While shifting to an all-virtual version of Composite has been going better than expected – it’s only sort of a total clusterfuck – I know a bunch of our beta-testers, like me, are looking forward to returning to in-gym, fully-equipped workouts. While we’ve gotten creative, and made do surprisingly well with whatever odds and ends people have on hand (even if that’s, frequently, just their own bodies), it’s just far more effective and efficient to train using barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, and other purpose-built tools.

That said, in the midst of this pandemic, gyms definitely can’t operate as they did before. And though I’ve seen a bunch of gyms’ prospective sets of post-opening changes and accommodations, I don’t think most go nearly far enough. Or, put another way, I don’t think I’d feel safe working out in those gyms myself in those conditions, much less recommending it to anyone else. Which, frankly, isn’t surprising; given the constraints of existing business models, there’s only so much they can do before they bankrupt out in the process.

So, my team and I are working on a skunkworks project: seeing if, starting from scratch, it’s possible to stand up a solution that works. Though it would be inherently temporary – only operating until the viral risk recedes – we hope it can get us and our clients making progress, safely, in a way that we can’t elsewhere.

It’s definitely still a work in progress. But here a few of the things we think a gym would need to sanely operate in this environment:

Space. Simply put, the now-proverbial ‘six feet’ isn’t nearly far enough, especially in an environment where people are breathing hard. (See, also, also.) Based on our probabilistic modeling, we think people need more like 15 feet of mean separation – or a whopping 225 sqft per exerciser. In other words, you need a ton of space, and a very small number of simultaneous members.

Masks. We’ve seen several gyms put up regulations requiring masks, except when people are ‘exercising vigorously.’ As my father, a pulmonologist at Stanford, put it: that’s a bit like requiring condoms, except for when people are actually having sex. In other words: masks, for everyone, all the time. Additionally, not all masks are created equal. Though there’s a balance between filtration, breathability, comfort, and liquid resistance (especially important when people are sweating up a storm), we think ASTM-2 or ASTM-3 surgical masks strike that balance best, and they’re tested / certified for consistency in a way that most masks aren’t. As people probably can’t round those up on their own, gyms would need to provide them to members coming in the door, for single workout-use.

Ventilation / Filtration. Even after cutting down viral emissions with a mask, and separating people in space, air flow patterns within a space are a huge issue, able to quickly carry particles clear across even large rooms. So, in short, gyms need ventilation modeled after operating rooms: designed to pull air out of the room as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, most AC systems are built with the opposite intention: spreading a body of air throughout an entire the space, rather than sucking it directly out. Minimally, we think a safe gym needs ten air-changes per hour, supplemented with an equally robust HEPA filtration system, to get viral particles out ASAP.

Sterilization: Depending on members to wipe down equipment just isn’t going to cut it. Is someone supposed to wipe down every barbell, plate, collar, dumbbell, bench, etc., etc. that they touch throughout their whole workout? Instead, we think equipment management needs to work more like, say, provided gym towels do currently. After anything is touched, that equipment is set aside as ‘dirty’ until staff can completely sterilize it, and replace it for use by a subsequent member. Doing that at scale probably involves electrostatically disinfecting everything between uses, the same technique used in many hospital ORs.

Managing that all is incredibly tough. To make it work, you probably need about a thousand square feet to handle just three members and a trainer on staff. You probably need three separate, fully-equipped ‘zones,’ one for each of those members, so they can stay entirely in their own zones, just using the stuff around them. You’d need to schedule their workouts, so that after their hour or 75 minutes of working out, there would be 15-30 minutes for someone to sterilize and reset the equipment before the next member came in to use that zone. And you’d need to have ASTM masks (along with temperature scans) waiting at the front door, as well as a constantly-operating ventiliation/filtration system.

So, fiscally speaking, probably not the best model in terms of maximizing profit. But, at the same time, running the numbers, we think it absolutely works. And, at the moment, we don’t see any other safe, sane choice.