GYM-GOERS across south Essex have been taking to their front rooms, conservatories and back gardens to get their fitness fix for free online throughout the lockdown, leaving us wondering... what will the future be for our gyms and personal trainers?

Since the UK went into lockdown, fitness fanatics have been turning to free live-streamed classes on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram to keep themselves busy, and their bank balance healthy, while gyms shut.

In a bid to keep up with the competition, gym owners and trainers have now launched plans to cope with the shift from face-to-face to online training after the pandemic ends.

When 97 per cent of her client’s said they wanted to carry on online training rather than meeting face-to-face when normality resumes, Katie Collins decided to scrap traditional ways of running her fitness bootcamp and will instead shift her focus to virtual classes.

The personal trainer, who owns Katie’s Fitness and Body Busters, said: “I started my bootcamps after having my kids Freddie, who is seven months old, and Harry, who is two, in such a short space of time.

“There was nowhere that mums could bring their kids to workout, so I started hiring out the hall at Westcliff Rugby Club in January. It was working really well face-to-face with 30 ladies in a class, and at that point we thought the outbreak would only last a few weeks.. how times have changed.

“I instead launched my online classes which have been a huge success – next week I will have 400 people joining me.”

The 33-year-old from Southend continued: “I’ve been a trainer for six years now, but given the current situation I started to wonder whether doing things online would be permanent.. clearly I won’t fit 400 people into one hall!

“I asked the group whether moving forward they wanted to go back to face-to-face training and 97 per cent said they wanted to stay online. People can do it in their PJs before they shower and start work, in their gardens, whatever they like without the rush of getting to the gym.

People are saving so much money and my two-year-old has actually perfected the plank! It looks like I won’t be going back.”

Katie has also been offering free classes to NHS workers and charges £12 for two weeks.

Natalie Staines, 35, who attends Katie’s online classes, added: “I usually exercise three or four times a week, so it’s a no-brainer – before I was paying £30 for an hour session and now I’m paying £1 a day.”

Other businesses are planning to re-open both gyms and classes as well as offer online training after the outbreak blows over.

Ray Bath, owner of BodybyJR in Basildon, told how he plans to launch a paid prescription on his website: “We have prepared for six months of closure and have no plans to re-open our gym until it’s safe. When we do so, we’ll be restructuring our website so we can continue running virtual bootcamps and online coaching and we plan to continue free workouts on our social media and YouTube. When it’s the right time we’ll launch a paid prescription.”

Kevin Johnson, who runs Motiv-8 Bootcamp and Fitness in Benfleet, added: “I do prefer training in person, but online classes have really opened up our options. I’m itching to get back to it, but it’s definitely likely I’ll continue online too.”

For information on classes, visit the Katie’s Fitness and Body Busters, BodybyJR and Motiv-8 Bootcamp and Fitness Facebook pages.