Gyms prepare to reopen despite heavy covid19 blows

GYMS throughout TT have taken a financial hit since mid-March when covid19 forced these facilities to shut doors to reduce the spread of the virus.

Thousands of people have had to change their routines. Gyms and fitness groups have adjusted with online classes increasing in popularity because people are confined to their homes.

Gyms can start preparing to reopen after the Prime Minister’s announcement last Saturday.

At a covid19 media briefing, Dr Rowley said, “We expect that if our (covid19) numbers continue on the same trajectory as they are now as by June 22 we should be able to reopen our bars, our gyms, our casinos, our cinemas and have in-house dining at restaurants and have sporting activities taking place.” Gatherings will be allowed to increase from five to ten from June 22.

Kahlil Ramsubhag, managing director of The Bar by ‘The Beast’ in Grand Bazaar said, “We will be in full compliance with the Government with respect to all of the guidelines they put out.”

Ramsubhag said they are waiting to get more details on how they can run their operations with gatherings limited to ten. “They have various facilities around the country, they have various size facilities throughout. A blanket statement like ten people per facility at times does not seem feasible for the larger gyms. Ten people could be your staff by itself, whereas the size of the facility such as a 10,000 square foot facility, if you take six-foot social distancing (into consideration) you could fit more than ten people within your facility.”

Ramsubhag said The Beast is aiming to put a system in place called strategic exercising, which would avoid a huge gathering in one section at the Grand Bazaar-based gym. For example, the gym would try to prevent 20 clients from doing leg exercises simultaneously to avoid gatherings. Ramsubhag said this will create an “even spread” at the gym. Physical distancing should not be an issue at The Beast as the gym is just over 8,000 square feet.

In terms of the financial struggles the gym has faced, Ramsubhag said, “It has been devastating. Speaking to other owners it is a very tough position to be in…we have been shut down for two (to three) months. We have all had staff that we need to be mindful and be cognizant that we have a responsibility to even in these shut down times. Different people have different situations with rent.”

Ramsubhag said since mid-March, the gym had to freeze its membership. He said for the first two weeks when the gym reopens they will not receive income. Clients would have paid for March at the end of February or early March, before gyms were closed in mid-March. Therefore, clients will have two weeks free access to the gym when these facilities reopen on June 22.

The Beast has approximately 1,000 monthly clients paying an average fee of $350. The gym would have lost $700,000 for April and May. Ramsubhag said he looks forward to more co-operation from the landlords as the gym has enjoyed a strong relationship with them over the years.

Evolution Fitness in Chaguanas is a massive gym with three floors each measuring 8,000 square feet.

Rhondell Brown, a manager at Evolution, said the gym will follow all the guidelines. He is uncertain how the gym will operate from June 22.

“I can’t say anything specific now because I don’t know what will change in the next week or so. I don’t know how much leeway we will be given because if one case shows up now we might be back to square one.”

On the financial struggles, Brown said, “Just as everybody else it hit us hard…our line of work is working directly with clients. Gyms were one of the places that they said the virus would spread rapidly. We are in that line so it would have hit us really hard.”

Like The Beast, Evolution has lost a lot of income from their monthly clients. Evolution has 1,500 clients who pay monthly fees with most people paying for the $350 package, according to Brown. If 1,300 of Evolution’s clients pay the $350 package the gym would have lost $910,000 for April and May from those clients.

Most gyms closed in mid-March, therefore the two weeks of income lost in March, April and May and the first three weeks in June both Evolution and The Beast would have lost over $1 million.

Brown said some of Evolution’s instructors continued working by offering Zoom classes.

Brown said Evolution’s members will be reimbursed the time they have already paid for and personal trainers would have also had to return money to clients.

Evolution continues to sanitise regularly.

Asylum Training Centre in Diego Martin has not been affected greatly.

Derrick Simon, who helps run Asylum, said the gym would be operating 80 per cent online when the gym reopens, saying clients believe it is “more convenient.”

Simon said covid19 has opened up different lines of communication as the gym is considering having online classes run simultaneously while people visit the gym, which would allow both groups to work together.

Simon said the gym has been able to retain 90 per cent of its customers and has not been hit hard financially.

Cleaning has also been ramped up at the Diego Martin gym. “We normally sanitise the entire gym once per week, we had set up sinks with soap and hand sanitisers when you enter. We have a protocol when you finish use a dumbbell or whatever weights you sanitise it. We are going to maintain that type of protocol going into the (next) period.”