Gyms ready to roll out new safety protocols
TEMPERATURE checks are to be made compulsory and towels banned in some gyms across the country, as facilities move equipment outside so members can safely resume exercise classes.
David Lloyd, the biggest gym operator in the UK, is offering an array of classes ranging from “boot-camp style” workouts to yoga and Pilates around its external pools, garden areas and tennis courts from this week. Describing the expanded range of outdoor activities at 50 of its centres in England as the “new normal”, the chain hopes to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by initially limiting the sessions to six adults at a time.
In anticipation of the Government allowing indoor gyms to possibly reopen on July 4, David Lloyd has also revealed enhanced safety proposals to keep staff safe and give members the confidence to return.
Following recent trials at two of its clubs in Warrington and Chigwell, it hopes to use thermal imaging technology to check the temperature of all employees and gym members to see if any are symptomatic upon entry. The company is also advising members to arrive in “clean kit” and to not bring their own hand towels as the club will provide its own disposable ones instead.
Russell Barnes, the chief operating officer at David Lloyd, said: “We are ensuring we adhere to the restrictions we still have to meet, which is no more than groups of six, with five individuals and an instructor. They are socially distanced and all equipment is cleaned and washed down between classes during 15-minute intervals between them. The workout sessions will feel quite intimate, but there will also be more of an awareness of the space around them.”
Gym companies have said members are eager to return to familiar equipment after months of home exercise during the lockdown. Sophie Lawler, the chief executive of Total Fitness, added: “All of the data suggests members are ready to return and appreciate gyms are one of the safer places to be.”