“For Your Health?” South Korea Bans Gyms From Playing Fast-Pace Music to Limit Spread of COVID-19

Closing down gyms during COVID-19 hysteria was one of the most foolish decisions in human history.

78% of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the United States were overweight or obese individuals.

And the majority of worldwide COVID-19 related fatalities came from overweight countries.

Sending people to the gym to exercise would be an infinitely better treatment than lockdown or experimental vaccines.

I’m against mandates of any kind, but we would save more people with mandated exercise.

Some countries have gyms open at the moment but are doing everything in their power to make sure citizens are NOT healthy.

This latest news comes from South Korea.

If you look at Worldometer, South Korea is witnessing a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Yet, mask compliance in South Korea is around 99%.

Well cases in South Korea have now reached new pandemic highs, up 955% since November 12th, despite consistent 99% mask compliance.

I am legitimately unsure if you could purposefully design a policy to be as profoundly ineffective as masks have been. It’s absolutely remarkable. pic.twitter.com/sCkYLf9Emz

— Ian Miller (@ianmSC) July 14, 2021

If masks are so great at stopping COVID-19, then what seems to be the problem in South Korea?

Maybe it’s because the face diapers have proven to be ineffective at stopping the spread of COVID-19.

The best public health policy is to encourage citizens to practice a healthy lifestyle.

But if you want to get your heartrate up at the gym, forget about it.

Fast-paced songs are banned and treadmills can only function at a walking pace.

Of course, there are other ways to get your heartrate up.

But the policy is beyond absurd.

Supposedly, this will limit the spread of the virus.

I wonder if they’ll ban headphones too?

Check it out:

No music with "higher than 120 beats per minute, in order to stop the spread of coronavirus, as otherwise people would breathe too fast." RT No more 'Gangnam Style': So. Korea's COVID rules demand slower workout music in gyms https://t.co/SVno8z0c0v

— The HighWire (@HighWireTalk) July 13, 2021

South Korea bans fast-paced music in gyms and limits treadmill speeds to a walk as COVID-19 cases soar https://t.co/atkqItjtSn pic.twitter.com/mmHtD9boPa

— Márcio M. Silva (@marciojmsilva) July 14, 2021

Gyms In South Korea's Capital Barred From Playing Fast Workout Music https://t.co/Va0ySuqClG

— Cracked.com (@cracked) July 14, 2021

South Korea bans songs with more than 120 BPM from gyms.

That means a song like Miley Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball," is fine – but slightly faster songs, like Avril Lavigne's "Sk8er Boi," are out.

You cannot make this stuff up 😂😂https://t.co/6BXLlG4MOs

— AndreasStenoLarsen (@AndreasSteno) July 14, 2021

South Korea bans music over 120 beats per minute in group exercises such as aerobics and spinning "to prevent people breathing too fast or splashing sweat on others." #CovidCraziesKillKPOP? https://t.co/3yhehFsdkq

— LSP🌻🌊 (@lsposner) July 14, 2021

Business Insider reported:

South Korea is tightening coronavirus prevention measures as the country sees record-breaking daily case rates. Although Seoul is not yet going into full lockdown, residents are not allowed to go to nightclubs or large social gatherings for at least two weeks.

They’re also not permitted to work out hard and fast at the gym. Under the new regulations, treadmills are capped at 3.7 miles per hour, and music played over the gym speakers cannot exceed 120 beats per minute.

For reference, that’s about the tempo of “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, or the BTS hit “Boy With Luv.” Both songs would set the pace for a brisk walk or a really slow jog.

Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” also passes the test at 109 BPM, as does “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” by Lil Nas X, which clocks in around 89 BPM.

But anything more strenuous than a power walk has been deemed a transmission risk. (That means gym-goers will not be able to angry run to “good 4 u” by Olivia Rodrigo or bench press to the beat of Kanye West’s “Power.”)

Under the new rules, exercisers are also required to wear masks, even if fully vaccinated, and workout class sizes are limited. While those policies could help curb the spread of COVID-19, experts are skeptical that slowing down the music will have the intended effect.

The Guardian also covered the bizarre policy:

Music with more than 120 beats per minute (bpm) is forbidden during group exercises such as aerobics and spinning. Health officials said the measure was intended to prevent people breathing too fast or splashing sweat on others, and to avoid having to close businesses, as has happened during previous waves of infection.

The rule has been ridiculed as “nonsense” by some opposition politicians, and gym owners see the rules as barely effective or unrealistic.

“Playing bright tracks is to cheer up our members and the overall mood, but my biggest question is whether playing classical music or songs by [the boyband] BTS has been proved to have any impact on spreading the virus,” Kang Hyun-ku, a gym owner, told Reuters. “Many people use their own earphones and wearable devices these days, and how do you control their playlists?”

Whang Myung-sug, a 62-year-old member of Kang’s gym, called the restrictions “bureaucratic, as if those who devised them had never worked out at a gym”.

Of the current K-pop hits, BTS’s Permission to Dance is 127bpm and the girl group Loona’s PTT (Paint the Town) is 125bpm, but Taeyeon’s Weekend is acceptable at 114bpm, as is Alcohol-Free by Twice at 96bpm.

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Nearly a million people worldwide subscribe to Spotify’s gym playlist You Can Do It, but none of its opening 10 tracks are under 120bpm, with High Contrast’s drum’n’bass hit Time Is Hardcore topping out at 169bpm.

Among workout classics, Eye of the Tiger by Survivor clocks in at 108bpm – though it is perhaps best suited to strutting post-workout than actual cardio – while Kanye West’s Stronger is 106bpm. A Flock of Seagulls’ I Ran (So Far Away) is thoroughly unsuitable at 148bpm. At exactly 120bpm, Irene Cara’s Flashdance … What a Feeling is a good option for law-abiding Koreans. But at 122bpm, Bob Marley’s Is This Love – that’s out.

Various studies have found that listening to music while exercising will help you to both work harder and make it feel less difficult. In 2020, researchers at the University of Verona found that, particularly with endurance exercises such as running, “the exercise seemed like less effort, but it was more beneficial in terms of enhancing physical fitness”.

In 2015, a University of Toronto study also detected the double benefit, but ​added another. Lee Bartel’s team found people who exercised with music were more active “all day long”.

South Korea imposed its highest level of distancing rules in Seoul and neighbouring regions from yesterday, as the country battles its worst Covid outbreak. The new rules also ban showering at the gym, limit treadmill speeds to 6km/h (3.7mph) and restrict table tennis matches to two people per table.

“So you don’t get Covid-19 if you walk slower than 6km/h,” said Kim Yong-tae, a member of the main opposition People Power party. “And who on earth checks the bpm of the songs when you work out? I don’t understand what Covid-19 has to do with my choice of music.”