Gym and Covid-19

[eytonxav]

Has anyone decided to stay away from the gym to avoid transmission potential?

Just seems most gyms will not do a sufficient job disinfecting equipment and then there will be patrons who come even when they are sick.

 

[euro]

Has anyone decided to stay away from the gym to avoid transmission potential?

Just seems most gyms will not do a sufficient job disinfecting equipment and then there will be patrons who come even when they are sick.

I have been thinking about it. Still going, but I think you are right, people tend to do a poor to non-existing job with wiping down equipment. Now, I HAVE started to wipe down BEFORE and AFTER use, but there are still many places one could get infected. I do have a small home gym but I much prefer there real thing...
Not sure yet

 

[RetireBy90]

Tomorrow is first day back to gym for me. I mostly run and really prefer to run outside so I’ll take advantage of warmer temps when I can.

 

[Time2]

I have been thinking about it. Still going, but I think you are right, people tend to do a poor to non-existing job with wiping down equipment. Now, I HAVE started to wipe down BEFORE and AFTER use, but there are still many places one could get infected. I do have a small home gym but I much prefer there real thing...
Not sure yet

I've been going, but I'm doing the same as above, I wipe down any machine or bar bell I use, before and after. But, I have to wonder what is in the spray bottle, is it going to do anything against a virus? Is the fact that my hands are wet from the wipe I use, killing any virus on my skin?
I can't help myself, I keep telling people, "That spray bottle is the dirtiest thing in here!"

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

I was going to suggest that this might belong in the health & CV thread, but that seems to have been Porky'ed...

This is when I'm very glad we have an elliptical machine in the basement. I also have a yoga mat, and I've been researching yoga videos. An hour's live class is probably as much of a workout for me as my time on the elliptical, plus it does more for balance and core strength.

 

[frayne]

Wife and I made the decision to to forgo Planet Fitness and will get our exercise in by walking and doing other activities outside. Hopefully this virus event won't last too long but it's silly not to take prudent precautions with so many unknowns.

 

[garyt]

I'm thinking of quitting. I'm definitely not going to shower at the gym anymore. I also don't trust the cleaner in the bottles they provide. I'll bring my own wipes if I do go. But it's still tough because don't you have to let it sit 2-3 minutes to really kill any virus even using wipes?

 

[garyt]

I was going to suggest that this might belong in the health & CV thread, but that seems to have been Porky'ed...
.

Anybody know what happened there?

 

[Aerides]

The Health thread is under review because many members seem intent upon taking it into a cesspool. This topic should belong in there once it is resuscitated.

 

[JoeWras]

My only experience with a gym was a small Megacorp gym. It was really handy, and they had top notch management. Convenient for me too, since it was in my building.

I used to exercise after the morning rush. Management would carefully and thoroughly wipe down everything at that time with some strong solution. It took them an hour.

They had the bottles for users to use in between these deep cleanings. Mostly the deep cleanings were what mattered.

Somehow, I doubt your typical $19 a month place will do this. I'd stay away during the current situation.

I am still swimming at the public pool. Somehow I don't feel like a lot of contact would happen with contaminated surfaces, and the chlorine in the water should nuke it there. However, I may be delusional the more I think about it.

 

[MRG]

We have not gone since Thanksgiving and are going to go back right now. We can start walking the neighborhood or off to the national forest.

I wish I could say we stopped from hyper villigence but it's really because of my eye. Right now isn't the time to cross paths with someone here as a tourist who has recently been on a great cruise.

 

[TrvlBug]

We've decided to forego training with our personal trainers for now, but still plan to go to the gym. May revisit that decision.

 

[Ready]

There is no way you can disinfect every surface you touch in a gym. Every piece of machine, every dumbbell, every handle you hold onto on a treadmill or stair stepper, every door handle, every sink faucet, toilet, towel holder. It’s just not possible. You can’t walk around with a roll of sanitary wipes and constantly wipe everything down. You will never get your workout in.

I am comfortable swimming in the pool. Chlorine should kill off any virus. I play pickleball, and I recognize that every time I pick up the ball I’m touching a ball that has been handled hundreds of times by hundreds of different people. But I don’t want to live in a bubble out fear of a virus.

 

[JoeWras]

There is no way you can disinfect every surface you touch in a gym.

...

I am comfortable swimming in the pool. Chlorine should kill off any virus.

Well me too, until I started participating in this thread. Then I thought about the ladder handle I use to hoist myself out. And the shower door. And the shower handle. And the cubby I put my equipment in.

I think I can mitigate this by washing my hands after swimming and after taking the shower, then avoiding handles of any sort from there on out to the car.

I also don't want to be a hermit. I would guess that good cardio-fitness will give you a fighting chance to power through the infection. And swimming works best for me and my cardio fitness.

 

[audreyh1]

When I stay near where my elderly Dad is, I don’t plan to use the area gyms as I have in the past. We will really minimize contact with others, limiting it pretty much to grocery store visits and the dump.

 

[friar1610]

I've decided to stick with spinning classes, elliptical machine and C2 Rower at my gym but to forego weight machines, dumbells and barbells. My reasoning (that I don't claim is flawless) is as follows:
-each of the above involves only one piece of equipment; hence, only one piece to thoroughly wipe down both before and after workout. (Note: I will only use one of the 3 on any given day.)
- with weight machines, dumbells and barbells I generally do 6-10 routines every workout so many more pieces of equipment - much more pre- and post-cleaning that would take a lot of time and also have me touching many more things. So no more of them for a while.
- although I don't have a great home gym, I have enough DBs, BBs and a weight bench that I can get a more than sufficient weight workout at home with no need to clean constantly.
- I walk outside a lot and if I need to increase that to get sufficient exercise, that's always an option. (And the dog will appreciate that.)

garyt's point above about not trusting what's in the gym's spray bottles is well taken. I may buy and bring my own solution for the bike, elliptical and rower.

That's my approach for now, subject to change if reported cases of COVID-19 start getting closer (geographically) to my part of the state.

 

[audreyh1]

I was going to suggest that this might belong in the health & CV thread, but that seems to have been Porky'ed...

Those threads are getting too big anyway. I think we're going to be talking about coronavirus non-stop for the next few months anyway now that it's "here" (US) and having an everyday impact in our lives, investing, changing of plans, etc.

So perhaps it's time to let people create more threads instead of trying to funnel everything into very few threads.

 

[timo2]

I'm at the tail end of my Knee Replacement rehab. I'm still going to the rehab in the Orthopedic facility gym. I was wondering about the virus, but they PT people have really picked up on the cleaning of everything. Plus when I get home I wash the clothes I had on there. I only will go three more times, I think.

 

[Ready]

Those threads are getting too big anyway. I think we're going to be talking about coronavirus non-stop for the next few months anyway now that it's "here" (US) and having an everyday impact in our lives, investing, changing of plans, etc.

So perhaps it's time to let people create more threads instead of trying to funnel everything into very few threads.

Thank you for stating what I thought was obvious until the mods prevented my thread from moving forward. This is a topic on everyone’s minds and trying to wade through a thread with thousands of posts before you make your own contribution is exhausting.

 

[CaliKid]

Business as usual for me! I don't want to be a hermit. Although I will admit I started wiping down equipment before and after use.

 

[EastWest Gal]

I've been going, but I'm doing the same as above, I wipe down any machine or bar bell I use, before and after. But, I have to wonder what is in the spray bottle, is it going to do anything against a virus? Is the fact that my hands are wet from the wipe I use, killing any virus on my skin?
I can't help myself, I keep telling people, "That spray bottle is the dirtiest thing in here!"

Quanternary ammionum compound. It’s used in hospital cleaning as well. I found this interesting article about airport cleaning. Apparently if you spray it on and leave it to dry, it can reduce the viral and bacterial contamination for up to six months. Unfortunately, I read elsewhere that in combination with organic material, it is rendered less effective. Paper towels and cotton cloth are organic...


https://www.changiairport.com/corporate/media-centre/newsroom/COVID-19-measures.html

 

[troutnut1]

I have been concerned since both my wife an I picked up a nasty virus we thought was pertussis around the middle of February. We work out with another couple who both also got it just before us. But we have never hung around anyone there who was obviously sick and symptomatic. But my wife and I both have health conditions that will get worse quickly if we aren’t working out regularly. So we view it as a danger and a benefit. We have decided to wash our hands on arriving and leaving. And to keep working out. We also ski 60 days a year and are exposed in the lodge to up to 1200 people per day. That WILL require some changes on our part to minimize lodge time.

 

[audreyh1]

DH and I are particularly limiting our movements in public as well as avoiding social situations, because we expect to visit daily at the elderly care home where DF is in hospice care. We're attempting to minimize exposing residents and workers there.

If we were at home and not tied to an elder care home, we would probably continue to go about our regular business, although probably avoid meetings (we did today), and we don't eat out much or socialize much anyway. But I would probably continue attending yoga classes until I felt like it was too risky.

 

[Ian S]

We have been getting our aerobics exercise with five mile brisk walks every day. Until this virus outbreak I was considering getting back to a gym but won't now. I can get enough toning exercise at home.

 

[tmm99]

The Health thread is under review because many members seem intent upon taking it into a cesspool. This topic should belong in there once it is resuscitated.

There was a couple of posts there that I want to go back and look at, so I hope the thread can be cleaned up (or whatever needs to happen) and reinstated (even if it gets closed) so I can search a couple of things... Thanks for your consideration.