Wichita YMCA instructors help the world work out during coronavirus outbreak

Wichita YMCAs have been closed for two weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak, but since March 18, 467,000 people have taken classes from its Wichita instructors.

That’s because the Greater Wichita YMCA, in partnership with four other YMCAs nationally, jump-started an effort to let members and others take online classes from home.

“We’ve been a little surprised how quickly it has . . . exploded across the country,” said president and CEO Ronn McMahon.

One new fan wrote: “Can you let (the) beginner yoga video person know that we are watching from quarantined France — and love her class!”

The idea for a YMCA exercise app grew out of a Wichita YMCA strategic planning process last year. Wichita is taking the lead, and YMCAs in the Twin Cities, Houston, Charlotte, N.C., and Tacoma, Wash. — McMahon’s previous employer — joined.

The app won’t be ready to debut until the fall, but the Wichita YMCA had already started filming exercise classes.

“We just decided to make all our content available,” McMahon said.

He tested it by posting some classes on YouTube, and 22,000 subscribers signed up within a few days.

“We were just literally watching people subscribe,” McMahon said. “What a cool thing.”

So the YMCA quickly made a website — YMCA360 — which is faster than creating an app.

In addition to the 467,000 users, McMahon said there have been 672,000 sessions and 1.7 million page views.

He said people from all 50 states have watched, along with people from 180 countries.

McMahon said he’s especially excited for the YMCA instructors, “how they’re being accepted all around the world basically.”

Shalen Scheltgen is one of those instructors, and she’s also the YMCA’s virtual talent and content director, so she’s the one coordinating the videos.

Before the YMCA began shooting videos in earnest, Scheltgen coordinated a quick demo last fall.

“Could we make it look good?” was the question, she said.

“It looked fantastic.”

McMahon said that helped instructors be more at ease with the idea.

Scheltgen teaches a SilverSneakers Circuit class, which is one of the videos now available.

“My mom comes to that class, so I can’t ever give it up or she’ll ground me.”

In addition to filming classes last fall, the Wichita YMCA rushed more into production before the stay-home order.

“We filmed every single day,” Scheltgen said.

Joan Ginest, Scheltgen’s mother, who is 81 and active in community theater, is in the SilverSneakers video.

“My mom was ready for her close-up,” Scheltgen said. “She really, really was.”

Initially, there were 60 classes online.

Houston and Charlotte have filmed classes, too, but they’re not yet edited.

“We’ll have lots of new things to roll out,” Scheltgen said.

Look for new content every Monday and Friday.

So far, the most popular classes are Bootcamp — Beginners, Yoga with Lindy — Beginner Flow, and AOA — Rise and Shine.

Not all classes are available yet, but McMahon said the goal is to offer everything eventually.

Some classes, such as PiYo, are trademarked formats.

“We’re kind of working through those license issues,” Scheltgen said.

Depending on how the coronavirus affects timing, the app will be ready for members this fall. McMahon said its design will be interactive. For instance, it will be able to remember members and the classes they took previously.

“There’s a lot of integration,” McMahon said. “We have this pretty big vision.”

He said one of the benefits of the online classes is people who may have reservations about trying something new, such as a yoga class, can try it for the first time on their own.

For now, McMahon said, “We know people are stuck at home.”

Though the app will be geared to members, McMahon wants to “have a version for everybody at some level.”

He said it’s why the current content is available to anyone worldwide.

“The YMCA’s about supporting the community, and we felt like this was a way we can do that.”

This story was originally published March 31, 2020 at 4:47 AM.