Benedikt Ernst should actually be in Canada now. But the women's ice hockey world championship was canceled. Instead, the Weilheimer zu Huase fights for his professional existence.
Weilheim - At the beginning of March the big projects started to burst like soap bubbles. Benedikt Ernst actually wanted to be on the gang this Tuesday with the opening game of the German ice hockey women against Japan. However, the international association canceled the World Cup in Canada early on because of the worldwide spread of the corona virus. The ticket for Halifax was no longer worth anything for the fitness coach from Weilheim. "It's a very difficult time," he admits frankly.
Benedikt Ernst is currently almost unemployed because of Corona
The pandemic left the 31-year-old virtually unemployed. The German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) does not currently need its help because not only all major events, but also all training measures and courses have been postponed indefinitely. Ernst is in demand in the industry and highly regarded. The DEB is very keen on the coach, who made the German U18 juniors fit as athletic coaches to win the title at the 2020 A World Cup in Füssen.
Ernst opened his gym in Weilheim on February 1st, now it's closed again
What is even worse for Ernst is that he only had to close his gym at the Weilheimer Trifthof after he opened it on February 1st. Since the Bavarian government triggered the catastrophe for the Free State and also announced an exit restriction, the trainer has been practically unemployed. "Everything is completely put on hold," he reports. A lot of things are getting out of hand these days, and his everyday life has become absurd. The decision of the politically responsible puts him economically in dire straits, but he fully endorses it. "I stand behind Mr. Söder's measures." What most upsets him is "Corona parties with 50 people, music and trallala" or sadists "who cough up other people and then shout" Corona "".
Ernst has developed a holistic training method
What is even more problematic for him is the inactivity to which he is currently sentenced. "I imagined the apocalypse to be more of a pump gun and zombie hunting than sitting around at home washing my hands," he says. But the exceptional case requires the football player, who can take almost all positions with the Starnberg Argonauts, to take a much less spectacular approach. Fighting viruses is different from taking on zombies. After studying sport and leisure management at the University of Plymouth and training as a staff, fitness and health coach, Ernst developed a holistic training method that does not require a lot of equipment. “It is about training the whole body and not just the muscle specifically,” he explains the principle.
Ernst runs the Work Out Box ”, a cooperative organized gym
But it is not only with his philosophy of making training as close to everyday life as possible that he is breaking new ground. His “Work Out Box” in Weilheim is the first and only fitness studio in Germany that is organized as a cooperative. The gym currently consists of 15 comrades and 25 customers. Even if Ernst sends members workouts every two days via social media, this does not change the fact that he has been missing important income for almost four weeks now. "The landlords for my apartment and the gym want to see money," he says of the financial constraints in which the corona crisis plunged him. Both the Bavarian and the federal government have promised to remedy the situation quickly, but Ernst expects that the situation is far from over. "I can well imagine that the situation will last longer than until April 19th." Which would make things even worse for him.
This is also interesting: Great success at the first competition of the season - the TSV Weilheim Rhönrad team wins six Upper Bavaria titles
This is also interesting: intermediate sprint gets Weilheim on course - TSV handball players improve to second place in the district league with a win against Biessenhofen
