Category: Sports

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.

I passed by Intersport at 360 Mall today. They’ve been open since 360 launched but I only went in a few days ago and really liked the place. The shop feels really cozy and calm because the place is still brand new and there isn’t that much foot traffic. I used to like GoSport when they first opened up but now it feels hectic and the way things are laid out reminds me of Costco.

Intersport is smaller than GoSport but still manages to have a bit of everything. They’ve got sport watches, workout dvd’s, bicycles, skateboards, camping and beach gear, gym equipment, clothes, sneakers, a football section etc.. in addition to a few items here and there you can’t find anywhere else. The staff is also pretty friendly which is always a plus.

Intersport is located on the third floor of 360 Mall.

Note: I am organizing my categories and decided to create a new one called InFocus where I post about random places I find interesting or worth a visit.

Someone shot a video of Kuwait while up in a paramotor (powered paraglider). I don’t recognize the area but it looks beautiful. [YouTube]

Since we don’t get that many world class sport events here in Kuwait I would think an event like this deserves a bit more publicity…

The Kuwait Men’s World Open will be staged from the 1st to 7th November 2009 and will boast a record prize fund of US$277,500.

The championship is the climax of a three year agreement with the Professional Squash Association (PSA) which has already seen the successful staging of Super Series Platinum events in 2007 and 2008.

As well as offering the largest prize money of any World Open, the championship will also include spectacular opening and closing ceremonies as well as an Official Championship Gala Dinner.

The championships will bring together all of the world’s leading players from the PSA World Tour. World No.1 Karim Darwish of Egypt will head a star-studded field including compatriots Ramy Ashour and Amr Shabana, Gregory Gaultier and Thierry Lincou from France, Australia’s former World Open Champion David Palmer and England’s British Champion Nick Matthew.

The quarter-finals, semi finals and finals will be played on a dedicated court being built on Green Island which sounds cool considering the weather is great at the moment. For more information visit the official website [Here]

Thanks Akbar!

I don’t like tennis but this was cool. [YouTube]

Desert Kings 2 Jokers are back with a new video which now includes water activities. Personally I prefer the faster paced original video. [YouTube]

[YouTube]

Kuwait won 3 gold medals, 3 silver and 5 bronze at the recent Asian Youth Games that were held in Singapore. I checked out YouTube and managed to find two interviews with two Kuwaiti participants, one of them is Hessah Al Zayed (above) who won a bronze in shooting while the other is a table tennis player (below). Overall Kuwait came 9th out of 39 countries that participated in these games. Thats pretty cool.

[YouTube]