Exercise. The word alone sends a sense of dread through my being when I hear it. To say I'm not a fan of physical exercise is an understatement – unless you include dancing. I do like working with others, however. I'm a team player, so joining my colleagues in the Haddins Fitness Primal Transformation for The National's eight-week Fitness Challenge was the best way for me to get moving again. Misery loves company, as they say.
The Primal Transformation begins with an assessment, which is a workout itself if you haven’t so much as run across the room in the past year. There were plenty of moans and groans by the end of the warm-up, which had us doing squats, sit-ups, push-ups, rowing and more. I was never so happy to stretch in my life, because that meant we were finished.
Our programme started with a week of detoxing and light exercises – light being relative to one’s perspective. The second week we began the Paleo diet and preparatory workout sessions for the first week of Primal exercises.
This week, from January 17, we joined the four-week Primal programme, which will be followed by two weeks of WOD (Workout of the Day) sessions at the gym. Hopefully, I will still be able to walk – uh, I mean run.
During the first week, we were introduced to the detox regimen we were to follow for the next four days, it consisted of two shakes: Good Green Stuff, which we’re to have within 30 minutes of rising, every day until the end of the programme, and Clean Lean Protein, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Or if you were desperate – I’ll raise my hand here – you could substitute a palm-full of white fish instead of the shake for dinner. And you could have as much broccoli, cucumbers and spinach as you liked – let me tell you that gets old real quick.
The protein shake comes in three flavours: chocolate, vanilla and cappuccino. I asked one of the instructors which tastes the best. She said nothing will make it taste good, but vanilla was the best in her opinion. I’m a fan of vanilla, which made the shakes bearable in the beginning, but by day four when the last shake was done, I found myself in the kitchen trying to find a place to hide it. I was delighted a week later to give it to one of my colleagues who had just started the detox programme – what are friends for?
The detox is designed to strip all the carbohydrates and sugars from your system, so, of course, the side effects are headaches and lower energy levels – and grumpiness. Fortunately, I was off work that week, but I heard that some of the mildest people in the group were a bit snappy.
Not everyone stuck with the detox. One person started it twice, but didn’t get through it either time. Another refused to do it altogether, opting to focus on the exercise.
I asked Michael Haddin, the managing director of Haddins Fitness, how many people cheat during the detox phase. He smiled and admitted it happens and it was quite difficult to get through.
During the detox period, we had a series of exercises to complete. For example, on January 6, day three of the detox, we had to complete 20 minutes of cardio and three rounds of 10 sit-ups, a 30-second plank, 20 bicycle crunches, and 20 Russian twists. I’ll be honest that I had to check the internet to find out how to do a couple of the exercises, such as skip, which I like to call jump rope. I haven’t skipped since I was a child – surely hopping around from one foot to the other isn’t what they had in mind.
“Everything has ached for two weeks now, but I’m hoping that is positive. The exercises are very challenging, but I definitely feel stronger already,” says Juman Jarallah, online editor – news. “Despite the pain, I would be inclined to do this again. I haven’t been keeping to the diet, but I have changed the way I eat for the better and cut out sugar (almost) entirely.”
Post detox, we were allowed to eat food again – but only if it once had a heartbeat or grew in a garden. The meal plans are about fuelling the body for performance and avoiding sugary, processed foods. We were given a Primal booklet and new eating protocols, which included eating for only eight hours a day and fasting the other 16 hours for the next seven weeks.
As I exercise in the mornings, I eat between noon and 8pm. We were given a list of foods we could have in unlimited quantities and a small list of foods that we could have a cup of each day. No fruit, grains, rice, pasta or sugar. Only one cup of black coffee a day, and at least four cups of green tea.
“I love the diet. I’m eating better than I ever have because I finally have food around the house. I go to the Ripe Market and fill up a big box every week,” says news designer Regan McTarsney. “I was nervous to start the Primal workouts, because I know when I exercise at home, I’m not pushing myself. In the gym, there’s nowhere to hide.”
We are at the end of our first week of real exercise, and it is intense, but because everyone has differing levels of fitness, you can go at your own pace and still feel a part of the group. Despite the pain, I’m looking forward to the final results – now if only I had a genie in a bottle.
arobinson@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
MATCH INFO
Day 2 at the Gabba
Australia 312-1
Warner 151 not out, Burns 97, Labuschagne 55 not out
Pakistan 240
Shafiq 76, Starc 4-52
Museum of the Future in numbers
- 78 metres is the height of the museum
- 30,000 square metres is its total area
- 17,000 square metres is the length of the stainless steel facade
- 14 kilometres is the length of LED lights used on the facade
- 1,024 individual pieces make up the exterior
- 7 floors in all, with one for administrative offices
- 2,400 diagonally intersecting steel members frame the torus shape
- 100 species of trees and plants dot the gardens
- Dh145 is the price of a ticket
Gender equality in the workplace still 200 years away
It will take centuries to achieve gender parity in workplaces around the globe, according to a December report from the World Economic Forum.
The WEF study said there had been some improvements in wage equality in 2018 compared to 2017, when the global gender gap widened for the first time in a decade.
But it warned that these were offset by declining representation of women in politics, coupled with greater inequality in their access to health and education.
At current rates, the global gender gap across a range of areas will not close for another 108 years, while it is expected to take 202 years to close the workplace gap, WEF found.
The Geneva-based organisation's annual report tracked disparities between the sexes in 149 countries across four areas: education, health, economic opportunity and political empowerment.
After years of advances in education, health and political representation, women registered setbacks in all three areas this year, WEF said.
Only in the area of economic opportunity did the gender gap narrow somewhat, although there is not much to celebrate, with the global wage gap narrowing to nearly 51 per cent.
And the number of women in leadership roles has risen to 34 per cent globally, WEF said.
At the same time, the report showed there are now proportionately fewer women than men participating in the workforce, suggesting that automation is having a disproportionate impact on jobs traditionally performed by women.
And women are significantly under-represented in growing areas of employment that require science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, WEF said.
* Agence France Presse
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
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Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
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- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
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The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
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The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
The specs: Macan Turbo
Engine: Dual synchronous electric motors
Power: 639hp
Torque: 1,130Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Touring range: 591km
Price: From Dh412,500
On sale: Deliveries start in October
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What is a black hole?
1. Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong not even light can escape their pull
2. They can be created when massive stars collapse under their own weight
3. Large black holes can also be formed when smaller ones collide and merge
4. The biggest black holes lurk at the centre of many galaxies, including our own
5. Astronomers believe that when the universe was very young, black holes affected how galaxies formed
<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html" charset="UTF-8" /></head><body><!--PSTYLE=* Labels%3aFH Label 18 Sport--><p>Beach soccer</p><!--PSTYLE=BY Byline--><p>Amith Passela</p><p /></body></html>
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
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Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
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Jumanji: The Next Level
Director: Jake Kasdan
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Nick Jonas
Two out of five stars
Pakistan Super League
Previous winners
2016 Islamabad United
2017 Peshawar Zalmi
2018 Islamabad United
2019 Quetta Gladiators
Most runs Kamran Akmal – 1,286
Most wickets Wahab Riaz –65
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
PROFILE OF SWVL
Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
