Gymnasiums and fitness studios in Coimbatore that remained closed for nearly five months due to COVID-19 lockdown reopened on Monday.
The reopening of the facilities was allowed after the State Government issued detailed guidelines for gym goers and managements.
A senior official with the Revenue Department said the facilities would be monitored in the coming days to ensure all the guidelines were followed.
Gym managements here have advised clients not to wear mask during workouts as it may cause difficulty in breathing. Instead they were asked to wear face shield and gloves.
They were permitted inside gyms after checking temperature with thermal scanner. Equipment were realigned on gym floors to maintain the six feet gap as per the guidelines.
Clients were also asked to carry their own gloves, towels, mat and skipping rope.
K. Rahul, a fitness enthusiast, said that he wanted to restart the workout regime, as full regular workouts were not done during the lockdown.
R. Senthil Kumar, chief executive officer of Sane Fitness Center at Race Course in Coimbatore, said they were also checking the oxygen saturation level of clients using pulse oximeter.
“Persons who have saturation level below 95 % (SpO2), those who have co-morbidities, those aged above 50 and below 15 and pregnant women will not be permitted for workouts. As clients have not come to the gym for several months, trainers give special instructions to clients,” he said.
Sanitiser dispensers were arranged in all gyms. Large gyms that employ housekeeping staff have made arrangements to clean the surfaces of equipment with disinfectant solution after they are used by each client.
The reopening of gyms was also a relief for operators who bore the brunt of lockdown.
“Operators of small, medium and large gymnasiums alike suffered huge loss after the training facilities remained closed due to lockdown. Managements had to take care of electricity bill, building rent and salary of instructors,” said Mr. Beethovan.
Salem
Gyms and fitness centres started functioning in Salem from Monday. P. Prakash, who operates a fitness chain in Salem, said all safety measures were being followed. “All customers are provided with gloves and personal hand sanitisers. Each equipment is disinfected after usage and only 20 persons are allowed to use the facility in one session,” he said.
