LANZHOU: With the current positive momentum in COVID-19 control, Lanzhou, the capital city of northwest China’s Gansu province, has reopened its sports venues. While sports lovers return to fields and courts around the country, local gyms are struggling to recover the loss from the lockdown.
“For the sake of the prevention and control of COVID-19, we saw a bleak turnout in our gym, less than half that of last year. Pressure is mounting on many gyms,” said Peng Yidong, runner of a local gym in downtown Lanzhou. “How to rebound from a record low is what every gym, or even the whole sports industry, had better figure out.” When the pandemic first hit and forced the closure of public places, many gyms in China chose to stream exercise lessons, in the hope that once an online fitness community was built, customers, as well as their membership fees, would stay.
Peng and his colleagues also created a WeChat group for online tutoring. “At first merely one or two customers ‘clocked in’ every day. As time went on, the numbers grew. Quite a lot of exercisers would ask questions about the moves, which is nice to see,” Peng said. “During the pandemic, the number of indoor workouts showed a sign of rising professionalism.”
Amid the virus outbreak, it alerted the public to the importance of physical health, as the less athletic expressed less resistance and gym lovers pursued a higher degree of professionalism. – Agencies
