Tara Murray
Owners and gym junkies alike were cheering last week as gyms and other indoor exercise facilities were given the green light to open their doors.
Owners and members had been left frustrated that gyms remained closed as other restrictions had eased, but their wishes were fulfilled on Wednesday, with the state government announcing gyms could reopen on Friday.
Igor Pocev runs three Lions Den Boxing gyms across Brimbank.
He said he was relieved they could get back into the gym.
“We’ve been going through so much,” he said.
“We were trying to keep the members happy and surviving. We have three gyms, three locations and three rents.
“This one was worse that the other ones, as we couldn’t ask for some support. This time we didn’t know what was happening.”
Mr Pocev said while there were still restrictions on how many people could be in a gym at a time, they would do whatever it takes to ensure none of their members were missing out.
“We’ve done it before and we’ll do it again.”
Theresa Stefanovski was emotional with the news that her gym, Csfitness247 in Caroline Springs could open back up. She thought that they would be closed for at least another week.
The gym opened in October 2019 but has spent much of the time closed due to lockdowns.
“It has really wrecked me mentally,” she said. “I’m lucky, I know a cupcake place that opened up less than a year ago and has had to shut down.
“We’ve had many of our members messaging us asking, ’are you really opening on Friday’.”
Ms Stefanovski said the lockdown and lack of access to gyms had taken a mental toll on people.
EFM’s Jarrod Borg said that gyms opening was a light at the end of the tunnel. The gym is located at Sunshine hospital.
“It’s good to have a bit of clarity and it’s good to know they have a plan,” he said.
“The whole uncertainty was the hardest thing. It was a challenge for a lot of people missing part of their daily routine.
“I see our space as a place to work on both your physical and mental health.”
Mr Borg said that during lockdowns, his turnover dropped by about 40 per cent.
