A crowd of about 30 people had formed before 8 a.m. yesterday, but a quiet reverence was palpable. Some conversed in hushed tones; others were silent.

Wearing workout gear, they had come to be among the first members to return to LA Fitness since Aug. 4, when a gunman killed three women, wounded nine others and committed suicide in a crowded aerobics room in the Collier health club.

Not far from the entrance where the group gathered, the remnants of a makeshift memorial provided mute testimony to what had occurred at the fitness center in the Great Southern Shopping Center off Route 50. More than 50 bouquets of flowers, most now wilted, were placed among candles, teddy bears and white poster boards with handwritten messages of sorrow and mourning. "God bless you all," one mourner wrote.

At precisely 8 a.m., the doors were unlocked. Members filed in. The gym had officially reopened for business, but it appeared that some psychological wounds haven't closed.

"It's just really surreal," said Amy Gorman, 34, of Mt. Lebanon, who was on vacation when the shooting occurred and didn't immediately learn about it.

"I feel I'm not going to take classes in that room. I'm going to see what it's like and decide whether or not I'll come back. I'm feeling mixed emotions, I suppose."

Dom Poliziani, 23, of Scott, likewise wasn't at the fitness center when gunman George Sodini, 48, of Scott, shot more than three dozen rounds in the aerobics room before killing himself.

"But just the fact people died here means it's going to be different," Mr. Poliziani said. "It's definitely going to change people's mindset, especially for the first couple of weeks. I'm anxious to get in there and see what's going on."

Many of the fitness club members who streamed into the gym said the reopening was an appropriate metaphor for how life must move on, despite the tragedy in which Heidi Overmier, 46, of Carnegie; Elizabeth Gannon, 49, of Green Tree; and Jody Billingsley, 37, of Mt. Lebanon, were killed.

"It's a sad occurrence, it's tragic for this to happen to innocent people," said Hal Minford, 40, of Green Tree. "But like anything else, you have to get back as soon as possible and move on day by day.

"I'm sure it's harder for those who were here that day. You just have to move on in life and see the way things will be."

Bill McNellie, 68, of South Fayette, agreed: "Of course, we feel for all of the victims, but we can't let it change our lives. We have to keep moving. That's the way I see it, anyways."

While others came to spin, swim, lift weights or otherwise work out, member Eric Chandler, 35, of Canonsburg, came simply to pray.

"I feel God called me here to pray. I feel I needed to pray over this whole place. Last week, I was contemplating if I'd come back. I didn't know, but God said 'Wherever you go, I want you to carry me with you.' So that's why I'm going in and that's what I'm going to do."

Mr. Chandler, who was on his way to the fitness center the night of the shooting, only to be called by a friend to tell him what had just happened there, entered the gym when the doors were unlocked. He emerged 20 minutes later.

"It just felt strange," he said of the mood inside, where reporters were not permitted by management. "It seems more quiet than usual. It seemed real cool, quiet," even though music, as usual, was playing.

"I thought the whole gym seemed quiet, like walking into a library."

He said he didn't even recognize the aerobics room where the shootings occurred. It had been painted with bright colors and the flooring had been replaced, among other changes. An aerobics class was taking place there, he said.

A short time later, a 44-year-old Bridgeville woman who had finished her cardio workout and declined to give her name said the aerobics class in the room where the shootings had occurred was full.

"We needed to get back in there," she said. "It will help us all move forward. Everybody seemed to be happy to be back."

"I feel comfortable. We need to come back," said Joanne Onomastico, 43, of Collier, a trainer at the fitness center who was there for a personal workout. "It was something that could have happened anywhere."