Fitness equipment sales have surged by up to 600 percent, boosted by Germans looking to work out indoors amid the COVID-19 lockdown.

That upward trend is something manufacturers of the gear hope is here to stay if people switch their mindsets away from traditional gyms.

The VAHA interactive fitness mirror offers live and recorded workouts with personal trainers. With Germany's fitness studios closed due to the coronavirus, the company's founder says the device offers some distinct advantages.

"You don't have to go somewhere. The trainer doesn't have to meet you somewhere, and drive there," said VAHA founder Valerie Bures-Bonstrom. "You can have that person right in your living room."

In Germany, as elsewhere around the world, people under orders to mostly stay home are experimenting with new ways of staying fit. For Germany's second largest online retailer, Otto, that's led to a surge in demand.

"For fitness equipment, there's been an increase in sales of up to 600 percent," said Frank Surholt, spokesman for the Otto Group. "Especially for strength training devices such as dumbbells."

But it remains uncertain what will happen when life returns to normal and fitness studios reopen.

One factor home equipment makers do have going for them at the moment is that a lot of new people are trying out their products.

New technologies – such as enhanced ability for live interactions – were already having a big impact before the crisis hit. Allied Market Research recently projected the global fitness equipment market to grow by 3.5 percent annually over the next seven years.

VAHA's founder said she's confident people will still buy the products after the coronavirus pandemic ends.

"I believe it is... probably an enhancer of the whole market," said Bures-Bonstrom. "But it's not that it's just a trend that came now because of coronavirus, and will fully go down. I don't believe that."

When fitness studios reopen and lockdowns continue to be lifted, equipment makers will have to hope people still want to workout at home.