Something that pandemic times and non-pandemic times have in common is that it is important to remain healthy and keep looking after yourself no matter what. One important aspect of that, of course, is always to keep on exercising as much as you can. With regular exercise, your risk of contracting serious illnesses (including the covid virus) will be much less, you will have a healthier heart and cardiovascular system, and your metabolism will improve, helping to keep fat off.
One of the best ways to exercise frequently is, of course, to go to the gym. But can you even do this during covid times, and is it worth it? Let’s take a look.
The Gym: Is It Essential?
First of all, it’s worth thinking about whether or not it is actually essential to go to the gym in the first place if you want to keep fit and healthy. The truth is, you can exercise perfectly well without using a gym, and if all you want is to ensure that you are staying in fairly good shape, then it might be that you just need to go for the occasional jog along the canal.
That being said, there are equipment and machines at the gym that you won’t find anywhere else (unless you build your own home gym) and which can be particularly useful if you are keen on really making sudden improvements to your fitness levels. So you might decide that going to the gym occasionally is worthwhile.
Check Your Local Gym
If you do want to go to the gym at the moment, you will need to take a moment to check with your local gym to see whether they are currently open. Many gyms are still closed, and more still are open but running at a reduced capacity, so you should make sure that you are checking this before you go trying to get in and do your workout.
You might find that looking slightly further afield, out of your immediate local area, throws up some gyms which are currently open, or due to open soon.
Limit Your Time at the Gym
Even if your local gym is open, you are going to want to think about keeping your amount of time spent there to a lower amount than normal. That is just a sensible approach when there is a global pandemic still going on strong, as it means you are exposing yourself and other people to the virus much less, and are less likely to become ill or make other people ill. Consider just going once a week, or twice at the most, until things open up properly again. That should be enough to keep in shape in a basic way.
Exercise Hygienically
When you go to the gym to exercise, make sure to exercise as hygienically as you can. You need to do whatever you can to keep the risk of spreading covid-19 as low as possible, and that means being very aware of all of the essential hygiene practices you need to do. For instance, you should ensure that you are keeping your distance from other people, and that you wear your mask when moving from place to place.
You should also sanitize your hands when arriving and leaving. It’s a good idea to clean down the equipment you are using, even in non-covid times, but especially now, so if there are any gym equipment wipes around, be sure to use them. You will probably also need to shower at home at the moment, rather than at the gym itself.
Your Priorities
Throughout all of this, it is essential that you are keeping your priorities straight. It is good to be healthy, and keeping fit is a really important part of that. But you might also want to make sure that you are only going to the gym as necessary, and thinking hard about the effect of your actions during this pandemic. It is going to be a case of balancing those things out as best as you can, for the benefit of yourself and everyone else.
Looking ahead, we are hopefully getting out of the worst of the pandemic now, so hopefully before long you will be able to go back to the gym and exercise as normal. But until that happens, take all of this into consideration, and make sure that you are doing right by everybody, while also taking care to look after yourself. If you can get that right, things will be much easier.
Leave a Reply