Winning the UAE Fitness Challenge 2011

Ecstatic is not a word I use often, but it’s the only one that comes close to summing up how I feel today. Yesterday I competed against the UAEs fittest and won. The contest was the UAE Fitness Challenge hosted by Men’s Fitness and Shape Middle East. These magazines organised the event pitting professional fitness instructors against amateurs like myself. The feats were a classic beep test (starting at level 8), running timed 20m lengths, followed by rounds of press-ups, squats and burpees, in which contestants were challenged to do as many repetitions of each exercise as they could in two minutes. Technique was closely monitored with each contestant being assigned a judge, and if you want to try bettering my scores yourselves at home, my results were as follows:

Beep test: level 13 round 10
Press-ups: 77
Squats: 122
Burpees: 38

Here's the video, brilliantly shot by my Beautiful wife. Huge thanks to her for putting up with me. To everyone who cheered me on and those involved in organising and running the event, thank you!

What I’m really chuffed about is that it’s a massive validation of the way I’ve been training recently. Obviously I’m interested in fitness so I read a lot of fitness stuff, most of which is contradictory and it often makes me question whether what I’m doing is right. I don’t have any specific goals; I just want to be stronger, faster, and able to go further for longer. I’m not ripped and I don’t have a six-pack, and I don’t care about that. Not that I’m saying wanting a six-pack is a bad thing, if that’s your goal that’s cool. Goals are individual. What I’m interested in is performance and the most important aspect of my training programme is that I enjoy doing what I’m doing. If I didn’t enjoy it I wouldn’t be able to train as often as I do. But I love it. I love challenging myself and working hard. I feel really sorry for people who don’t enjoy it, it must make exercising torture.

For more pics go to: http://www.ahlanlive.com/photos/uae-fitness-challenge-123930.html

and read more about the event here: http://www.ahlanlive.com/the-uae-s-ultimate-fit-test--123855.html

Fitness in Dubai features reviews of all the latest fitness programmes and local gyms, such as The Circuit Factory, 24 Fitness and CrossFit LifeSpark, as well as reviews of fitness fads, fitness tests and fitness equipment, from Vibram Five Fingers barefoot running shoes to VO2 Max testing. Ultimately, this fitness blog - as featured in Good Taste, Men's Fitness, Time Out and Shape magazines - contains everything you need to know about fitness in Dubai, UAE, in the Middle East. Bookmark it now.