With Gyms, Leisure Centres, Pools and other Health and Fitness areas/practices starting to open, an avid gym goer was willing to share their thoughts and feelings on how the experience was for returning back to their gym for the first time. The account shows the ups and downs experienced during lockdown but also how the lessons learned from lockdown have helped to see training, fitness and wellbeing in a slightly different angle:
When the formal announcement was made that the gyms would be able to re – open on the 25th of July, my first thoughts were pure joy, excitement and a rush of workouts getting mentally planned out in my mind. However, I did think back to when the gyms shut and how panicked I felt, Would I get fat? Would I forget how to train? Will all my progress to date be lost?
Luckily, I was one of the many who have continued to keep fitness a priority, lockdown or no lockdown, I was working out! The stress of buying equipment was difficult to start off with but it’s been absolutely amazing how many PT’s have made themselves fully available virtually and supported those willing to engage in Live workouts and home challenges – this certainly helped me whilst I waited for my weights to be delivered – I’m still doing a home HITT once a week which I never thought would be the case!
Adapting to home training was easier than I thought it would be, it’s been a great opportunity to work on exercises that I’ve never been able to bring myself to do in an open plan gym, this for me was working on press ups – I still hate them but lockdown has made me better at them!
My first visit to the gym was a week after opening, which is ironic as I thought I’d be one of the first knocking on the door – but I personally felt comfortable waiting a few days to see what the initial feedback was through social media. The feedback, like everything COVID19 related it had it’s good and bad points – but I remained optimistic and chose to take the calculated risk and go the gym. On arrival I could tell straight away everything had been carefully considered, the steps were:
- Check the app to see how many people were in the gym
- Scan your access code – no multiple touches on entrance!
- Immediately sanitize your hands
- Cleaning stations set out all over the gym – wipes, hand sanitizer and bins!
- Signage everywhere
- Equipment spaced out at required distance During my workout I really enjoyed how much equipment was available as it wasn’t actually that busy – in my head I thought it would be like the first week of January when you can barely scrabble together a 2kg dumbbell!
Everyone was very coherent in cleaning down equipment after use and all the staff were constantly on the go – I felt so at ease.
If this is how gyms are for the foreseeable future I’ll certainly continue to be a gym goer – plus with the investments I’ve made for training at home I will still do days at home too as I may fancy a lie in! All in all – COVID19 has proven that you don’t need a gym to keep fit and healthy it’s all about mindset 🙂