Decision to reopen gyms ‘lifts’ spirits of fitness buffs

Ajay Joshi
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, July 31

The decision to allow gyms and yoga institutions to reopen as part of the ‘Unlock 3’ has brought cheer to fitness lovers and gym owners.

Excited to go back to their workout space after a period of over four months, fitness freaks have started booking their slots. However, the decision has left the fitness buffs wondering what would the reopening of gyms be like? The move has also sparked meme fest on social media platforms on how the new workout schedules would look like.

The gym owners, who had been severely hit due to lockdown, started cleaning their building complex to provide a safe and hygienic workout zone to their clients. Several protests were held in the city, seeking its reopening as many owners were financially hard pressed during lockdown.

Sumit Sharma and Vikram Dhiman, owners at the Gold’s Gym, said, they were eager to resume the routine workout sessions as their clients were craving to hit the gym to be back in shape. “Wash, spray, wait, wipe, repeat, is what we are going to do after opening the gym. As per the SOPs, we would greet the clients first with thermal scanners and sanitisers, followed by social distancing during workout and then a gap of 15-20 minutes would be there to re-sanitise the gym for the next slot of the clients. Only 20-25 people will be allowed to do their exercises in one slot. As we have the largest cardio room, we are planning to make partitions between treadmills, cross fits and cycles, with glasses, so that there is no contact between two persons. Besides, trainers will always cover their faces with face shields while training people.”

“There will be no compromise with the health of the clients and the gym will function with just one-fourth of the capacity. Post ‘Unlock 3’, we have received online bookings from our usual clients,” Sharma further added. He said he suffered a loss of around Rs 20-25 lakh during lockdown.

Bharat Rajput, who owns ‘Energy Max Gym’ at Pratapbagh said, “We have sanitised the premises of our gym today and disinfectants were sprayed on the equipment and machines.”

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