Working out in the tight quarters of a public gym amid the coronavirus pandemic is fraught with peril. The heavy breathing from those working out near you can make a naturally healthy experience incredibly risky. “If you are afraid of COVID, you should not go to the gym,” Michaels told Fox Business host Liz Claman. “I actually am a person who let my guard down, I haven’t even spoken about this publicly really, [but] a very close friend of mine gave me COVID several weeks ago.” Michaels’ warning to avoid public gyms came while she was promoting her exercise-from-home subscription program, Jillian Michaels: The Fitness App, a start-up that has reportedly grown by 30 percent since the pandemic began. “We have always done well at at-home fitness, and that’s where we decided to really focus the Jillian Michaels brand, and my brand of fitness is through the app,” Michaels explained. “And we happened to get very lucky kind of closing down those other components of business without knowing obviously what was on the horizon for 2020.” RELATED: For more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb Of all the businesses shuttered by the coronavirus, some experts believe that gyms are among the most dangerous. “Gyms are in general likely to be a higher risk place due to the number of people that might work out in an enclosed space, with poor ventilation, many high contact surfaces, and lots of hard exhalations that could produce respiratory droplets,” physician-scientist William Li, MD, explained to Best Life in late June. Some national gym chains have adjusted to the challenges brought about by COVID-19 by requiring masks and limiting the numbers of members allowed in the gym at one time. But family and emergency medicine doctor Janette Nesheiwat, MD, told Best Life: “In a gym, you’re breathing heavy and more likely to spread the virus, which aerosolizes into the air regardless of limited capacity.” And for more risks to avoid, check out 24 Things You’re Doing Every Day That Put You at COVID Risk.