The gymnasiums have been open for more than two weeks now after being shut down during the lockdown to check the spread of Covid-19 for about five months but the locals are still hesitant to join the gyms.
According to the gym operators in Dehradun, the number of clients has dropped by 70 per cent to 80 per cent in the current scenario and those who run gyms in rented spaces are going through difficult financial issues. "Initially, I thought that the number of people will increase in three to four days once everybody will get to know about the opening of gyms but regularly increasing Covid-19 cases in the city are not helping us.
About 50 people are being tested positive for novel coronavirus every day. People are concerned that they might catch the Covid virus in the gym but they can get this disease anywhere if they act carelessly," said a Sahastradhara Road gym owner, Sunder Jeena.
The gymnasium operators stated that they have rearranged the exercise schedule of their clients as per the guidelines issued by government to minimise the risk of Covid-19 contagion. Most of the gymnasium owners have stopped Zumba and aerobic classes as these are generally conducted in groups.
Some operators have also restricted the work out timings from 45 minutes to one hour so that nobody stays in gyms for long. According to a Karnpur gym trainer Vinayak Gupta, "Every person goes through thermal screening before entering the gym. We also sanitise every piece of equipment after each session and have also asked every client to bring their own towels and mats for yoga sessions. Those who cannot bring the mats everyday deposit them in the gym and change these mats twice a week.
Besides, we also recommend clients to wear cotton masks rather than surgical masks during the workout." Most of the gym owners and operators said that they are doing everything they can to make the people believe that working out in the gyms is completely safe as long as they follow the instructions.
Moreover, they also said that their earnings are currently quite low than before but it is still better than closed inoperative gyms because it helps them to pay the rent and some bills.
"We were depositing the rent of the gym even during the lockdown. Many landlords did reduce the rent for three months but the half of the rent is also a lot when you are unemployed during the pandemic," said a Raipur gym trainer, Abhishek Gusain.