One Strength keeps pumping through online training, NBN Co reports data surge

One Strength owner Lyle Davis said by going online he can pay the gym staff, who record exercise programs, help manufacture gym equipment, and deliver equipment to members.

"It's gone well beyond their normal scope of work," Mr Davis said.

"We're not charging members anything extra, if they continue their normal gym direct debit we are loaning [equipment] to members."

He said the equipment the gym is loaning on a roster basis, include dumbbells, barbells and weights, and gym staff are also disassembling larger pieces of equipment and delivering them to members who have space for it.

"About three weeks to a fortnight before the gym closed we got everything in place to go online," he said.

He said the online service involved creating 15 to 20 separate workouts for people to do each week, at the moment there are 18 a week, as part of a six-day training program that can be accessed via the gym's private Facebook Group.

Mr Davis and Ben Wells, self-titled as the Meat Heads, are posting training videos based on weights and muscle-building exercises, Chantelle Raso and Sammy Collins from the High Intensity Hot Heads are recording high-intensity cardio routines, and Jack Manahan and Richie King are recording routines so athletes can stay in playing condition for when their sports resume.

"They are filming six days a week now, they have really banded together," he said.

"It's been awesome, we've had people sign up since we closed the gym because they want to support a local business. Like most gyms we've also lost a few members because of people losing jobs."

According to NBN Co, peak data demand during business hours has surged more than 80 per cent across NSW since distancing measures were introduced due to more people working and educating from home, and seeking online entertainment and services such as fitness and health programs.

The peak download throughput in NSW more than doubled at times on Good Friday, and overall the biggest peaks in demand were about 9pm each night.

The insights compared data from three Fridays, February 28 before social distancing, April 17 when people were working and educating from home, and on the Good Friday public holiday.

The figures showed NSW recorded 2330 Gigabits-per-second (Gbps) of peak downstream throughput at 11am on April 17 compared to 1260 Gbps recorded at the same time on February 28.

Peak download throughput surged even higher on Good Friday when NSW recorded 3200 Gbps of data at 11am, up 153 per cent on the corresponding time on February 28.

NBN Co chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said the figures provided an insight into the way working, education and lifestyle arrangements had changed since social distancing measures were introduced in March.

"We have implemented measures to assist internet providers with the acquisition of additional capacity, waiving charges for additional capacity of up to 40 per cent to internet providers for at least three months," he said.

"The network continues to perform well during this time and we are confident of its ability to support the increase in traffic as residential and business customers shift their work, education and entertainment needs online.

Mr Whitcomb said the measures introduced to address the need for additional capacity were workin and he was confident the network would continue support Australians throughout the pandemic.

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