The long stay in the homes, and possibly the eating that followed, caused the Israelis to attack, both virtual and physical, on the stores to sell home fitness equipment • List of wanted: yoga mat, weights and even a treadmill

The Corona virus has many effects, among other things, on the fitness field. All the places where fitness could be closed, from the big gyms, through the smaller studios and even the gyms in the parks and beaches are no longer a factor.

However, people have not stopped doing fitness, the opposite is true. The prolonged time spent at home, the increased eating and perhaps the torment of conscience led to an increase in the amount of training and interest of many, who were apparently lazy in the routine days, to enter the training field.

The direct result of this phenomenon is no less than a surprising and unprecedented, virtual and physical onslaught on the sports equipment sales outlets. These are a variety of products, including yoga mats, power balls, weights of various sizes, and even thousands of shekels, which have just run out of almost all stores and sites in the country, and shipping from abroad, at least in the near future, is out of the question.

"An alarm was created in Tel Aviv for yoga mats and rubber bands," says Adi (26) of Tel Aviv, a hi-tech company that was issued to the IDF and its gym closed. "It took me a whole week to find a place that sells the most standard mattress there is, I went through all the major chains and didn't stay They have nothing. In the end, I found what I was looking for, obviously overpriced, in a small shop in town. As always in Israel and Tel Aviv in particular, there is a crazy and disproportionate demand for the product and then it is found dearly in all sorts of unrelated stores or in private individuals, quite reminiscent of the frenzy surrounding alcohol and toilet paper, a matter of time before even in Facebook groups. "

Not just mattresses and weights

As I said, the pursuit of sports equipment does not amount to small weights, straps and mattresses. "In the last few weeks, I have experienced thousands of percent sales of walkers," says Eyal Tiroche, shop owner and "Sports & Paul" website in Holon. "I sold everything I had and if I had another whole treadmill container, it probably would have been sold as well. I get dozens of treadmill requests every day on the site, it is out of place for almost everyone."

"People are only interested in selling," Tiroche continues. "The concept of renting the treadmill that existed in the past no longer pays off financially. Even those who have done it so far have stopped because they earn more from the sale. People want to buy and are willing to pay quite a bit for it."

"The prices are divided in two. The non-professionals, that is, who are used to going outside buy 'regular' walkers in the range of NIS 2000 to NIS 3000. More professional runners purchase walkers in the range of NIS 7,000 to NIS 15,000, I personally do not sell it and I think they are already Not available for purchase in the country because even they were sold. "

Incidentally, this data is also relevant to the elliptical and spinning bikes. "It is very difficult to get treadmills for sale in Israel right now," Tirosh concludes. "Larger places that would only supply equipment in wholesale to stores or gyms have stopped selling and focusing on individual customers to" make a profit "for themselves, that's when demand is so high.

Crunches by the couch // Illustration photo: Getty Images

The phones do not stop ringing

"On one clear day, people shut down all the gyms overwhelmingly," says Alon Granot, Eurotech's business manager, the country's leading sports complex. "A strange situation has arisen in the Israeli market where people have no where to practice, but they have plenty of free time and desire to practice on the other."

"We usually market to gyms and not to private customers so we regularly have a very large inventory. The new situation made us think what to do and how to go through the not easy period. We finally decided to sell to Private without raising prices but also without promotions."

Demand, according to Granot, is at its peak. "Our personnel is also limited because of the ban on crowds, but still the amount of work is very large and the phones do not stop ringing. People even want to come to us but we do not allow it because of the Ministry of Health's ban and for the benefit of our health and customer health."

Fitness training on a yoga mat // Illustration photo: Getty Images

Granot, like many in the field, also does not know what changes will occur when the corona crisis is over. "What is happening at the moment is a big challenge and we do not know what will happen next. It is clear that this industry is going to change. In advance, prices are not very high because we are also so used to another market and not individuals. We said we did not want to take advantage of the situation to bounce Prices, we are part of the people of Israel. "

"On the other hand," he observes, "we are neither philanthropists nor do we want to make a profit - with this money we also buy new equipment. But we do not sell the market and sell at our price list. Even at such times it is important to stay human and keep a human photographer and remember that there is also The next day. We all live in the same country. That's our policy. "