Wodonga gyms: CrossFit TMA, F45 Wodonga remain closed as restrictions continue

Anger is reaching boiling point in Wodonga as gym owners slam the State Government for overlooking them once again, while giving full steam ahead to hospitality. Do you agree with the gym restrictions?

CrossFit TMA co-owner Zak Rogers.

Wodonga gym owners are feeling “incredibly frustrated” after being left in the lurch during the Victorian government’s COVID-19 restrictions update at the weekend.

“I’m so cranky, it’s ridiculous,” F45 Wodonga manager Gudi Gigliotti said.

“We have such great contact tracing, everyone that steps in we know about. They go to their individual stations and work out, and everything is sanitised after they leave, but we can’t open.

“Yet you can go into a pub with 70 strangers and drink.

“I was really disappointed yesterday because I was expecting we’d be able to go back to the gym.

“By the sounds of it he has no plan for gyms to open at all – it‘s incredibly frustrating.”

While gyms in regional Victoria can host outdoor classes with up to 10 people, Ms Gigliotti said she was concerned about holding classes outside as summer approached.

“Being in a border town trying to compete with Albury, who has everything open and can even play contact sports, is really difficult,” she said.

“Especially now it’s getting warmer, it’s hot outside.

“We’re looking at getting pop up marquees so we can have a bit of shade, we’ll just have to adapt to what we’ve got.”

Co-owner of CrossFit TMA in Wodonga Zak Rogers said it was unfair that the hospitality industry saw its restrictions eased further while gyms remained closed.

“The government is still prioritising punters drinking alcohol and making themselves less immune over people going to the gym and making themselves healthier and more immune,” Mr Rogers said.

“It’s becoming pure hypocrisy because they’re saying they’re doing all this to keep people safe, but sending people to the pub in droves is not making anybody safe.

“There was a lot in the news last night about the hospitality industry but from my perspective, selfishly, I don’t believe the hospitality sector is any more important than the health and fitness sector.

“The health and fitness sector probably employs a similar amount of people.”

Mr Rogers said he was concerned about losing more members to Albury gyms, but CrossFit TMA would not be giving up.

“We’re still doing everything we can to make our service as beneficial for our customer as we can,” he said.

“We’re not going anywhere, we’d just like to have more options at our disposal.”

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