People’s choice of working out at home weighs down gym owners

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 30

Despite the fact that gyms in the city have begun to welcome back guests, the home workout sessions have over time turned into a norm in terms of personal fitness. Instead of visiting gyms, people are either appointing personal trainers or are relying on digital sessions. This has taken a huge toll on the income of hundreds of people who run fitness centres for their livelihoods.

As part of the unlocking phase, these were reopened in August after a gap of over four months. While the fitness centres, including gyms and yoga institutions, brought smiles on the faces of enthusiasts, the owners are still trying to find their feet.

Adapting to the Covid blues, Himanshu Chaddha, owner Neo Fitness, said, “Since the start of the pandemic, whether it was a fitness enthusiast or any health conscious person, everyone experienced effective virtual workouts in their own living rooms and relied on fitness programmes for nutrition as well. So, working out at home became an essential aspect of staying healthy. This has directly affected the footfall in the gyms as people are still waiting the pandemic to loosen its grip.” At present, only 40-50 percent of his regular clients have turned up apart from some new admissions. Therefore, the road to making profits seems too far and the frequent sanitisation and other measures have only added to the expenses.

Likewise, many people also purchased bicycles and home fitness equipment to keep up their fitness levels. It is also one of the major reasons people have avoided gyms. Chaddha added: “Earlier, there were equal number of locals above 50 years of age in the gym, but the virus has forced them to stay home.”

Abhishek Pandit, a fitness lover, said, “I believe the online subscription to home workout sessions are cheaper than the gym fee, so I haven’t visited mine yet and would start after December only.”

Only if it’s neat and clean!

While on the other hand, the establishments are still coping with the losses suffered and struggling to get new clients, Sumit Sharma, owner of Gold’s Gym, says the only new thing witnessed at his place is distancing, face shields, sanitisers and so on, rest everything is same. “We have started getting new clients and around 70-80 have rejoined. Considering safety as the major part, people prefer to visit only those gyms where proper hygiene is being followed; they don’t mind spending extra bucks. Those who gained weight during the lockdown are opting for centres that offer hygiene and more space to avoid contact with unknown people,” added Sumit.