Something has been missing from Brigitha Sesilya’s life over the past few months. The COVID-19 health crisis, which has forced people to shelter at home to slow the disease’s spread, has prevented her from going to the gym. Before the pandemic arrived in Jakarta, the 29-year-old news editor loved to work out at her fitness center three to five times a week.

“If I had a lot of free time, I would spend up to two and a half hours at the gym, joining a class and doing some weight training. Aside from that, I usually spent an hour to an hour and a half at the gym,” Brigitha told The Jakarta Post recently.

As gyms remain closed, she is trying to exercise at home or outdoors like the area around Sunter Lake in North Jakarta.

“I have been longing to exercise at the gym because I feel like I can’t exercise fully at home,” Brigitha said, although she stressed that she would not immediately rush to the gym when it reopened.

The national COVID-19 task force announced in July that fitness centers may reopen in strict adherence to the health protocols to accommodate a limited number of visitors.

Earlier in mid-June, the Youth and Sports Ministry issued a health protocol for public sports activities during the “new normal” phase, requiring fitness centers to limit visitors to just 10 people at a time. Pregnant women and people aged over 45, however, were not permitted at fitness centers, the protocol stated.

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