The 22-year-old Dunedin twins and Les Mills personal trainers have been working up a sweat at home, running their own training sessions online for their clients.
“We’ve been doing pre-recorded sessions at home and posting them out on our Instagram account,” Milly said.
“We’ve got quite a few followers and clients on there, which means they can do the workouts with us.”
She said the online sessions were just as much for their own physical and mental wellbeing, as they were for their clients.
“We kind of thrive off working out, but also we know that our clients and followers are struggling to stay active during lockdown at home, where they don’t have any weights or other gym equipment.
“So we’re just trying to help everyone get up and move their body and keep active.
“We’re just trying to make do with what we’ve got — which isn’t a lot, but it’s better than nothing.
“It gives them peace of mind.”
Olivea said they were doing the workouts free of charge, in the hope it would help get their gym back up and running as quickly as possible after lockdown ends.“There’s no point sitting around on the couch for as long as lockdown lasts because we’ve got to have the fitness to go straight back into it.
“And if we don’t keep our clients’ fitness up, they may not come back once the lockdown finishes.
“It’s about keeping them engaged and accountable.”
World Fitness Gym (Dunedin) co-partners Rhys Jeffery and Phil Shaw were also providing online training via Zoom sessions and social media, to help members keep active and give them something to do.
Mr Shaw said the business had no revenue at present, and he hoped the lockdown would end before the gym got into financial trouble.
“Sure, there are wage subsidies, but these don't cover our full wage bill, let alone all our other costs.
“Wages only make up about 35% of our operating costs. Especially in this environment, where the Government stated the inflation rate is 3.3%, but what we've experienced over the past six or so months is north of 10%.
“In saying that, we did expect there to be another lockdown at some point, so we've been saving our pennies.”
Kirstie Williams recently took ownership of Inspiring Women’s Gym, in Dunedin, and said it was “a scary time” for her.
“The stress of having to close the doors, which means weekly payments stopping, put great pressure on us all.
“We hope that we get back to normal as soon as possible.
“I’m sure like all other gym owners, the pressure is on to maintain the wellbeing of our clients, so we have a members-only page with online classes.
“This also helps our trainers keep motivated as well. It’s been a nice change doing classes in their backyards and living rooms.”
