AUGUSTA, Maine — If you're on a kick to get healthier in January, you're not alone. That's a New Year's resolution for many people nationwide annually — and it may include losing weight, eating better, or working out more frequently.
After nearly two years of a global pandemic, you might be considering rejoining your gym. The problem now is the highly-contagious omicron variant.
Cliff McHatten, 69, used to swim at the Kennebec Valley YMCA five or six days a week. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, he had to stop his visits altogether and resort to walking and hiking outside. It wasn't quite the same.
"I have a lot of close acquaintances here that I share the same goals with, and that's to stay healthy and well," McHatten said about the YMCA.
Recently, McHatten has been getting back into the routine of going to the YMCA three days a week, but he's being extra cautious in doing so. He said he's worried about the omicron variant, particularly since he has a compromised immune system.
"I tend to wear a mask from the time I enter the building until the time I leave the building, except when I'm swimming," McHatten said.
Zoe Boudreau, membership and marketing director at the Kennebec Valley YMCA, said staying as "normal as possible" while keeping guests safe is her team's goal.
"[We're] really just kind of trying to keep class counts low, [keep] spacing in classes low. We've utilized different areas of the facility to kind of get creative with how we do that," Boudreau said.
Boudreau said membership at the Kennebec Valley YMCA plummeted at the beginning of the pandemic because the facility was closed for three months. She said the YMCA lost about 1,400 members and is still about 800 short of what it once was. The membership losses and staffing shortages in 2020 and 2021 have resulted in a change of hours.
"We thought originally we were going to be closed for a couple of weeks," Boudreau said.
Boudreau said guidelines have changed constantly. At first, the YMCA was doing a strict health screening of every visitor. Once the vaccination rate picked up, the YMCA shifted to an open policy for masking. Boudreau said masking and social distancing are strongly encouraged with the prevalence of the omicron variant. People coming in can sign up for heavier-volume classes at the front desk or on the phone. They can also do the same to get pool time.
Phoenix Mourning-Star, the founder of P9 Fitness, said the omicron variant is moving through the community much more quickly than other variants. As a result, workout facilities need to be paying attention to what's happening in their region, county, or city.
Mourning-Star said even though omicron variant cases aren't typically as serious as the delta variant or the original COVID-19 strain, very young and very old people and those who are immunocompromised are still at risk. People who weren't originally high-risk may be now due to time spent stuck at home and being less active during the pandemic.
"You might find that some of your family members [or] maybe yourself ... might be moving into maybe a little bit more high-risk category because we haven't been exercising, and we're actually gaining a little bit more weight and losing our resilience in general health," Mourning-Star said.
Anthony Oglesby is in the process of opening All Out Fitness off of Interstate 95 in Augusta and hopes to open the doors by the end of this month. He said the project has been a "nightmare." Construction started a few weeks before the pandemic began and took about two years longer than initially anticipated. COVID-19 also brought about a need for some changes.
"We changed how much equipment we put into place. We socially distanced everything so it will be six feet apart," Oglesby said. "We haven't even filled every locker spot so that we can socially distance lockers."
Oglesby said every bathroom will have its own changing stall, and there will be makeup stations in the women's locker room so people don't end up crowded around sinks. He said there will also be more sanitizing stations, and staff members will clean equipment before and after use.
This facility — complete with a spa, tanning area, aromatherapy pods, haircuts, manicures, and online classes — is more like a "lifestyle center," according to Oglesby. He said he believes people are looking forward to what's to come.
"People are pretty excited about it, and I think they're ready to get out and start working out," Oglesby said.
If you're interested in getting back into a fitness routine, Mourning-Star recommends meeting with your family doctor to find out where your health stands and how much you can handle. He said it's best to ease into it.