What gyms are doing to reassure users amid coronavirus pandemic, and why doctor advises exercising at home

From stepped-up cleaning to enforcing personal hygiene, Hong Kong gyms have adapted to the coronavirus, and more members are working out again

A doctor of respiratory medicine says it’s best to exercise alone at home, but an infectious disease specialist says if you are mindful you can still use gyms

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At GO24 Fitness, a round-the-clock gym with locations across Hong Kong, everyone gets a temperature check on entering and hygiene protocols have been tightened. Photo: GO24 Fitness

Published: 7:30am, 13 Mar 2020Updated: 6:26pm, 14 Mar 2020

While the Hong Kong government closed most Leisure and Cultural Services Department fitness facilities at the outset of the coronavirus outbreak, many commercial fitness operators in the city chose to stay open, and adopted precautionary measures.

Gym attendance saw a dip at the beginning of the outbreak, but Nathan Solia, managing director of Elite Personal Training Studio in Wong Chuk Hang, says clients have begun returning to exercise, especially younger people.

“Because it’s a virus, people are afraid of being affected by someone else if they are sweating or breathing over people in a dense place, but we’re lucky we are small … in our case we have only one, two or six people at a time [using our gym],” he says.

At GO24 Fitness, a round-the-clock gym with multiple locations across Hong Kong, everyone gets a temperature check on entering. Working in shifts, cleaners sanitise the venues from 6am to 10pm, and a third-party company deeply disinfects the premises weekly. Fitness director Martin Barr says: “We are doing everything within our power to create a clean and safe environment for them to train in.”

Elite Personal Training Studio managing director Nathan Solia. Photo: Elite Personal Training Studio

At Fitness Bee in Causeway Bay, which offers yoga and other activities, everyone has been advised to wear a face mask in class.

At Flex Studio, which specialises in Pilates and offers fitness classes, sanitation protocols and personal hygiene practices have gone up a notch. “We are enforcing hand washing upon entering the studios, with hand sanitisers available for use at the front desk,” say the company.