Living room workouts now optional, as Montreal fitness centres reopen

For the first time in nearly six months, fitness enthusiasts in and around Montreal no longer have to settle for working out in their living rooms or basements, as gyms and other indoor training facilities in the province's red zones are allowed to reopen.

They had been closed since Oct. 1.

There are restrictions, however. Ownerswill need to keep a registry of people who attend in case there are outbreaks.People will only be able to train solo, with one other person, or with multiple people from the same household.

"My phone hasn't stopped ringing since the announcement," said Luis Argumedes, the owner of Centre U Fit in Montreal's Anjou neighbourhood, who has appointments for hourly training sessions booked for the entire day.

"I have twelve straight clients until 7 p.m. tonight. The next couple days will be very busy. We're planning to work at least 10 to 12 hours per day to make sure we see as many clients as possible and we can make everybody happy."

The reopening of fitness centres is part of a series of changes to health restrictions in red zones that have come into effect, including the reopening of spas and show venues. Gatherings of up to 250 people to gather in places of worship are alsoallowed, depending on the building's capacity, but that limit shrinks to 25 in the event of a funeral or a wedding.

Cases on the rise?

The loosening of restrictions are happening even ascases of COVID-19 appear to beon the rise once again, with the presence of more transmissible variants of the virus.

Public health experts have expressed concern that things may be reopening too quickly, exacerbating an expected third wave of infections.

When the government announced the new rules two weeks ago, Dr. Richard Mass,the strategic medical advisor for Quebec Public Health, saidgyms and other sports facilitieshave been the site of outbreaks in the past.

He also said he was confident that operators will follow the conditions that accompany the relaxed rules.

"I'm definitely very excited to finally work out tonight," saidThorin Malaka, a 17-year-old personal trainer.

"I just had a meeting with my gym yesterday and we went over all of thenew safety procedures, so we're definitely being pretty safe. We're disinfecting[equipment] all the time. We have limits on how many people we can have. I'd say it's even safer than the first time they opened the gyms back in June."

Argumedes saidhis fitness centre is different from many others because hisclients are always accompanied by a trainer, so he's not worried about outbreaks.

"We don't have an open gym concept, so people just can't come here and train on their own," he said.

However, Argumedes admits he is worried about having to close down again in the near future if the situation in Montreal deteriorates.

"It's concerning obviously. With what's going on around the world, we really need to be careful, but to be honest I want to take it one day at a time," Argumedes said.

Group outdoor sports and recreational training remain limited to a maximum of eight people in red zones. As of Friday, that limit went up to 12 people in orange zones.

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