It's been blow after blow for Victorian gyms and fitness studios in the past two years, with owners saying they feel like they have been "hit from every angle".
The rising cost of living is the latest blow, and it comes as trainers and gym members continue to be taken out of the gym by waves of the flu and COVID-19, and after lockdowns and negative talk about hygiene at the facilities hit hard last year.
Many gym owners say they "just hanging in there" after watching numerous fellow fitness businesses throw in the towel.
Cameron Robinson, who has run Fit X Sunbury for about five years, said this is the first year clients have been telling him they cannot afford to continue their memberships.
His small business has lost about 10 per cent of its members in the past couple of months, including three people who left in one week, saying they just couldn't afford it anymore "with everything else going on in the world".
"When you work with a smaller number of people anyway, when you lose 10 per cent it's a pretty significant hit to your budget," he said.
"Since everything's gone up – especially probably petrol being the big one – we're finding this year we're trying to throw out more specials, and offer cheaper sessions that just drag those extra people into the gym."
Sophia*, who owns two F45 gyms in Melbourne's south-east, said the rising cost of living had definitely caused a drop in membership recently – as well as a rise in the business expenses.
"We are 50 per cent down on what we were two years ago and of course our costs have increased dramatically," she said.
"And in the short term, I don't think it's going to get any better.
"I guess a lot is going to depend on what happens with interest rates in the next couple of months. People are reassessing their spending."
Maxine Yeates, who runs Soul Seed Yoga in Mentone, has also noticed members are "feeling the pinch" of living costs the past couple of months.
"We have seen a dip in the last sort of month or two," she said.
"Some people haven't renewed passes when they've been quite regular previously."
From bad to worse
Sophia said the rising cost of living was just "another whammy" after what had already been an exceptionally tough year for gyms on the back of six periods of lockdown.
"It's just seems like it's been this constant battle of getting people back into the studio – we've been hit from every angle," she said.
"With people getting COVID-19, the flu and now that they can travel, gym memberships have gone out the window."
Many gym owners' busiest period – January and February – was derailed this year by the surge of COVID-19 cases brought by the Omicron wave.
AusACTIVE CEO Barry Elvish, who runs the united body for Australia's health and wellbeing industry, agreed gyms "didn't get the kick you'd normally get at the start of a year where people make New Year's resolutions and that kind of stuff".
Yeates said her business also missed the regular January "massive uptick" in membership.
Since then, membership has continued to be hit by people continuing to get COVID-19, as well as the flu.
"A lot of people that have just been knocked out with the flu and colds," Yeates said.
The gym owners explained that people getting sick and taking a break from training – and their routine – often led to longer absences from the gym.
Elvish said the increased prevalence of the flu in the community was also likely to make people hesitant to attend group scenarios, like gym classes.
"In terms of another virus or people again, they've got their their antennae very much on high alert."
Sophia said Victoria's "cold and miserable" weather was also taking its usual toll on people choosing to get to the gym.
"But I feel like this year, it's been worse because it's coupled with school holidays and people can now finally travel, so everybody is going away," she said.
Sophia believes the Victorian government "painting the picture that gyms were not safe" from the risk of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 has also taken a toll on the mentality of Victorians.
"Everybody thinks we've all bounced back to normal. It's has not been the case," she said.
Elvish agreed Victorian gyms have had it much tougher than those in other states, where his organisation is observing that the industry isn't struggling nearly as much.
"Without a doubt the experience of Victoria found that this was the worst nationally. And that's not just because they had the longest lockdown," he said.
"They were being really crucified in the press by chief health officers and others making some pretty unhelpful statements about how unclean (gyms) were and so on."
Yeates said she had recently been in Queensland, where gyms seemed to be in much better positions.
"It's very different up there – that felt quite apparent for us," she said.
Sad landscape for gym owners
Sophia claimed to know of two Melbourne F45 gym studios that have closed as a result of financial pressures.
Robinson and Yeates are also aware of multiple gyms in their areas that have closed in the past year.
"There's far too many yoga gyms closing down than should be," Yeates said.
"A lot of us are just hanging in there."
For now, all gym owners can do is ride out the difficult situation and hope their industry will see some return to normality as the world adapts to changing circumstances – and as the weather improves.
"Hopefully it's a mad rush come spring," West said.
All four gym owners said the irony of people quitting their fitness memberships was that keeping moving was essential for their health at times of stress.
"I guess people will learn to live with the increased costs, and hopefully, they'll realise that one of the important things for them is their self care – and we'll see we'll see better attendance," Yeates said.
*Sophia requested her name be changed for this article.
