A Heavy Lift For The Fitness World As Home Workouts Replace The Gym
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
The pandemic raises questions about fitness. How do you maintain a routine when gyms are closed and the Pilates class is canceled? And should instructors offer their hard-earned skills online for free? NPR's Alina Selyukh reports.
ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE: If you're a runner, you might still go jogging outside. If you're a weightlifter, you could try filling bags with all those canned goods you probably bought. But what do you do if you're a swimmer?
LAUREN ANNEBERG: (Laughter) Yeah. It's difficult.
SELYUKH: Lauren Anneberg is a volunteer coach at a Washington, D.C., triathlon club, Capital Y-Tri. To keep training, the team is resorting to a dry simulation of swimming - pulling on stretchy bands looped around door hinges.
ANNEBERG: It exercises the muscles in your back and core and arms in the same way you'd be pulling yourself through the water. But you are not. You're just standing in your living room (laughter) with a band in your hand.
SELYUKH: Lots of people find themselves looking for such workarounds as they hole up at home for the coronavirus pandemic. Gyms are renting out workout gear as stores have been running out of free weights, yoga mats and other home equipment. Fitness companies and out-of-work athletes have flooded the zone with virtual workouts, like these from Peloton and ballerina Patricia Zhou.
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UNIDENTIFIED FITNESS INSTRUCTOR: Squeeze. Find that tension. Beautiful.
PATRICIA ZHOU: And up. And down, pointe (ph).
KATIE GOULD: You're going to need a broom and a towel.
SELYUKH: And that's Katie Gould teaching a class through the Zoom app after having to close her training studio KG Strong in Philadelphia.
GOULD: We are an industry of high-fives and hugs and sharing equipment.
SELYUKH: Lots of gyms and fitness studios like hers are facing a similar challenge to many other businesses around the country - laying off staff, hoping to get leniency on rent and insurance. And as Gould points out, if this is a year of not touching other people, it might fundamentally change the heart of this very personal wellness industry.
GOULD: Sounds kind of silly, but high-fives are, like, a big part of finishing something together as a group, you know? It's such a funny thing to think that maybe isn't going to be cool for a while.
SELYUKH: Another calculation many trainers are making is whether to charge for online classes. These, of course, have always been around on YouTube and Instagram, a great way to build a name or boost a following. But the math is different for instructors who have relied on paid sessions as their income.
JAIME ANDREWS: It's great, but the value of it is zero.
SELYUKH: Jaime Andrews is a yoga and fitness instructor outside of Boston. She gave up on a brand-new studio because of the pandemic. She worries about what happens after all this, how much people will still value paid, personalized coaching. Andrews wants to help her community with yoga for kids and a Facebook group for daily workout inspiration.
ANDREWS: I made that donation-based just to kind of bring awareness to the fact that this is work for me. Like, this is what I studied. This is what I do.
SELYUKH: Social media platforms are chock-full of notes of gratitude from loyal customers, reminders about the mental benefits of exercise and some unexpected discoveries.
UMAIR HASEEB: I've never worked out with my family before.
SELYUKH: Umair Haseeb is a teacher in Chicago who found himself building a makeshift gym with his family - suddenly, for an hour every day, doing single-leg squats right next to Mom and Dad on a treadmill and his little brother lifting weights.
HASEEB: There's something really special about that, the fact that we're all in the same room sharing an experience. And after that, we cook up a meal and have a post-workout meal together as a family. Those are sort of special moments.
SELYUKH: Moments that strengthen the hope that everything will work out.
Alina Selyukh, NPR News.
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