Since June, the first thing Qi Lin does when he wakes up every morning is to check several industry news groups on his mobile phone WeChat.
When he clicked on the red circle in the upper right of the group avatar that displayed a number of dozens, and sometimes even replaced the number with three dots, the discussion in it even included the transfer of gym equipment.
Then, Qi Lin will click on the chat group of his studio and leave a sentence: "No specific news yet."
Qi Lin is a partner of a fitness studio in Putuo District, Shanghai. The "news" he is waiting for is the latest policy and notice on the opening and operation of indoor venues in Shanghai.
On June 29, he finally waited for this news - the Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau announced that as long as there are no medium and high-risk areas in the neighborhood and no social epidemic in the past week, indoor sports venues with good ventilation conditions will be The district sports administrative department can open up in an orderly manner after filing.
"The impact on the industry in the past three months is unimaginable." The surging news reporters expressed similar emotions when they chatted with the heads of different types of gyms and fitness coaches in Shanghai about the current situation of the industry.
Some coaches chose to leave the industry, but others persisted. "We have to look at the positive side, and instead of waiting, we should respond positively." Lucky Fitness has reopened.
Image source: respondents
"Missed all the new development period"
Just in June, Qi Lin returned to his fitness studio on the first day after the community's static management was lifted.
In Qi Lin's own words, "Everything is too magical."
Qi Lin, who has entered the age of no confusion, has always used sticky notes to write down training tasks and work plans. When he was sorting out the workbench, he found the sticky note on the desk, which also said that from late March to April. The "new extension" plan in the second half of the month.
"For a small fitness studio like us, usually March, April and May of each year are the key periods for developing new members, that is, the key period for developing and accumulating new members. The impact has never been experienced before.”
Qi Lin told The Paper that his studio had also experienced the outbreak of the epidemic in early 2020, but because it happened to be during the Spring Festival, the impact on the studio was not as obvious as it is now, "I missed these three months this year. The new development period will definitely be difficult for the second half of the year, and there will not even be a big improvement."
Qi Lin gave The Paper reporter a rough calculation, "After the Spring Festival, profits are usually 50% higher than before, but there are no new members this year. Our property fees and miscellaneous fees in Putuo Park, plus a few more The basic salary of the coach is at least 100,000 yuan a month."
In fact, on May 29, the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the "Shanghai Action Plan for Accelerating Economic Recovery and Revitalization", which clarified that "cultural, sports and entertainment" belonged to the difficult industries seriously affected by the epidemic; then on June 7, The Shanghai Municipal Sports Bureau also followed up and released the "Implementation Rules on Supporting Sports Enterprises to Fight the Epidemic and Accelerate the Recovery and Development", and introduced 10 measures to help enterprises.
Is it difficult for the 30% studio to persist?
"We have a work group with hundreds of people, but many of our colleagues are asking for help and consultation. Most fitness studios do not rent the venues of state-owned enterprises. Even if some meet the conditions, the lease relationship of these houses It is complicated and can only be reduced proportionally.”
Qi Lin said frankly that his and his partner's fitness studio has a relatively solid capital chain and can last for a while, but some of the studios he knows, some coaches have chosen to return to their hometowns to find employment opportunities, or even Choose another industry.
Compared with small fitness studios, Leke, a fitness platform with 150 stores in Shanghai and operating with Internet product ideas, has shown a more stable risk tolerance and a healthier operating structure during this wave of epidemics.
But even so, they must bear the impact of the temporary closure of stores in terms of cost consumption.
"In the past few months, our store rents have been delivered normally, so the cost pressure is also great." Manager Liu, who joined Leke in 2019, now manages two Leke stores in Xuhui District, Shanghai.
He told the surging news reporter that during the epidemic, although Leke has given the protection measures to "stop the card" in time, some members still apply for refunding the card.
"The refund amount is around 3,000 to 4,000 yuan, and the proportion is very small. Because some members may have their income affected, we will refund the fee immediately."
"As far as I know, there may be 30% of private teaching studios that are difficult to operate. In the past few months, many coaches have come to us and are eager to seek a job."
However, the situation does not seem to be as bleak as imagined.
Coach Ma from a fitness studio in Jing'an Temple told The Paper that after the gym opened on July 1, his daily class appointments were full. Although there were not many new members, the old members returned one after another. Fireworks" is back.
Coach Ma also said that the "cold spring and cold" will eventually pass. If there is a chance, the studio will continue to expand, seize the window period when everyone is eager to exercise, and make up for the previous losses.
Manager Liu also told the surging news reporter that the current flow rate of Leke Gym's recovery is around 45% to 50% - "I am very confident that it will return to normal afterward, and the headquarters is also making a lot of efforts to help stores in Shanghai. Back to normal." Is online fitness live streaming useful?
The global static management in the past three months is actually not the first time that the fitness industry in Shanghai has faced the impact of the epidemic.
In the first half of 2020, due to the impact of the epidemic, sports events and activities in Shanghai were cancelled one after another, and sports training and venue business were also suspended. At that time, the fitness industry in Shanghai had already experienced a wave of "cold winters".
That is to say, during that time, most fitness brands and coaches of small studios chose to switch to online live broadcasts to "self-help" by driving more people to exercise at home.
Today, online group classes, private lessons and fitness live broadcasts have once again become the means of subsistence for some fitness coaches.
"Actually, fewer and fewer students came to the gym in early March, and we have already started to prepare." Coach Huang, who is engaged in personal teaching at a Leke store in Qingpu, Shanghai, told The Paper, "Compared to the previous wave We will be better prepared for the epidemic.”
Since 2020, after the impact of the epidemic, Leke has established a home fitness brand LITTA, which currently has more than 400,000 online paying users.
This online course includes various types of fitness classes, as well as 1-on-1 private lessons.
However, before this wave of epidemics, online brands of home fitness were to a certain extent only auxiliary tools for offline stores and coaches.
"In the first month of static management, most of our students still focus more on how to buy vegetables and how to ensure daily necessities. After the second month, more users slowly use LITTA. up."
Looking back on the online courses in the past few months, Manager Liu admitted that the increase in the proportion of students participating in online courses also reflects the changes in their mentality during the static management period, "When the problem of eating and drinking is solved, everyone needs to Other activities to relieve inner pressure, and this spiritual need reflects the value of our online courses." Live more, less money
In order to stimulate more students' enthusiasm for fitness, Leke launched a 14-day free online course during the static management period.
In addition, students can conduct two class hours of training online for the cost of the next class.
For fitness enthusiasts, this is a "welfare" during the anti-epidemic period at home, but for fitness coaches, halving the cost of each online training class directly means that their income will also decrease.
"In the past three months, my feeling is that the workload has been heavy, and then the income has decreased." Coach Huang told the surging news reporter that in the past two months, she has attended two or three hundred private lessons. , and then there will be more than 40 group lessons.
"But I think I've been very lucky. Although my total number of students is not large, the proportion of students who are willing to accept online courses is quite high."
According to surging news reporters, even in Leke, which has a perfect online course system, not all coaches can earn lesson fees through online courses, not to mention other small fitness studios. .
"Our coach's job for more than two months is to maintain the previous students, urge them to keep exercising, and maintain their relationship."
Qi Lin said that as a partner, he can provide his coach with the basic salary, "Not all students will be willing to take classes online, because there is still a big difference between online classes and face-to-face classes, and many students will feel that online classes Without the help and protection of a coach in class, the effect is much worse, and the value is much reduced.” Coaches who choose to stick to it
"We have to look on the positive side, and it is better to react positively than to wait passively."
Just after chatting with the surging news reporters about the various experiences in the past few months, Coach Huang finally said such a feeling, which can be regarded as an expectation for the future.
In the past three months, Coach Huang has not only given online fitness classes for students, but also responsible for epidemic prevention in his own community.
Usually, she gets up at 5:00 in the morning, and then switches between the two roles of epidemic prevention volunteer and fitness coach, and she is busy until 11:00 in the evening.
"I was busy with these two things a day for a while, but one is helping the neighbors and the other is helping the students. I think it is very meaningful."
Coach Huang said that among her students, there is a second-born mother who has been insisting on "online classes". Not only did she not lose shape during the epidemic, but her body fat was steadily declining.
The positive change of this second-born mother is also part of her motivation to insist on becoming a fitness coach.
"The online class during this period has also exercised my ability as a coach and my ability to express myself. One of them is whether I can use the simplest or clearest expression to allow students to self-adjust to a standard posture."
Growth is a key word for Coach Huang when he summed up his experience in epidemic prevention and control. "The other is to test me in limited conditions, so that students can use the things around them to exert the best fitness effect."
And those fitness studios and chain gyms that have also stuck to their feet in the past few months have indeed ushered in a new wave of craze after indoor venues open for operation.
Coach Huang told the surging news reporter that the offline classes will officially start on July 1. In most cases, there will be six or seven lessons a day, and in short periods, there will be two or three lessons. The number of private lessons is no different from the number before static management.
"The general trend is still upward, and group classes will resume offline classes later. I think everyone's enthusiasm for fitness will not diminish, but will only pay more and more attention to fitness and their own body."
Loke Sports also announced the data of their seventh anniversary. Despite the impact of the epidemic, 38% of Loke’s stores are temporarily closed, and 15% of the stores have reopened for less than a month, but they still achieved the full platform. The total turnover reached 230 million yuan.
Ricky, the head of Lucky Shanghai, told The Paper that in April when all stores in Shanghai were temporarily closed, they also completed the online signing of 8 venues.
At the same time, they also used this time to conduct a systematic online training for coaches, partners, store managers, and colleagues in different positions in the Loco Sports.
"This wave of epidemic will reshuffle the entire fitness industry in Shanghai." After two epidemic prevention and control in Shanghai, Manager Liu still hopes to stay in the fitness industry, and he even strengthened his goal, "My first I hope to learn operation and management well in this team, and then I hope to have my own gym in the future, because I am still optimistic about this industry." There is always hope
In the past few months, some people chose to leave, some chose to stick to it, and some chose to join.
Shen Jiahao is a good friend who used to work out with Qi Lin, and now he works as a trainer in a traditional commercial gym in Shanghai.
He told the surging news reporter that although he only had a basic salary in the past few months during the epidemic, the accumulation in the past two years has allowed him to save some money.
Now, he plans to quit his job at the gym after the epidemic and choose a suitable park in Shanghai to open his first fitness studio.
"This wave of epidemic has made us think about a lot of questions, including the meaning of our life. Maintaining health is a topic that is getting more and more attention. After this wave of epidemic, the demand for fitness will come back."
Shen Jiahao compared this experience to fitness. Although the process is painful, if you persist, you will have the opportunity to witness good results. "Don't ask for a full blood resurrection, but don't give up hope."