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While gyms around the nation were forced to shut and adapt, Tim saw a silver lining.

Tim, who owns four F45 centres across NSW, was initially shocked by the COVID shutdowns.

However, he adapted and grew his newly bought business during the height of lockdown.

"When we got the news that we had to shut down, for me, it sent me on a big spiral because I would never have thought that businesses or the world would stop," he said.

"When we bought the F45 studio in Bowral on April 21, we started live classes and had 30 people join in.

"We also refurbished the centre, did a big renovation, we kept the team and did a lot of strong marketing.

"We were lucky with F45. The US gyms had already shut down and there was already F45 live which were at home workouts."

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Keen to connect with members and keep them active, Tim also introduced a pay now, pay later option.

"We were shut down for 12 weeks so people paid half price membership for 12 weeks and then when we reopened, members paid half price for 12 weeks," he explained.

"So over the COVID-19 period, it worked out that membership was free of charge.

"For us, we wanted to give back to our members and by doing that we were able to maintain 85 per cent of our clients."

As business restrictions wore on, it wasn't until week 6 of the COVID shut down that it dawned on Tim that the restrictions would last longer than he first thought.

"When it all shut down, nobody knew how long it would be and I thought it would be one week, two weeks," he said.

"When we got to the six-week mark, we realised this was the new environment of business. So we got out there and started selling the program.

"We sold it for $30 a week and ran 10 classes a day.

"We grew in the last six weeks of COVID. We proactively signed, on average, five members a week that had joined us from the live streams.

"When we kicked open the doors on June 13 we had a good 30 - 40 members who had done multiple virtual classes with us.

"We had never met these members face to face before we reopened."

Tim said he was able to harness the power of social media to help grow and promote his business.

"The majority of our advertising was through social media, we were using the story features on Instagram and Facebook, we had people reaching out to us and we had a lot of referrals.

"We now have more than 350 members," he said.

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Since F45 Bowral reopened, Tim has implemented COVID safe hygiene procedures to protect his members.

"I thought before COVID that I ran a clean hygienic centre," he said.

"We would literally scrub the floor every night and we would wipe down and clean our equipment but we didn't have a cleaning schedule.

"Now because of COVID, we've had to adapt and understand what hygiene is all about.

"When somebody finishes using a piece of equipment, it should be wiped down. That should be a normal, regular thing.

"We've got a process now for every session. It's all about social distancing, sanitisation and hygiene."

Other COVID safe measures Tim has implemented are restricted class numbers, floor markers and a 1.5 metre work out zone.

"The trainers are also COVID-safe marshals," he said.

"At the end of the day, people's health and safety are more important than lifting."

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