doors in June.

“We’re going to have a scientist come in tomorrow to show the safety protocols we put in place from day one, that could be adapted to any small business, is sufficient for small businesses to operate. And they should have been able to operate from the beginning,” said Ian Smith, co-owner of Atilis Gym.

The governor’s decision to open indoor gyms is alarming to some health experts.

“I’m a little bit surprised they’re opening gyms before indoor dining simply because they’re both indoor activities, but in gyms, you have people who are doing cardiovascular exercise and exhaling with more force, which we know is a higher risk activity,” said epidemiologist Stephanie Silvera.

Silvera says from a health perspective, she would wait on both gyms and indoor dining until there is a consistent downward trend for number of new cases and rate of transmission. She says the other option is to wait for same day rapid result COVID tests to become affordable.

“Even if you have full health insurance, you’re still paying out of pocket $95 upwards in money just to get one COVID test, there are some labs and scientists working on, it’s essentially a strip of paper, you put it in your mouth, get saliva on it and it would turn a certain color whether you are positive or negative, which would be a much less expensive test that can be run,” said Silvera.

McNeil knows the governor rolled back his initial decision to open indoor dining after seeing a spike in data earlier this summer. She understands he may do the same for gyms.

“As of right now, we’re just happy he’s giving us this date and we’re able to move forward,” McNeil said.

Health and safety will be her priority, she already has waivers and social distancing signs in place.