WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. (WXYZ) — With gyms temporarily shutdown, many trainers are trying to keep their clients in tip-top shape from home by offering more online exercise options.
One couple whose business has made this transition is offering live workout sessions for free while also keeping up with their other jobs as essential workers.
Desi and Victoria Johnson are passionate about staying fit -- especially during this pandemic.
The husband and wife from West Bloomfield are proud parents to three kids – ages 15, 8, and 7.
The dynamic duo runs a corporate wellness business with a dozen trainers visiting workplaces and gyms around metro Detroit.
But when the stay-at-home order kicked in, that all went away.
“It was super drastic. And it happened in almost one day,” explained Desi Johnson, CEO of Des2Fit Corporate Wellness.
So they moved to 100 percent live online classes on Facebook and Instagram – all free for the month of April -- everything from cardio sculpt to kickboxing, 90s hip hop cardio to stretching and meditation.
“It’s maintaining our health, and building our immune system, and this is our way of giving back, too,” Desi said.
On top of this, they’re also continuing their other jobs as essential workers.
Desi is an area manager for a financial institution, and Victoria is a healthcare worker in the thick of this crisis – a respiratory therapist at Ascension St. John Hospital in Southfield.
“I’ll tell you this fitness part really, really helps [me],” said Victoria. “It has been extremely stressful and overwhelming at times cause I mean this hit fast and it hit hard.”
Before the pandemic, she’d usually work three 12-hour shifts a week, but now she’s mandated to work four 12-hour shifts every week.
“I will be the last person you see before the medicine kicks in. So, I am right there with you,” she explained.
“There are therapists I talk to --and they’ve been therapists for 20 to 30 years -- and they’ve never seen anything like this. So, it’s surreal for everybody,” she added.
Victoria got interested in this line of work after her middle daughter was born with a very rare respiratory defect eight years ago. She’s doing great now, but that experience prompted Victoria to change careers later in life.
Desi – who’s the CEO of Desi2fit – knows the exercise sessions they offer for free to others right now feeds the Johnsons’ mind, body, and spirit, too.
“Unfortunately we had this pandemic take place, but we wanted to make sure that we utilized – whether her working in the hospital saving lives or whether leaving the hospital and coming back home with me just for an hour a day to put this out here and help our community,” said Desi.
Des2fit’slive online classes that are scheduled for April are all FREE. You can find more information on their facebook page and on Instagram.
Des2Fit is also offering highly discounted personal coaching online for essential workers for $19.99 – which includes a custom designed fitness and nutrition program on an app.
