Back in October, we talked about the fact that boutique gyms were suffering from lockdown restrictions and that many were struggling to stay in business. Shutdown laws in New York were particularly difficult for small gym owners, who felt that they were being unfairly targeted when larger chain facilities were allowed to stay open. Outbreaks at group fitness classes early in the pandemic led scientists to warn against cardio classes in particular. There have been cases traced to gyms in in Hamilton, Chicago and Honolulu. Those are just the cases we know about. Contact tracing heavily depends on states and is woefully inadequate in the US. Now the CDC is recommending that indoor facilities require mask-wearing and ensure proper ventilation. They state that social distancing in not enough indoors.
In September, a Chicago resident called their gym with alarming news: They’d recently come to an indoor workout class despite feeling sick and then later tested positive for the coronavirus.
The gym quickly shut its doors, but it was too late. Fifty-five of the 81 people who attended high-intensity classes at the facility between Aug. 24 and Sept. 1 would eventually test positive. A similar case tied to three gyms in Honolulu over the summer resulted in 22 total infections.
Citing both cases, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday urged gym users to wear masks during intense workouts — even when socially distanced — and asked gyms to improve ventilation and push for outdoor activities when possible.
The new research is a reminder that working out indoors with other people carries a significant risk of infection, public health experts said.
“If you can wait until the spring and work out outside, it will be a lot safer,” Joshua Epstein, an epidemiology professor at NYU’s School of Global Public Health, told The Washington Post. “We are not out of the woods by any means. It’s not the time to relax.”
The article goes on to state that the gyms with outbreaks had social distancing and limited capacity, however people just didn’t wear masks for the most part. At the gym in Chicago three different people still worked out in high intensity group classes despite having positive covid tests! 22 other people were symptomatic and still worked out. So many people there didn’t wear masks, because of course they didn’t. There were cases in other cities where instructors taught classes and found out later that they had covid. Of course the people attending the classes weren’t wearing masks.
While I feel bad for small gym owners, there is no way in hell I’m going back to a gym this year. I sometimes check the Instagram for the boutique gym I used to go to for spinning and HIIT classes. Even in the photos they post to Instagram, no one is wearing a mask! Sometimes people will have them down around their chins. The rooms where they work out are very small and while people are socially distanced, that’s not good enough indoors! I don’t think I’ll work out with them again even outdoors, because if people aren’t wearing masks indoors they’re definitely not wearing them outdoors. It makes me sad that the whole industry has been disrupted and I really miss group fitness classes. I take them on Zoom now from a facility that has gone fully virtual. I understand that my old gym needs to keep their business going, but if masks aren’t required I’m not going to risk my life. I won’t be going to a gym until I’m vaccinated at the very least. Even then I’m not so sure.
Photos credit: Matthew Sichkaruk and Bruce Mars on Unsplash. Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels
I still pay my gym fees. I do not go to the gym. I now teach classes over Zoom for my 3 sisters 4 times a week. All those years at the gym paid off. I enjoy seeing my sisters and I have not gained weight. All good.
This is why I love my Peloton bike. I have access to so many fitness classes at home and can use the running classes outdoors. That, along with the Bowflex weights we bought, have totally saved me. I won’t go back to the gym for a really long time.
I miss my spin classes too! But, like you, there is no way I am getting in a closed room with 20 heavy breathers – and my state requires masks!
I started taking pilates classes. They allow no more than 6 people and every other machine is blocked off. And masks! This has been a lifesaver for me.
I got my second vaccine yesterday!! I’m looking forward to a little bit of normality soon. Such a shame that Trump wasted a full year and let it get this bad and go on for so long. Thanks to Biden for bringing hope back!
I’m still paying my gym membership. I had it frozen from October to December of last year. I got my second vaccine two weeks ago and thought about going to an early morning spin class. Now I’m not so sure. I’ve been doing Les Mills on demand classes (my gym uses this program and offered members a discount when the gym initially closed temporarily last March) and I will continue to do that. I believe they are still limiting the amount of people who can take the group fitness classes and the classes are 45 minutes instead of an hour.
Happy folks are getting vaccines but also feeling really jealous tbh. It’s about to be March and I haven’t left my home in over three weeks. No one is masking in my building in a high-risk area of a city where the covid rates are still in the danger level. I’m stuck dealing with someone else’s screaming toddler through the thin walls for most of the day so now I have to wake up at 2:00 a.m. to get any work done. My health is a wreck from isolation, stress, grief, and being Black in Amerikka. I’m so curious how other people are getting vaccines. How can I get one? Does anyone know? My doctor is zero help btw.
Unfortunately, so much depends on which state you’re in as to how you get your vaccinations. All I can suggest is google. I’m sorry.
Your state website may be helpful.
Of course checked state website. No help. Others seem to be able to get it and all these reports of people being vaccinated, I wonder are they all 1a, 1b, front-line workers? It’s frustrating to say the least…
We work out at a gym that’s in our hospital and I gotta say they are extremely strict about mask wearing. I don’t do classes but from what I’ve seen they are very small groups and masks are required there too.
I just started going about a month ago after covid started but so far I’m impressed with how they are handling it.
Im also all the way vaccinated and I immediately joined a new gym so I could do group classes and they require masks. It’s really uncomfortable but necessary.
I was wish they would release the name of the gym in Chicago, I feel like it may have been my old one. I moved away in the spring but kept up with their social media and they seemed to have made the “executive decision” not to wear masks, ever. At some point they stopped posting, they must have gotten some pushback, but I know they are still operating.
I’m really happy with my Peloton app. I keep thinking it’s going to get old and that I’m going to want to go back to in-person strength training and spinning but so far I’m fine.
What gym are you thinking? I think I know which place this is, Bucktown/Wicker Park
Ah, no then, mine was in Edison Park. Not a chain but an independent guy.
I don’t have the Peleton app but I got the Les Mills app and am really happy with it. Between the spinning and the different workouts it’s enough for me. I’ll see about the gym next year.
There were 18 cases at an OTF in Elmhurst back in September, so I’m guessing there’s been more outbreaks of the sort in the city. I went to a class when my OTF opened in July and masks were optional, never returned.
Ugh, my BIL is an avid gym goer, two plus hours a day for as long as I’ve known him and that’s been 22 years now. He thinks he got it last spring but never got tested because it was so early and it was really hard to get a test back them. He never stopped going to the gym and then got it “again” in the fall, this time with a positive test and even worse symptoms. He claims he doesn’t know where he got it and who knows what he had the first time but seriously? Why are you still going to the same gym?? He’s one of those people that loves walking around without his shirt on though so not being jacked isn’t an option for him, even if it means death I guess.
I, too, live in Chicago and I’m shocked that masks aren’t required at gyms. I thought they were required everywhere indoors. I go to a Pilates studio and the owner is my neighbor and she’s being very strict. All group classes are now via Zoom, and usually there could be two individual classes going on at once (my neighbor plus another teacher) but now there’s only one teacher and one student in the studio at a time (my neighbor and the other teacher alternate days in the studio). She has the windows cracked, masks required, and she’s shut down multiple times anytime there’s a scare. Wipes down all of the equipment in between individual classes.
Most of these outbreaks are due to idiots not feeling well (or even testing positive!) and still going out – to gyms, grocery stores, etc. It really makes me feel awful that so many people don’t have a conscience. How can you endanger other people like that? Same thing with people going to One Medical (I think that’s the name?) and getting vaccinated because they weren’t checking for eligibility. Eagerly waiting my chance to get vaccinated (I should be phase 1c), but I can’t imagine skipping the line. It just gets me down how many people are just complete selfish assholes.
Our gyms in the uk can open in April with classes likely allowed from May. I’m in my 40’s and fit and healthy but there’s no way I will be back before I’m vaccinated. I can’t see people wearing masks and it’s not been required when you’re actually working out when they were last open.
My husband started back to the gym, completely masked up, this past week. He’s been really frustrated working out in our home gym (we have an elliptical, a bike, and some free weights and KBs but it’s not the same) for the last year, so he is going
at 4:30AM when there is almost no one and avoids getting near people. He did say that using the gym elliptical while masked was an adventure.
The idea of masking up for a workout makes my skin cringe so I’m sticking with the home gym-it gives me enough of a workout, and I add in yoga and HIIT workouts from YouTube for variety.
Sweat + heavy breathing + indoors = super spreaders. It’s a simple equation AND some ppl wear thin dumb fake masks.
I used to teach fitness classes full time for 20 years save for maternity leave.
I Took a supplemental desk job right before covid.
I’ve gained 25 lbs between covid + year of vocation change.
Also I have severe neck pain. I’m a mess!
I do a zoom class w one student w a similar kids home schedule.
I have fellow instructors who sneak ppl off-camera at studios & teach zoom.
I’m fat and a mess but still haven’t caught covid. I’ve had to modify eating habits a ton because of low activity. Kids are still in outdoor sports but remote school. I’ve become a fat chauffeur, home cook & tutor. HUGE life shift. Also on Prozac because, yes, I got a bit off. Meds have been helping motivation to at least walk more & stay busy.
This won’t last forever. This too shall pass!!!
I just recently started going to back to my barre class in NY, so it’s not high intensity/cardio based. Classes are small, 6-8 max. Masks are NOT optional. Equipment thoroughly wiped down before and after. I miss spin class so much but I’m not sure I’ll be able to get through that without a mask on, so it will be a long while before I spin again.
I was doing an outdoor boot camp class for awhile. We were in a small parking lot so I never felt sufficiently distanced and would try to keep my mask on as much as possible. And yeah we just weren’t meant to do high intensity workouts in masks. The answer to support boutique gyms is government assistance/paid zoom classes. It’s not worth risking indoor workouts. We’re so close to the end of this thing.
My hot yoga studio has reopened with a max studio size of six, and I wear a mask. Nobody needs to get anywhere near me, there are markers six feet apart, and I don’t need to touch anything besides the mat and props I bring, so I feel reasonably safe. I also got an aerial yoga trapeze for my house and that has been a relaxing and challenging new hobby!
My yoga class met outside and distanced until it got too cold. Now we are in an civil war era grange hall (heated but drafty which is currently a plus) with 5-6 people and tape to indicate distance and masked. I feel fine about attending.
I can’t picture an aerobic class at a gym…or my favorite thing in the world to do going out dancing 😢 with everyone sweating and singing along…
When Covid first came on the scene, it was made clear that breathing heavily, particularly exercise and singing, makes droplets go further. Being inside, particularly for exercise and singing, are very risky when you’re talking about Covid. I guess I didn’t realize that the CDC wasn’t saying this… maybe it was just MANY MANY epidemiologists.
I do Camp Gladiator boot camps–outside year-round. But I switched to doing virtual CG at home with my husband in March last year. I went back to in person camp a few times in the fall because the camps have everyone 10 feet apart, not sharing equipment, etc. It is as safe as you can be around other people in my opinion. But I still feel that droplets can spread further when you’re breathing hard and exercising. So I will continue to work out at home until I can be fully vaccinated.
I get worried when I see unmasked folks in photos from the gym. If I HAD to be at the gym I would 100% wear a mask and being around unmasked people would make me extremely nervous, especially at a gym.
I say all of this, and I really do feel bad for gym owners, class instructors and folks who NEED the gym. I am thankful that my favorite method of exercise is “safe” but I know how hard it is to not be able to do your fitness routine of choice. And I can’t imagine how hard it would be to run a business when it’s a risk for public health to do so.
I had to go in to my gym to cancel my membership and the first thing I noticed when I walked in was that the few clients present were not wearing masks while the employers were. This was back in September. No way will I go back any time soon. I bought some strength bands and started walking outside which definitely helped with my mental health.
My college age kids go to their gyms and they’re not required to wear masks while working out indoors if they maintain six feet of distance. It seems weird to me that they don’t require masks while inside the gym, period. But different states seem to have different guidelines and college kids especially tend to be less conservative in that regard unfortunately.
Nothing touches exercising outside for mental health right? Walking, jogging, cycling, doesn’t matter. I think about moving to a warmer climate (I’m in NY) solely for the year round opportunity to be outside.
I really love exercising outside, and loved it before Covid. I can’t see myself going back to gym workouts anytime in the future. I love the fresh air and watching the sun rise.
I prefer exercising outdoors as well. I used to live in NYC, now live in Mpls. Winter exercise is totally enjoyable too – cross country skiing, snowshoeing, fat-tire bikes. We go all the time, other than when it is below zero.
I’ve been in Chicago my whole life and I love exercising outdoors in the winter, mostly running but also hiking and xc skiing, unless windchill is below zero, which is pretty rare. It might feel miserable for a minute or two then you warm up quickly. And unlike in summer, you don’t overheat.
I have found that the key is a neck gaiter. If my neck gets too cold then it’s game over for me.
I just started going to the gym in my complex last week. It’s been fine, BUT…they closed two gyms here, and opened only the one in the main building where the management office is located. It’s the largest one. And you can only go by appointment and during office hours. You’re watched. There is no way you can remove your mask. And capacity is strictly enforced. So I feel like it’s been working out. I’m not scared. But no way would I go into a regular gym at this point. Not until I’m vaccinated.
Never before have I been so thankful to be a runner! My gym is everywhere. All I need are a pair of running shoes and I’m good to go.
My husband, who’s more into weights, misses the gym intensely. He works out best he can with free weights at home but it’s just not the same. I do admire how he’s adapted his workout routine and attitude during the pandemic. Even though it’s tougher, he’s still staying fit as possible and making the best of the situation.
FWIW, the spin studio in Ontario, Canada is in Hamilton, not Toronto. Completely different city, not even a suburb of Toronto,. It’s like the difference between Philly and Pittsburgh.
No gym for us till vaccination at the earliest. Making do at home.
OK I will fix that Sorry!
It’s okay. Just broadening important world knowledge of Canada. : )
I dropped my monthly unlimited yoga membership I had for 5 years & tried practicing at home last March when the pandemic hit and the studio closed. I couldn’t do it! My mind wandered & I’d spy dust under the couch and stop to clean. I decided to try the Sweat app in July because I read good reviews online. I’m on week 40 & I love my little corner of the weight room with my mask on. I feel like I’ve wasted so many years trying to be smaller when I should have been focused on getting stronger. Pretending to be a bodybuilder has really helped me get through this year.
Yaaaaaas to getting stronger not smaller!! The ultimate goal is to feel good about ourselves and feel at home in our bodies… Focusing on strength training instead of size minimizing feels like such a better way to reach that goal. 💓💓💓
How can people work out with masks? I’m jealous. I tried it once and almost fainted. I can barely breathe without a mask due to my asthma. But where I live gyms have been closed for the majority of time since last March. It’s really taken a toll on my mental and physical fitness. I just hate working out at home plus I can’t afford proper equipment.
I’ve had to get used to it, and I can’t double mask during a workout. I live in a city, so even outdoor workouts I need something for when I’m passing others. Gaiters, while hideous and yes not as effective as other masks, are a great option for this because they can go up and down.
I find the disposable masks are easier for me to work out in than fabric ones. Not too environmentally friendly but I wear reusable ones everywhere else.
Try a different type of mask? My kids have the Under Armour ones and seem to like them. Masks aren’t required here at our gyms but my kids wear them the whole time (or I wouldn’t let them go). I gave up on the gym. My gym wasn’t actually following a lot of the lockdown rules and I just didn’t trust them. So I have gotten workouts from a great trainer and am happy working out at home.
Nurse here. I work at a facility where COVID has run rampant. I get tested every 2 weeks, and have never tested positive. I go to a local small gym twice a week, masked up. It only comes down when I need water. Disposable masks are easier to use than cloth, I’ve learned. I have a bad back, have been working 60 hour weeks, and need to maintain back strength. There’s never more than 3 other people in there at a time, and we’re all in 4 different corners. The gym owner takes COVID seriously. Wipes down and sanitizes all equipment. I keep hand sanitizer in my car, and touch only what I have to before I get home, and spray my car, and keys with Lysol. If I feel sick, which I did 2 weeks ago, I cancel. Luckily it was only strep, which I get at least 3x a year. Strep is also highly contagious, but again, my mask is always up unless I’m taking a drink of something. I take my meals alone when at work. As a nurse I can’t escape COVID positive patients, but I can do my part to protect myself and my family. But I still also need to work on my physical health so I can continue to do my job, and support my kids as a single parent, on a single income (I don’t get child support. I get a pitiful disability check once a month that’s barely enough to cover one bill).
Would love to know what gym that was! I live in Chicago and go to a boutique “classes only” gym. The whole building is very strict about temperature checks, masks, 6 feet apart and cleaning with disinfectant. That being said – I know someone who owns a gym in the burbs and they don’t wear masks at all.
My mom is a high school basketball coach and I personally think the season should have been cancelled. A bunch of kids sweating and rubbing up against each other inside a gym during a pandemic is gross. Slapping a mask on in this case doesn’t seem like it’s very safe or “fixes” the problem. I know schools are trying to keep things as normal as possible for the kids but cancelling indoor sports right now should be a no-brainer and no ones doing anything about it.
My kids both play competitive outdoor sports and since last May, when play restarted here, they have had only two teammates who have had Covid. In comparison, our local high school basketball team has had to quarantine for about 3/4 of the school year because practices were held indoors and kids kept getting sick. Outdoor exercise / Indoor exercise makes a big, big difference people. MASK UP if you’re indoors!
I don’t know why anyone would go to a gym right now. Not with people sweating, droplets from the mouth from spittle, talking, laughing, and carrying on.
If people are so inclined maybe they could try create a gym in their own homes. Bounce around to an exercise stream/video or stretch to a yoga video or something. My step parents have a pedal machine that’s pedals but without the bike element. They saw the PT guy bring one on a visit one day and got hooked. They go for walks out into the garden and my mom is thinking of getting a fold up treadmill so she can watch the tv while she walks.
I’m a frequent comment reader but have never commented myself. I also happen to be a boutique fitness owner. Leah, your comment shows an enormous lack of acknowledgement for the individual efforts that business owners have taken to make classes and facilities safe. I retrofitted my HVAC systems with air filtration systems, reduced my capacity in my 3,000 sqft studios well below the state standard, leaving enormous space between each client, and I implemented cleaning protocols that align with CDC guidelines. Masks are required for all of my classes without exception, including those that incorporate cardio. My instructors and clients feel safe. I know because I constantly check in with them. I’m a single mother supporting 2 children and I’ve made enormous personal sacrifices to ensure that I can guard the safety of my clients, staff and greater communities, while preserving the jobs of my employees and limiting my own exposure (health and financial). I’ve done so at substantial personal expense. You’re certainly entitled to your opinion, but your blanket statement about an entire industry is so frustrating and seemingly judgmental. People can workout safely inside in a group setting. And perhaps they choose to do so because fitness is important, community is important, and the actual humans who’s lives depend on this industry are important. Is everyone doing it well, certainly not. Can it be done safely and well. Yes.
HARD PASS
ELC, this must be such a stressful and challenging time for you. Thank you for being a responsible business owner and investing so much money and effort to help keep others safe.
My husband goes to the gym each morning and wears a mask. His gym had to tighten up their policy and cancelled subscriptions after a group of firefighter bros started showing up without them.
I realized I won’t be going back to the gym anytime soon (even though NYC is strict about mask wearing and I don’t think they’re allowing group classes yet), and finally gave in and bought a home rowing machine with a “smart” interface. Hoping it doesn’t become an expensive clothes hanger!
My daughter has done some workouts with me over zoom and it’s better than nothing. Despite her telling me I don’t need actual machines to do strength training, I miss it a lot. We kept paying our gym membership to support them. It’s a huge Y that just spent millions to renovate and build a gorgeous facility. All the weight machines are in a huge open air area. It’s way too big to be called a room. I’ve had the first vaccine. I wonder if it will be safe to return once I’ve received the second dose. 🤷♀️ Of course I would wear a mask but I would be side eyeing anyone who did not. I am not into group classes at all. As for cardio, daily walking is my jam. I’ve put on 20 lbs this year despite the walking and I do not feel good about myself right now.
I do hot yoga in an infrared sauna. It’s a chain fitness studio and the one I go has limited only one person per sauna when in the past it was up to three people. You can adjust the temperature to be anywhere from 120 and 130. I crank it up to 130 every time since viruses are not supposed to be able to survive past 125 degrees. Masks are not required inside the sauna but are everywhere else in the studio. I keep mine on for the majority of the 45 minute workout. The heat and exercise has kept me sane. Most of the time I just lay there and meditate while foam rolling.
We are required to wear masks at my gym and there are usually very few people there. I feel relatively safe but we also walk outdoors when it’s not too cold.
I do miss having access to every piece of equipment at the gym but I won’t be going back for a long time. I invested in a spin bike, weights, resistance bands, and the Peloton app to get a decent workout at home. Even if I’m running outside, I carry a mask and put it on before passing anyone.
I love strength training (deadlifts, bench press, squat, etc.) and was so excited when DC gyms opened back up again. Masks are required full-time in DC gyms and it’s not an issue when lifting weights! For cardio, I recommend the Under Armour mask. I use that for treadmill sprints. No outbreaks associated with the gym since it reopened last June!
I do double-mask now when indoors in a shared space, so doing a surgical mask with another on top. But everyone do what feels safest for them!
I finally found 1 gym in my area that requires masks even on the cardio machines. I’m honestly surprised so many gyms still aren’t requiring masks (I’m in Washington state), but I do feel a bit better that everyone around me is forced to wear a mask. Though I’m still conflicted if I should even be going – I never see anyone without a mask and only get out of the house to get groceries. My place is small so I don’t really have a great area to workout in. Maybe I’m just trying to convince myself it’s ok..
I’ve been dreaming of going to my water aerobics classes again once I’m vaccinated. (I love the warm pool water in the winter) I’ve thought that it might be safer than other classes – I can’t imagine the chlorine and humidity is very conducive for airborne viruses but I don’t know. Anybody?
My health system pays for employees to access gyms. That said, they told us I’m March of last year that gyms were (generally) not safe, and they advised not to go to them. I have a friend who is a personal trainer who always posts pics from her cross fit gym, and no one ever wears a mask. My own gym is full of people who are poor masks wearers. Hard pass for me.
I just do not understand how people are going to gyms. I mean, I’m not a gym person anyway having grown up in a place without them and where your daily labor worked you out to the point you didn’t really need to go inside somewhere to work out but I see the value to an extent…But how can people be going out like this? I feel like I’m living in the Twilight Zone. I haven’t stepped outside my apartment in over three weeks. People are still dying. People are still not masking. What is going on? Has covid disappeared and I’ve been living under my “rock”/apartment so long that I don’t know it? Just feeling very, very frustrated by all of this. And meanwhile, I have no idea when I’ll be able to get the vaccine while living in a high-risk area and being high-risk demographic where people refuse to mask.
I never comment but felt compelled to. I work in healthcare and I’m here in Canada, not far from Hamilton and I won’t go back until I’m vaccinated and maybe won’t ever go back completely. It’s just not safe from all the evidence I have seen. I miss yoga classes with my girlfriends though, it was quality time away from our husbands and kids to exercise and chat.
We are about to renovate our basement and we are installing a home gym. My husband and I do Peloton strength training 3-4 times a week, and otherwise we walk or run. I got my husband a bike trainer, he just needs to scoop up a new bike to replace his stolen one (bike thieves are the worst right?). I need a rack for our free weights and possibly a rower, but otherwise, I am super fit and won’t miss crowded gyms in future.
Gyms are still closed in France (since October 2020) for the general public but they are open for PTs / coaches and athletes. I feel lucky that I am allowed to go and it’s required to wear a mask inside.
I’m still baffled though that most gym goers do not clean the machines / equipment after use – therefore I do it before and after using them.
At least 4 of my doctors have agreed with my assessment that gyms won’t be safe until everyone is vaccinated. I just don’t think it could be safe. People are breathing heavy and no one ever wipes the equipment after using it
I run a health club, we have been open for about 9 months now… we require reservations, temperature checks, & masks at all times. We have limited the number of people per room, moved classes outside, and constantly have team members sanitizing the club. We have been very fortunate that these measures have kept our members & team members safe and we have not had any outbreaks but I definitely understand the fear, especially when there are so many people out there who don’t take the precautions seriously.