Lauren and Ryan Hughes are excited to still be bringing F45 Whanganui to the river city despite Covid-19 setbacks. Photo / Bevan Conley
Lauren and Ryan Hughes are excited to still be bringing F45 Whanganui to the river city despite Covid-19 setbacks. Photo / Bevan Conley
Whanganui's newest gym owners have had to do some heavy lifting of their own over the last few months as Covid-19 threw them a few setbacks they were not expecting.
Lauren Hughes and her brother Ryan Hughes were set to open F45 Whanganui on Guyton St between March and April.Then Covid-19 hit. Lauren said their equipment supplies got delayed and stuck in borders and trying to get them into New Zealand proved to be a nightmare.
"Our equipment arrived in the country right as the lockdown hit so no one could deliver it and we were incurring storage costs that we weren't expecting and they were a lot more then what I was expecting."
Before the lockdown, a number of people had signed up for a foundation membership.
"Although they were not paying anything right now we knew that people in lockdown were feeling a little bit frustrated so we just wanted to provide something to them to help get them through. We provided those foundation members with free access to the online platform, which has daily workouts," Lauren said.
Ryan said the awesome support shown from the community had been a massive driver for them to keep going.
Lauren said they did not want to let anyone down but "there were times when we thought 'is this going to be possible?'. But we said we were going to do it and we got people so excited about it we really wanted to deliver it for them."
Because of Covid-19 they have had to move to 176a Glasgow St and aim to open sometime next month.
Ryan said they are waiting on council consent before the builders get hands-on with construction.
Ryan and Lauren will be joined by old Whanganui Collegiate friend, Abe Erihe, a trainer with the New Zealand Army, as the head trainer of F45. Photo / Bevan Conley
Their old Whanganui Collegiate friend Abe Erihe, a trainer with the New Zealand Army, is their head trainer and he has been interviewing to get more trainers on board.
The team said the gym is designed for anyone regardless of their shape or fitness level as the workouts are tailored to individual needs.
Lauren said the F stands for functional and 45 is the number of minutes the exercise goes on.
The franchise was established in Sydney in 2011 and is now in more than 40 countries.
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays will be based around cardio and Tuesdays and Thursdays based on resistance training.
On Saturdays, there will be a one-hour "Hollywood session", comprising cardio and resistance training.
"Your most important asset is your body really," Ryan said.
Lauren agrees, "It is funny how people weigh this up because they're happy to have a bender and a night out and incur $120 across the bar but when it comes to putting your body first they're a bit more hesitant."
