As the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic sunk in and gyms closed down, I heard a lot of skepticism from family and friends and questions from customers (trainers and gyms) about what it would look like and when they would be able to reopen and restart fitness businesses. People were apprehensive about the risks posed by gyms as there was still so much uncertainty about the virus itself. Gym owners were concerned about how many of their members would come back and whether they could regain public trust on the overall safety of gyms in this new paradigm and mindset.
With gyms now reopen in most of the country it is important to understand what health and safety measures have been put in place for staff and members. In spite of what you may think, gyms are, in fact, more clean and have minimized many risks compared to essential services such as grocery stores. I want to be clear, I am not saying that gyms are necessarily safer than other places. There are other risks factors in terms of breath rate, not having to wear a mask and air flow in gyms, especially given that people are working harder than they would when shopping. The point of this piece is to point out the ways HOW gyms are safer than other places and what they are doing to minimize these risks and put the health and safety of staff and members first.
Let’s break these down:
Spacing
Based on government guidelines, gyms have to adhere to strict spacing restrictions to ensure physical distancing at all times between members. This not only means blocking off areas on the floor and spacing equipment that keep people at least 2m (6 feet) apart, but also means having strict traffic flow in and out of the gym and also having limits and spacing in changerooms (and in many cases keeping certain areas of change rooms like showers, saunas, etc closed). If possible, gyms are using different doors in the club for entrance and exit to ensure that traffic flows without violating these distance rules. In some cases, there are even further distance requirements in place for cardio equipment and classes. Once on the gym floor, people have their prescribed box or equipment is spaced out from the next user (and in many cases physical barriers are even placed in between), and their are strict limitations on the number of people that can be inside either based on a percentage or the total square footage.
Contrast that with grocery stores where, while there are markers on the floor for traffic flow and to keep space and checkouts, but these are loosely enforced at best. Who hasn’t been in a grocery or other retail store and had someone walk right past them going the opposite direction in the aisle?
Booking
Given the limited space, total size of memberbases and physical distancing restrictions, gyms are having to use booking systems for members to reserve their spot in the gym ahead of time. Many are using online systems for people to book in and treating the spaces mentioned above like spots in a class. This means people are selecting their time and in many cases their space before coming in and can ensure that the gym is never over the capacity limits. Moreover, many gyms have time limits (in most cases one hour) for workouts to ensure more people can get through the facility in the hours that are open, and to leave proper time for cleaning in between workouts and classes.
Stores on the other hand, while having similar limits, do not have any pre-booking system and people just show up, get in line and then enter when the security guard tells them too. While they are keeping counts for the most part to ensure they are not at their limits, it is not as precise as the gyms knowing exactly how many people are inside, and who they are, at all times.
Contact Tracing
Given the booking systems and the fact that every gym has information about each member (like their name, contact, address, etc) there is a built in contract tracing system for every gym. Even if they are not using an online system for bookings, they are having paper and pen sign ins to know the times in and times out of every member. If there were to be an occurrence of a customer who did happen to have Covid when they were working out, the gym can immediately know who was in the facility at the same time and put an action plan in place to notify everyone that could be affected. The time limits on classes and workouts further limit the potential pool of people that could be exposed and the total exposure time they could be subject to.
Stores have almost no way of doing this same form of contact tracing. They do not know who exactly is in the store at any given time, nor have their contact information to notify them quickly and effectively if an incident does occur. As we have seen from instances of this happening so far, the best they can do is put out a statement in the news to let the general public know of a window of time and locations that they were potentially exposed and have them act on their own to get tested or self-quarantine.
While there are apps out there to help with contact tracing, many have not been launched, seen widespread adoption or gotten over the privacy concerns of the public to effectively contact trace in a more passive way through geo-location data on phones. It can be argued that gyms have the most effective, built in contact tracing available for any type of consumer business.
Screening
Almost all gyms have also implemented pre-screening questionnaires for staff and members for every time they enter the facility, and this is something that is not only built into the Fitness Industry Council of Canada (FIC) guidelines for gyms, but also being built directly into the online booking systems. Whether digitally, or with paper and pen, people have to answer ‘No’ to all pre-screened questions before being allowed to enter the gym. Furthermore, some facilities are also implementing temperature checks or other types of biometric scanning to take it even a step further.
While there are general guidelines for the public to not go out into a crowded place or store if they have certain symptoms or conditions, and there is mandatory 14 day quarantine for those that have travelled, there are almost no pre-screening methods happening upon entry (especially in Canada where the incidence rate and community spread has been well controlled). Can you remember one time where you have been asked questions about symptoms or potential exposure, or better yet, had to be temperature checked before heading into any kind of store?
Disinfecting
Even though disinfecting equipment was something that was already part of the gym culture before the pandemic, it has gone to an entirely new level now. I know pre-pandemic not every member was necessarily super diligent about spraying everything down with each use and I have heard some people say that gyms were less hygienic than other places just because of the nature of people sweating and breathing hard inside, but this has changed drastically with Covid. Unlike stores, gyms had spray bottles and wipes located at several locations throughout, with signs and staff encouraging people to use them every time they are done. Now, this is not only mandated in government guidelines, but gyms have put strict systems in place to ensure that this is followed diligently and members are hyper-aware of the need to do so. In some cases, members are given a pre-set group of equipment to use throughout their workout which must be sprayed down thoroughly when they are done. Many gyms are adopting a system where after equipment is used it is put on a ‘red’ labeled rack to be disinfected by staff before returning to the ‘green’ rack where it can be used again by someone else. There are spray bottles and wipes on every machine. There are periods throughout the day when no members are allowed in between bookings for staff to do a cleaning of the whole gym, and the nightly cleaning routine is more robust and thorough than ever, some even using misting machines are other devices to cover every corner of the facility.
What do you have in stores? Hand sanitizer on the way in and out, with masks either strongly recommended or mandated in most places. While these efforts do minimize risks for coughing and sneezing and at least starting with disinfected hands, there is nothing preventing people from picking up items and then putting them back on shelves. What about trying on clothes or touching fabrics? Are items taken off the floor to be disinfected before they are put back out for the next customer? In some cases yes, but not nearly to the complete degree and militant fashion this is being done with fitness equipment.
Communication and Industry Guidelines
With gyms having information for all of their members, this not only helps with the communication for contact tracing as mentioned above, but it also means that clear health and safety guidelines have been communicated ahead of people coming back to the gym. Before gyms were even allowed to reopen, the entire industry in Canada came together under the FIC to devise a set of guidelines for gyms of all sizes that put the health and safety of staff and members first. From there, provincial coalitions were formed to work with their governments in devising the timing and recommendations for reopening. These guidelines were shared throughout the industry as a blueprint for gyms, and many took them and added even more things for their own locations as they prepared to reopen. The next step was informing staff and making sure they were trained on these guidelines which included many of the things mentioned in this blog in addition to PPE, touchless entry and check in systems, response plans and just about anything you can think of. Lastly, these plans were clearly communicated to members in order to manage their expectations and make sure there was trust built about how safe their gym was before the doors opened for them to return.
For stores, there are sets of guidelines that they had to follow and were communicated to the public, staff training, and then signs and posters in stores and some social media posts to get the message out publicly to their followers. While this did ensure there was a set of standards for the industry, most stores acted independently to interpret and implement them to meet the government requirements, as opposed to the industry wide consensus that went beyond government recommendation in fitness. Just think about the first time you went into the grocery store or pharmacy after the lockdown started, did you have a clear idea of what to do? Had you been emailed a comprehensive set of guidelines that the store was following that you could read over and know what to expect when you went in? The nature of the relationship of gyms to their members allowed for much clearer communication and adherence to the protocols put in place for everyone.
Staff
Think about the focus, training and education of fitness staff. While there is obviously a range of experience, expertise and abilities (and admittedly, it is not without its fair share of meatheads), the general focus of the staff and clubs themselves is centred around health and well being. This makes them even more conscious of their own personal health, that of their customers and by extension, public health. The importance of fitness for mental and physical health and disease prevention has become even more heightened with this pandemic. People have gained weight, struggled with anxiety and other mental health issues and paid more attention to their immune systems than ever before. Evidence has shown that being active and fit can not only help prevent Covid, but can also help in recovery. They missed their gyms. And fitness professionals not only missed their members and clients, their routines of being in gyms, but became even more aware of how vital a role they played in people’s lives of keeping them healthy and happy. I heard so many stories over these past couple of months from customers of ours (trainers and gyms) about how their clients/members went from apathy at the start of the pandemic, to doing something to find a new routine at home, to jonesing to get back to the gym and training as soon as they could.
I don’t mean to disparage the retail, food and restaurant industries in any way in saying this. In fact, if anything, the public has a whole new appreciation for the people that kept our shelves stocked and risked their own health so we could stay fed, clothed, equipped, and generally with access to any of the things we needed to live in lockdown at home. The definition of essential worker changed and in many ways, everyone became part of the healthcare system. As this new awareness about health and prevention is more top of mind for everyone, in general, the fitness industry has a more acute focus on living and supporting a healthy lifestyle.
We have all been getting groceries for months now under these circumstances, so do you still think that is safer than the gym? There are risks to any place and activity now, and yes, getting food is essential, but for many, so is getting in their workout and keeping up their immune system, physical and mental health. The fitness industry has worked hard to be able to reopen in as safe a way as possible to minimize risks and put the health and safety of staff and members first, and are ready to welcome people in. Please support them by going into your local facilities or looking for other online options they are providing.
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About the Author: Nick Corneil is the founder of Trainer Plus, a web and mobile platform for gyms and trainers that creates new ways to help people with online content and support. His mission is to bridge the gap between fitness and healthcare using technology. For more information, sign up here or check out our homepage.
