Gym owners, trainers welcome govt’s decision to lift ban
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Though the Central government has given the nod to reopen gymnasiums and yoga centres from Wednesday, fitness centres are unlikely to see much crowd, due to the current Covid situation in the city.With centres closed for the past five months, fitness instructors took to training people at their homes or via online. The last many months saw them being flooded with calls from people eagerly inquiring about the reopening of the gyms and tips for home workouts.
According to trainers, the objective of 80 per cent of people enrolled in popular gyms in the city is to stay fit and many of them depend on gyms for injury rehabilitation, posture corrections and to recuperate from physical ailments. That is a reason why workouts couldn’t be suspended for a long duration. Albin Antony Marceline, a fitness enthusiast and regular gym-goer, states the pandemic brought a break to his fitness regime.
“I stay active and follow a strict fitness routine even when I am travelling. But when the pandemic struck, my fitness routine went for a toss. I waited for nearly a month hoping that gyms would reopen. Eventually, I started working out at home but I realised without expert guidance I can’t achieve the desired results. Hence I hired a trainer for home workouts,” says Albin.
However, lockdown restrictions in the capital and spiralling Covid-19 cases will prove to be a challenge for gym owners, fitness trainers and clients, despite the government permitting the opening of the centres. Vinod Kumar, a fitness trainer, said the situation is very grim. “Many trainers were forced to take up other jobs for survival.
It’s been close to six months since the fitness industry has been shut. This is a very unfortunate situation and many of our clients are at the receiving end. I train a few of them at home but because of lockdown restrictions, I am unable to attend them regularly. Now with the directive, let’s hope things fall back on track,” said Vinod.
Meanwhile, the sale of fitness equipment has gone up. Premnath P, who runs a fitness equipment shop at Ulloor, said there has been a huge demand for compact equipment like static cycles and elliptical machines which are ideal for home workout. “There is no doubt that the public is health-conscious. However, because of the pandemic, many are unable to go out to exercise. Most of the fitness equipment is expensive. Even if people are willing to shell out, space constraints at home stop them from making the purchase. Hence, the demand for compact machines has spiked. The starting price of a static cycle is around H10,000,” said Premnath.