Are you going to return when gyms open?

Nope. I’m at david Lloyd and no way am I paying over £100 a month for a very reduced service. They’ve removed most of the classes. Reduced opening hours, no hot food in the members lounge.

Just booked my first two slots, Saturday and Sunday. Only allowed one hour but I'll take what I can get.

Whole family is raring to go on Saturday. Me, DH DD and DS1 all have gym memberships. DS2 and 3 can’t wait to go swimming.

DD and I stayed to and booked the gym slots at 12.01am when they opened for online bookings yesterday. We’re that keen and were worried there might be a stampede! We were the first and not many have booked in up til tonight so hopefully there won’t be many people there.

Can you speak to them and explain your situation and that you are not getting the service you’re paying for Laurie. If you have a medical reason surely they can reserve you a place before slots are released? Or ask for another class to be put on, they won’t know people can’t get on it unless they tell them?

I'm getting pissed off. They're about to start taking my membership (£180 a month!) and the one class I do is full the second they release the slots.

I can't cancel my membership'legally' as I'm still in my first year.

What do I do?

I can't do other classes, there's a medical reason I can only do this one.

Yes, as soon as ever I can. I had thought that I would exercise at home, started off doing Davina workouts but stopped that after a few weeks, had thought I would run around our local park but never got the courage or motivation to do so , and tried to go for a long walk or bike ride every day but have still managed to put on about a stone. If I say I am going to the gym, I go to the gym and when I am there I do my workout, but if i say I am going to do a workout at home it turns into "I've just had a shower so will do it later...I am in the middle of working so will do it later..I have just had lunch so will do it later..."

Not for a long time. But I will still pay my fees as long as I'm working. It's an excellent local authority gym so I'd like it there on the other side of this.

Yep. Can't wait. 5k daily runs on the treadmill. Can't run outside as it causes my knee to hurt!

I’ve booked some swimming sessions but I’m nervous about the logistics of it all.

There’s 6 slots for women per session but only 2 showers and we’re all supposed to leave within 15 minutes of the session ending.

They’re also splitting the pool in half and having two groups swimming in a circle instead of doing lanes, but what if the person in front is slow and the person behind very fast!

I’d be interested to hear what other pools are doing.

I wasn’t going to but I’m really missing it. Loving exercise at home now but I’m much more limited and miss the resistance machines, and yoga classes.

We’ve been told gym sessions are now to be booked, 50min at a time (only one per person each day, which is fine for me anyway). That eliminates the main worry for me as I don’t drive and would hate a wasted journey.

Strict rules on cleaning machines between use and between sessions. They’ve also spread the machines out - it’s a big leisure centre so they’ve moved lots of the machines into a sports hall.

No concrete news on swimming yet :(

I will be! Our gym has already set out a plan for when they are allowed to reopen inc booking slots, additional cleaning done throughout the day, spaced out equipment etc.
I’ve enjoyed working out at home with the minimal equipment I have but I miss doing big compound movements I can’t replicate at home!

No news on our gym website yet specifically about how they plan to operate I.e. booking slots etc.

They suspended payments while closed so I assume I'll receive an email saying payments will recommence.

My gym provided online classes throughout lockdown. I've been doing around five sessions a week since my gym reopened a couple of weeks ago, all outside. I'm looking forward to getting back indoors though.

We have a gym at home I could use at no cost but I like the banter and competition with other members. It's worth the money to me as I need to be pushed hard otherwise I find it's too easy to let it slip.

I'm considering a return to the indoor pool at the gym once we can, but my local one has never been very busy. I will probably give it a few weeks. I will probably stick to the outdoor or home gym for a while, at least until the kids go back to school.

Yes! I’m a bit bored walking around my area and I can hardly work out at home uninterrupted with the children about. It’s one of the few places I can go for “me time”.

Yes I can't wait. I was enjoying do weights at the gym and this isn't something I can replicate at home. Plus getting back on the treadmill, I hate running outdoors so I've ending up stopping running altogether during lockdown

I'm missing swimming so much as I was triathlon training before lockdown

I think the actual pool is low risk as chlorine is a pretty efficient chemical! At my gym its lane swimming only and you will book a lane for your hour slot... Main concern is changing rooms, but good hygiene and handwashing will reduce that risk.

I'm torn, I probably won't be the first one there but I am planning to go back at some point.

Gosh, no they are terribly expensive and exercise is free.
Never paid/ been to a gym in my life.

You don't know what your missing! Great motivation, lovely dedicated instructors, fab social. I love my gym, just not sure about going back, really torn.

No. Gym machines are high contact areas and therefore at high risk of spreading Covid. Gyms themselves are full of people breathing heavily with their mouths open. There’s already been evidence that activities such as singing spread Covid more effectively, I imagine panting has the same effect. I won’t be visiting a gym until Covid is completely over.

I miss the gym loads and currently make do with a few bits and bobs at home. However I will leave it 3 or 4 weeks and observe what happens with cases around the country. Its been four months and I have maintaned a good level of fitness. So another month away while the Guinea pigs test the water will be okay.

I don't want to pay my usual fee to not know when I'll be able to access the gym.

This is what is putting me off. They've not told us about classes yet but it was already a nightmare booking into classes so it will be much worse if they reduce class sizes. Can't imagine how difficult it will be to book a gym slot if they reduce capacity for that too. Why should we pay a monthly fee but never be able to use the facility?

I’ll be waiting outside before they open the doors on the 25th! Can’t wait.

I’ve done a lot of exercise at home but I desperately need the lower back weight machine for my dodgy back (disc degeneration). I used to be in agony with it 24/7 but become completely pain free after building up my back muscles. I can’t replicate the movement safely at home with free weights without risk of injury.

The pain isn’t half as bad as it used to be but it’s getting worse and worse so I was delighted when it was announced gyms were opening soon.

Mine is a very big, spacious gym on multiple levels though and I’ve never known it to be busy.

No, I do yoga every day at home, also happy to walk miles. I'm sure DH will be going back though.

I'm not a member of a bricks and mortar gym (instead I belong to Move GB that gives access to a huge variety of providers. I largely use it for my yoga classes), but I do go to yoga, see a PT and my PT also holds a circuits class that I normally attend. Yoga I've been doing via Zoom, I think they plan to continue live streaming classes when they get back in the studio, otherwise it wouldn't be financially viable for them to hold a class for 5 people. I've really enjoyed the flexibility of being able to live stream, so that works for me.

I've been seeing my PT one to one outdoors for about a month, and am happy to do one to one sessions in his gym (it's only his space, not a large gym, and I trust him to clean between clients, he always had very high standards before Covid, so I'm sure he'll be very responsible). His circuits class is going to be trickier, outdoors would be viable, but again, not sure a group class indoors will make sense financially. Depends where he does it and what overheads he'll have I guess.

I'd probably be quite happy to swim, I reckon the chlorine would kill the bug, but using changing rooms and lockers would be a bit of a hot spot I reckon.

I'm also lucky that I have a lot of equipment at home, so have always done a high proportion of exercise at home anyway, so not much change really.

@Hinckers covid soup it is! I miss the gym so much(and lockdown drinking has not been kind to my waistline!) but my anxiety is through the roof about touching equipment that lots of people are using. Don’t think I can do it... annoying because membership fees will be coming out again at the end of the month. £30 down the drain basically