If you jumped for joy when fitness facilities were allowed to reopen – tossing your yoga mat and resistance bands aside and running for the comfort of the squat rack – when you got to the gym you would have found a distinctly unfamiliar setup. With one-metre workout stations, strict sanitation rules and limits on the amount of equipment you can use, this ‘new normal’ is anything but. It’s all for the best, of course, but when you factor in ambiguous guidelines on the type of exercise and interaction that we can and can’t do, stepping foot in the gym for the first time since lockdown was always going to be a strange experience. Which is why, this issue, we’re bringing you the New Rules of Fitness, as epidemiology experts and gym owners explain how to work out safely and responsibly in the coronavirus era.
Elsewhere, we turn our attention to the pursuit of sheer, unbridled strength. On page46 you can read our interview with the Stoltman brothers, the Scottish strongmen – and strongest siblings in the world – who offer a warts-and-all insight into their brutal, all-consuming sport. While on page92 Rob Bigwood, a US arm-wrestling champion, proves you were right along: your mate Dave isn’t actually stronger than you – it’s all about technique.