MANDEVILLE, LA — Lisa Grab and her family love CrossFit Mandeville. In fact, two years ago she went from being a member to being the owner when she had the opportunity to purchase the business.

In Southeast Louisiana, any business owner knows that hurricanes can cause shutdowns and other disruptions to business. But less than two years into owning CrossFit Mandeville, Grab found herself grappling with a problem that there was no plan for, the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ll just have to add some more classes to our schedule so you have nine people and a coach, and we’re abiding by the new rules,” Grab says about the early days of the pandemic as the state issued its initial social gathering rules. “We never dreamed we’d be shutdown completely.”

Grab says her business is really more of a community. Its member help encourage everyone to stay fit and reach their goals. But when gyms were added to a growing list of unessential businesses that had to close, it seemed the community would also shutdown.

But Grab had other plans.

“And so then we talked about it and said, ‘You know, what if we allow them to checkout the equipment’?” Grab said.

If the pandemic would prevent people from coming to the gym, then the gym could come home with the people. Quickly, the CrossFit Mandeville team distributed gear and created new workouts for people at home. All of it is being organized from the gym’s Facebook page.

You can checkout our interview with Lisa Grab and the rest of our story on how her gym is beating the pandemic by clicking on the video button at the top of this page.