In this “From the Manor” column Sean provides a very personal account of how he coped, dug deep to adapt and why he is feeling optimistic about the future. The effects of the pandemic have been widespread. Few sectors were hit harder than the fitness industry and whilst home based tech companies like ‘Peloton’ managed to capitalise a market where consumers needed to exercise from their homes, the bricks and mortar fitness facilities were left in the dark, for a very long time. The pre-conceived notion that gyms were dirty, sweat filled buildings led to a pro-longed closure with no end date in sight for gyms like mine in 2020. Unfortunately, no one at the top was able to distinguish between the facilities that do fit this profile versus the well-run outfits that take the cleanliness, health and safety of their customers seriously. HAVE YOU SEEN? National Apprenticeship Week: Building Merchants Federation highlights career opportunities in Crawley / National Apprenticeship Week: Gatwick Airport opens applications for highly-acclaimed Engineering Apprenticeship Programme If being involved in the fitness industry for over 10 years has taught me one thing it is that when you think you are down and out, you can probably dig deep and call upon something, somewhere and still manage to achieve something brilliant. And that’s exactly what we did. In the initial lockdown we created “survival kits” for our members consisting of bodyweight training straps and resistance bands. We took a backseat, furloughed all of our staff and I sat their trying to do it all by myself. Alone, incredibly unsure of what the future may hold and desperately trying to keep the business from going under. We survived. In the following lockdowns we took a completely different approach. We didn’t furlough our staff. We loaned every piece of equipment we had to our members. We kept our timetable in place but pivoted to an online but personalised service. We pulled out all the stops to create a positive focus for our members from the workouts themselves, to specialist guest speakers on sleep and mental health to quizzes and an “evening at the virtual races” where everyone dressed up and tuned in from their living rooms. The big lesson we learned through each of the lockdowns was clear. Together we all achieve more. In these situations where the chips are down, you have two options; complain and be negative about the situation which was ultimately out of our hands or focus on how we could respond to whatever is thrown at us in the most positive way possible. Fast forward to today, we have weathered the storm and now operate at near capacity, continuing to run a private health and fitness space which is clean, safe and always focussed around providing the best service we can for our members. My thoughts for the future? Currently around 15% of people in the UK are gym members. UK Active predict that this will increase to 20% by 2025 (three million new joiners) With just over 7,000 health and fitness clubs in the UK, the fitness business owners who are ahead of the curve and have the vision to grow and expand will be rewarded greatly. With more high quality, customer focussed gyms opening, the future for the fitness industry is very exciting right now. Find out about the SP-PT at https://sp-pt.com/ Find out more about Manor Royal at www.manorroyal.org