The owner of a gym in Bedford has released a video promising to remain open during the second England-wide lockdown that starts on Thursday.
A video was shared to the Instagram profile of Gainz gym on Sunday, explaining that it won't be closing its doors, nor will staff be stopping people from using the equipment.
In the video, Alex Lowndes, who runs the gym with his partner Amber, said that he believes that gyms - and exercise in general - are not part of the problem regarding the spread of the virus, and the benefits of them remaining open outweigh the negatives.
He explained: "We have done a lot of thinking and we have decided that we are actually going to stay open.
"The reasons for that are laid out in a document that we have prepared which is two full pages - contains a lot of facts, a lot of relevant information."
He continued: "No, this isn't Liverpool, this isn't Tier 3, this is national lockdown.
"The same arguments apply, the same logic, the same facts.
"Gyms are part of the solution here, not part of the problem.
"We need to be allowed to stay open. We are going to stay open.
"We hope that becomes legal in time."
Obviously, what he's planning to do is completely illegal just now, as the order is for all non-essential businesses to close down, including gyms.
That means that if someone from the authorities turns up after midnight on Thursday morning and finds them open, he could be looking at a large fine.
That document he mentioned argues that keeping gyms open is essential partly because giving people's immune system a boost through exercise is 'paramount'.
It reads: "We all know that obesity is the biggest co-morbidity when it comes to Covid, and what has the government done about this?
"Absolutely NOTHING. In fact, they subsidised fast food, so that people could buy cheeseburgers for 45p.
"Why not invest in educating people on nutrition, encouraging physical exercise?
"Perhaps a VAT cut on running shoes, bicycles, gym memberships.
"Closing gyms goes against the science in every way possible."
We all remember how this went in Merseyside when that gym owner tried to keep the doors open as they went into Tier Three, right?
He was fined £1,000 for his troubles.
According to the government's test and trace data, there was a week in October when gyms accounted for three percent of the total infections - that's 620 infections out of a total of 20,776.
To put that into context, bars and pubs accounted for 10 percent, and supermarkets 12 percent.
Featured Image Credit: Gainz Gym Bedford