When do you expect gyms to reopen?

[Sweetnlow]

Just that really.

When do you expect gyms/leisure centres to reopen?

Before schools? After pubs and restaurants?

'Gyms stay open during bad flu seasons.
COVID is here to stay
we have to learn to live with it'

ListeningQuietly, the implication of your post seems to be that covid is pretty much the same as flu?
Or did I misunderstand you?

B1rd
Covid is currently much worse than flu but a bad flu season can kill over 30,000 in the UK
the point is that its here to stay.
Therefore finding the new normal is the sensible thing to do

Keeping people from exercising has implications which need to be considered

I really want the gym and pool to open ASAP. I am now soooo unfit

Keeping people from exercising has implications which need to be considered
totally!
In my mind I 'need' the equipment in the gym to stay in the shape I want to be in, but I fear that gyms will be considered too risky and the official view will be that outdoor cardio and some indoor bodyweight exercises should be enough for people:(
I would go to my gym immediately if it opened but I'd be hand sanitizing, would not go in the changing rooms and maybe would wear a face mask, but then the gym is only a short walk and I can have a wee and get changed before I go

I was going to say that about private gyms. They are too small for a start. Council run gyms generally have big sports halls which could be used for classes more safely.

Probably fairly quickly. The 2m social distancing measures can be achieved really easily in most. The larger ones even have disinfectant wipes between equipment - they’ll just need someone to enforce this.

My gym is really crowded and heaving.

The studio is tiny and fits 16 people in for body pump. If they put it down to 8 per class it will be impossible to get in a class. Same with the small spin studio. People won’t keep paying £120 a month for a gym with half the equipment barriered off and unable to get booked in a class.

I think a lot of gyms will go bust.

UK Active's website have a proposal that they are liaising with the government on.

It includes things like increased cleaning, gaps between classes to allow people out before anyone is allowed in with cleaning in between classes - so timetables that used to be rammed with classes running back to back will not be possible. No congregating whilst waiting outside a studio for previous class to finish. Reduced class numbers including numbers in the pool for swimming or aqua, hand sanitisers & wipes all over the place and various other measures.
Clubs won't want to reduce membership fees but members may be reluctant to pay for membership, particularly with possibly 50% class size reduction, timetable cuts & possibly no cafes or spas open. They mention sauna, jacuzzis & sauna with social distancing - so 2 people in there I imagine!
One gym has mentioned restricting the actual number of people able to use the gym at any one time, perhaps by making people book slots to train for perhaps a 2 hour window.

I'm an instructor so watching with interest.

As for Uni gyms, one of which I teach at, if students do not return in September, it remains to be seen if the community members will return in numbers to make them viable or if the gyms will remain shut until students return.

Some clubs may have outdoor spaces eg tennis courts that could be used for some classes or even indoor courts that could be used. Better perhaps to stop 2 people playing tennis and have 16 people able to do body pump.

Some clubs may stop or reduce teaching Les Mills as the licence for each type of class eg pump, combat costs the club thousands of pounds each year. Some clubs already to a freestyle version of pump for example and have indoor cycling rather than RPM or Sprint.

Just my thoughts.

David Lloyd sent this earlier in the week. No dates but it has their current plans.

It looks like most people miss the facilities that you don’t usually have at home like the swimming pool.
I have realised that I don’t actually miss going. I am really enjoying working out at home and will not be returning.

But in the long run, people will want to hug each other
and Covid will become less virulent ( as coronaviruses do )

so the whole 'social distancing' will go by the wayside
as 2m is as made up as 10,000 steps

If clubs will not provide then people will meet in homes
better to have it flexible and transparent
than underground

That’s a good idea about the tennis courts. One court is bigger than our studio so could be partitioned off and used as a studio. Or knock the 2 barely used squash courts into one and have it as a studio.

I have realised that I don’t actually miss going. I am really enjoying working out at home and will not be returning.

I said this to a gym friend the other way. That many people will realise they don’t miss the gym, that working out at home is ok, Les mills on demand is cheap. Combine those with people who have lost their jobs and can’t afford the gym then membership numbers will plummet. Tough times ahead.

I've done Les Mills on demand
I've done David Lloyd on demand
but I mostly do Zoom classes run by my usual instructors
and I cannot wait to get back in the pool

Gyms re-opening October if DM is to be believed but really too early to know 5 months away and we don't know what the R number will be by then and whether the virus will be dying off or ramping up for winter. I do think lots of people go to the clubs for the social aspect as much as for the exercise side. Hard for them to enjoy a class if they can't then meet their friends afterwards for lunch or coffee. Lots of my aqua ladies would have lunch together - maybe up to 15 or 20 of them and take over 3 or 4 tables. Clubs rely on the revenue from all those coffees, lunches, dinners etc. Many people need the creche too to be able to exercise. All very difficult with restrictions. It may be that some never come back. Some will have managed without the gym and be enjoying the flexibility of exercising at a time of suiting without driving to the club (depends obviously on what you are doing and if it is something with minimal equipment/no pool)

Pilates
My DS is a weightlifter - he goes to "the gym"
the machines were fine, the free weights were another issue

DH swims
DD swims and does classes and weights
I swim and do classes

we all understand that covid is no more persistent on hard surfaces than other coronavirues
and we've all calculated our risk factor

If my gym opened tomorrow all four of us would be there

Yes, I think many will be keen to return. I do also think that there are those who only use the gym and some who only do classes (as well as some who do both) Hopefully most will return as I'd like all my classes back but realistically, I don't think everyone will return, I think timetables may have to be cut and some classes may not return eg I teach 3 or 4 specifically aimed at seniors - I am not as confident that those classes will return - it will rather depend on advice for the over 70s at the time I guess.

the implication of your post seems to be that covid is pretty much the same as flu

No the implication of their post was that we have to learn to live with it. Like our parents had to with polio, smallpox and measles (polio not such a great example as it did lead to swimming pools being closed though I think it was used as an excuse to save money too).

I usually swim once a week but I am not missing it at all, though I think it's good for my back and I do wonder how long I will get away with not having bad backache. I was never that keen though, I just don't like getting into a cold pool!

I actually did buy a kettlebell and use it twice a week as part of a routine my personal trainer sets for me.

I bought a turbo-trainer just before Mother's Day and use it with Zwift. I've become a complete Zwift addict. I was a parkrun addict but can't see myself dashing back now. Not that I think they'll be back in the UK this year.

I live in a US state that's reopening the rural counties this month as they have such low rates of infection.

Fitness centres, restaurants and shops can reopen on May 18th - no groups/classes of more than 10, social distancing, lots of cleaning, etc.

I'm in no hurry to go to the gym but I'm looking forward to my favourite pub/restaurant reopening.

September

I had an email from a small boutique gym I go to and they said possibly October I don't think it will manage to stay a viable business for that long. Sad times