Six weeks ago I stepped back onto the Deerfoot GoodLife Fitness gym floor after seven months away. With all the new safety regulations related to COVID-19 and the potential for infection, I didn’t know what to expect.
All I know is I had to get back to training. I was getting soft and weak in all the wrong places. But I didn’t need to worry. GoodLife Fitness has been doing a bang up job in keeping the gym community safe.
Like all the gyms and recreation facilities, GoodLife Fitness was closed for a few months in the early days of the pandemic. Once things seemingly died down (and the province gave the go ahead), the gym reopened with limited capacity, hours and a whole set of safety rules.
For example, we had to book our time on the gym floor and classes. I didn’t mind this since the gym also revamped its app so the process was seamless. I waited a couple of months before I re-activated my account.
Within a few weeks of reactivating my account, the rules at GoodLife Fitness changed again. This time the booking slots were limited and the open gym time was expanded without the need to book in advance. Either way was fine with me.
Straight away, I noticed the cleanliness of the gym floor. Specifically I noticed the men wiping down the machines/equipment as instructed – before and after the workouts. Men wiping down machines? That in itself is a huge win.
A few people were wearing masks while training. We had to wear masks entering and leaving the gym, and also in the change rooms. The gym also reduced the number of lockers in the change room.
On the floor gym staff are always around spraying and wiping something down. Last week I noticed (who I think was) an inspector from Alberta Health Services chatting with one of the gym staff.
Great to see the gym taking the social distancing and the pandemic so seriously. We haven’t heard of any COVID cases related to this gym so it must be working.
How am I doing?
I eased back with my usual weight training split. I eased into things with light weights because I know how several months of inconsistency can affect strength. Muscle memory, will eventually kick in. I’m back to four days a week of training. When I worked at the office, I went every day at lunch because the gym was down the street. (Now I have to drive 15 minutes to the gym – which is slightly annoying. )
Getting back into the gym of things has taken a few weeks but I am starting to enjoy it again – especially when I don’t have to wait for a bench or weights.
Are you training at a gym or at home during the pandemic? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.