Fitness Enthusiasts Hesitate To Join Back Gym As The Fear Of COVID-19 Keeps Mounting: Report

If we are to name a few sectors that have been adversely affected by the pandemic, the fitness industry would be one among the top. For a long period now, gyms have been experiencing a shutdown of operations in some places. Though lockdown restrictions have now been eased and gyms and yoga centres are allowed to function, people are sceptical about going back to the gyms.

Given the fact that India is one among the countries with the most number of COVID-19 infections and gyms are crowded places with lots of surface area that can transmit infections, it is obvious to wonder if going back to your gym is a good idea or not.

Grand Slam Fitness Pvt Ltd, India's fastest growing chain of fitness stores, has released some insights about people’s behaviour towards gym in the wake of the pandemic. The survey submitted responses of 200 respondents with almost equal participation from males and females. Majority of participants (74.8%) belonged to the age group 20-30 years.

The survey that recorded the fitness routine of participants, among many other things, found that 46% respondents have been exercising for less than a year, 29.4% have been exercising from 1-3 years and 24.6% people have been into fitness routine from more than 3 years. When questioned about the number of hours devoted in a day to exercise before lockdown, 54% said they exercised for 1 hour, 21.14% said they exercised for 2 hours and 8.7% were exercising for more than 2 hours.

Talking about the changes bought by COVID-19 to exercise working hours during the lockdown, 57.3% said they were spending same hours as before the lockdown, 13.7% have been spending more than 2 hours and 29% are not doing exercise at home. Out of many options available to manage workouts at home - live sessions, personal training sessions, YouTube videos, home gym and self workout, maximum people (32.5%) have been doing workout on their own followed by live session (21.4%) and YouTube videos (15.9%).

The scare of going back to the gyms persist with 41.6% of respondents preferring not going back to the gym till there is a vaccine and same share of people preferring to hit it back once the situation is under control in their surroundings.

Out of the important parameters that will guide people's decision to start their workout in the gym post lockdown, maximum people (57.1%) consider all of them equally important-physical distancing, Aarogya Setu app, isolators on gym equipments, sanitisation, use of mask and gloves, lesser touch points. Moreover, the desire to resume fitness routine (35.8%) is the top reason for people wishing to go back to the gym followed by an equal agreement to the need for motivation and training and access to gym equipments and facilities.

Speaking about the insights, Mr. Prateek Sood, Director, Grand Slam Fitness, said, “Fitness enthusiasts have been going through a tough phase since the pandemic broke out but many of them have now found a substitute to continue their fitness regime. Now that gyms have started resuming their operations, the hesitant crowd is expected to turn back to their routine in a phased manner. Even the report highlights that fitness plays a vital role in boosting immunity and protecting from disease with 83.3% people agreeing to it. Things will get back on track gradually.”