I’m nervous. But I’m going back to the gym this week.
It’s a weird mix of excitement and apprehension to return to the gym after (and I’ve had to count this a few times) nearly 19 months away due to the pandemic.
I said goodbye to the gym in this blog post dated March 9, 2020. It was early days in terms of the pandemic. Gyms were still open.
I was just starting to think about personal risk but also about group effects of our actions during the pandemic, especially for society’s more vulnerable members.
I wrote, “Just remember, it’s not just about you. Jeff makes that point about the larger social good pretty well in the context of conference travel in this blog post over at Boating Adventures.” His focus then was cruise ships. Remember the cruise ships?
I was an early leaver. I remember that. And I’ve been slow to return.
The university gym has been open for awhile but it’s only now that I’m happy to go back.
What’s changed?
Well, the university has a vaccine mandate and almost all of our students are fully vaccinated. Those who aren’t will be unenroled from their face to face classes in the week ahead.
You might worry, well I worried that they could still come to the gym, but the province has also enacted a separate vaccine mandate for gyms and fitness facilities. You need to prove your vaccination status to enter the gym.
And because the university’s vaccine mandate includes staff it means that everyone there will be vaccinated. Regular gyms have a vaccine mandate for customers, enacted by our provincial government, but staff don’t have to be vaccinated. Adherence to the new rules isn’t 100% in the big wide world either. Tracy’s former yoga studio is proudly breaking the law.
Why go back? Weightlifting mostly. I miss the squat rack. It’ll be nice to have a real bench. We’ve been doing backyard personal training but that won’t continue once the snow starts to fall. My son started back at his gym months ago and I miss weightlifting home companionship.
Soon it’ll be me and the students again. I’ve had mixed minds over the years about working out on campus. But you can’t beat the convenience of working out where you work and in terms of covid safety, I don’t think anywhere is better given our strict vaccine mandates.
All reasons point in favour of going back. I’m still not sure how it will feel. I’ll report back.
How about you? You going back to the gym?
