Gyms, fitness clubs going the extra mile to run safely

Gyms and fitness studios here are taking extra precautions ahead of the second stage of Singapore economy's reopening tomorrow.

The industry has been severely impacted during the month-long phase two (heightened alert) as many of their physical activity offerings were restricted.

While indoor, mask-off activities will be allowed to resume with safe distancing measures in place, outfits like Barre 2 Barre in Pickering Street are sticking with its current practices.

Co-founder Jessica Anwar, 33, said she will ask her students and teachers to continue wearing their masks at all times. Her studio is expected to operate at 25 per cent capacity and has cancelled higher-intensity classes like bounce, which involve students jumping on a trampoline.

She said: "In our Hong Kong studio, they taught bounce with masks on, and it was harder to breathe. We took that feedback and will only focus on barre, stretch, pilates classes for now."

As part of the reopening, the Ministry of Health (MOH) set new restrictions on Friday for gyms to follow, including reduced group and class sizes as well as a routine 14-day fast and easy test (FET) regimen for staff.

To adhere to the new group size limit of two - instead of the previous cap of five - gyms like Elevate the Barbell Club in Macpherson Road instituted a booking system where trainers reserve slots for their own clients. Co-founder Twain Teo, 33, said: "This allows us to control flow very tightly and ensure that there are no double bookings or situations where our two-client policy is violated."

Public facilities such as ActiveSG gyms and the Singapore Sports Hub will also restart some programmes tomorrow.

Gyms have also stepped up their cleaning regimes to ensure their facilities are safe for use.

Ms Teri Ong, 52, who operates Anytime Fitness clubs at Northpoint City, Nex and hillV2, said her outlets are "doing a full and thorough disinfection... including equipment cleaning, sanitising all touch points as well as high-rise cleaning and deep carpet shampooing". The clubs have also developed a proprietary tracking app to display a live count of gym users and will do a manual headcount hourly to ensure the accuracy of the number.

Despite the uncertainty and upheaval caused by the pandemic, gym operators are cautiously optimistic and looking forward to resuming business.

Mr Shaun Pang, 36, owner of Hygieia Strength & Conditioning in Haig Road, said that "85 per cent" of his clients returned to training within two weeks of last June's phase two reopening and he expects similar numbers this time.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on June 20, 2021, with the headline Gyms, fitness clubs going the extra mile to run safely. Subscribe