Restaurants opened on May 1. Salons on May 8. Today, gyms will reopen with new safety protocols in place. It’s been one of the biggest sticking points inside the gay community — sometimes jokingly, sometimes resignedly about the lack of fitness options and weight gain, sometimes angrily as an impingement on social life. But will opening up be a good thing for our health… or our friendships?
“I guess my bigger concern is losing my currently-limited social network if I do make the choice [to head back to the gym],” one gay Dallas man, who has scrupulously maintained social distancing but has been antsy about less exercise, told me. “Would you be less comfortable hanging out with me if I did go to the gym?”
The shutdown has already taken a toll on the industry, with Dallas-based Gold’s Gym closing its North Texas locations.
So that’s the question of the day: How much do you want to get back in the gym with the limitations (gloves, facemasks, all wet areas closed) in place? “I might just wait and see if the second wave hits hard in three weeks,” the former gym rat tells me. What about you?
— Arnold Wayne Jones
