Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw. (Government of Alberta)

By David Opinko

Province aims to clarify “confusing” gym rules

Mar 2, 2021 | 4:32 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Monday’s announcement of eased restrictions on indoor fitness facilities left many Albertans scratching their heads.

This is something the provincial government has taken note of, so Minister of Health Tyler Shandro and Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Deena Hinshaw tried to clear up what the new rules mean.

READ MORE: Alberta moves to Step 2 of easing restrictions, but limited version

The good news, says Shandro, is that if you operate an indoor fitness facility in the province, you can open it now.

Dr. Hinshaw explained that they are using a model similar to what B.C. has implemented where it differentiates “low intensity” and “high intensity” activities.

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She says that model has been successful in the Pacific Province for several months now.

“We know that COVID-19 spreads in droplets, and when we are engaged in high-intensity activities, defined as you heard the minister say, as activities where our breathing rate gets faster, we know that we produce more droplets and increase the risk of virus spread.”

The Alberta Government has classified low-intensity and high-intensity exercises as follows:

• Low-intensity individual and group exercises are now allowed without a trainer.
  • Low-intensity fitness includes activities not focused specifically on cardio, that have a low depth and rate of respiration.
  • Examples include barre, pilates, stretching, tai-chi, low-intensity yoga (e.g. hatha, yin), light weightlifting, indoor rock climbing.
• High-intensity activities are permitted for one-on-one or one-on-one household training only, with a trainer.
  • High-intensity fitness is often focused on cardiovascular activities that have a high depth and rate of respiration.
  • Examples include bodybuilding/heavy weightlifting, aerobics, rowing, Zumba, Bootcamp, circuit training, cross-fit, dance fitness, high-intensity interval training, kickboxing, spin, power yoga, swimming, etc.

“Low-intensity fitness is stuff that doesn’t make you breathe significantly harder than you usually do,” says Shandro. “High-intensity fitness is any kind of exercise that does make you breathe a lot harder than usual, and the higher your heart rate, the higher your breathing rate will be.”

He adds that it will be up to gym operators to decide which categories each of their activities fall under.

“We’re not looking for opportunities to hand out tickets, we’re not looking to close businesses. We want people to use gyms and other facilities safely. Enforcement, remember, is only ever a last resort.”

The province will be hosting a telephone town hall with fitness operators “shortly” to answer any questions they might have. Details on the timing or how to take part was not elaborated.

Earlier Tuesday afternoon, LNN spoke with a local gym operator to see how they are trying to make sense of the new COVID-19 regulations and how they are implementing them in their facilities.

READ MORE: What you can and can’t do in an Alberta gym