A long wait to lift weight

KNYSNA NEWS - Gyms and fitness centres had to close their doors when lockdown was announced five months ago, and could only reopen on Tuesday last week with the start of Level 2. Along with many other businesses, they have suffered greatly due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but now owners hope they can begin to recover from the losses.

"It's been five months of absolutely no income, it's been seriously tough, so reopening will hopefully slowly help us make up for it," said Marius Barnard, co-owner of fitness centre KFit. "Things started off slow, but have thankfully begun picking up in the second week. We think that by springtime people will start returning more."

For Barnard, banning the use of gyms and fitness centres in the first place just did not make sense. "It was very weird that people weren't allowed to go to gyms, because it's proven that through exercise you boost your respiratory system."

Chris Emmanuel, co-owner of Crossfit Knysna, believes the past few months have borne some unexpectedly promising fruits. "A lot of people have realigned their priorities with more of a focus on their health, because they have now realised just how much of a difference it makes. I think this could just hold a largely positive outlook for the fitness industry," Emmanuel said. "It's been a very big solidifying factor. We wanted to stay in the business locally, so we just had to make it through, no matter what."

Knysna United rugby players Cullen Cole and Dale Bastian were relieved to be back in the gym.

The lifting of restrictions did not come a moment too soon for Empire One Fitness Centre owner Hein van Rooyen. "I've had to move out of my flat and in with friends because I couldn't afford both rents [flat and gym], and I had to rent out my training equipment to provide some way of putting food on the table," he said.

"But, we have had people express their interest and return to the gym, so the reopening has been a massive relief."

The first person to return to Van Rooyen's gym was local bodybuilder and fitness coach Maxwell Kiewitz, who was up and ready before the crack of dawn on 18 August. "I was up in the dark, drove through the rain and I was there at 04:50 staring at the door of the gym waiting for it to open," Kiewitz said. "It felt so good to be back and to just make use of proper weights - now I don't need to do a thousand reps anymore for a complete workout."

Juandré Venter during a workout.