Haddon Township gym owner offers free workouts to health care workers, first responders

A gym in Camden County is finding a way to thank New Jersey’s front-line workers.

News 12 Staff

Aug 15, 2020, 1:19 AM

Updated 1,523 days ago

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A gym in Camden County is finding a way to thank New Jersey’s front-line workers.
Bill Olson, owner of the Planet Fitness in Haddon Township, has set up a new outdoor gym, which first opened Friday morning.
“We have lots of different cardio machines. We have these different strength machines. We have a stretching area,” said Olson.
The outdoor set up is open for Planet Fitness members, but Olson says that the driving force was to create an area for first responders and health care works, who can come there to work out anytime for free.
“There’s a lot of them in this community and they give so much and they give back so much and they put their lives at risk, so they need this and we need them,” Olson says.
Cooper University Health nurse associate Chimdi Chukwu was among the health care workers exercising on Friday.
“As a health care worker, it is very important for me to keep my physical health up. I do work at night, so it’s important to me to be able to each healthy, be able to move. I lift patients and I move patients and I do a lot of heavy lifting,” Chukwu says.
The gym is following strict cleaning guidelines and has cleaning stations set up throughout the area. Masks and temperature checks are required to enter as well.
Olson says that they have the gym set up outside as is required by executive order. But he says that he knows that they can be safe indoors and he hopes that Gov. Phil Murphy allows gyms to reopen for indoor workouts soon.
“I’m hoping that he’ll see that we’re a part, a big part, of the solution,” Olson says.
The gym is open seven days a week. Olson says that while the gym is currently open to members and health care workers, he won’t turn a member of the community away either.