Robert Sall, M.D., says, “Whatever happens, we have to let people exercise and be physically active, we have to do it, it's an essential part of life.
"Maintaining health is the main task of the fitness industry. During the pandemic, the industry's focus has always been on supporting people to continue to exercise safely, even though clubs have closed. At the time, the focus was on developing strict safety measures to reduce the risk of illness and allow fitness clubs to resume work. Despite these efforts, the fitness industry has been misunderstood by the media and sometimes by public officials.
The victory followed the closure of more than seven regions of the country for several months. So what made Indian sports clubs think they were safe enough to stay safe?
Great help was provided by the United Federation of Health and Fitness (UHFF), a partner of the IHRSA National Federation of India. The UHFF used research carried out by the IHRSA to confirm its claims that gyms could be part of the solution to fight the virus and could operate safely with all precautions.
The UHFF's conversation with government officials concluded that lawmakers were primarily concerned about:
As the number of COVID-19 infections in the world rises and many governments introduce quarantine at the national level for the second time, club owners knew they needed to act quickly to open sports and fitness facilities in India. In one of the biggest struggles to date, lobbying for the resumption of sports clubs, the UHFF took every opportunity to get the government's attention.
UHFF has petitioned change.org to support the resumption of sports and fitness clubs in Maharashtra. The federation also gained government support through Twitter campaigns that spread the word that health clubs could:
The UHFF invested heavily in these campaigns and carried out research showing that clubs are not to blame for the spread of COVID-19 and that actual infections in these facilities are very rare. Some of the IHRSA resources used to persuade the Government of Maharashtra were:
According to UHFF, the most convincing arguments for opening clubs were the proven ability of sports and fitness clubs:
Abhimanyu Sable, founder and chairman of the Indian Fitness and Sports Clubs Network, shared a full list of guidelines on Facebook in a video: https://fb.watch/2ji7ncppZe/
The Maharashtra region's guidelines for resuming clubs are similar to the security measures in place in sports and fitness clubs around the world.
The IHRSA welcomes the UHFF's persistence in the fight to relaunch the clubs and their perseverance in continuing this work. The dispute was incomprehensible and discriminatory, as the government had allowed all other companies and industries to operate during the pandemic - to exclude the fitness industry.
The dispute over the resumption of clubs in India is another example of the importance of strengthening the industry's political position and building relationships with local authorities.
IHRSA, as the only trade association representing the global health and fitness industry, strives to develop, promote and protect the industry as a whole by providing it with the necessary resources and useful information. During the coronavir pandemic, collaboration between IHRSA and federation partners has been greater and more important than ever. We must all continue to work together to:
