‘It’s great to be back’ say gym owners

‘EXCITED’ gym owners have spoken of their cautious optimism ahead of the grand re-openings of their businesses next week after months of lockdown.

Fitness hubs will be able to throw open their doors to the public from Monday, following a confirmation by Boris Johnson last night.

And studios up and down the Portsmouth region are looking forward to unveiling new state-of-the-art kit to help people shift their lockdown blubber.

Marina Fitness, at The Slaughterhouse in Weevil Lane, Gosport, has a new hi-tech 3D scanner that can measure how much fat and muscle mass a person has.

Katie Eneas who owns the gym, hopes to use the device to build tailor-made fitness programmes for members.

She added: ‘It’s a fantastic piece of equipment we’re really excited to be able to offer to our clients.

‘It gives us a huge amount of information to tailor fitness programmes and nutrition.

‘I really feel the health and wellness industry will be huge over this year because we have all realised how important it is to stay fit and healthy.

‘It’s great we’re back.’ Meanwhile, Renegades Gym in Copnor has expanded its operation at the Portsmouth Enterprise Centre, opening up a new rehabilitation and physiotherapy centre nexttoitsgym.

And the site has also invested in state-of-the-art equipment for its specialised sports performance testing programme.

The gear is used to measure athletes’ metabolic rates and ‘VO2 max’ – the maximum amount of oxygen that can be inhaled and absorbed by the body.

Dan Fallon, who is part of the team that runs Renegades, said the kit could be used to help people recover from the after-effects of ‘long Covid’.

Speaking of finally being able to re-open, the former Royal Navy physical training instructor told The News: ‘There’s lots of excitement but there’s also a lot of anxiety.

‘I don’t want to be “Nelly Negative” but everyone has to have an air of caution and not get carried away.

‘If Europe is going through a third wave of Covid, we don’t know what impact that might have on us.’

But he added: ‘I do feel hopeful that this will be it now and we will be open for good. But there is 20 per cent of me that’s cynical and isn’t sure.’