2024-01-16 08:00:00
Although the profession of instructors and personal trainers is regulated by the Department of Recreation and Sports (DRD), several professionals in the industry assure that those who practice illegally are more than those who comply, barely 18%, thus affecting the security of customers and the business of those who comply with the requirements of the state.
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In the opinion of Morales, who is also a professor and offers courses to aspiring professionals, although the department’s regulations have been in effect since 2009, oversight by the agency has been poor.
“There is a Safety Commission that establishes that the Department of Recreation and Sports assigns inspectors. These inspectors visit gyms and sports centers and, if they find any person who is performing their functions without a license, they are fined. But this regulation has been in place since 2009, and as of today, 2024, the department has not performed that function. Yes, it has inspectors, but then the process of fining them is not happening,” explained the instructor.
The regulation provides that any person who, without the corresponding license, exercises the profession of Physical Fitness Instructor, or employs another person without a license for this exercise, will be punished with a fine that will not exceed $5,000.
For his part, Juan García, director of the Puerto Rican Institute for the Development of Sports and Recreation of the DRD, confirmed that there are currently 895 instructors with their current license, while 459 are in the grace period granted to them by the department to renew their license. license.
However, he might not validate whether the figure stated above, in which the president of the association estimates there are regarding 4,000 unlicensed instructors, is correct, since the DRD does not have precise visibility of how many practice without a license.
“What we can tell you is that many do want to obtain the license, the problem is that they do not pass the exam, and they have three opportunities to pass it,” García said.
He reported that, in the last four years, 2,662 people have taken the exam, but the majority do not pass it. He highlighted that the internship level is 44%.
However, “from the pandemic to now there has been an increase in internships, because we created a manual of standards and competencies for physical fitness instructors, we met with all the universities that have a program and they were given those standards,” Garcia explained.
On the other hand, Miguel Laureano, director of the DRD Security Commission, acknowledged that the agency still has work to do in this regard, and they hope that in 2024 the inspection will be streamlined following activating between four to five inspectors per region, for these functions. .
“We have a list of 162 gyms right now in the DRD, and last year, for the month of November, a meeting was held with all the regional components of the department to begin the impacts, because we know that there are some gyms that have not come to the DRD to request that they be inspected by us,” said Laureano.
It reported that between the period from July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023, 37 fines were issued, and the collections reached $6,237.50.
Affects your business
One of the repercussions of the presence of illegal trainers is that it affects the business of those who have and renew their license every two years.
He reported that currently insurance can cost around $600 to $1,000 annually, while continuing education courses can cost between $500 to $600 annually, so he estimated an average cost of $1,500 annually for the basic requirements.
For Emanuel Batista, trainer and owner of the NexGen high-performance training gym, not only does the industry suffer, but the client is exposed to risks such as injuries, which would not be covered.
“That helps us and at the same time weakens us as a field. It helps us in terms of obviously those clients go from training with them to training with us because then they look for someone who is a little more experienced. But they weaken us by the fact that many of them are new customers looking for better prices,” he explained.
High equipment costs
In addition to the high cost of training incurred by trainers, who are mostly gym owners, they also incur high operational costs, and high costs in the acquisition and maintenance of equipment, which have experienced increases since the covid-19 pandemic. .
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“A treadmill before covid cost me $2,495, and today it costs me $4,495, which means it has increased by 100%. Market costs have increased greatly in a period of just three years. There are other products, for example, that have increased by regarding 15% and 20%,” said Abdiel Lugo, owner of Universal Fitness Equipment, a company that distributes exercise equipment on the Island.
He explained that this imposes a burden on business owners and the vast majority have had to reduce their monthly payment costs to be able to match the cost of the competition and have had to resort to other income to survive.
“The midsize gym, which measured around 5,000 to 10,000 square feet, is no longer visible. What has been proliferating are small gyms in which more group classes are offered, where instead of one person paying for the service for one hour, the trainer can serve three, four and even five people in the same hour, but at a cheaper price,” he explained.
He argued that one of the biggest competitors of small gyms are the gym chains that have kept their monthly fees low.
THE SPOKESMAN asked Philip Amato, chief operating officer of Easy Mile Fitness, Planet Fitness’s holding franchise in Puerto Rico, how his company has faced economic challenges.
“Facing inflationary pressures, we have been able to keep membership costs low and fitness training affordable for all through adjustments in two key areas. First, we have focused on designing gyms to fit areas and services that our members use and value. We do not waste space in the facilities; This ensures that we do not have gym spaces that are expensive to maintain and operate, but that provide value to the majority of our members,” Amato explained.
Secondly, they reported that they have focused on optimizing their work model.
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