Hong Kong’s mask requirement while working out indoors puts fitness community in bind

While gyms and fitness studios were given the green light to reopen, the mask requirement has left many with tough choices

Owners of hot yoga and Brazilian jiu-jitsu studios worry about the impact of wearing a mask while working out

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Sasha Kolarov, the co-founder of Flowga in Lan Kwai Fong, said she cannot allow her clients to do hot yoga while wearing a mask. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 3:08pm, 14 Sep 2020Updated: 4:11pm, 14 Sep 2020

Sasha Kolarov finds herself in a bind. She reopened her hot yoga studio on September 11, but is only offering regular classes and not their specific brand, which heats the room to at least 36 degrees Celsius via infrared panels.

“Doing hot with a mask is not advisable,” said Kolarov, who launched Flowga in Lan Kwai Fong in May after delaying for a month due to the city’s first round of coronavirus restrictions. “Our number one priority is our clients and we have to look after them.”

While the government allowed gyms and various workout studios to reopen on September 4 after more than a month of being closed due to a third wave of Covid-19, they have required anyone working out to wear a mask. The government did lift the requirement to wear a mask while working out outdoors, but the issue has left the fitness community with a conundrum.

Kolarov said she has been forced to adapt and thus, the heat is off, for now.

Sasha Kolarov said they are only offering regular yoga classes for now, not hot yoga. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

“People sweat a lot (when they do hot yoga), so the sweat would pool in the mask and make it difficult to breath … so we understand that masks are there to protect us, but in a situation like this, they may even hurt us.”