Hong Kong Gyms Have Reopened And Show What It May Look Like When You Finally Get To Work Out Again

🏋🏃 Is this the new normal?

Hong Kong gyms have reopened with new #Covid_19 #SocialDistancing and safety measures like glass partitions. More @business: https://t.co/JQ1OsTVBau pic.twitter.com/5bC8ynkGUB

— Bloomberg Quicktake (@Quicktake) May 18, 2020

This video from Bloomberg shows what some of the reopened gyms in Hong Kong look like, a decent preview as to what may come for us here in the states. You can see some stalled off exercise equipment designed to prevent the charmingly named “virus spew” that can occur when sweat and movement occur. There is an increased emphasis on sanitizing workout equipment after use. There are also temperature checks and some sort of “health agreement” that people must adhere to in order to workout. It’s just a bit dystopic but mostly seems like an improvement for the lack of personal space that comes in most gyms.

As someone who currently pays for a gym as part of apartment building amenities despite not being able to use it for two months, I hope we see gyms back sooner than later. I’ve floundered with my fitness lately as I’ve moved from rigorous burpee workouts to running outside, banging my knees up in the process. I miss the sense of normalcy that a go-to workout at a gym provides.

But there’s still a lot left to wonder about. Will every gym enact these kinds of safeguards, especially if not legally required? I highly doubt my mostly incompetent apartment management will. Can some gyms even afford to make these changes after months of lost revenue? Are the increasingly popular spin, boot camp and Orange Theory style of workout classes simply not an option right now?

And what about weights? That seems like the one thing entirely uncovered in the video. Weights are far less likely to be sanitized efficiently. You also have to touch the bar, clips and the weights themselves to use them. And some gym goers are way less diligent about taking care of things for other people as they are for themselves, as is the case in many gyms with unracked weights or benches not wiped down.

But where there’s a will and women congregating in yoga pants, there’s a way. Anything that stops maskless idiots from protesting their inability to get a good pump on seems like a step in the right direction:

“HAVE A GOOD DAY”: Police in Camden County told the owners of a New Jersey gym that reopened this morning that they were “formally” in violation of the state’s shutdown order. “On that note, have a good day. Everybody be safe.”

MORE: https://t.co/3Z7cCCYbKX pic.twitter.com/hdV14hb475

— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) May 18, 2020