Category: Sports

[YouTube]

I hate it when people say there isn’t much to do in Kuwait because from my experience there are a ton of cool activities here. One new activity I found out about is Milsim. This has to be one of the coolest things to do in Kuwait and its now going to be something I will do as often as I can.

Milsim is a military simulation that has a lot of strategy and some very cool realistic weapons. Unlike paintball which uses paint pellets, Milsim uses powder pellets. Also unlike the paintball here in Kuwait where you run around hiding behind inflatable balloons, Milsim uses real life locations for their games. I got invited to participate in a game today and I’m now in love with Milsim. Todays location was an abandoned prison in Doha near Entertainment City. They have different locations for different sized groups for example when there are 40 guys they like going and play at an abandoned residential compound that’s around 3 blocks large. Since we were 16 guys they decided on the prison location due to its close combat nature. Judging by the video above it seems they also have a very cool abandoned farm they use.

[YouTube]

First thing they do is split everyone into teams, todays mission involved the Marines and Delta Force vs the Taliban’s. I was placed in the Taliban team. We were then briefed on the mission which was the following… Marine One crashed and it was carrying the President of the United States. The Marines were with the president and the game starts off at their crash site. They have 15 minutes to defend their zone and protect the president before the Delta team reinforcement arrives. After an hour into play they would receive a radio call with the location of the landing in which they then have 30 minutes to get to that point and evacuate. As Talibans, our aim was to capture their president or capture a box that contained nuclear keys, if we captured any of the two we would win. Everyone was limited to just 4 magazines and each contained 20 rounds. There are no refills and although the weapons can fire at full auto its highly discouraged because you will run out of ammo very quickly. We also all had 3 lives, if you get shot (anywhere) you have to put your hands over your head and walk to the medical zone where you have to remain for 10 minutes before you go back and join your team.

How was it? A lot of fun that’s for sure and very exhausting. My team ended up losing, not sure how since we had a ex Austrian military guy, a local special forces guy and the Milsim owner, while the opposing team were made up mostly of newbies like me. We even had flares and smoke grenades! Oh well it was still a lot of fun and its something as I said I’m going to do a lot more of.

I took some pictures which you can check out below. The first video on top is a video they created to show the kind of weapons and gameplay style. Unlike paintball their games aren’t only about shooting but its about accomplishing missions and involves strategy. The second video above is one I shot today when me and some guys were getting briefed on how to use the weapons. This is seriously one very cool activity, and they say there isn’t anything to do in Kuwait…

If you’re interested to participate in Milsim its KD10 per person. That includes the weapon, gun magazines, vests, helmet, goggles, water and pelets. I think its actually pretty cheap for what you get. They cater to groups, individuals and even for corporate outings. For contact information you can visit their website at www.milsimkuwait.com.

The 3 Club are going to be organizing the first official triathlon in Kuwait this month dubbed The Flying Start Triathlon. The event will start off with a swim, followed by cycling and ending with a run.

Registration is free to 3 club members while none members will have to pay KD25 to participate. If you’re interested or want more details check out their website [Here]

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

Core Fitness has been in business for close to 2 years. We’ve jumped into the market with very high risk, doubtful but hopeful. We originally started out with a much larger area (1,000mtr2) and slowly trimmed it down to roughly 300mtr2. Our risk was high as it is, so might as well shrink a few things or two.

In order to sell the service being sold, we needed believers, people who can witness results and talk about it to other people.  And so, we brought in 10 clients with different goals, interviewing them one by one before and after our prescribed 7 week cycles. The amount of questions had no answers. With all my knowledge, I could not convince any of them that our 20 minute workouts achieved anything. I even pulled in science to explain that it’s more than possible to benefit from 10 minutes of what we were doing. I don’t blame anybody since common sense tells us that the more time we put in the better results will be.

Finally realizing that no amount of words can explain what we’re trying to sell, I simply gave up and said “Guys, go try it out. If you don’t like it you’ll get your money back.”

“That was intense!” Client #1

“HARDCORE!” Client #2

“…….”Client #3. His blood-sugar level crashed. A diabetic who didn’t eat a single calorie since breakfast.

“Huuuuh, huuuh, huuuuh…man…gi..give me a few minutes to catch my breath!” Client #4. He puked 10 minutes later.

The comments above were what our clients said after their first 20 minute workouts. Thankfully, they’ve all signed up and witnessed great results. However, this proves nothing to the people who have yet to enroll at Core Fitness. After interviewing numerous clients throughout Core’s tenure, I’d like to think that I can finally explain why our 20 minute workouts work.

Short and Sweet

The first obvious question that pops to mind is the 20 minutes. What can we possibly do in such a short time? If you think about it, that’s exactly it. We realize that 20 minutes is a short duration and we also realize that in order for a client to achieve results is by pushing him beyond his physical potential, which involves a lot of boot-camp style training and attitude. Secondly, pushing someone to the brink of insanity in 20 minutes involves some sort of motivation, hence the personal trainers responsible for pushing you towards your limits.

Just a reminder, the Kuwait International Rally starts today at 3PM in the parking lot near the Kuwait Towers (picture above). For more details check out my previous post [Here]

Seems UFC 112 is still on for Abu Dhabi this April and the ticket prices have been announced as follows:

Platinum Floor:
AED 3,695.00
USD 1,006.81

Platinum Grandstand:
AED 3,695.00
USD 1,006.81

Diamond Grandstand:
AED 2,795.00
USD 761.58

Lower Grandstand:
AED 1,595.00
USD 434.60

Middle Grandstand:
AED 795.00
USD 216.62

Upper Grandstand:
AED 395.00
USD 107.63

Tickets will go on sale February 14th at https://www.boxofficeme.com

Here is the official fight card right now:

Middleweight Championship bout
Anderson Silva vs. Vitor Belfort

Lightweight Championship bout:
B.J. Penn vs. Frankie Edgar

Welterweight bout:
Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie

If anyone wants to join me at UFC 112 send me an email.

Thanks Nick!

The first three directors are very cool (Tarantino, Lynch and Wes Anderson). The last directors I have no idea who they are. [Link]

I passed by the Royce Gracie event at Al-Arabi Club. I got to meet Abdulmohsen Al Babtain who brought Royce Gracie to Kuwait and is behind the Mixed Martial Arts SideKick Academy. A pretty cool and friendly guy who is doing a really great thing for Kuwait. He also introduced me to Royce Gracie which was a jaw dropping experience.

Royce Gracie is a legend and I can’t believe he’s here in Kuwait. I was kind of star struck and didn’t know what to say but then Royce asked me where I was from and I told him Lebanon so he started telling me how he loves Lebanese food and how he might be going there this summer. I then took some photos with him and even got him to put me in a choke hold. It was a great day.

This is cool news. Abu Dhabi has bought a 10% stake in the UFC. Bad news though, UFC 112 might not be held in Abu Dhabi since they don’t have an arena to hold the fights in yet. They’re going to build one, but April seems too close a date for it to be completed. [YouTube]

Thanks heema!

Just got back from my first 20 minute session at Core Fitness… it was grueling, really tough and I realized I am more out of shape than Homer Simpson. The scariest part was when it came to my last exercise which was for my abs. My trainer wanted me to do 150 different types of crunches, 150! I couldn’t go through with it, at 60 I was dead or at least wished I was dead. But, on a positive note, I didn’t puke although I was really close at one point. Anyway I got my stats and final diet plan which I will share with everyone below. Once I am done with my 7 weeks we’ll go back to these stats to see how much I changed. The diet plan below was created for me. It might look a bit strange but it was created around my daily routine, the places I usually go eat at and based on what I like to eat. I don’t cook at home so 90% of it is based on restaurant food. Before I share the stats and diet plan, here is a message from the owner of Core Fitness explaining what you will be seeing.

Mark is not fat. This may surprise a lot of you due to his hunger for really greasy food, but he’s actually good in respect to his weight and height. What we’re trying to do is achieve “re-composition”. Simply put, we’re exchanging fat with muscle. For an individual his height (6’1), anything below 80kg is too light. Our goal is to stay within the 80-85kg range, shed some fat and gain some muscle. Since Mark’s been inactive for a while, any short intense activity will suffice in order to reach his goals.

Nutritionally, his eating patterns were [slightly] healthy to begin with:
1) He ate breakfast early, but ditched healthy protein and splurged on McDonald’s pancakes and maple syrup.
2) He didn’t eat frequently, which in turn slowed down his metabolism.
3) He ate dinner early due to the acid reflux he was suffering from.

Like I said earlier, Mark isn’t fat; he just needs a metabolic boost. Not much was done in terms of nutrition since he already has been taking care of himself by avoiding heavily greased foods such as french fries. Core Fitness does not have one nutrition program that everyone can use; we sit with each individual and review their daily routines. Many people actually eat right, but fail in terms of nutrition timing which include eating breakfast too late, skimping on metabolism boosting snacks or eating one meal a day. I’ve based the diet on Mark’s preferences, which is what we accomplish with all clients.

Lastly, we’ve enrolled Mark in a Fat-loss program that includes weight-lifting, body-weight training and aerobics; all packaged into 20 minutes of training.

Regards,
Fahad Khalid AlYehya

So I passed by Core Fitness today for my assessment. I figured it would be a Q&A session like How old are you? How tall are you? What is your favorite color? etc.. Turns out the first part of the assessment was getting my stats but then they got me started on the machines so they could see what weights I will be using and that session completely destroyed me. And the scary thing is my trainer said that wasn’t even a proper session and that its going to be a lot tougher when I start on Saturday. Freaky shit.

Note: I am going to get my stats on Saturday from them and post them here along with my nutrition plan.

Two days back I posted about how I was looking for a personal fitness trainer to come over to my place and give me a work out in my home gym. Surprisingly only two people emailed me recommending me a trainer, the rest of the emails were gym owners asking me to try out their gym. I don’t have time for a gym, I work till 7 and once I get home I start working on posts for my blog. I have two full time jobs basically with no time to waste at a gym. That’s why I declined all the offers.. except for one. The owner of Core Fitness emailed me. It turns out we had met via a friend last year when we went offroading and he promised to transform me from top to bottom for free if in return I reviewed his gym. As I was typing my thanks but I have to decline your offer email I decided to check out his website. There wasn’t anything there except for the logo and the line “Only 20 minutes Twice a week”.

20 minutes? Twice a week? I thought that was interesting. So I emailed the guy back asking if that was true. He told me to pass by the gym and he would explain everything which I did earlier tonight. So this is the deal. I’ve signed up for a 7 week course at Core Fitness and I will be going 3 times a week instead of 2. The gym is located opposite Al Massalah building on the Gulf Road which is the road I take back home after work making it very convenient. At any time there are a maximum of only 3 guests working out at the same time at the gym and each guest will have a personal trainer through out the whole 20 minute session.

I told him I found it very hard to believe that three 20 minute sessions a week would do anything. He told me to try it out and just share with you guys my experience and my honest opinion which is what I am going to do. Tomorrow I have an assessment session where I will get all my body stats, find out what weights I will be using and have my diet plan finalized. Once I do all that I will post everything here (including my diet plan) and we’ll see how things develop from there. I’m strangely excited to try this.

Update: Found this on their Facebook page

1) Every workout is 20 minutes, provided a scheduled appointment and personal trainer.

2) Each membership is based on the client’s specific needs. We do not have a set membership because people do not have common requirements and goals.

3) We aren’t a spa, we don’t have a jacuzzi, a steam room or a swimming pool; as far as we are concerned, those things are only for pussies and deliver no significant results.

4) We are a facility that delivers results. We provide the necessary tools to promote healthy lifestyles to our clients.

5) Failure to witness results will be strictly held against a client, since he was too busy eating his hamburgers and nesting on some couch rather than busting ass at Core Fitness.

In short, we own you for 20 minutes of your life (be it 2,3, or 4 times per week) and push you to the point of no return till you go home and cry like a baby.

Personal diet and demoralizing dietician included.

Contact us on 22520407 and find out 101 ways on how we can make your life a living hell.

I had a hard time starting this post because I couldn’t find the right words to describe Royce Gracie. He is the first ever UFC champion dating back to 1993. He’s also the younger brother of UFC co-founder Rorion Gracie. Back then there were no weight classes in the UFC so you had big and heavy fighters against smaller and skinnier ones and Royce Gracie proved to everyone that size didn’t always determine the outcome of a fight. You can view his fights on [YouTube] and you can read more about him [Here]

The reason I am posting this is because Royce Gracie is coming to Kuwait for a 3 day seminar on the aspects and fundamentals of Gracie Jiu Jits. Royce himself will be teaching and participating in the sessions. Students will also get to roll with Royce, take pictures and sign autographs. I asked if people with no martial arts experience (like me) could participate and turns out we can. After the first day, students will be split into two groups (beginners & advanced) and both will be under Royce’s instruction and supervision.

The seminar will be a 3 day event, 3 hours a day, and will cost KD100. Here are some more details:

Abdulmohsen Al Babtain’s Mixed Martial Arts SideKick Academy are proud to present UFC legend Royce Gracie to celebrate the pending launch of the academy Gracie will be conducting a 3 day seminar on the aspects & fundementals of Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Learn from the man who started it all.

Location: Al-Arabi Sporting Club, Basketball Arena
Date: January 21st, 22nd & 23rd, 2010

To reserve your place in the seminar or have any queries regarding the event contact the following :

Telephone: 94006344/66488858

Email: [email protected]

Here is a link to their website. [Link]

I just found out that UFC 112 is going to take place in Abu Dhabi. Not only that but BJ Penn, Matt Hughes, Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort and Renzo Gracie are all scheduled to fight! I’ve been wanting to watch a UFC fight for ages but always found it too expensive to travel to the US or Europe just to watch a fight and come back but Abu Dhabi is right next door. I would really have liked to watch a Frank Mir or GSP fight but Anderson Silva is the next best thing and BJ Penn and Matt Hughes are also really fun to watch so it should be a blast.

UFC 112 is taking place on April 10th. Can’t wait to get my tickets, I really want something on the floor around the octagon. [Link]

Note: If anyone knows where I can get tickets from (like super good blood splatter zone seats) please tell me.

The title of the video says Sean Connery’s comments were racist but I didn’t hear anything offensive. What grabbed my attention though was the quality of the footage. This is the best copy I’ve seen, I wonder if the whole match can be found and downloaded in that quality? [YouTube]

Sports Corner in Salmiya is getting rid of all their athletic equipment because they want to focus just on sports clothing. So they’ve got 50% on all their sporting gear from treadmills, to Mongoose bikes, pool and table tennis tables, baby foot, boxing gear, workout equipment etc.. They’ve put all the stuff on their top floor and everything is half off. They have an elliptical machine for example that originally cost KD1300 and is now priced at around KD600. Even the Nike + iPod sport kit is now KD11.500 instead of KD20.