Photo by Dennis Phillips Westwind Functional Fitness will be officially opening today with a free basic functional movement class at the top of each hour.

WESTFIELD — The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on constant changes in most people’s lives.

For Tom Delcamp, it has led him to be a CrossFit certified trainer who is about to open his gym where he will train people in functional fitness.

Delcamp’s new business will be called Westwind Functional Fitness, located at 60 Nichols Ave. in Westfield. A Westfield resident, Delcamp started training people at his home shortly after the pandemic shut down local gyms.

“I trained at the Dunkirk CrossFit gym for four to five years and then COVID hit and everything was shut down,” he said. “So I decided to start having classes at my house in Westfield with people I had trained and worked out with. It started with three to four people. Then I received my level one certified coach from CrossFit. Then the class went to eight to 10 people a night. A month later it turned into two classes a night.”

Because of the popularity of the class, Delcamp decided to lease 3,100-square-feet of an industrial building located about half a mile from his house. He said functional fitness is about improving mobility.

Photo by Dennis Phillips Westwind Functional Fitness will be officially opening today with a free basic functional movement class at the top of each hour.

“It’s about teaching people how to move functionally and correctly in proper form. We spend a short time doing some activities like stretching and working on stability in a group forum. Then each class we will have a technique or a strengthening portion like learning how to properly deadlift,” he said. “It’s about learning how to move properly and it gets the heart rate up and the blood flowing.”

The hours of the business will be based on the classes available. Delcamp said Monday, Wednesday and Friday there will be classes from 6:30-7:30 a.m. that will be a cardio fitness workout. Also, there will be classes Monday through Friday from 5-6 p.m. During the afternoon classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the training session will be a skilled functional fitness class. During the afternoon classes on Tuesday and Thursday, the session will be a beginner class to functional fitness.

Delcamp said he has been working to improve the inside of the building for the past eight months.

“It’s an old factory building. It was in really bad shape when I started to work on it. Between the owner and I, we’ve reconditioned the inside of my portion,” he said.

During the soft grand opening on Labor Day, Delcamp said there will be a free basic functional fitness class at the top of every hour that people can participate in by signing a waiver.

“Honestly it’s a passion I started to have when I was training a handful of people,” he said. “It’s got to be a passion to do all the work I’ve done. I wouldn’t have done it unless I had a passion for it.”