ARE GYMS SUPERSPREADERS?

The Fitness Industry in Maldives can be known as one industry that has suffered most during the COVID19 pandemic. Fitness most commonly known a public health service sectors is one industry that has been built and develop by local fitness professionals turned business personals.  

Going back in time the little I have researched and known the Industry was born in Maldives during 1989 with the born of the first commercial fitness center Male’ Fitness Club. From the start in the past 30+ years of history the industry would have lost count of how many fitness centers are operated in the Maldives. (There is no formal standard and platform to register fitness centers) 

March 2020 was a historic month for the industry where some of the club owners gathered due to concern of COVID19 and decided to shut down the centers for 7 to 10 days which was later officially called on for a shut down by Health Protection Agency of Maldives and remained closed for about 03 months or more. The financial consequences on the club owners and freelance trainers was heavy. But the industry was resilient and tough and was looking to bounce back after reopening to a new normal. 

Fitness centers has been classed as a highly contagious place by the local authorities and is on the list of immediate actions from the opening to new normal at the beginning of July 2020. The actions taken on the fitness centers and freelance trainers have had a lot of mental and psychological effects on many, every surge in COVID19 cases locally the authorities hits at fitness centers and personal trainers immediately! But why is one of the preventive public health sector attacked? 

Since the beginning of January I have been very keen to study and know the infection rate in local gyms/fitness centers however there is no concrete numbers which could determine that gyms/fitness centers are the superspreaders. I took time to gather information on some large studies conducted on infection rates and community transmission from fitness facilities by reliable fitness organizations, below are the details. 

FINDINGS IN ENGLAND  

ukactive is an NGO presenting commercial fitness center and fitness facility to promote health and wellbeing in the region of United Kingdom. The NGO conducted a study from July 25th to August 16 2020, with 1300 fitness facility with 8 million member check-in’s 17 cases of COVID19 was discovered. 

FINDINGS IN AUSTRALIA  

FitnessAustralia is the largest Industry organization in Australia, which again is one of the governing bodies of Fitness in the region. 

The study conducted from 13th July to 13th August 2020, with 423 fitness facilities across New South Wales with 6.23 million member check-in’s 13 cases reported, with zero reported community spread. 

FINDINGS IN UNITED STATES  

IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association) is the worlds leading industry association partnered with MXM a knowledge transfer company to conduct one of the largest study conducted to understand the transmission of COVID19 through fitness facilities. 2873 Fitness facilities around US participated in the study. 49.9 million check-ins in 2873 Fitness Facilities with 1155 reported cases which is 0.0023% infection rate. The study also states the risk will and can never be zero to any business. Out of the few events which caught the attention of the authorities were just a few superspreader events that occurred which could be managed and controlled with proper safety guidelines in place. 

Also the Center for Disease Control (CDC) gathered data and published found no evidence about COVID19 positive and visiting a gym. We should not argue that the study confirmed that gyms are totally safe but it’s an indication that operations of gyms and fitness centers can remain safe with proper safety guidelines and protocols. 

I am not deriving a conclusion that gyms are 100% safe, as many of us will agree there is potential danger in every business, even visiting a shop but the limited numbers shows that fitness businesses can operate around safety guidelines, the business can offer safety and confidence to the members. 

I am still keen to know numbers gathered by Health Protection Agency (HPA) about the infection rate and community transmission through gym in the Maldives. And also urge authorities to sit down with the Fitness Industry stake holders to come to terms to save many businesses and personal trainers suffering. I do believe every action taken modern days should be subject to data, findings and evidence not simply thoughts. 

References: 

SOURCE International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA) 

SOURCE FitnessAustralia

SOURCE ucactive 

HEART RATE TRAINING

In my previous article I had a look at MAF (Maximal Aerobic Function), which is a great way to build a base! I am going to further look at Heart Training which includes ZONES. 

Knowing how Heart Rate (HR) can influence your training is simple, and you do not have to be an athlete or a professional to know some of the little details that could help you train effective using your heart rate. 

I am going to take you through some basics of how to identify some key numbers and how to use them on your training.

By definition, heart rate is the number of times your heart beats in a minute. 

The best thing about training with heart rate is that it’s based on your true level of exertion and nobody else’s, no assumption and it's unique to yourself. The heart muscles are no different than any other muscles, it gets stronger when you train them! 

WHAT IS MAXIMUM HEART RATE (MHR) 

This is the average maximum time your heart should be beating per minute during an exercise session, most commonly calculated with 220 - age. Example for a 40 year old. 220 - 40 = 180 

WHAT IS RESTING HEART RATE (RHR) 

Your resting heart rate is the number of times your heart beats per minute when you’re at rest. A good time to check is in the morning after you’ve had a good night’s sleep,

HEART RATE RESERVE (HRR) 

HRR = Maximum Heart Rate (MHR) - Resting Heart Heart (RHR), can be defined as how much your heart rate can speed up during exercise. 

CALCULATING THE TRAINING ZONE 

HR ZONE 5 - 90%+ of MHR 

HR ZONE 4 - 80 to 89% of MHR 

HR ZONE 3 - 70 to 79% of MHR 

HR ZONE 2 - 60 to 69% of MHR 

HR ZONE 1 - 50 to 59% of MHR

The training zones can be explained with a very simplified chart, I have taken the above data/chart from www.polar.com which represent one of the most true zones when it comes to aerobic training. 

The next step is calculating the zones. Whilst there are many different ways I will opt for Karvonen Fomula, why I chose this is simply because heart rate being unique to yourself it also uses Resting Heart Rate which is a another figure unique to yourself and describes your aerobic condition at some level. Here is a sample calculation for a 40 year old with RHR of 65bpm. 

220 - 40 (age in years) = 180bpm
180bpm (MHR) - 65bpm (RHR) = 115 (HRR) 

70% (Training Zone) x 115bpm (HRR) + 65bpm (RHR) = 145.5 bpm
80% (Training Zone) x 115bpm (HRR) + 65bpm (RHR) = 157bpm

What you see here is the 145bpm - 157bpm is the ZONE 3 (GREEN) in the above training zone chart. 

PUTTING UP YOUR WEEKLY RUNNING PLAN 

Simplifying things a little, I would like to give some status to zones mentioned above. Have a look at the chart below. 

HR ZONE 5 - 90%+ of MHR - RUNNING ECONOMY 

HR ZONE 4 - 80 to 89% of MHR - STAMINA 

HR ZONE 3 - 70 to 79% of MHR - STAMINA 

HR ZONE 2 - 60 to 69% of MHR - ENDURANCE 

HR ZONE 1 - 50 to 59% of MHR - ENDURANCE 

ENDURANCE: Mostly on ZONE 1 & 2, the main objective of these runs should be start from a point A and to reach point B keeping your HR under 70% of your MHR, pace and time time taken to reach from A to B is not relevant all what matters would be staying under the 70% of your MHR. 

STAMINA: Think of the point A and point B again, but this time you shall be maintaining your Heart Rate at Zone 3 to 4, you should not be slowing down the objective is to prepare yourself to race. If you are a new comer to running, start with a shorter time and increase time as you gain experience, fitness and confidence. 

RUNNING ECONOMY: Adding more power to your engine, this prepares you to race, build your leg strength, mostly you should be training at a 90%+ of your MHR which is ZONE 5, when you train at ZONE five this should include Interval training, hills sprints (I mostly do this on the bridge) and Fartlek training (Speed Play) 

Now that you are aware of the these types of runs you should be including on your weekly plan, the next question is how much? 

Majority of your runs should be Endurance focused (Zone 1 to 2) with one Stamina (Zoen 3 to 4) session and one Running Economy session (Zone 5), here is an example! 

Saturday - Endurance 

Sunday - Rest 

Monday - Stamina 

Tue - Endurance 

Wednesday - rest 

Thu - Running Economy 

Friday - Endurance 

References: 

1. www.polar.com - Heart Training Zones (website) 
2. Heart Rate Training, Human Kinetics, Roy Benson & Declan Connolly, 3-85 
3. American Heart Association, Recommendations in Physical Activity for Adults, Target Heart Rate Charts (website)