There is a huge fitness craze sweeping across the United Arab Emirates at the moment. It is almost impossible to meet an Emirati or an expat who doesn’t know what a burpee is, or who hasn’t been to a yoga or CrossFit class at least once.
And while some UAE residents are not interested in this new trend, there are those who are completely obsessed with it and sincerely devoted to it (like yours truly).
But in order to earn your badge as a true "fitness freak" in the UAE’s community of squatters, deadlifters, box jumpers and quinoa salad eaters, you have to have done all – or most – of the below.
So, you are not a hardcore fitness enthusiast in UAE until you’ve:
1. Joined a crossfit community and started calling the people there “second family” and referring to your coach as “brother from another mother”
2. Thought about opening your own chain of healthy fast food cafes. You might have even already given it a name like The DXB Fighter Bistro!
3. Asked your coach or training buddy to take snaps of you while lifting a new weight or doing the perfect squat
4. Used hashtags such as: #Gains #LegDay #BeastMode and #BootyBuilder
5. Followed at least 10 fitness pages and gurus on Instagram and memorized some of the moves they perform in their videos
6. You’ve offered unwanted fitness and healthy eating advice to your anti-workout friends and secretly got annoyed with them because they are too lazy
7. Mentally compared your booty/biceps/quads with another gym goer and felt relieved that yours is slightly bigger
8. Felt so guilty about eating those sinful cheesy nachos and Nutella crepes at the cinema that you thought about dieting for the rest of your life afterwards
9. Started shopping at organic food shops and Ripe Market and thought about starting your own “UAE Clean Eaters” blog
10. Tried the Paleo diet for at least one month and had gluten-free pancakes at The Cycle Hub.
11. Participated in almost every half marathon in UAE and reminded your entire squad of that fact every five minutes for three years of their lives
12. Boasted about the fact that one workout a day is not enough and shared a Snapchat story of your second workout of the day
13. Seriously thought about becoming a personal coach or a nutritionist because you think you have enough knowledge to be the next Sal B!
14. Traded chilling by the poolside on the weekend for a 6:00 am bike ride in Al Qudra or a Circuit Factory session on Kite Beach
15. Shamelessly took photos of the calluses on your palms and felt extremely proud of how rough they were
16. Your idea of a shopping spree includes visits to Go Sport and supplements and protein shake stores
17. Run on all of the running tracks in Dubai including the Palm and Kite Beach and logged your progress on the Nike Run Club
18. Fantasized about becoming an ambassador for a training gear brand or a healthy food chain
