Dear Premier Andrews and the Labor Government

Dear Premier Andrews and the Labor Government,

I contact you on behalf of Personal Trainers across Victoria.

Our industry, like many others, is facing catastrophe at the hands of COVID-19 and the extended lockdown across Victoria.

In Melbourne, Personal Trainers have ceased operations since the 23rd of March. While it is a breath of fresh air for restrictions to have eased and outdoor one-on-one personal training to be unrestricted, Melbourne’s unpredictable weather presents health-risks and potential injury hazards to clients and trainers alike; along with further disruption of income and business for thousands of trainers across Victoria.

As an industry leader, I feel it my duty to present a COVID safe plan for personal trainers to return to regular indoor operation, backed by science and evidence. I write to you to consider one to one, appointment-based personal training, where every aspect can be tightly regulated and controlled; be reclassified as an essential service under the same category as physiotherapy, myotherapy, osteopathic care and other allied health professionals.

In making your decision, please consider the following:

Montreal, Canada has recently reentered a red-zone lockdown for 28-days. Since the previous lockdown, they now have data and learnt personal training studios and gyms to be very low risk. As such, they were still permitted to operate inside of stage 1 red-zone lockdown under an appointment-based model.

Data collected from the United States, from 49.4 million club visits, across 2877 locations in August, found the infection occurrence rate was 0.002% and zero transmissions occurred from any reported cases.

Similarly, in the U.K., the infection rate is 0.34 cases per 100,000 visits from 22 million visits in two months following reopening with zero community transmission recorded.

Domestically, data collected by Fitness Australia shows that from 7.31 million check-ins across 546 clubs in the first eight weeks after NSW reopened gyms, there were zero cases of reported community transmissions.

These numbers are due to the controlled clean environments of modern gyms and personal training studios which has only been further amplified with COVID-safe plans. However, I understand, in these uncertain times, one does not want to take risks unnecessarily. Hence I put forth a very conservative plan to allow the personal training sector to get back on its feet:

– All clients to have temperature screening upon entry
– Clients and staff require to wash their hands upon entry
– All clients must be accompanied by a qualified personal trainer for the duration of their workout
– All personal trainers and staff to wear masks on-premise
– Capacity limits of 1 person per 7 square metres
– Equipment to be wiped down after each session by the trainer
– Each client to submit medical history for the business or trainer to keep on file
– Personal Trainers to operate via appointment only
– No cardio equipment like bikes, treadmills or cross trainers permitted for use.

As personal trainers, we are the front line of mental health. Many who can’t find the words to ask for help or look to take the first step towards cleaning up their lives, do so by reaching out to a personal trainer and getting their bodies back in shape. For tens of thousands of Victorians, personal training and physical fitness is their outlet, and now in a time of hardship, we are needed more than ever.

Whilst our industry is very grateful to be able to train outdoors, we still expose ourselves to unpredictable weather, muddy ovals, uneven grounds and multiple issues of toilet and bathroom usage. An indoor, appointment-based solution would alleviate the issues we face as an industry and only further strengthen hygiene policies.

Stats for consideration:

According to the IBIS business report, the Australian Personal Trainers market size is $468 million with 8,412 businesses. Wages are estimated at 217.2 million with Victoria representing 27.3% of the Australian market.

One to one personal training represents 39.8% of product segmentation. We believe now that group training is severely restricted, that percentage will rise to as high as 60 to 70% with online training and home workout routines also accruing the group training market.

Clients partaking in personal training are all in relatively low-risk age groups. 89.1% of the personal training market are aged below 55. If required, personal training could implement age restrictions on indoor personal training to further satisfy government COVID regulations.

With this, I ask, please consider reclassifying personal training as an essential service and under the same category as physiotherapy, osteopathic care and other allied health professionals. I know we can operate safely and well within the rules. Victoria needs us and our industry is suffering. I understand personal training is too small of an industry to warrant funding; however, this small tweak of allowing restricted indoor personal training will go a long way in saving the fitness industry in Melbourne.

Yours in health,

Mark Ottobre
Personal Trainer
Enterprise Fitness

Please like, comment and share this post to make sure our message is heard.

References:

1. Montreal – Gyms stay open despite regional colour change
https://qcna.qc.ca/news/gyms-stay-open-despite-regional-colour-change?fbclid=IwAR1ZyD037jynxDUrp3LdQb5AxRq9VZKhiIPh3nkKDMBzg47d7nKFxxIGaDI

2. U.S. – National study confirms, it is safe to workout out at the gym
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-study-confirms-its-safe-to-work-out-at-the-gym-current-data-shows-no-evidence-of-covid-19-spread-in-gyms-301122664.html

3. U.K. Active – Fitness and leisure sector reports COVID rate of 0.34 per 100,000 visits

Fitness and leisure sector reports COVID rate of 0.34 per 100,000 visits since reopening in England

4. Fitness Australia – Gyms are not hotspots for COVID-19
https://fitness.org.au/articles/most-recent/gyms-are-not-a-hotspot-for-covid-19-industry-challenges-recent-commentary/50/2132/184

5. IBIS – Personal Trainer report
https://www.ibisworld.com/au/industry/personal-trainers/4195/

You Might Also Like

WE KNOW OUR STUFF.

THAT'S WHY WE'VE BEEN FEATURED IN...

CLIENT TRANSFORMATIONS

YOUR INSPIRATION. OUR MOTIVATION

PERSONAL TRAINING

Before
Lost 8.2% Body Fat
MARCUS
With Marcus’ dedication and hard work, he continued to lose fat until he was sitting at 8% body fat! #shredded!
Before
Lost 9.9% Body Fat
ESA
Before
Lost 6.2 Kg
YI LI
Before
Lost 9.9% Body Fat
JORDAN
Before
Lost 14.7% Body Fat
FRANCEE

WEIGHT LOSS

Before
Lost 6 kilos of Fat
JOSEPH
Unmotivated, lethargic, and having no zest for life. This is where Joseph was at the beginning of his journey with Enterprise Fitn...
Before
Lost 40 kilos
HELEN
I never thought that I could do all these training sessions and movements at the beginning
Before
Lost 44 kilos
JOE
Before
Lost 20 kilos
HOLLY

COMP PREP

Winner of Fitness Overall

Karen

4 X Ms Australia

x3 Arnold Classic Winner

Mark’s expert guidance gave me clarity in my training and showed me the most effective supplements and nutrition for my goals. He pushed ...

Winner of Fitness Overall

Sports Model Divisions

Champion

Rookie 40+ Sports Model

Download a FREE Chapter of the Enterprise Diet…

The Inside Secrets to Long Term Body Transformation

Get an exclusive look at the Enterprise Diet with a FREE chapter.

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We will only send you awesome stuff

The Enterprise Fitness User Manual

Get an exclusive copy of the Enterprise Fitness User Manual

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We will only send you awesome stuff

3 Biggest Mistakes
Female Competitors Make

Get exclusive access to our video series

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We will only send you awesome stuff

Privacy Policy

Enterprise Fitness – Data collection and privacy policy
Thank you for visiting Enterprise Fitness, located in Richmond, Victoria.
We respect and protect the privacy of our website users and clients.
We act in accordance the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth).
This policy tells you how we collect and use information.

Data Collection

We only collect the Personal Information or additional information necessary to provide the service or goods you require. “Personal Information” means any information from which your identity is known or can be reasonably ascertained.

Website

We do not collect Personal Information about you when you visit our website.
You can use the website without telling us who you are or revealing other Personal Information.

If you send us a contact or feedback form we will collect Personal Information. If you contact us we will collect the email address you nominate and any other identifying information you provide, such as a name or phone number. You consent to us contacting you by providing that Personal Information.

Clients

We also collect Personal Information about you when you commence training with us as a client or when you make a purchase through our website. This may include additional information about you, such as your training history, health etc.

When we collect Personal Information or additional information we will treat it in accordance with our privacy policy.

Privacy policy

Access to your Personal Information or additional information is restricted to staff who need it to provide benefits or services to you.

We train our staff about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your information.

We do not share Personal Information with other entities unless you request us to, we ask you first or required by law to share.

We may share anonymised data, such as your server location, with other entities.

We collect this data by using Cookies (which are small files that are stored on your computer or mobile device). We use Cookies to record how many times you have visited our website and which parts of our website you have visited. Cookies can be used to provide you with information that you are interested in. By using our website, you consent to the processing of data about you by Google in the the way described in Google’s Privacy Policy.

If you ask us about an issue that needs to be dealt with by another entity, we will treat your Personal Information confidentially and request any other entity to do the same. We are not responsible for what other entities do however.

How we deal with complaints and requests

You may request access to Personal Information about you that we hold. You may ask us to correct your Personal Information if it is not accurate, up-to-date or incomplete.

You may make a complaint about our handling of your Personal Information.

To protect your privacy, we will require evidence of your identity before we can give you access to information about you or change it.

You can contact us by email, or send your request or complaint to the postal address below. We undertake to respond within 30 days.

If the request or complaint will take longer to resolve, we will provide you with a date by which we expect to respond.

Contact us
Privacy Manager
Enterprise Fitness
381 Swan Street
Richmond Victoria 3121
Australia

Be Part of an Exceptional Team That Transforms Lives Through Industry-Leading Training & Coaching

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

We will only send you awesome stuff