We're well into the second month of The National Fitness Challenge, and though two participants in the Workout of the Day (WOD) group have dropped like proverbial flies, everybody else is still going strong – metaphorically and literally.
The daily WOD sessions at Haddins gym in Zayed Sports City are altered from day to day and week to week to keep things fresh and challenging. As Haddins’ senior fitness instructor Sam Bolger explains: “Sunday is usually a HIIT [high-intensity interval training] day, Monday strength endurance, Tuesday strength, Wednesday strength endurance and Thursday is picked out of the hat.”
In it together
The results are really starting to show – spying fellow participants around The National's office has become something of a mutual-appreciation society, congratulating each other on weight lost and form gained. And far from being jaded or fed up of the daily grind, the participants are eating up the sessions with a certain relish.
“This programme has changed my entire way of living,” says food writer Stacie Overton Johnson. “I feel completely re-energised. I’ve hit a point where I feel ‘off’ on a day that I don’t work out. On my rest days, it feels like something’s missing.
“The workouts have had an immediate impact. I’ve lost about four kilograms in one month, and it shows. I’m down at least one size. In the past week, my 7-year-old told me: ‘You look like a teenager now, mommy.” I love that people can see it. And it’s motivation to keep going’.
Listings editor Ellen Fortini is similarly pleased with her progress: “I adore the WOD, and the mixture of pleasure and pain it brings me each day. The reward is seeing the daily and weekly progress I’m making in the gym – and in my wardrobe. I feel such a difference in my clothes, which are fitting better, and are even loose.
“I’m motivated by the sense of community I get from complete strangers who suddenly become your teammates. One day, I came in dead last in an exercise, and I can’t explain how wonderful it felt when every single woman in my class approached me and gave me a high five when I finally finished.”
Making progress
The results have been impressive, too, for business editor Mustafa Alrawi. “I have been building up to make the five recommended sessions at Haddins, and last week managed it for the first time. It has been paying off. At a check-up recently, my doctor was amazed by my athlete-level standing heart rate, which was also quite a surprise to me. This week, I have been doing handstands and pull ups for the first time in, well, ever. Seeing how well my colleagues have been doing has also been inspiring.”
Travel editor Rosemary Behan has also been enjoying the team spirit.
“I like the environment at Haddins, and find the group set-up and the fact that we’re training with colleagues motivating,” she says. “I have got rid of a lot of excess fat, which has been satisfying. The next stage is to push my cardiovascular fitness to an acceptable level.
“One thing that has been eye-opening is how few calories you burn in each session. It really makes you think more about controlling your eating – it’s much easier to eat less than to get rid of excess weight. It doesn’t make sense to half kill yourself working out, and then eat the wrong food.”
A lifestyle change
Senior national editor Hugo Berger is similarly aware of the twin benefits of teamwork and diet improvement.
“This second month is going to be the most critical for me,” he says. “Previously, my gym routine tended to follow a repetitive pattern. It would start with a month of frequent turnout, resulting in a noticeable shift towards feeling toned and trim. Invariably, however, I would then find some excuse not to attend, and spend the next few weeks on my sofa gorging on chips, pizza and ice cream, before my bulging waistline forced me to begin the sweaty, exhausting cycle again. I’m hoping by having my fellow colleagues around me – and seeing so many of them properly dedicating themselves to overhauling their lifestyles – will encourage me to abstain from the deep-pan pepperoni in favour of a concerted push to reach my fitness goals.”
Seeing some of the more experienced WOD participants has inspired Ann Marie McQueen, head of the features department. “There’s a rope that an elite few climb at Haddins, and last week in one of my WODs, a guy climbed it with a massive kettle bell tied to the waistband of his shorts,” she says. “I am still doing push-ups on my knees, don’t add weights to the barbell during thrusters, and shave off multiple burpees any time I am assigned to do more than 12. This is the kind of thing you get used to – even motivated by – while working out among the incredibly fit.
“It’s more obvious to me than ever that the only fitness tip anyone needs is to eat clean and work out hard, consistently. I still find the workouts feel-like-I-might-pass-out difficult, and more than once I’ve tried to bail. But I am already so much stronger both physically and mentally that I know I’ll get through them however I can.”
What the trainers say
The sweat and tears haven’t gone unnoticed by the trainers who have been pushing us all so hard, either.
“The group is doing amazingly well,” says Bolger. “The whole team at Haddins are really impressed with not only the uptake of the programme but also how quickly everyone has bought into the training and got stuck into it straight away.”
“It’s great to see some of the guys come out of their comfort zone, and it’s clear to see some bodies changing and some amazing results. In particular Stacie, Ellen and Amanda [Dale, a page editor who is part of the Primal programme, but has been inspired to add WODs to her routine] have been a real stand out in the WODs. They continue to turn up and put the effort in – although they hate us at the time, I think they love it deep down.”
Fitness first
While The National Fitness Challenge only has a few weeks left to run, there's a consensus that it won't mark the end of self-improvement for our new fitness fanatics. "I plan to keep going long after The National programme is done," says Alrawi.
“I definitely plan to continue after the fitness challenge ends,” says Fortini.
“I’m definitely planning on continuing after the challenge is done, at least for three more months until my 46th birthday at the end of May,” says McQueen. “That one’s going to look good.”
“I will be joining Haddins when this challenge is over,” agrees Overton Johnson.” I can’t imagine stopping now. I intend for this to be part of my life for good.”
aworkman@thenational.ae