Clients can stay home when fitness business jumps online
Photo by Mike Moores
Liza deLatour, taking personal training online and past the lockdown to her clients at home.
By Sharon Webb
ANYONE WHO knows Westbury’s Liza deLautour knows she’s a force of nature – and even the Covid-19 shutdown couldn’t keep her down for long. Liza’s personal training business, You & Me PT, closed on 16 March and the following Monday she was conducting classes doing FaceBook live. Her health and fitness classes now are available online – in real time or recorded for clients who can’t make class times. ‘We had the choice to hibernate then resurrect whatever we could - or reinvent ourselves online and deliver a training programme replicating our in-studio offerings,’ she said. ‘And to my surprise, it has its benefits.
‘Other than keeping my mind in the technical age and ensuring I am glued to the screen 10-plus hours a day (due to my slow learning capabilities!) it is convenient, safe, economical, private and it is community.’ A surprising aspect of the move online is that Liza never anticipated it. While some businesses procrastinated over going online and used the Covid-19 enforced break to make the switch, Liza had assumed her personal fitness classes would continue in person. ‘My 60-strong clientele dropped to 15 people – most of my business was lost,’ she said. ‘I needed to redevelop and start again. ‘I’ve had to learn to do onlineeverything. I didn’t even know how to do a group email at the beginning!’ she said.
Two months later and with a little help from conference calls with trainers doing the same thing worldwide, Liza has a fine-tuned health and fitness business working with clients in their own homes. Georgia Gee of Westbury and Christine McCulloch of Hagley made the transition with Liza. ‘I’d done classes twice a week with Liza for eight years but I was hesitant about doing it online,’ Christine said. ‘But my 17 year-old grandson who lives with us was keen to get me started. ‘Liza cleverly gave us all Zoom IDs and passwords and I just use my Samsung Galaxy Tab phone.’ Now that Christine is actually doing the online classes she enjoys it more than face-to-face. ‘I don’t actually like exercising with other people,’ the 63 year-old confessed. ‘And having the class at home saves a lot of driving time. I’d go to the class and drop in at the supermarket on the way there or back. And we run a business so there’s always something to collect at the post office. Now someone else does all that!’ Busy mother-of-two Georgia Gee says she still gets individual attention from Liza in the online classes. ‘Liza has tried to pull her gym community together virtually,’ Georgia said. ‘She understands her clients and their individual needs and limits. ‘Because she can see us online we get individual attention. It’s all very positive and uplifting and motivational. ‘Liza doesn’t want us just to be cardiovascular fit but mindfit as well.’
Liza believes the product of her self-education will work for a lot of people. The studio will re-open but online classes will continue, with Liza having seized the opportunity to progress towards her goal of personalised health training. See the You & Me PT 2020 online timetable on FaceBook. Contact Liza on 0432 419355
