Gyms re-open but the effects of the lockdown are still enormous

With the recent re-opening of gyms, the owners and operators have hope now unlike before when they were unsure of what the future held.

Despite the opening, it is good to reflect on how the pandemic has affected the gym owners. For the largest part of the year, gym operators have not been working; unfortunately, the opening has found when some gyms were already out of business.

Businesses closing

Macus Sembatya, a fitness personal trainer, a television and media marketer of gyms in Kampala reveals that he knows of some gyms where owners had just imported new equipment and the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

For Siraj Lukwago, a trainer at Champion's Gym in Bweyogerere despite the gyms reopening, it would be the end of the road for him. Lukwago said it was hard for him and his business partner to continue operating the gym because of too much pressure from the landlord. Consequently, because he could not fulfill his end of the bargain, he lost the business.

Personal training

For some trainers and instructors who remained in contact with their clients so that they could earn a living, it is high time they allowed them back into the gym. Sembatya says during the lockdown they resorted to private personal training at home.

"In a gym, you can train 20 people in an hour," he says. "For personal training, you cannot attend to all the clients who need you in that period and that is a challenge."

Despite gyms being opened, there are still places the trainers cannot access yet because of the risk of the pandemic. Sembatya says they gained income through training students in schools, but they could no longer do it because of the pandemic.

Selling assets

For some gym operators who had sold assets to survive, this is the time to start work again. Woody Bagalaaina of The Woody Option Club, Jinja says that he knows of some gym instructors who sold their assets to fend for their families. "These people were working in the gym and when they closed, they were sent off with nothing," he observed. " To survive, they gradually sold off their home assets."

Going to prison

Timothy Okia of Gorilla Strength training gym experienced the brutality of the police when one early morning he was training in an open field, the police arrested him. That cannot happen anymore because

he is free to do what he wants. "While I trained with my clients in the compound," he quips, "A person called the police saying we were inconveniencing him." At the police station, the clients were let go and Okia remained there.

Copying

Sembatya says he tried to cope during the lockdown by carrying outdoor sessions with clients to earn a living.

For Okia, although some people shunned him, there those who invited him for fitness sessions and even suggested possible places for training to keep away from the police.

In addition to that, both Sembatya and Okia keep in touch with their clients by having YouTube sessions.

Lesson

If there is one lesson, gym owners have learned is not to depend on a single source of income. "I do not depend on the gym alone," Bagalaaina says, "I am a personal instructor, bodyguard, and a driver. So I can cope in all situations."

Lukwago has not learned not to look at one thing but also developed the habit of saving whatever little money he got