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Have you returned to exercising in a gym during the pandemic?

Two years ago, I received an email from the Wenatchee Valley YMCA saying they are open. "When will you be coming in?" the membership director asked.

In my reply I paraphrased Leonard Pitts:

"I refuse to workout at the YMCA until I feel I can do so safely. I do not believe political halfwits and MAGA-hat-wearing idiots know more than Dr. Fauci.

"Instead I need to hear from serious, credible experts, with RN, MD and Ph.D. after their name, that the COVID-19 virus is no longer a threat. I need to know sufficient testing has been conducted. I will not work out in a crowded gym until I get the all-clear from credible medical experts.

"Ventilation has always been terrible at the Wenatchee Valley YMCA. The building is over 100-years-old."

Since then, I have not returned to the YMCA. Instead I lift weights at home and walk, jog and hike for aerobic exercise.

My health insurance pays for my YMCA membership.

LiterateHiker 9 May 5
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18 comments

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1

The gym administration also didn't want to distribute the schedule of people so that we didn't fill the room. So I worked hard at home.

When the lockdown started, I stopped coming to the gym. I wouldn't have been able to make my schedule so that when I visited the gym, there was no one there. So I worked hard at home. I have 4 dumbbells of different weights. I did push-ups and weight exercises. I'm buying Steroids Canada, so I couldn't lose my shape. The lockdown lasted a very long time. The government banned public transport, so I sometimes went cycling in the evenings. I needed good workouts, not just home dumbbells, running, and cycling. But I was content with what I had. My ex-girlfriend helped me with my workouts and sat on my back so that I could do push-ups like that.

1

I'd stay out of there too. Unnecessary risk.

1

I haven't

1

I workout at a gym with equipment similar those used in the PT of my back. A few months into 2020, my back went out, so I HAD to resume. The gym is medically owned, operates with a limit of occupants, required masks, gloves, and cleaning equipment between clients. No COVID thus far and my back is strong and healthy again.

Zster Level 8 May 6, 2022
1

I go to the gym as much as I ever did, and continued all through the pandemic!

(I have never gone to a gym, so I continued the precedent.)

1

Good question. I canceled my local gym membership a year before the pandemic, but still would not be comfortable re-joining at this time.

I'm lucky to be able to work out in other ways outdoors, but I do miss those machines that used to make my muscles look fabulous in the old days.

I'll take my current health despite lack of muscle tone over the enhanced fitness I got from the gym, since I'm not willing to accept the trade-off of possibly contracting even a flu from the unmasked indoor exercisers for now.

It's a personal choice and I'm of the age and wisdom from experience that I'd simply not like to put myself in a position of contracting any respiratory illness at this time. Whatever I had in January 2020 was so severe that I'm wanting to protect myself at all costs, which for the purpose of this question, is my body strength and outward appearance.

I'm lucky that I have an outdoor pool I can access most days, and a walking path plus a bicycle trail at my doorstep. Those activities don't give me the muscle definition I had with the gym, but that's a compromise I'm willing to take at this point in my life. I'm happier mentally because of my opportunity to exercise with outdoor activities.

The reason I quit my local gym was actually because the super loud rap music they played, with offensive words, despite the fact that most gym users were listening to their own music with headphones. Small thing, but it's saved me $300 per year, at the time.

I believe I now qualify for "silver sneakers" but I'll pass at this time. I'm not quite ready to go indoors for any reason except absolute necessity.

1

I swim at the Olympia YMCA about 4 times a week and lift weights at a local Thrive gym. I am fully vaccinated against COVID and feel relatively safe from getting it. I use a snorkel while swimming and hope the highly chlorinated water will kill the virus. I use an N-95 mask while working out at the gym, although only a few other people wear masks. I do not wear a mask when I exercise outside.

1
1

Absolutely and I just posted a video of our 'special place' here on this island. Members must be vaccinated (and show proof) and for a long time had to wear masks. Now, that's optional but, not being a large space it's easier to take precautions. Working out with aerobic and weight bearing has been a part of my adult life. In case people missed it:

2

Yes, I have returned. The gym I use is a CrossFIt Box, and the large rollup doors are always open.

0

No, I never had a gym membership. I prefer to be outdoors, hiking or riding my bike or sailing my sailboat.

I do have an old set of dumbbell weights. I use them to stretch out my pants. I have gained a little weight, and my pants are a little tight. So I clamp one end of my jeans waistband to a hook in the ceiling and 20 pounds to the other end. I spray a little water on the waistband to relax the cotton fibers a little. I usually leave the pants hanging for at least 24 hours. 😂

0

I returned when they reopened in the summer of 2020. A city rec center and you had to reserve your time as they had a limit on people allowed in. I have never been diagnosed with Covid-19’s or had any symptoms.

2

LOL
I didn't go before.

I do, however, utilize a YouTube channel that produces low-impact workouts.

Once upon a time, I used to go a gym.
I liked the elliptical machine, but my knees didn't.

1

I didn't go before the pandemic

twill Level 7 May 5, 2022
2

Yes, I have been working out my local gym. I feel it's safe enough to do so. What I do at home can do only so much. With all the rain in my area, it's hard go on walks on a regular basis.

2

One of the local gyms has been running some really good special price memberships, I had a membership there when I was unemployed by choice a few years ago (I was taking care of family member after surgery). Aside from not having the time to go to the gym now, I remember too many folks watching Fox News on the TVs in the gym last time I was there. I won't go back. I exercise at home, and as soon as the weather stabilizes I will be outside for walks again, at least until it gets too hot.

4

Hell no!!!! No one but me would be wearing a mask.

MizJ Level 8 May 5, 2022
2

Not yet, unfortunately. I exercise outside in the neighborhood.

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