SPECIAL pods will give exercise fanatics the chance to take a tentative step back to the gym, a month before classes can begin.

Aaron Tyler, owner of Feelgood Fitness in Basildon, has installed six pods and pre-recorded 150 classes to allow gym goers the chance to exercise in a group from next week.

Gym classes cannot get under way from May 17 which means the studio pods give individuals a sense of working out together, but individually at the same time.

Equipment inside the pods can be changed before each class, with staff on hand to clean each pod after every use Mr Tyler, 42, has been working “flat out” to install the pods and prepare the gym for re-opening on Monday.

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He said: “We’ve lost more than 100 members since the start of the pandemic. We’re hoping the pods will bring some of them back.

“We’ve asked 12 instructors to pre-record the showings. The pods are all in place, it’s just the technical aspects we need to iron out. We’ve installed a projector in the studio.

“It will give people the feeling of working out together, but maintaining a sense of privacy. You can see people next to you, but you can’t hear them.”

The gym installed protective screens around each piece of equipment when they were due to open in the summer.

Dave Rowe, 55, owner of Lifestyle Fitness, Canvey, will be giving each gym user their own cloth and spray to wipe down equipment before and after they use it.

He said: “We’re not going for a grand re-opening. I think that will do more harm than good. We must be 75 per cent down on members because of the pandemic. The business has taken a bit of a kick financially.

Both gyms will be using fog machines to clean equipment at the end of each day.