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Fitness is Essential: Gyms Make the Case for Reopening

A healthy body can be a defense against COVID-19.
by Pia Regalado
21 hours ago
Photo/s: Shutterstock
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Strength coach Ace Rubio has been training clients with mall-bought dumbbells for 18 months and counting and he's worried that they won't get the gains they work out for. When Metro Manila shifts to a new quarantine on Sept. 16, gyms will be among the few businesses that will stay shut.

Saying #FitnessIsEssential, the fitness industry is in talks with President Rodrigo Duterte's economic adviser to allow gyms to reopen with COVID safeguards in place, for the sake of those like Rubio whose livelihood is in peril and for those see exercise as a way of looking after their mental.

"Sana medyo luwagan na rin... Kami 'yung unang pinapasara, kami 'yung huling bubuksan. 'Di lang naman 'yung mga trainers 'yung kawawa, even 'yung mga staff, utilities. Lahat naman 'yun may pamilya din," Rubio told reportr.

"Iba 'yung equipment sa bahay, iba 'yung equipment sa gym," said Rubio, who specializes in strength conditioning and weight control.

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The Philippine Fitness Alliance, which represents fitness chains like Anytime Fitness, Gold's Gym, Fitness First, Slimmer's World, underscored the need of millions under lockdown to have a safe place exclusively for exercise.

"It is also our goal to educate more people that #FitnessisEssential. That we are not the risk, rather we can help provide the solution," the group said in a Facebook post.

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Gym operators were surprised that they would not be allowed to reopen even at 10% capacity to fully vaccinated people when Metro Manila shifts to Alert Level 4, contrary to what was earlier agreed, Mico Gutierrez of Anytime Fitness told DZBB.

"Unfortunately po, hindi po kami nasama so we're still trying to appeal baka maisama pa rin po kami," he said. The group is in talks with Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion to appeal the decision.

Gutierrez challenged the allegation that there's no proper physical distancing at gyms. With at least 10% capacity, each person can have 40 square meter to themselves in a 400 square meter gym, the average size of an Anytime Fitness club, he said. That's a bigger space for one person compared to some studio condo units.

Gyms are also efficient in contact tracing, he said, given that only gym members can avail their service. Part of fitness clubs' anti-COVID protocol is to also regularly sanitize their equipment. Some gyms were also awarded the government's Safety Seal, which determines if a particular space is safe to visit, he said.

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"Now if the government really insists that we are a public threat then can our industry be given support or concessions as a distressed industry?" said the Philippine Fitness Alliance.

Under the new alert system guidelines, gyms, fitness studios, spas, swimming pools and other leisure centers can only operate at 30% capacity once an area is placed under Alert Level 3, that's one notch lower than the capital region's current classification.

Fitness industry as health partner

The gym operators' alliance, which was formed to help the fitness industry weather the pandemic, said exercise improves the overall well-being and the body's general immune response.

A study that involved 50,000 adult COVID-19 patients in 2020 showed that physical inactivity puts people at higher risk for severe COVID-19. Another study published in Sports Medicine in April 2021 showed that physical activity is associated with reduced risk of infectious diseases and death. Exercise also increases the potency of COVID-19 vaccines, it said.

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Gold's Gym president and CEO Mylene Mendoza-Dayrit told the Philippine Star that the fitness industry would accept whatever operating capacity the government would approve.

"If that means no group exercise, mask-at-all-times and entry for vaccinated only, then so be it," she said.

"Our industry just needs a spark of business — no matter if it’s just a trickle of our normal — since a continuous whirl, no matter how slow, can provide us the momentum to bounce back and passionately serve the community."

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