Do we think gyms and pools will close again?

[FanGirlX]

Or just go to restricted numbers?

Gym and swim keeps me going in the winter. It's too dark outside to run at this time of year.

The closure of gyms and pools during lockdown led to people gaining lock down lard, drinking copious amounts of alcohol and leaving many of us with long lasting mental health issues. This has all contributed to adding more pressure on the NHS. Please please 🙏 don't close!!!!!!

Oh god, I hope not.

Once I factor in the possibility of having to work at home and DP's aversion to leaving the house (as he won't have any work at all) when he's not being paid to do so, that'll take me back down to fuck all movement - as I'm expected to remain at the laptop from before 8am until gone 4 with no break - and nobody to speak to for another three months. No activity, no incidental movement, no daylight, no social interaction - I'll be fucked in the head and yet again, in the body.

@fakereview

Has anyone actually caught covid in a gym or swimming pool?

Christina Pagel thinks she may have caught Covid swimming:

mobile.twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1462518551433068553

I hope not, I have just taken up swimming and spin again and I bloody love it. My gym has gone above and beyond to create an outdoor spin area. The poor staff have to lift all the bikes into a lockup every night!

I really hope not. The gym closing during the darkest, dreariest worst part of the year would be dire.

And no, Zoom classes are just not the same............ :(

Pretty sure I caught Covid from the virgin active this week.
I won’t be going back.

I’m 62 and asthmatic. My husband is 68 and has diabetes, so we have to be careful. Still planning to go to the gym and swim in the pool, but it worries us a bit. I don’t think they will close gyms unless there is another lockdown. Given the backbench threatened rebellion, I think Johnson will avoid that if at all possible.

I hope not. I can only live a normal life (back issues) if I have access to swimming (gyms also help, but swimming is the vital part). I went swimming in the sea/lakes first time they closed everything, then had a partial relapse last spring when having a new baby meant swimming in the sea was really difficult and the pools (in Wales) had been closed again. I'm only just fully recovering from that period - I still have more pain than I had 2 years ago but I can function normally around it (takes a short time to do the damage and a long time to fix it).

This whole thing has been really difficult physically for me - we'd just decided my back was good enough to risk pregnancy when it all happened (though we had money earmarked for private physio in case) and then I suddenly had to go through the first part of pregnancy without access to what I needed to keep me healthy - then it happened again when I was post-partum.

Gyms and pools keep people like me (and many others, mostly longer term) out of hospital (yes, I've needed to be admitted in the past). Closing them is not going to help the NHS.

Childrens swimming lessons are a mess. Waiting lists, children way behind where they should be, backlogs etc. My DDs are on the same Swim England Stages they were two years ago.

Has anyone actually caught covid in a gym or swimming pool?

My brother caught Covid from his gym last December……along with three others. You can’t/don’t wear a mask whilst working out, so it’s going to spread fairly easily.

Those who caught it in the gym (or at least think they did - how can you possibly actually know where you got it from unless it’s the only place you ever see people?) I think we’re unlucky. It’s so clean - I go 6 times a week & have been whenever they’ve been open & I don’t know anyone who’s caught it there.
The benefits of training FAR outweigh the small risks. I think there would be a massive outcry if they closed again (especially swimming pools - a generation of kids who can’t swim is absolutely shameful) - not to mention, like I mentioned unthread, they’d have to reinstate furlough.

@Endofdaysarehere I'm sorry but not going again is ridiculous! If you'd contacted the virus in the supermarket or at work would you refuse to go back there too?!

@Endofdaysarehere

Pretty sure I caught Covid from the virgin active this week. I won’t be going back.

How ridiculous.

I caught covid in my own home.

I work in a yoga studio, rather than a gym, but it would be so upsetting to have to go back to online. It isn't just the exercise component that is good for mental health - community is incredibly important too.

They don’t want to close stuff again.

I do think vaccine passports (including third doses, once people have a chance to have them) will be brought in.

@littlepeas I might suggest you should clean your home better then?

I did not catch it in my home, because none of my family have Covid. I went to the gym, the only place I’ve been inside, and I have covid.

How silly of you to judge me by your lax house cleaning.

@Endofdaysarehere

Pretty sure I caught Covid from the virgin active this week. I won’t be going back.

What, never? As soon as you've recovered you're good to go back. Why wouldn't you? You've got naturally boosted immunity now. You can catch covid anywhere.

I found it harder when we were allowed to open but with very restricted numbers. When mandated to close there was government grants to pay the huge rent on my studio premises, when open but on restricted numbers nothing- meaning that my overheads were the same but weekly takings was about a third less- people are just not willing to pay more for their child’s dance lesson, so it was my wage that took the direct hit. Although I love what I do, it was very hard working for essentially zero wages during those restricted months and I also lost a lot of customers during that time too so the financial loss is ongoing.

Gyms and pools keep people like me (and many others, mostly longer term) out of hospital (yes, I've needed to be admitted in the past). Closing them is not going to help the NHS.

Sorry to hear your story. I think the closing of gyms and pools has had a huge mental and physical health impact. I don't have any underlying conditions but I put on 6lbs between Jan and April last year and I felt really unmotivated and lazy - not good physically or mentally.

It keeps people like you out of hospital in the short term and keeps people like me out of hospital in the long term. I find I eat more healthily when I'm active and also drink less alcohol. If I look at the lifestyle I lead between Jan and April then I can see that I would be putting myself at risk of all sorts of physical and mental conditions.

I really hope they aren't closed again over the months we all need them most 💐

I hope not. Last weekend, DS finally managed to swim unaided. He's been learning for over 8 years, including lessons, but never managed it before. He finally did it and he was so proud! It was utterly wonderful. I really don't want them to close again now!

I hope not. That’s my business and I employ 45 people, mainly freelancers. I cannot do it all again.
Aside from the fact that businesses like mine are essential for physical and mental well-being.
The thought is so depressing.

I hope not too, I haven't been for nearly two months as I had covid and was unwell afterwards for quite a while.

Today is my first day back, walking uphill on the treadmill for half an hour because I expect that will be all I can manage before going in the steam room/sauna. I need to get moving again and my asthma post covid means that it needs to be inside.

Having said that my gym has increased membership costs by £25 a month from January so if it does close again I will probably cancel my membership and buy a treadmill or join a different gym closer to home.

I really hope not too. Doing yoga at home was really not the same, and as PP said, there really is no substitute for swimming.

I was thinking of switching gyms to a nicer one.

Phoned this morning and they are not accepting new members due to Covid.

Data is saying the new variant is much less serious.