Reopening Gyms in India: How Superhuman Gym in Manipal is reopening

The Gyms across India have reopened following the COVID-19 lockdown. The lockdown had been a huge blow for the Indian fitness industry in general but now that the restrictions are eased, it is time to adapt to the new normal and get back to business.

We are starting our new series ‘Reopening of Gyms in India’ where we hope to feature multiple gyms across the nation and their plans in the post-COVID time period. In the first chapter, we will be talking to Somesh Kamra who is the co-founder of Superhuman Gym.

Headquartered in Mumbai, Superhuman Gym has opened doors to their Manipal branch where a long list of precautions has been taken. Below is what Somesh had to say about the lockdown, post-lockdown precautions and more:

How the lockdown period was utilized

At first, honestly, nobody knew how serious the issue was and how long will it go on for. Speculations were always based on rumors. I was at my Manipal gym when the lockdown was announced for the state of Karnataka. Luckily for us, being a student town and having majority student clients, we didn’t face a major wrath as the students themselves weren’t in the city to visit the gym. However, I have noticed how it’s getting difficult for most gyms to even survive, leave aside give any additional benefits.

Superhuman Gym with its superior business functioning has not only survived but is one of the very few gyms that is giving extension to all active members.

We believe in building long term relations with our clients and treat them like family. So we have gone ahead with giving them an extension on their memberships and will soon be launching a Superhuman 2.0 where we gamify the gym. You will hear about that pretty soon

Safety measures that has been taken post-lockdown

Luckily the state of Karnataka is extremely efficient and rapid in their response towards public welfare; Udupi/Manipal administrators have been very cooperative and have lent a helping hand to the business establishments.

So we finally achieved the green signal to open the Gym on 5^th August. Having said that, we at Superhuman had a lot of work to do before we actually allowed members to walk in and train.

We had to specially sanitize the entire space which is about 10,000 sq. ft. All our housekeeping protocols have been modified. What was cleaned twice daily has now doubled.

Our purchase stock has changed, all our equipment is wiped by hand with Dettol daily while the floor is mopped with Dettol and medical grade floor disinfectant. There is industrial grade sanitizer for all members, staff and housekeeping kept at the front desk to use freely.

We have provided medical grade gloves to all our staff to use on premise. We have produced CE FDA certified Superhuman Gym masks for all our staff and clients. It’s given to them free of cost.

Reactions from the Gym Members

Well, the members have been reaching out to us via Instagram and Facebook and are eager to get back on the floor. For now, since the crowd is lesser, nobody is worried and we have got really good response to the hygiene practice that we maintain. The real challenge will be when the students return sometime in September. I am sure we at Superhuman take this issue of COVID very seriously and will maintain the hygiene level.

Thoughts on the instructions from Government

I assume this precautionary normal will be around for a year at least, but the concern is that it may exceed that time frame. It, however, will not be permanent after the vaccine and life will get back to normal. People will have to focus on their health and that will be a huge plus point for everybody around.

Training Combat Sports in the Gym

Great question. Jiu-Jitsu is one of our top running classes and that is something we will be avoiding temporarily. Our communication to the clients is clearly going to state what classes will be on and which won’t be. Our kickboxing, boxing, functional training classes are too very well received and have a new protocol of operations.

Tune in for the next chapter in the series where we will be featuring another gym which has reopened post-lockdown.

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