Forced to change vocation, local gym owners struggle to make ends meet

Lockdown, loss of income and liabilities are forcing gym owners to change their course of life as they struggle to earn bread and butter for their families.

Running their own establishment (gymnasium) in the pre-lockdown period, the owners are now left with no other option but to take up jobs, either permanent or commission-based, to meet the expenses and support their families at this time of crisis.

The gym owners’ associations have been protesting against the central government lately, stating that every other sector such as markets, banks, government offices have been opened, but gyms are not under their purview, due to which owners and their staff are struggling to survive.

Once an owner, 48-year-old Jagdish now does supervising job

A gym owner in Model Town Extension, 48-year-old Jagdish Singh, who had been running his facility in a rented accomodation for the last 13 years, is now working as a supervisor in a gym machines’ manufacturing unit in Janta Nagar and has to perform odd commission-based jobs for earning a livelihood for his family.

“I was running out of ways to stay afloat. I had to find some job for myself as my wife, two children and parents are dependent on me. My younger brother who once worked in the quality control department of a hosiery unit also lost his job in the first two months of the lockdown. Though gyms are closed, we still have to pay school fees, electricity charges and other bills. I also take up commission-based jobs like getting orders for the factory owners so that I could meet the household expenses,” he said.

“The government should pay heed to the crisis being faced by gym owners and allow them to open. A middle-class family does not have that much savings on which it can survive such a prolonged lockdown. I had a choice to sell steroids and other gym products to customers like many others are doing, but it is not good for the health of customers, so I chose to look for a job,” Jagdish added.

Baljinder is back to square one

Similar is the plight of Baljinder Singh, 33, who ran a gym in a rented accommodation in Ramgarh village.

Now, he has moved back to work as a design engineer in an auto-part manufacturing factory, six years after he had left the job and to pursue his aspirations.

“I was shattered after the lockdown was announced and it was extended subsequently. I was fortunate enough to get my job back after six years, but I am forced to work on a meagre salary as compared to what I used to earn through the gymnasium,” he said.

“I used to earn profit of around ₹35,000 to ₹40,000 after meeting all my expenses including rent, electricity bill and salaries of staff. But now, I am earning only ₹15,000. After paying the rent of my gym, I am left with only Rs 5,000. I have a family to feed, which includes my parents, a sister, wife and my 18-month-old son. My ailing father, who works as a machine operator in a factory, had to retire this year, but he continued with his job to support me at this time of difficulty,” Baljinder added.

He said there were more than 700 gyms in the city and “everyone, including the owners, staffers and trainers, are now struggling in one way or another”.

Even if the gyms are allowed to open, the future of this sector will remain bleak, but it will give us a ray of hope and business will slowly come back on track, he added.

Till now, no relief has been announced by the government for the gym owners.