It is no question that staying in good physical shape is critical for maintaining a strong immune system and improving mental health — two necessary components for helping people stay healthy and well-balanced during this rampant global pandemic.
However, while many people have been anxious to keep up their health routines, they are hesitant to return to indoor gyms and fitness centers.
Gyms and fitness studios have been open since June 12, when Gov. Ralph Northam officially began Phase 2 of his plan to reopen the state of Virginia. Part of the Phase 2 plan allowed gyms and fitness centers to reopen and operate at 30 percent capacity with strict social distancing and sanitation guidelines. Since then, Virginia has entered Phase 3, increasing the capacity of gyms and fitness centers to 75 percent.
Gyms and fitness studios are of particular concern to scientists. The heavy-breathing and perspiration that occurs in gyms expels a significant amount of aerosolized air-droplets, which remain airborne for up to three hours and can spread much more easily in confined areas.
At the start of the pandemic, a number of fitness studios moved classes and even personal training opportunities online.
Sand & Steel Fitness, for example, started to offer personal fitness training sessions via zoom, and provided group fitness classes online, as well. Pilates studio Sculp’d also started offering classes online.
Both of those fitness businesses and several others, now that they’re open for in-person sessions, are taking serious safety precautions to ensure the safety and health of clients and staff. That includes significantly increased cleaning, modifications to air flow in the space and limiting capacity beyond what’s required by the state.
Still, many people are wondering: Is it possible to exercise safely indoors? We talked to Row House about how to make working out at a gym safe and effective.
Row House, an indoor rowing studio franchise located at 917 N. St. Asaph St., shows patrons that exercising indoors can be safe, and sets a leading example for other gyms and studios in the area.
Kalista Diamantopoulos for Alexandria Living Magazine
Row House General Manager Cynthia Svendsen.
As soon as patrons enter the Row House studio, yellow guiding arrows mark the floor. On one side of the front desk, a line of arrows points toward the fitness studio and on the other side arrows point toward the front entrance.
“We are controlling the traffic so there's one way to go in and one way to go out.” said General Manager Cynthia Svendsen.
“We're asking people to come in one at a time,” said Svendsen, “just so that there's enough time for people to check in and sanitize their hands before they come in or they can wash their hands in the bathroom.”
Normally, check-in at Row House involves signing in on a touchscreen kiosk. Since kiosks are regularly touched by a multitude of individuals and therefore have the potential to spread any lingering virus, Row House has eliminated this method of checking-in and instead has replaced it with their app, which has been updated to include a check-in feature.
Row House has also minimized contact in refilling water bottles. They have temporarily blocked access to their button-operated water fountain and replaced it with a sensor-operated water fountain.
“People can still get their water,” said Svendsen. “it's just touchless, we are doing as much as we can to be completely touch free.”
In addition to the water station, Row House is no longer allowing access to their lockers. Instead, patrons are allowed to keep a small purse or bag with their belongings near their rowing machine.
“With the ergs having so much space in between,” said Svendsen, “it does make it really easy for someone to leave a small bag next to their machine.”
Row House requires patrons to wear a face mask while they are in the lobby, if they leave their machine to get water or use the bathroom, and even prior to class starting.
“We want to make sure they are keeping their mask on until the class starts because if someone is walking in late or something like that, if someone is going to pass you, then that doesn't really keep that social distancing.” said Svendson.
Inside the studio itself, Row House is well below the capacity outlined in the Phase 3 guidelines.
“Even with phase 3, gyms can technically be at 75% capacity but we're not even at 50% capacity because we want to make sure we are keeping that 10 ft of distance. We are only about 30% capacity.” said Svendsen.
This translates to just nine rowing machines in the studio. In order to maintain a limited class size, Row House has increased their number of classes during the day, leaving 45 minutes in between each class so they can fully sanitize the space after each class.
“Right now we have four classes per day, we are going to actually add a fifth one before the end of the month just because all of the classes are pretty much full.” said Svendsen. “There's a waitlist almost everyday.”
Row House has also adjusted the set up of the studio so that people stay at their machines for the entirety of the workout.
“Normally we used to have dumbbells and yoga mats stationed in the back of the room but we've changed it now so everything is laid out here so it's a full single station set up so people can use their own equipment, it's not shared.” said Svendsen. “At the end of class it all gets completely disinfected and sanitized.”
One of the main concerns scientists have with gyms is the lack of air-flow within the space. Row House has addressed this concern by keeping their back door and front door open during workouts for maximum ventilation.
After class, the entire space is cleaned from machines to the floor and door handles. Despite the immense pressure caused by the pandemic, Row House is confident that they are providing the safest exercise experience they can offer. In fact, they have been open three weeks, completely incident free.
Tracy London, a new client who has recently joined Row House is satisfied with the fitness studio’s health response and safety practices.
“They really take precautions so that everyone stays safe.” said London. “You are never near another person when you work out and everyone wears a mask, even the instructors.”
Another client, Shannon Macneil a registered nurse and a member at Row House since September 2019, also commented on Row House’s safety precautions, saying that she feels safe attending classes at Row House given the way they thoroughly follow CDC guidelines:
“As a registered nurse, I feel confident in the practices that the Row House has put in place. I feel I can attend rowing sessions and know that I can safely go to work and care for my patients.”
With so much uncertainty surrounding the virus and its spread, gyms and fitness centers have found this transition challenging but are doing their best to ensure safety for their clients.
“It's not easy but we've thought about it pretty thoroughly,” said Svendsen, “even with watching other states and what they were doing in the different phases and making plans for like how we were going to open and so when it came time for gyms to open in phase two, we had already been planning what was this going to look like what procedures were we going to put in place.”
