The pandemic has brought many new challenges into our lives. The helpless feeling of watching loved ones get sick, the mental health fallout from extensive quarantines, the stress of balancing a work from home job with home schooled kids, or the uncertainty of how to properly run a business in a time when your business is mandated to be shuttered. It's been a hell of a year. We've all struggled.

Last March, when the onset of the Covid-19 crisis hit, Applied Fitness Solutions leaders gathered to update our community on how well equipped we were to withstand the heavy blows that were coming our way. On that day, we talked about the fragility of our Rochester location (being our newest and least mature site). As time has passed and smoke begins to clear, sadly we have to report to you that AFS Rochester is going to be forced to close.

Despite our community raising an astronomical amount of money to support the company as a whole last summer and throughout the fall, our client base in Rochester has shrunk so significantly that we've had to make some really tough decisions. First was cutting hours, then losing so many members of our valued staff, now (crushed by operating costs) we're forced to close our building. *This paragraph coming to you from a teary eyed typer.


This Isn't the End. We're Moving!

In early March Jared (our owner operator) was working out at Four80 Fitness (a gym located off of 2nd street just minutes from where we are now) when his rest interval led him to a big open room adjacent to the workout floor...An attendee was walking by and Jared asked "What do you guys use this empty room for?" The attendant introduced Jared to Ron Jewell, the executive recreation director for RARA (Rochester Avon Recreation Authority). What followed has turned out to be the luckiest (thanks to the generosity of Ron and the great people at RARA) turn of events we could have ever imagined. Instead of closing down our building AND closing the chapter on AFS' presence in Rochester, we've now been given a second chance.


The closure of our big fancy building is not the end for AFS Rochester. Effective June 1st 2021 we'll be running operations out of Four80 fitness! Rescued from the brink we have one substantial hurdle standing in our way. The equipment at AFS Rochester weighs thousands of pounds and our team (Nate, Jared, and co.) narrowly escaped installing it all just a few years ago without serious injury. We cannot afford for one of them to get hurt moving us to Four80 so we want to hire to have the move done professionally. 

We know how blessed we are to have the opportunity to keep operating, to have the community we have, and the lives we live. We look forward to continuing to serve the Rochester community as long as we keep finding ways to get by. 

As always, much love to all- 

Nate, Jared, Mikayla, and team.