Fitness trainers selling household items to survive

Ahmedabad: Lockdown has affected almost all sections of the society, but fitness trainers may have been the hardest hit of them all. With gyms closed for months even after the lockdown was partially lifted and fitness enthusiasts following social distancing norms, the trainers, many of them body-builders of repute, are struggling to make ends meet.Krunal Mistry, former Mr Ahmedabad and multiple-time Mr Gujarat bodybuilding champion, has taken up welding and fabrication work to survive. He earns Rs 350 a day which is not enough to sustain his family. “From 75 kg, my weight has come down to 62 in the last four months. My wife is educated — an MA — but has no job. After selling off my bike and all the furniture in the house, I have started working as a labourer. We have problem getting food during the lockdown,” said 36-year-old Mistry, the recently-crowned Mr North Gujarat.For about a decade, Mistry has been working as personal fitness trainer with a decent income before the lockdown ruined his life. “I could not afford the rent of the house we were living in and had to move to a cheaper accommodation in Sarkhej recently,’’ he said.Another celebrated bodybuilder-turned-fitness trainer Vijay Shinde, 37, is in no better situation. “I was charging anything between Rs 10,000 and Rs 15,000 a month per client. But nearly 70% of my clients stopped availing my services soon after the lockdown started. This had an adverse affect on my personal practice too,” revealed Vijay, who has been a nine-time Gujarat power-lifting champion.“To keep myself fit, I used to take proteins in the form of eggs, dry fruits, broccoli and protein supplements but now have to survive on chapati, vegetables, daal and rice,” said Shinde. Sooraj Pancholi, 40, a seasoned bodybuilder and powerlifter, too won medals at the national and state-levels championships but finds himself in dire need of financial help. He used to work as a freelance fitness trainer and was selected in the top-10 at the 2019 Asia's strongest men competition held in Thailand. “I would earn around Rs 2 lakh before lockdown but now I am virtually penniless and have to borrow from friends for my family’s survival. After selling off refrigerator, air conditioner and scooter, I had to sell off my wife’s mangalsutra for Rs 19,000 to pay my electricity bills,” said the veteran trainer, who won the 2014 Gujarat Bodybuilding Championship."Fitness is a necessity and not a luxury and should not be neglected during the pandemic situation," said Gaurav Parmar, executive member at the Indian Body Builders Federation (IBBF), Gujarat.