Exercising with a mask is harder!
Jthanmyfitnesspal
Posts: 3,522 Member
I've tried a few approaches. A surgical mask (which I keep re-using, come what may) and a bandanna. In both cases, I let it slide down when I'm far away from everyone and pull it up whenever someone closes in. I've used it for running, cycling, and walking. (In addition to shopping, etc.)
1) Running with a mask is harder. Something about trapping your breath against your face and re-breathing it
2) Lots of other runners and cyclists are not wearing masks at all
3) If you can run, you probably aren't (very) sick. I know: asymptomatic people can spread the virus. But you'd have to be very asymptomatic.
4) Who knows how long it will be before we can swim again. It's very hard to swim with a surgical mask on!
1) Running with a mask is harder. Something about trapping your breath against your face and re-breathing it
2) Lots of other runners and cyclists are not wearing masks at all
3) If you can run, you probably aren't (very) sick. I know: asymptomatic people can spread the virus. But you'd have to be very asymptomatic.
4) Who knows how long it will be before we can swim again. It's very hard to swim with a surgical mask on!
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Replies
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I haven't seen anything stating yoh should be wearing a mask while exercising only 12' distance in some gyms.3
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At our state, you have to wear a mask until you are actively exercising and then maintain 12' distance (directionally, it is in front and to the sides, but not to the back unless possible). I just heard a few hours ago that my gym has reopened, and plan to go as soon as I have the chance. I cannot wait.
I have a thinner dust mask, which I plan to use. It doesn't seem hard to breathe through.0 -
Wow. The misinformation about this virus and ppe is rampant.
"...Health organizations worldwide do not recommend requiring the general public who do not have symptoms of COVID-19-like illness to routinely wear cloth or surgical masks because:
There is no evidence on the usefulness of face masks worn by healthy/asymptomatic persons as a mitigation measure, therefore it is not recommended.
There is no scientific evidence they are effective in reducing the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission
Their use may result in those wearing the masks to relax other distancing efforts because they have a (false) sense of protection
We need to preserve the supply of surgical masks for at-risk healthcare workers".
The covid virus is a .125 micron virus. Available masks (dust and surgical) filter down to about .03 microns. So covid can easily penetrate available filtration masks. Positive pressure suits would be the best (totally impractical) solution.8 -
I am not saying you should wear a mask- but if you are- you need to keep it on the WHOLE time.
Please please please do not let it slide down and put it back on, you are legit breathing in everything it blocked up to the point when you slid it down.
Proper PPE wear is critical if you are actually counting on it to work- same with removal. As Howard_M_Burgerz mentioned above- the filtration isn't there- you likely aren't wearing a full face respirator which is really still questionable on how much its actually going down to on the micron level vs Covid-19. I understand some places have made them mandatory for any outside/outtings but please wear and remove it properly!1 -
Everything I've seen says that masks are not required while exercising 🤷5
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Howard_M_Burgerz wrote: »The covid virus is a .125 micron virus. Available masks (dust and surgical) filter down to about .03 microns. So covid can easily penetrate available filtration masks.
Not when the virus is attached to droplets, which is how it's commonly contracted (source). That said, i've seen mixed studies on whether a mask can prevent infection - some say it helps, some say it doesn't. Like the saying goes "further research is needed".Howard_M_Burgerz wrote: »We need to preserve the supply of surgical masks for at-risk healthcare workers".
We need to preserve the masks that don't work.
People can make their own mask using plans from youtube. 4 -
Except for an N95 mask, it is generally accepted based on what I've read/heard that wearing a mask is NOT for the purpose of protecting the wearer from contracting the virus BUT to minimize the possibility of spreading the virus by coughing, sneezing or even (believe it or not) just breathing or speaking out infectious droplets that others could breathe in or become infected with by touching surfaces thereby infected and then touching their face w/their fingers.
However, even wearing an N95 mask is no guarantee of immunity from contracting the disease if not worn properly and in conjunction w/other PPE and the maintenance of other safeguards.
The whole notion of 6 ft or 2 meters as a "safe" distance is also a false premise since a heavy cough as been shown to be able to spread droplets over 12 ft or 4 meters and in a confined space like a plane, subway car, bus or room there is almost no way to avoid coming in contact w/ the disease if someone infected coughs and spreads droplets w/that space.
Be that as it may, if you are trying to be a good "citizen" and want to avoid unintentionally spreading the disease because you may have it but be asymptomatic OR are disease free and just want to look like you are being a good citizen AND you are engaged in physical activity, like running, that requires heavy breathing, you have a dilemma since wearing a mask will make breathing more difficult.
I don't run and don't exercise in public spaces so it's not an issue for me but for those who do, the only solution would be to run mask free at a location and/or time of day where/when your promimity to others will be minimized and, if that's not possible, just not run and do something else instead.
That certainly not what any devoted runner wants to hear but this crisis has forced all of us to do things and make choices contrary to our individual preferences in the best interest of the community at large.
Ultimately, only you can decide whether to do the "right" thing or not.
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I let it slide down when I'm far away from everyone and pull it up whenever someone closes in.
Quite apart from the debate whether using a mask outside of a health care role is actually beneficial keeping touching and reusing isn't how to use a mask/face covering.3 -
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I let it slide down when I'm far away from everyone and pull it up whenever someone closes in.
Quite apart from the debate whether using a mask outside of a health care role is actually beneficial keeping touching and reusing isn't how to use a mask/face covering.
I don't think there is any debate on if it is helpful for stopping the spread of the virus. It may not be very helpful for the person wearing the mask, it is very helpful in keeping the mask-wearer from spreading their germs.
You wear a mask to protect others, not yourself. If everyone wears a mask then everyone is protected.10 -
mburgess458 wrote: »Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I let it slide down when I'm far away from everyone and pull it up whenever someone closes in.
Quite apart from the debate whether using a mask outside of a health care role is actually beneficial keeping touching and reusing isn't how to use a mask/face covering.
I don't think there is any debate on if it is helpful for stopping the spread of the virus. It may not be very helpful for the person wearing the mask, it is very helpful in keeping the mask-wearer from spreading their germs.
You wear a mask to protect others, not yourself. If everyone wears a mask then everyone is protected.
World Health Organisation and many governments disagree with you.
Some scientists are pro general wearing and some are not - the debate is definitley ongoing.
Any possible benefit is negated by misuse of PPE, such as constant handling of your mask.1 -
mburgess458 wrote: »
I certainly would be interested in reading current evidence suggesting specifically COVID19 spreads up to 30' by any means if you have a link.
I have read literally zero on COVID19 and because I'm very high risk as well as my family members I'm generally interested.
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Setting aside the “do face masks work / should we be wearing them” questions, a cycling anti-pollution mask may be easier to run with (not medical standard admittedly but apparently will prevent droplet infection if not aerosol). They’re designed not to impact on your breathing as much, and I’ve used one when the pollen count is high.4
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I've tried a few approaches. A surgical mask (which I keep re-using, come what may) and a bandanna. In both cases, I let it slide down when I'm far away from everyone and pull it up whenever someone closes in. I've used it for running, cycling, and walking. (In addition to shopping, etc.)
1) Running with a mask is harder. Something about trapping your breath against your face and re-breathing it
2) Lots of other runners and cyclists are not wearing masks at all
3) If you can run, you probably aren't (very) sick. I know: asymptomatic people can spread the virus. But you'd have to be very asymptomatic.
4) Who knows how long it will be before we can swim again. It's very hard to swim with a surgical mask on!
With my area opening up, I started walking again on Monday morning. No mask.
Also some people went back to the sea from Monday morning, but I heard that some were masks and others didn't.
Would be awkward i think.0 -
I've exercised everyday since being laid off. At least 1 and half hours a day of jogging/walking. Have yet to wear a mask doing it. Anytime someone comes down the sidewalk in the opposite direction, I step into the street to maintain distance.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »I've tried a few approaches. A surgical mask (which I keep re-using, come what may) and a bandanna. In both cases, I let it slide down when I'm far away from everyone and pull it up whenever someone closes in. I've used it for running, cycling, and walking. (In addition to shopping, etc.)
1) Running with a mask is harder. Something about trapping your breath against your face and re-breathing it
2) Lots of other runners and cyclists are not wearing masks at all
3) If you can run, you probably aren't (very) sick. I know: asymptomatic people can spread the virus. But you'd have to be very asymptomatic.
4) Who knows how long it will be before we can swim again. It's very hard to swim with a surgical mask on!
I don't wear a mask cycling nor have I heard any recommendations to do so. I wear a mask when I go grocery shopping and/or otherwise venture somewhere where it may be difficult to maintain social distancing...cycling or running really isn't one of those things, even if you cross people along the path. If I pass someone either coming towards me or me passing them from behind, it's all of a nano second of time that I am close to them. Unless they actually cough or sneeze on me directly as I pass, the risk is extremely low. Personally, I think you're at greater risk of adverse effects of wearing a mask during exercise than you are of not wearing one and spending all of a nano second going past someone. You're also negating any benefit of wearing a mask by constantly touching it and adjusting it.
The recommendations here and by the CDC are to wear a non medical mask when you are in situations where it may be difficult to socially distance like shopping and the like. The idea is that it protects others from you if you are asymptomatic in that it will catch the droplets, or most of them if you cough or sneeze. If I were to go cycling in an area that was so packed that I would even consider a mask, it would be a non starter and I would go elsewhere or train indoors in my home.6 -
mburgess458 wrote: »
I certainly would be interested in reading current evidence suggesting specifically COVID19 spreads up to 30' by any means if you have a link.
I have read literally zero on COVID19 and because I'm very high risk as well as my family members I'm generally interested.
https://www.wired.com/story/are-running-or-cycling-actually-risks-for-spreading-covid-19/
Here you go.1 -
I work with the public and wear a mask eight hours a day. The virus is not just spread by coughing and sneezing, but by breathing and talking. An asymptomatic person might not cough or sneeze. Researchers have sampled the air in heavily infected cities and found virus particles wafting in the air.
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mburgess458 wrote: »mburgess458 wrote: »
I certainly would be interested in reading current evidence suggesting specifically COVID19 spreads up to 30' by any means if you have a link.
I have read literally zero on COVID19 and because I'm very high risk as well as my family members I'm generally interested.
https://www.wired.com/story/are-running-or-cycling-actually-risks-for-spreading-covid-19/
Here you go.
That is part of the debate, mostly internet chatter at the moment though - it most certainly is not at this point regarded as definitive although you are of course free to take an ultra cautious approach.
Yes it's interesting and I found the suggestion that runners or cyclists should adopt a staggered formation rather than directly behind each other if exercising together but apart.
Note the word used for possible spread is "could" and I've not seen that possibility quantified. !0% chance? 0.01% chance?
The computer modelling I saw had the possibility of long range droplets hitting someone behind were way lower than face level.
"Normally, an unpublished paper from a research group would not get much attention. This one gained traction after one of the researchers, Bert Blocken, a professor of civil engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and also at KU Leuven in Belgium, gave an interview to a Belgian paper and also tweeted about their results. The study has not yet been peer-reviewed or accepted for publication by a scientific journal, the normal route for researchers."4 -
Interesting. I don’t wear a mask, I just stay away from people. That means running back and forth across the street a lot.2
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there is no way to wear a mask in the pool. I assume pools won't open until there is a vaccine.1
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MostlyWater wrote: »there is no way to wear a mask in the pool. I assume pools won't open until there is a vaccine.
I don't see why not. Gyms are opening and in NM gyms are likely to open with limited occupancy as part of our phase I re-open. I would think a pool could do the same, and I would also think a pool would be safer as the virus would be killed by chlorine and can't survive in the water.1 -
MostlyWater wrote: »there is no way to wear a mask in the pool. I assume pools won't open until there is a vaccine.
I think it depends where you live. In Alberta (Canada), the rec centers which house our pools aren't allowed to re open until Phase 4 of the reopen plan- which might be as far away as September/October if the other phases go okay.2 -
The day after I started this thread, my state (MA) issued a mask regulation: "Starting today [5/6/2020], almost all people in Massachusetts who cannot safely practice physical distancing in public must wear a mask or face covering." A number of other states have followed suit and, if anything, the requirement has only drawn more emphasis. Has anyone who posted against masks above changed their mind? (Does anyone ever change their mind these days?)
I'm still doing what I was doing when I jog, and it is clearly within our local guidelines. However, I see that some walkers wear masks all the time and some don't. I find it hard to jog with one on, so I uncover when I'm sufficiently far away from others. (I jog on suburban roads with very few people so most of the time I'm very far from others.)
@cwolfman13 and @MeganD1704 : I am missing swimming greatly. Corona viruses are not transmitted through water, particularly, and chlorine is probably pretty very good at breaking it down. (Note that the water-born pathogens like Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, norovirus and E. coli O157:H7, are all specicically adapted as such.) But people are breathing right at water level right next to each other and creating all sorts of droplets. It's pretty disgusting in general and I try not to think about it, normally! I am trying to decide if I will be swimming in open water in June.0 -
The day after I started this thread, my state (MA) issued a mask regulation: "Starting today [5/6/2020], almost all people in Massachusetts who cannot safely practice physical distancing in public must wear a mask or face covering." A number of other states have followed suit and, if anything, the requirement has only drawn more emphasis. Has anyone who posted against masks above changed their mind?
I'm in the UK where restrictions are starting to be lifted.
While trying to get (some) people back to work travelling in close proximity on public transport for example is recommended to be minimised and in those circumstances suggested for people to use a face covering (properly!).
Recommended not compulsory on basis it may have some benefit. Some of that benefit may simply be reassurance.
But that advice does not extend to general outdoors use including exercise use where it's completely down to the individual.
Meanwhile some countries are ahead of us and reopening bars, businesses, schools etc.
(Does anyone ever change their mind these days?)
Yes.
Based on reliable evidence and in context of my own risk profile. That reliable evidence would be science led and not politician led. There's some spectacularly dumb politicians around (especially at national level it would appear) doing and advising utterly stupid things!
The science is still evolving but so far that knowledge evolution hasn't apparently increased my personal risk of infection from or to me.
If I had to be in close proximity to strangers in enclosed spaces I would consider using a mask - but I don't and consider my outdoor exercise to be extremely low risk and have seen no reputable evidence to the contrary.
If I lived in a high infection rate area with high population density and close proximity that would affect my personal risk assessment.
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Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »The day after I started this thread, my state (MA) issued a mask regulation: "Starting today [5/6/2020], almost all people in Massachusetts who cannot safely practice physical distancing in public must wear a mask or face covering." A number of other states have followed suit and, if anything, the requirement has only drawn more emphasis. Has anyone who posted against masks above changed their mind? (Does anyone ever change their mind these days?)
I'm still doing what I was doing when I jog, and it is clearly within our local guidelines. However, I see that some walkers wear masks all the time and some don't. I find it hard to jog with one on, so I uncover when I'm sufficiently far away from others. (I jog on suburban roads with very few people so most of the time I'm very far from others.)
@cwolfman13 and @MeganD1704 : I am missing swimming greatly. Corona viruses are not transmitted through water, particularly, and chlorine is probably pretty very good at breaking it down. (Note that the water-born pathogens like Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, norovirus and E. coli O157:H7, are all specicically adapted as such.) But people are breathing right at water level right next to each other and creating all sorts of droplets. It's pretty disgusting in general and I try not to think about it, normally! I am trying to decide if I will be swimming in open water in June.
Oh I am not against masks- I am more so about proper donning and doffing of them
just don't want anyone to accidentally expose themselves if they do chose to wear one and were/are in close proximity to others. A lot of people aren't familiar with the proper way to don and doff masks (or other PPE for that matter), and really aren't thinking about it during this strange times- which is 100% fair, everyone is thinking about a lot right now.
I think our pools are staying closed mostly due to the social distancing rules- I am not sure how you would get 100+ kiddos at a time to social distance in such a small space and adhere to that. Adults maybe with lane swim? but kiddos I have no idea. I don't typically like swimming pools, just so many skin cells, etc, however maybe a more isolated open area would be okay? I personally wont be going to the one lake we have here as hundreds flock there on a nice day- but it is all we got.1 -
Jthanmyfitnesspal wrote: »The day after I started this thread, my state (MA) issued a mask regulation: "Starting today [5/6/2020], almost all people in Massachusetts who cannot safely practice physical distancing in public must wear a mask or face covering." A number of other states have followed suit and, if anything, the requirement has only drawn more emphasis. Has anyone who posted against masks above changed their mind? (Does anyone ever change their mind these days?)
I'm still doing what I was doing when I jog, and it is clearly within our local guidelines. However, I see that some walkers wear masks all the time and some don't. I find it hard to jog with one on, so I uncover when I'm sufficiently far away from others. (I jog on suburban roads with very few people so most of the time I'm very far from others.)
@cwolfman13 and @MeganD1704 : I am missing swimming greatly. Corona viruses are not transmitted through water, particularly, and chlorine is probably pretty very good at breaking it down. (Note that the water-born pathogens like Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Shigella, norovirus and E. coli O157:H7, are all specicically adapted as such.) But people are breathing right at water level right next to each other and creating all sorts of droplets. It's pretty disgusting in general and I try not to think about it, normally! I am trying to decide if I will be swimming in open water in June.
We have that same policy in New Mexico...but the key is "cannot practice physical distancing" which I generally wouldn't think very applicable to outdoor exercise. It is namely for shopping and the like. Anywhere crowded enough for me to consider wearing a mask for exercise is too crowded anyway for a good ride or run.
I have nothing against wearing a mask...I wear one whenever I shop and whenever I go into my office, etc. I do not wear one on my bike...the odds of me catching something in that nano second when I'm passing someone are slim to none.1 -
I wear a mask when I make my weekly trip to the grocery store, I’m not opposed to masks but I can’t wear one while running. I already have exercise induced asthma I can’t imagine it would be safe or advisable for me to wear a mask during a run. I run in my neighborhood instead of the park I used to run at because it’s much less crowded. I cross the street to avoid any other runners or walkers that I might occasionally see.
Wearing a mask isn’t going to help me or anyone else if I’m not getting near anyone.2 -
I wear a mask when I go to the grocery store. I wore one when I took my daughter to urgent care last week, I made her wear one too. I even wore one at the Farmer’s Market a few days ago even though it was outside and windy, mostly because half the vendors were selling them and wearing one stopped them from harassing me to buy one.
I do not, and will not wear one while running, walking, or biking outside. If I planned to go to a gym any time in the near future I might be persuaded to wear one there, but I don’t use gyms so it’s moot to me.
I’ve done a lot of reading on both sides of the argument, and will concede that masks in crowded indoor locations make sense. Outside they don’t reduce infection spread risk by a significant enough amount to justify their use. One the contrary the risk appears to be practically nonexistent unless it’s a very very crowded area.
And while I fully realize this bit is anecdotal, I will note that I have been running, walking and biking around my neighborhood this whole time without a mask, and so have all the neighbors I’ve observed while out. Our local area numbers are down despite more people venturing out to enjoy the weather so it seems we’re doing just fine.1 -
I do not wear a mask when exercising outdoors. I just keep my distance from others. That's what I suggest.0
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