Whether you’re gearing up to hit the weights room again, to grind through a WOD or to sweat it out at one of our outdoor classes, your first post-lockdown gym visit will look a little different to your last visit in 2020. Of course, it’s all to do with safety and respecting other members, but that doesn’t mean you can’t put in the hard work. Below, we’ve assembled six of our most applicable snippets of advice that you can utilise during your first visit. After all, it’s been a while…
Hand sanitiser
Let’s start with a no-brainer. Make sure that you have a bottle of hand sanitiser in your gym bag at all times and give it the same emphasis as you’d give your trainers or your post-workout shake. Ideally, it’d be a small enough bottle to stash away in your pockets as you progress through your workout and use intermittently. It’ll help keep you and others safe.
Wipe down kit
Hopefully, even before the pandemic, you wiped down your equipment after use. These days, however, it’s even more imperative that you do so — taking more time to thoroughly scrub everything you use, whether that’s a dumbbell, kettlebell, barbell, assault bike or anything else. Our best piece of advice is to keep a pack of anti-bacterial wipes in your gym bag and stash a few in your pockets to use after each set. Our clubs will also have these on hand if you forget yours.
Keep up your fitness at home
We’re all used to garden WODs, lounge mobility and burpees in the kitchen now, so be sure to keep up your fitness at home. After all, a well-rounded training routine doesn’t have to be limited to the confines of your nearest gym and we’ll still be running our virtual classes On-Demand to help you get a sweat on at home.
Go lighter
As it’s been harder to replicate your go-to workouts while working (out) from home, your strength and fitness levels may have decreased since you were last in the gym. But, relax — it’s to be expected. When you return to the gym after April 12, approach your workout with a ‘lighter’ mindset and make sure you’re using lighter weights with less intensity than before. Your next 1RM or max effort sprint won’t be far off, after all, so just check your ego and be sensible about it. Rome wasn’t re-built in a day…
Plan and schedule your workouts
If you’re feeling particularly cautious or anxious about returning to the gym during a busy time, it’s totally natural and, chances are, there are many others feeling the same way. If it works with your schedule, find an hour or two in your day that you know the gym will be quieter, helping you put your mind at ease.
Similarly, our COVID-safe outdoor classes at Canary Wharf and Tower Bridge are capped at 20-24 spaces and each participant will have their own space and equipment, with each class lasting 45 minutes to allow time for cleaning between each session.
Don’t pressure yourself
If there ever was a time to emphasise the progressive element of exercise, it would be now. Your strength and fitness levels will be different to your first visit — as we’ve mentioned, your 1RM is likely to be different, but you could be fitter in other ways! So don’t feel the need to match your training style. Similarly, if you only want to visit the gym once or twice a week and balance it out with home workouts or outdoor runs, that works just as well.
