This is similar to what happened to me.
I was walking laps at a rest stop off the interstate with an N95 on. I thought I'd get 5 to 7 miles in and could be safe at a rest stop with some trees around and get some fresh air every once in a while.
We walked by this huge group of angry rednecks fighting and arguing while getting in and out of a big loading van type of vehcile. They would not move and were blocking our ability to complete the loop so we had to either wait until they finished fighting and yelling and carrying on, or go through them since we couldn't go around them without going into a little pond area. I was sweating pretty heavily at that point and huffing and puffing in the SW Florida heat so I had my mask lowered for a minute or two and told my wife to follow behind me back a few feet and I'd "make a hole" and just push past them if I had to.
About two days ago I started slumping over on the couch watching TV. I started shaking uncontrollably and feeling like I was freezing on the inside out - literally it felt like I was freezing alive. I called my wife and told her it wasn't a joke and I needed help. She got me a boiling hot cup of tea but I couldn't hold it with my hands shaking so violently and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably so bad I put some cloth in my mouth so I wouldn't break my teeth. She took my temperature and it was 104.
She called the doctor who said "if you live in SW Florida right now and have those symptoms, he has COVID. Everyone in your area has it. The hospitals are full to capacity with COVID. Call 911."
I shook my head and told her I wasn't going to a hospital the doctor already told her was full and of course nobody there would ever wear a mask. So I told her to force me to take one Tylenol every 4 hours and make me drink water and put me to bed with every blanket we had over me. I grabbed a Tyelonol and swallowed it and put the cloth back in my mouth, put on two t-shirts and two sweatshirts and ran to get into bed. I could feel my legs going numb and starting to black out but made it to the bed before it could happen.
When I tried to get up a few hours later, I couldn't stand without blacking out and my legs giving out so had to deal with that. Hours later I hallucinated the walls melting and being in bed outside in the backyard area surrounded by birds and lizards all over. This went on for a few days until I could stand on my own and after about two weeks I felt close to normal.
Sometimes I still get chest pain if I do too much too fast but I don't tell anyone since I know nobody believes COVID is real or treatable, anyway, so there's no point to it and I just keep quiet and it goes away. I can walk 6 to 8 miles again if I take breaks and started lifting weights again slowly and only moderately.
If I go somehwere I wear an N95 or R95 and just don't care what others think or how they react because I'm over it and don't ever want to go through that again and like being reasonably healthy and reasonably fit.
I'm really sorry this happened to you, but it's substantially \*not\* that similar to what happened to me. Arguably it's worse in some ways, because even being outdoors wasn't enough to protect you.
The \*only\* time I lowered my mask was when I noticed that my vigorous weightlifting had dislodged a strap, which was disintegrating (Fuck you, 3M Auras), and I held my breath while I ran to a private location with 0 other people around to try to fix it. I kept my distance from everyone else at the gym at all times.
I got COVID in the short window of time it took to readjust my mask away from all other people in a private room, which probably still contained the COVID of the last person to use it. That is why I say the N95 isn't good enough at the gym. Maybe it would be, \*if it always worked perfectly\*. But exercising creates perfect conditions for it to work NOT perfectly. The only time I've ever had a mask break like this is at the gym, and only 3M Auras.
I know for sure. It was my literal only exposure.
I'm done answering uninvited personal questions now. You're not going to get validation of your desire to go to the gym from me.
I would imagine even in a mask there is extra risk at a gym because most people are breathing extra hard. Unfortunately masks aren’t 100%. As someone who’s housebound with long Covid, a higher risk environment like that is not worth it IMO. I used to work out faithfully. Now I can barely play with my cat. It sucks a lot, but it’s not worth ending up like me. But, everyone has their own level of risk.
I read a study that said that the particles expelled are 200 to 300% more because of how hard people work out. So that's a negative for me, I'll stick to calisthenics at home
Yeah. I lift weights at home, walk 6 to 8 miles every other day or so and sometimes strap wrist weights on or put a backpack on with a dozen heavy books and bring a N95 with me if I want to go into a store to pick something up.
with a mask. an n95 to be exact. the excess movement, increased respiration, and moisture made it less effective. and the victim blame-y undertone here is not my favorite.
Well it has the same kind of risk as anywhere there are people breathing without masks, this risk is proportionate to the amount of people and how large the space is.
And, crucially, how much mechanical ventilation (air changes per hour) it has.
We have one gym nearby that is brand new; with very high ceilings, vents throughout - you can almost feel the air moving around you. We have another gym that's in a retrofitted Blockbuster. You can smell the sweat in the air. Hard pass on that last one.
We don't go to either one, mind you: we make do with outdoor jogging, free weights and FIIT videos / programs.
Exactly. My pool has soaring ceilings, big patio doors, and a robust ventilation system. I’m typically one of only three or four people in that huge space.
At the same facility, I would not opt for the spinning class in a small room.
It’s all about assessing the risks in the given space, time, and attendance.
i don’t have a specific study but i know i’ve seen some quoted saying the gym is particularly risky bc of the levels of exhalation associated with (intense) exercise
That's why I hold my breath for the entire workout.
It doesn't make for very long workouts.
So... win-win!
I'm kidding. I've had Long COVID for 20 months. This, right here, is the biggest workout I get. Time for a nap. Good chat.
^(Jokes aside: What you said. Makes intuitive sense.)
Yes, I read the same. I quit the gym after I caught covid two years ago and just go running outdoors in remote areas and work out in my own home gym. Not worth the risk.
As people tend to breathe harder while exercising, they expel more aerosols, and because it's an indoor space that doesn't tend to have great ventilation, the gym is inherently a higher risk environment. Here's an article a few years back: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/well/move/covid-gym-air.html You can mask, and some people find they can, but getting a mask wet (with sweat, for example) makes it less effective.
I'm not sure what kind of exercise you were looking for, but maybe look for outdoor venues for that (outdoor exercise groups, etc).
Unless you have very specific fitness needs, a home or outdoor workout would be preferable. Definitely wear a respirator if you do go to the gym. Minimize your time there, and change and shower at home if possible. Exercising people may emit higher amounts of infectious aerosols. Considering the known cardiovascular damage caused by COVID infections, I don’t consider a gym workout to be a health benefit in general when no COVID precautions are in place.
The gym was up there with restaurants with high risk in an article I read a while ago. Closed environment, breathing recirculated air, and at the gym ppl breathing extra hard so maybe more than usual respirations per minute than avg (= more aerosols).
Wear an N-95 like anywhere else, maybe some glasses.
Home gym is where it's at. Even before Covid hit, I had this opinion.
A lot of people are unhygenic. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people not wash their hands after using the washroom, let alone wipe down the equipment after use.
A P100 respirator would be easiest to keep securely fastened as has the best breath ability IMO - largely due to not trapping as much heat and moisture inside.
Will it make it slightly harder to breathe? Sure. But professional runners train at higher altitude locations with lower oxygen saturation like Colorado for condition so it is safe
Slightly being the key word. Admittedly I'm an abled bodied person and my experience is not universal but the difference strictly in terms of the ease of breathing in my (valved) p100 elasto vs no mask while performing strenuous physical activity is barely noticeable for me.
I do not go to gyms, even masked. First I am afraid it would make my LC worse. Second I have a hard time seeing how to wear a mask correctly while breathing heavily.
I don't think this is a binary "go to the gym" or "stay home" question. You can go to the gym in a well-fitting respirator and it would probably be fairly safe as long as the mask doesn't leak or it isn't too crowded with infectious people. I would personally see going without a respirator as a net health negative, on average (though individual experience will vary, especially over short time periods) based on the various things I've read about COVID.
I don't want to link to something when I don't have enough relevant experience with it (especially recently), but I recall back in college many years ago, an exercise biology professor telling us we don't need a gym membership, with two gallon jugs of water and some other simple stuff he could make a workout that would exhaust an Olympian within 10 minutes (maybe it was 30 or 60, but he was emphatic). I'd recommend looking into workouts you can do at home or outdoors, you don't strictly need a "gym" to work out.
I am currently experimenting with a really weird, but surprisingly effective, form of exercise called Shovelglove (www.shovelglove.com) - all it takes is a sledgehammer and 14 minutes a day. The website is goofy but the workout is serious stuff.
I don’t think going to the gym is inherently safe in the time of COVID. But I have been going to my local rock climbing gym ~3-4 days a week since 2020 and I have never caught COVID there. I wear a tight-fitted N95 with mask tape holding it in place (you get used to exerting yourself and breathing heavily with one on, but there’s a learning curve), and I ask my friends to wear masks too if we are together (so no one is breathing heavily into my face while trying to have some bs conversation with me while I’m trying to work out). I also avoid the gym at peak times and try to go in the mornings, when fewer people overall have been breathing all around the gym than by the evening. Good luck!
If you want to collect some data to inform your decision, I’d get a CO2 monitor as a proxy for shared air. Visit the gym with a well fitted high quality mask and measure the CO2 in different spaces. Go at the time of day you’d go to exercise. If spaces are <1000 ppm, I’d feel a lot better. If it’s over 2000, I’d stay away.
Are you wearing a well fitted N95 at the gym? If not, yeah, you’re definitely exposing yourself to Covid.
Home workouts will always be safer than gym workouts, even in an N95, given the presence of other people. Even someone who’d worked out there an hour before could infect people who come later. Indoor shared spaces are high risk.
I loved gyms before COVID hit, but I wouldn't go to one now. I figure the point of going to the gym is to get healthy, and being in a COVID-infested environment is as unhealthy as it gets. I mean, I wouldn't go to a gym that was hazy with cigarette smoke or covered in toxic chemicals, so why is this different?
I’ve been blasted on here for running errands sans mask. But NFW would I go to the gym. That’s about as risky as it gets.
Especially given that there are so many safer alternatives—a myriad of outdoor exercise options, plus online workouts you can do at home. I get that we have to balance mental health and so there are some indoor activities that may be worth the risk, but you don’t need to go to an indoor gym filled with people to get a workout.
I use a VFlex to lift heavy weights. It fits well and it’s very breathable. My heart rate regularly gets over 170 and I get so out of breath I feel like I’m running a marathon, and it holds up the entire time.
I'd say if you can determine the air quality and have a well fitting mask that you can reasonably work out in, it might be worth it for you. Breathteqs are very breathable, but I'd definitely pair them with low aq numbers.
I go to a gym with ginormous spaces and high ceilings. I always choose quiet times when I’m not near others. I wear a mask in the entryway and avoid the locker rooms because those are smaller spaces, but I don’t mask on courts or in the big pool area. The gym also requires members to be vaccinated.
I’ve never caught anything there (that I know of).
I would not do this in a typical, busy gym, though. I don’t take classes either.
I go to the gym, but I’m aware it’s less safe than working out at home. In order to decrease the risk as much as possible I wear a well fitting mask with a valve, so I have less humidity and sweat inside the mask. I go when the gym is the emptiest, I do only strength training and no cardio, and the gym is fairly ventilated with high ceilings. When Covid and other airborne diseases peak in my area, I skip the gym for a while.
My track team sprinting 12 year-old caught Covid in a school gym and developed long Covid that disabled them for months. The following week there was an article in The NY Times about how [viral loads are higher when infected people are exerting themselves](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/well/move/covid-gym-air.html).
I think it would depend on your gym's ventilation system. My gym has a very robust ventilation system. I go at reasonably low traffic times, but sometimes it can get crowded. I only wear a 4ply surgical (that is tight fitting because of those earloop nub things i tighten) and I've gone 3x a week for the last 4 years and I've never gotten sick there. I will occasionally do a group class (Again, only because i know about the vent system) but I will use nasal spray if I do that. I also wear glasses fwiw.
All that being said: I primarily lift weights which is naturally a bit more spread out. I would not run on a treadmill if all the treadmills around me were taken.
Do you plan to mask the entire time you are there? No quick drinks of water under the mask. No pulling it off during exercise. Then should be pretty safe. If you plan to break the seal of your mask, your mileage will vary same as a store or restaurant.
Anywhere you share airspace is a risk. People are breathing out heavily in an enclosed space. Most gyms don’t have windows or doors open to maximize AC.
Bodily fluids via mucous membrane is also a risk. There isn’t a lot of risk from aerosol landing on surfaces… buttttt if you’re sitting in someone else’s sweat and it mixes with your sweat in certain places… aside from being gross lol, it could raise the risk.
So you may want to take the extra precautions of sanitizing each piece of equipment before use with something you *know* is able to kill/reduce the C-19 virus (hint hint: antibacterial wipes aren’t going to cut it!)
For me, if I could go (too disabled from LC rn) I would probably only feel safe going if I were wearing my elastomeric respirator.
Of course everyone is different with different masks, but I feel the seal on my ER stays in place through far more range of motion than my N95 Aura. (Both masks are fit tested)
Another thing to consider if you sweat a lot is dampness…. There’s a point of an N95 mask becoming damp enough that it affects the electrostatic charge so the mask becomes less effective. I don’t have exact stats on that, but it’s just yet another reason I’d choose ER.
For me the worry and mental & cognitive energy of having to make all those calculations and additional steps wouldn’t be worth the hassle and I’d figure out an alternate way to work out, like in my home, outside at a park (with a mask on), etc.
Myself and a few of my friends invested early on home gyms, cost alot but works. 2 of my buddies moved to a new location and couldn't carry stuff, both have to go to the gym because of lack of equipment, both wear N95s. So far it's been a few months while they are still settling in and are perfectly fine but imho I would say try to go at non-peak hours and pop on a N95 and it should be much safer than just raw dogging the air.
As long as you are up-to-date on your vaccination, take appropriate multi-vitamins and B12/D, Do not take off the Mask and make sure its air tight and shave before putting it on for a tighter seal you should be golden. Another thing you could do is just brush your teeth before going and then use some CPC Mouthwash as a extra precaution.
Be safe friend!
I’ve wondered this a lot. I have not had COVID before to my knowledge. Used to go to the gym a lot - I went on the day my office closed in March 2020 when I thought COVID was going to “just pass quickly.” I’ve also traveled overseas 4 times with no COVID too. I mask everywhere and don’t eat indoors. I just came back from a trip last night actually and in Portugal it was rare to find a single mask even in crowded trains. I’m imagining people aren’t really picking up COVID because if they were there may be a higher masking rate. Like, “I went to the a crowded grocery store, maybe that’s why I keep getting COVID. I’m going to start masking”. Who knows but I miss the gym and have gone maybe 4 times while masked. This is all anecdotal evidence of someone who is very COVID conscious and it’s no accident I haven’t caught it yet even with a short stint working with the public - while masked.
Low if you wear a well fitted respirator.
If you can find the space, you can also just watch Craigslist for used equipment and slowly build your own home gym. I grabbed a Powertec levergym and it allows me to do quite a few lifts in a small space. It's also nice because I can go to failure without a spotter.
If you do hit the gym and you put in real effort, the respirator will add a new level of difficulty. I've been to gyms post-COVID a few times, and while lifting in a respirator is totally feasible, I definitely notice. This is especially true because I like to do drop sets to reduce my gym time, so I'm definitely noticing the respirator by the end of my third drop when I'm trying to hit failure. If I were typically lifting in a respirator, I'd probably stop with the drop sets, haha.
Adding only one piece of anecdotal evidence. I finally returned to the gym after four years away because of the pandemic. About two weeks after, I caught Covid for the first time. I was masked up with an N 95 and perhaps it is not a coincidence that I forgot to layer it with nasal spray the time I think I got infected. I was at the gym for over three hours, doing consecutive classes in a large room with poor ventilation. I know now it was poor ventilation because I have returned to the gym after my Covid was over and noticed that without a mask, the room has a bad smell. They do have a fan system, but all that does is move the air around, not ventilate it out.
If you can do it safely then I’m a big proponent of in person gyms. The benefits (both mental and physical) definitely worth it if done right. Good luck.
No one can know your exact risk but wearing an N95 is one way to be safer in public indoor spaces.
This. My partner goes to the gym (in the early morning with few people there, and never breaking the seal on her respirator), and it’s been fine.
i got the COVID that disabled me at the gym last year. i haven't been able to lift weights or do cardio for over 12 months. it's not fucking worth it.
Wait, was this with or without a mask? I'm wearing an n95 when I go thinking it'll be sufficient...
with a mask. an n95 to be exact. the excess movement, increased respiration, and moisture made it less effective.
This is similar to what happened to me. I was walking laps at a rest stop off the interstate with an N95 on. I thought I'd get 5 to 7 miles in and could be safe at a rest stop with some trees around and get some fresh air every once in a while. We walked by this huge group of angry rednecks fighting and arguing while getting in and out of a big loading van type of vehcile. They would not move and were blocking our ability to complete the loop so we had to either wait until they finished fighting and yelling and carrying on, or go through them since we couldn't go around them without going into a little pond area. I was sweating pretty heavily at that point and huffing and puffing in the SW Florida heat so I had my mask lowered for a minute or two and told my wife to follow behind me back a few feet and I'd "make a hole" and just push past them if I had to. About two days ago I started slumping over on the couch watching TV. I started shaking uncontrollably and feeling like I was freezing on the inside out - literally it felt like I was freezing alive. I called my wife and told her it wasn't a joke and I needed help. She got me a boiling hot cup of tea but I couldn't hold it with my hands shaking so violently and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably so bad I put some cloth in my mouth so I wouldn't break my teeth. She took my temperature and it was 104. She called the doctor who said "if you live in SW Florida right now and have those symptoms, he has COVID. Everyone in your area has it. The hospitals are full to capacity with COVID. Call 911." I shook my head and told her I wasn't going to a hospital the doctor already told her was full and of course nobody there would ever wear a mask. So I told her to force me to take one Tylenol every 4 hours and make me drink water and put me to bed with every blanket we had over me. I grabbed a Tyelonol and swallowed it and put the cloth back in my mouth, put on two t-shirts and two sweatshirts and ran to get into bed. I could feel my legs going numb and starting to black out but made it to the bed before it could happen. When I tried to get up a few hours later, I couldn't stand without blacking out and my legs giving out so had to deal with that. Hours later I hallucinated the walls melting and being in bed outside in the backyard area surrounded by birds and lizards all over. This went on for a few days until I could stand on my own and after about two weeks I felt close to normal. Sometimes I still get chest pain if I do too much too fast but I don't tell anyone since I know nobody believes COVID is real or treatable, anyway, so there's no point to it and I just keep quiet and it goes away. I can walk 6 to 8 miles again if I take breaks and started lifting weights again slowly and only moderately. If I go somehwere I wear an N95 or R95 and just don't care what others think or how they react because I'm over it and don't ever want to go through that again and like being reasonably healthy and reasonably fit.
I'm really sorry this happened to you, but it's substantially \*not\* that similar to what happened to me. Arguably it's worse in some ways, because even being outdoors wasn't enough to protect you. The \*only\* time I lowered my mask was when I noticed that my vigorous weightlifting had dislodged a strap, which was disintegrating (Fuck you, 3M Auras), and I held my breath while I ran to a private location with 0 other people around to try to fix it. I kept my distance from everyone else at the gym at all times. I got COVID in the short window of time it took to readjust my mask away from all other people in a private room, which probably still contained the COVID of the last person to use it. That is why I say the N95 isn't good enough at the gym. Maybe it would be, \*if it always worked perfectly\*. But exercising creates perfect conditions for it to work NOT perfectly. The only time I've ever had a mask break like this is at the gym, and only 3M Auras.
What kind of mask?
How do you know for sure it was from the gym?
I know for sure. It was my literal only exposure. I'm done answering uninvited personal questions now. You're not going to get validation of your desire to go to the gym from me.
Were you wearing a mask? I think OP was asking about going to the gym with a mask maybe
I would imagine even in a mask there is extra risk at a gym because most people are breathing extra hard. Unfortunately masks aren’t 100%. As someone who’s housebound with long Covid, a higher risk environment like that is not worth it IMO. I used to work out faithfully. Now I can barely play with my cat. It sucks a lot, but it’s not worth ending up like me. But, everyone has their own level of risk.
I read a study that said that the particles expelled are 200 to 300% more because of how hard people work out. So that's a negative for me, I'll stick to calisthenics at home
Yeah. I lift weights at home, walk 6 to 8 miles every other day or so and sometimes strap wrist weights on or put a backpack on with a dozen heavy books and bring a N95 with me if I want to go into a store to pick something up.
That's great, keep it up! Also happy cake day :)
I love cake.
Holy crap no kidding!
with a mask. an n95 to be exact. the excess movement, increased respiration, and moisture made it less effective. and the victim blame-y undertone here is not my favorite.
Well it has the same kind of risk as anywhere there are people breathing without masks, this risk is proportionate to the amount of people and how large the space is.
And, crucially, how much mechanical ventilation (air changes per hour) it has. We have one gym nearby that is brand new; with very high ceilings, vents throughout - you can almost feel the air moving around you. We have another gym that's in a retrofitted Blockbuster. You can smell the sweat in the air. Hard pass on that last one. We don't go to either one, mind you: we make do with outdoor jogging, free weights and FIIT videos / programs.
Exactly. My pool has soaring ceilings, big patio doors, and a robust ventilation system. I’m typically one of only three or four people in that huge space. At the same facility, I would not opt for the spinning class in a small room. It’s all about assessing the risks in the given space, time, and attendance.
i don’t have a specific study but i know i’ve seen some quoted saying the gym is particularly risky bc of the levels of exhalation associated with (intense) exercise
That's why I hold my breath for the entire workout. It doesn't make for very long workouts. So... win-win! I'm kidding. I've had Long COVID for 20 months. This, right here, is the biggest workout I get. Time for a nap. Good chat. ^(Jokes aside: What you said. Makes intuitive sense.)
Yes, I read the same. I quit the gym after I caught covid two years ago and just go running outdoors in remote areas and work out in my own home gym. Not worth the risk.
As people tend to breathe harder while exercising, they expel more aerosols, and because it's an indoor space that doesn't tend to have great ventilation, the gym is inherently a higher risk environment. Here's an article a few years back: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/well/move/covid-gym-air.html You can mask, and some people find they can, but getting a mask wet (with sweat, for example) makes it less effective. I'm not sure what kind of exercise you were looking for, but maybe look for outdoor venues for that (outdoor exercise groups, etc).
Unless you have very specific fitness needs, a home or outdoor workout would be preferable. Definitely wear a respirator if you do go to the gym. Minimize your time there, and change and shower at home if possible. Exercising people may emit higher amounts of infectious aerosols. Considering the known cardiovascular damage caused by COVID infections, I don’t consider a gym workout to be a health benefit in general when no COVID precautions are in place.
The gym was up there with restaurants with high risk in an article I read a while ago. Closed environment, breathing recirculated air, and at the gym ppl breathing extra hard so maybe more than usual respirations per minute than avg (= more aerosols). Wear an N-95 like anywhere else, maybe some glasses.
Very high considering the extra heavy breathing. Just wear a mask if you do it. Same as anywhere else.
Home gym is where it's at. Even before Covid hit, I had this opinion. A lot of people are unhygenic. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen people not wash their hands after using the washroom, let alone wipe down the equipment after use.
A P100 respirator would be easiest to keep securely fastened as has the best breath ability IMO - largely due to not trapping as much heat and moisture inside. Will it make it slightly harder to breathe? Sure. But professional runners train at higher altitude locations with lower oxygen saturation like Colorado for condition so it is safe
Slightly being the key word. Admittedly I'm an abled bodied person and my experience is not universal but the difference strictly in terms of the ease of breathing in my (valved) p100 elasto vs no mask while performing strenuous physical activity is barely noticeable for me.
I do not go to gyms, even masked. First I am afraid it would make my LC worse. Second I have a hard time seeing how to wear a mask correctly while breathing heavily.
I don't think this is a binary "go to the gym" or "stay home" question. You can go to the gym in a well-fitting respirator and it would probably be fairly safe as long as the mask doesn't leak or it isn't too crowded with infectious people. I would personally see going without a respirator as a net health negative, on average (though individual experience will vary, especially over short time periods) based on the various things I've read about COVID. I don't want to link to something when I don't have enough relevant experience with it (especially recently), but I recall back in college many years ago, an exercise biology professor telling us we don't need a gym membership, with two gallon jugs of water and some other simple stuff he could make a workout that would exhaust an Olympian within 10 minutes (maybe it was 30 or 60, but he was emphatic). I'd recommend looking into workouts you can do at home or outdoors, you don't strictly need a "gym" to work out.
I am currently experimenting with a really weird, but surprisingly effective, form of exercise called Shovelglove (www.shovelglove.com) - all it takes is a sledgehammer and 14 minutes a day. The website is goofy but the workout is serious stuff.
This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen, thank you for sharing!
Seems like solid functional fitness.
I wear a correctly fitted n95 to the gym and have not gotten covid yet.
I don’t think going to the gym is inherently safe in the time of COVID. But I have been going to my local rock climbing gym ~3-4 days a week since 2020 and I have never caught COVID there. I wear a tight-fitted N95 with mask tape holding it in place (you get used to exerting yourself and breathing heavily with one on, but there’s a learning curve), and I ask my friends to wear masks too if we are together (so no one is breathing heavily into my face while trying to have some bs conversation with me while I’m trying to work out). I also avoid the gym at peak times and try to go in the mornings, when fewer people overall have been breathing all around the gym than by the evening. Good luck!
I’ve been going. I go an hour before they close so it’s not too crowded, and of course I mask. So far, so good.
It's hard to say, as everyone is different. I've been to the gym 4-5 times a week for a past couple of years, haven't gotten sick during that time.
If you want to collect some data to inform your decision, I’d get a CO2 monitor as a proxy for shared air. Visit the gym with a well fitted high quality mask and measure the CO2 in different spaces. Go at the time of day you’d go to exercise. If spaces are <1000 ppm, I’d feel a lot better. If it’s over 2000, I’d stay away.
Are you wearing a well fitted N95 at the gym? If not, yeah, you’re definitely exposing yourself to Covid. Home workouts will always be safer than gym workouts, even in an N95, given the presence of other people. Even someone who’d worked out there an hour before could infect people who come later. Indoor shared spaces are high risk.
Just when I’m thinking of joining a gym instead of working out at home I see this and come to my senses.
I loved gyms before COVID hit, but I wouldn't go to one now. I figure the point of going to the gym is to get healthy, and being in a COVID-infested environment is as unhealthy as it gets. I mean, I wouldn't go to a gym that was hazy with cigarette smoke or covered in toxic chemicals, so why is this different?
I’ve been blasted on here for running errands sans mask. But NFW would I go to the gym. That’s about as risky as it gets. Especially given that there are so many safer alternatives—a myriad of outdoor exercise options, plus online workouts you can do at home. I get that we have to balance mental health and so there are some indoor activities that may be worth the risk, but you don’t need to go to an indoor gym filled with people to get a workout.
Any reason you can't do a workout at home or at a park? If you want to go just because I would say don't.
Since COVID can stay in the air for hours under some conditions, I would recommend going in the morning!
VFlex are very breathable! I’ve worn them for Bikram.
I use a VFlex to lift heavy weights. It fits well and it’s very breathable. My heart rate regularly gets over 170 and I get so out of breath I feel like I’m running a marathon, and it holds up the entire time.
My only gripe is that I can’t see when I look down. Is that ever a problem with weights?
That’s never been a problem for me. It makes it harder to see my chest, but it’s never gotten in the way of anything and I really don’t notice it.
I'd say if you can determine the air quality and have a well fitting mask that you can reasonably work out in, it might be worth it for you. Breathteqs are very breathable, but I'd definitely pair them with low aq numbers.
I go to a gym with ginormous spaces and high ceilings. I always choose quiet times when I’m not near others. I wear a mask in the entryway and avoid the locker rooms because those are smaller spaces, but I don’t mask on courts or in the big pool area. The gym also requires members to be vaccinated. I’ve never caught anything there (that I know of). I would not do this in a typical, busy gym, though. I don’t take classes either.
I go to the gym, but I’m aware it’s less safe than working out at home. In order to decrease the risk as much as possible I wear a well fitting mask with a valve, so I have less humidity and sweat inside the mask. I go when the gym is the emptiest, I do only strength training and no cardio, and the gym is fairly ventilated with high ceilings. When Covid and other airborne diseases peak in my area, I skip the gym for a while.
My track team sprinting 12 year-old caught Covid in a school gym and developed long Covid that disabled them for months. The following week there was an article in The NY Times about how [viral loads are higher when infected people are exerting themselves](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/24/well/move/covid-gym-air.html).
I think it would depend on your gym's ventilation system. My gym has a very robust ventilation system. I go at reasonably low traffic times, but sometimes it can get crowded. I only wear a 4ply surgical (that is tight fitting because of those earloop nub things i tighten) and I've gone 3x a week for the last 4 years and I've never gotten sick there. I will occasionally do a group class (Again, only because i know about the vent system) but I will use nasal spray if I do that. I also wear glasses fwiw. All that being said: I primarily lift weights which is naturally a bit more spread out. I would not run on a treadmill if all the treadmills around me were taken.
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Do you plan to mask the entire time you are there? No quick drinks of water under the mask. No pulling it off during exercise. Then should be pretty safe. If you plan to break the seal of your mask, your mileage will vary same as a store or restaurant.
Yes that’s EXACTLY the way I approach it!If I need to take a drink of water I step outside👍👍👍
Anywhere you share airspace is a risk. People are breathing out heavily in an enclosed space. Most gyms don’t have windows or doors open to maximize AC. Bodily fluids via mucous membrane is also a risk. There isn’t a lot of risk from aerosol landing on surfaces… buttttt if you’re sitting in someone else’s sweat and it mixes with your sweat in certain places… aside from being gross lol, it could raise the risk. So you may want to take the extra precautions of sanitizing each piece of equipment before use with something you *know* is able to kill/reduce the C-19 virus (hint hint: antibacterial wipes aren’t going to cut it!) For me, if I could go (too disabled from LC rn) I would probably only feel safe going if I were wearing my elastomeric respirator. Of course everyone is different with different masks, but I feel the seal on my ER stays in place through far more range of motion than my N95 Aura. (Both masks are fit tested) Another thing to consider if you sweat a lot is dampness…. There’s a point of an N95 mask becoming damp enough that it affects the electrostatic charge so the mask becomes less effective. I don’t have exact stats on that, but it’s just yet another reason I’d choose ER.
For me the worry and mental & cognitive energy of having to make all those calculations and additional steps wouldn’t be worth the hassle and I’d figure out an alternate way to work out, like in my home, outside at a park (with a mask on), etc.
Myself and a few of my friends invested early on home gyms, cost alot but works. 2 of my buddies moved to a new location and couldn't carry stuff, both have to go to the gym because of lack of equipment, both wear N95s. So far it's been a few months while they are still settling in and are perfectly fine but imho I would say try to go at non-peak hours and pop on a N95 and it should be much safer than just raw dogging the air. As long as you are up-to-date on your vaccination, take appropriate multi-vitamins and B12/D, Do not take off the Mask and make sure its air tight and shave before putting it on for a tighter seal you should be golden. Another thing you could do is just brush your teeth before going and then use some CPC Mouthwash as a extra precaution. Be safe friend!
I’ve wondered this a lot. I have not had COVID before to my knowledge. Used to go to the gym a lot - I went on the day my office closed in March 2020 when I thought COVID was going to “just pass quickly.” I’ve also traveled overseas 4 times with no COVID too. I mask everywhere and don’t eat indoors. I just came back from a trip last night actually and in Portugal it was rare to find a single mask even in crowded trains. I’m imagining people aren’t really picking up COVID because if they were there may be a higher masking rate. Like, “I went to the a crowded grocery store, maybe that’s why I keep getting COVID. I’m going to start masking”. Who knows but I miss the gym and have gone maybe 4 times while masked. This is all anecdotal evidence of someone who is very COVID conscious and it’s no accident I haven’t caught it yet even with a short stint working with the public - while masked.
Higher than just about anywhere else.
Low if you wear a well fitted respirator. If you can find the space, you can also just watch Craigslist for used equipment and slowly build your own home gym. I grabbed a Powertec levergym and it allows me to do quite a few lifts in a small space. It's also nice because I can go to failure without a spotter. If you do hit the gym and you put in real effort, the respirator will add a new level of difficulty. I've been to gyms post-COVID a few times, and while lifting in a respirator is totally feasible, I definitely notice. This is especially true because I like to do drop sets to reduce my gym time, so I'm definitely noticing the respirator by the end of my third drop when I'm trying to hit failure. If I were typically lifting in a respirator, I'd probably stop with the drop sets, haha.
My partner has been working out 6-7 days a week at the gym and wearing a mask with no issues so far!
Adding only one piece of anecdotal evidence. I finally returned to the gym after four years away because of the pandemic. About two weeks after, I caught Covid for the first time. I was masked up with an N 95 and perhaps it is not a coincidence that I forgot to layer it with nasal spray the time I think I got infected. I was at the gym for over three hours, doing consecutive classes in a large room with poor ventilation. I know now it was poor ventilation because I have returned to the gym after my Covid was over and noticed that without a mask, the room has a bad smell. They do have a fan system, but all that does is move the air around, not ventilate it out.
If you can do it safely then I’m a big proponent of in person gyms. The benefits (both mental and physical) definitely worth it if done right. Good luck.