The ‘new normal’ has many people evaluating their own lives, goals, health and fitness.
Almost immediately after the lockdowns and quarantines worldwide began, we saw a bombard of workouts and meditation guides flooding social media, in its own say saying, “we’re all in this together”. We don’t know what the future post-COVID 19 will look like for the world, how it will shape our idea of a work-life balance and other priorities, but we can’t deny that a change awaits. We asked a few trainers, what do you think the fitness scene in Malaysia will look like once this is all over?
Siu Lim, Cert Pilates Instructor
The new normal in fitness has definitely made people more aware of their health and fitness. Some of us once took it for granted where we gave ourselves excuses such as the hot weather or the annoying mosquitos and the thought of stepping outside for fresh air and going out for a walk, jog, or bike ride has brought us so much joy that we end asking ourselves, “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”
Our immune system is now being put to a test and everyone is so cautious that they have been trying to boost their immune system through better food and exercising more often…even if it’s at home. Home workouts have never been so popular and now that we don’t see gyms or studios opening any time soon, they are starting to do more online classes. Fitness has not slowed down no matter what anyone says and it will continue to be there — it’s not a ‘fad’ and shouldn’t be.
Now is always the right time to start working out whether you have been doing it before, during, or after the MCO. COVID-19 is still around and we all need to build immunity to prevent us from this and what better way but to keep fit with home workouts and online classes.
Shuhail Kader, Ride Instructor at Ministry of Burn
It truly is a strange time to be living in. Close contact could potentially be deadly to yourself and the people in your life.
The fitness industry is right now is seeing a shift to virtual and future potential could be capitalised on. Virtual fitness would possibly continue and the market could grow more as technology improves in its favour.
When this is all over, I suppose peoples’ perspectives on spinning would be subjective. People who are into fitness would have tried other forms of it virtually (HIIT ,shadow boxing, yoga etc). Inversely people who have never tried spinning would be exposed to it because of its virtual presence along with everything else. The therapy from fitness is the best reward. Looking good is the side effect. People love therapy.
Tiffany Yow, Founder of The Flow – Yoga & Pilates
There’s no doubt that the landscape of fitness will change post-CMCO, with more people staying home and practicing social distancing. There’s been a shift towards establishing a home practice and it was especially important for us to ensure that we continue to provide practitioners with the same high quality of classes and community connection at home as we would in studio. This will continue post-CMCO, however nothing truly compares to an in studio experience. So although capacity in physical locations will have to be reduced for a while, fitness studios will have to ensure we are taking all the appropriate measures to keep our clients and staff safe.
A really positive outcome from this is that awareness has grown amongst the broader community around the importance of staying active. We’ve found more and more people turning towards fitness to keep themselves moving during the CMCO and with that, lots of opportunity to share our practice with a larger community, locally and even across borders post-CMCO — both online and offline.
Hansen Lee, Yoga teacher / Movement Coach
Diandra Soliano
Associate Editor, MY
Diandra Soliano is the Associate Editor of Prestige Online Malaysia. In between morning coffees, long lunches (business, of course), and meeting deadlines over sundown cocktails in the city, you can find her at the yoga studio - or at least she hopes.