6 Ways to Prevent COVID-19 at the Gym
Unless you’ve been in a very zen-like cave, you know that COVID-19 has spread all across the world, wreaking havoc on the most established healthcare systems and disrupting the lives of millions of people.
The degree of damage caused by this virus –SARS-CoV-2– despite the medical and biotechnological advances we made is astounding.
We’re social creatures. With jobs. Things to do. Stuff to touch. And so, the quarantine and restrictions related to COVID-19 get loosened around the world. For this reason (and a few others), it is crucial to maintain some good personal habits to keep yourself and your family safe.
Let’s focus on your health for a minute. You have to keep moving, which means working out or going to the gym. And this means taking precautionary measures to reduce the risk of catching the virus when going to said gym or your workout/HIIT/Cross-fit/Climbing gym/Lifting place/yoga studio of choice.
This includes wearing masks on your way to the gym, keeping your distance from other people, steering away from coughers and sneezers, and maintaining a high level of hygiene by frequent handwashing using alcohol-based products and sanitizing wipes.
In this article, we will cover the importance of staying fit during the COVID-19 pandemic and the major ways to protect yourself while at the gym.
Why is it crucial to stay fit during the pandemic?
Staying fit in the midst of the global pandemic is extremely important to avoid gaining weight, and most importantly, losing the muscle mass you’ve been building for years.
Therefore, you cannot abandon your fitness goals because of this virus since it doesn’t appear to be going anywhere for the time being.
While it’s true that you can work out at home, going to the gym remains a better option since you’ll find all the necessary equipment, and you’ll get back to the positive vibes of working hard with other like minded folks.
However, this doesn’t mean that you should neglect the important hygiene habits when you arrive at the gym, as it could be a hub for viral transmission.
The next sections will cover everything you need to know to stop the transmission of the virus when you’re back at your workout place of choice.
How to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the gym
1. Wash your hands frequently
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) gets transmitted from one person to another through respiratory droplets, which are tiny water vesicles that carry a substantial number of viruses.
Whenever the sick patient sneezes or coughs, the respiratory droplets travel through the air to infect a healthy host, which is why authorities emphasize the importance of wearing face masks.
Additionally, common surfaces and equipment (e.g., dumbbells) in the gym often carry tons of germs as your workout buddies touch them over and over, sometimes (often!) forgetting to wipe them down after each use.
Fortunately, frequent handwashing with soap or alcohol-based disinfectants will disintegrate all microbes, including, our old chum, covid.
2. Practice social distancing
This is perhaps the most important tip to protect yourself from the virus, as keeping a distance from other trainees in the gym will prevent Covid from entering your respiratory system.
Based on preliminary research, the risk of transmission is at its peak when the patient is having actual symptoms, which coincides with high viral load in their bloodstream.
For this reason, you must steer clear of people with flu-like symptoms (e.g., sneezing, coughing, difficulty breathing, congested nose) in the gym and outside the gym. And when we say steer clear, we mean Get the F Out of there!
Btw, this applies not just to strangers but friends and family too. The virus doesn’t have favorites. We’re all fair game, baby.
3. Use sanitizing wipes
Sanitizing wipes work. They’re portable and damn efficient at killing the germs that spread like wildfire.
According to the CDC, using alcohol-based wipes that have at least a concentration of 70% alcohol is extremely effective at disinfecting solid surfaces.
These wipes could be used to clean the gym’s equipment before using them, disinfecting your own hands, and using them to open doors or in the gym’s bathroom.
But guess what else all the frequent sanitizing does? Dries the hell out of your hands.
For this, we got you covered. The Monkey Movement Palm Repair penetrates that skin quickly and leaves a protective coating that heals and repairs the flaky, callused, and cracked skin that you likely already have.
Psss.... (Our liquid hand chalk isn’t just mess-free for the gyms that ban powder. It very same alcohol content hand sanitizer does. Double whammy for the win!)
4. Educate yourself
The more you learn about COVID-19, how it’s transmitted, and how to stop the transmission, the better you’ll become at protecting yourself and your peeps.
To get credible information, try to avoid shady websites that offer non-scientific information and conspiracy theories.
Legit sites can back their claims up with science.
For credible information, you need to check one of these websites:
- The World Health Organization (WHO)
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- The Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- The National Health Service (NHS)
5. Inform your entourage
While being in the gym, try to teach your friends about the proper ways to use the equipment during this pandemic. Friends don't let friends catch COVID-19.
For instance, face mask on your buddy’s chin? No bueno. Wipe your equipment before and after and set a good example.
Overall, sharing valuable information is extremely important to protect everyone at the gym.
6. Do not touch solid surfaces
As we mentioned earlier, solid surfaces are exposed to a myriad of germs throughout the day.
When you’re trying to get into the gym, you’ll touch the doorknob that has been in contact with hundreds of people on that day alone. The same applies to other surfaces.
For this reason, you should follow a tip that South Korean health officials came up with, which focuses on using your non-dominant hand to perform everyday tasks, such as touching things, opening doors, and carrying your stuff. That way, when you go to scratch your face, you’ll instinctively do so with the other hand, your HIGH-FIVE hand!
Take-home message
Staying fit during the COVID-19 pandemic is extremely important to prevent muscle atrophy and weight gain.
But don’t get cocky and workout right. That means you should exercise while remaining responsible to avoid the spread of this deadly virus and keep yourself and your family safe.
For the skincare part, we got you covered.
We hope, this article helped you understand how to protect yourself from COVID-19 in the gym, but if you still have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comment section below.
