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Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

It’s almost summer time and all the gyms around Kuwait are packed! People have locations to travel too, beaches to swim in and jet skis to ride, but you got to look good doing it. What’s the sure-fire, shortcut approach and rapidly fast solution to all this? A truckload of performance enhancers, dietary supplements and A LOT of chest and bicep exercises! That was the norm back in my university days, but people now demand abs too; but no legs, definitely no legs. They are evil and such a pain in the butt when exercised.

The summertime crowd is a lot more demanding and highly impatient in comparison to other seasonal clients. They expect so much in such little time. Moreover, they tend to quit early if extreme results are not presentable within 72 hours, literally. This is how a typical meeting with an average “I need to look like 50 Cent within a month” client:

Client: “All I’m looking for is definition. I need to tone my arms a bit, expand my chest and work on my abs. As you can see, I’ve got the jello jiggles all around dis area yo.”

Me: “How long do I have in order for to make these changes?”

Client: “Brah! I’ve got a month and I’ll be hittin’ da beaches of Ibiza. If things don’t work out with da visa (that rhymed, dude must be a rapper), I’d might extend it for another month and go to Sharm.”

Me: “What you’re asking for is a shortcut, which is highly unlikely since you’ve got no muscle for me to tone and a spare tire around your waist.”

Client: “NO YO! I’ve heard Core Fitness does wonders. I need to lose all of this and gain poundage’s all ova my upperbody. Wam, bam, do me SON!”

Me: “Uhh, no, we don’t offer doing anyone, we just provide you a diet plan, a workout plan and absolutely no happy endings.”

Client: “And yo, no legs. I’ve got more jiggle than Santa Claus lying around this lower area as you can see, so no leg workouts whatsoever. I don’t want to be looking like an Egyptian belly-dancer yo.”

Me: “I hope you realize you’re whiter than I am. Anyways, cutting out legs isn’t a good idea; it’s literally half your body. If you want those changes, you have to give us a minimum of 2 months. It’s a lifestyle.”

Client: “Dude, I’ll pop pills! I’ll drink dem powders! What’s dat white stuff called? Crac….I mean creatine? Yeah, I’ll give that a try!”

Me: “No. What’s your current diet like?”

Client: “I’m not a breakfis’ person, so screw dat. At around 11 am at work, I pass by a Starbucks and order a triple-shot-venti-half-caf-half-decaf-French-roast-2 caramel pumps-extra-whip-non-fat-mocha-with-extra-foam……Oh, and a low fat muffi’. At home, I eat pretty much what I want and for dinner, strictly fast food.”

Me: “I swear to God, if you don’t stop talking like that I’m going to punch you on the face.”

Client: “Ok man, jeez…so I’ll give you two months. Does that work for you?”

Me: “Two months, our workout routine and a strict diet plan should do.”

Client: “Ho-nee FUT! DUDE, DATS INCWEDIBUL! You ma boi!!!”

Me: “Get the f%$k out.”

Health and fitness is a lifestyle. If you want to look good and feel good from this day onwards, you need to understand that it requires a lot of effort at first, and once you get used to it, it’ll be like breathing air and drinking water.

Reality

For every goal you set, commitment must be taken into consideration; the greater you want the end result to be, the harder you have to push yourself to achieve it. For example, in order for me to maintain the current weight and body fat percentage I am on, I’d have to consume a specific amount of calories, weight-lifting poundage’s, and rest and recovery. Since summertime is approaching, my meal plan has to be a lot cleaner, sometimes tasteless and slightly low in calories, with the addition of cardiovascular activity. If I expect a leaner set of abs, I need to put in the effort in order to achieve this.

A lot of you have slowly introduced this lifestyle and are witnessing good results. If you’ve currently stopped producing any significant results (i.e. fat-loss or muscle-gain), your eating and training habits have to be a lot stricter, which may include cleaning out or adding in calories; this is only assuming you’d want more results.

I am leaving to Beirut for a few days and will be back early next week. While there I will be carelessly indulging in an unlimited supply of Cadbury Chocolate Milk while having some of the best Nutella and banana crepes. Posting will continue as normal while I am there.

In the post below I was just testing to see if I could broadcast live footage and it worked! For the people who were able to catch my live act I was just broadcasting video of my dog sleeping on the floor so you didn’t miss out on much. I got this idea for live broadcasting from P0ach and wanted to see if there was an easy way to do it and it turned out there was. I signed up for a free account on ustream.tv and downloaded the iPhone app for Ustream called Ustream Live Broadcaster and thats it. All you need is your iPhone’s 3G connection or WiFi and you can broadcast live video from anywhere to the blog. So next time I witness a fire or fight I can just broadcast the video live for everyone to watch. Pretty cool!

Update: This was just a test, [see here]

Here is a quick review of the Alpine iXA-W407.

It works great with the iPod as expected. I previously had the Alpine iDA-X001 installed in my Wrangler and one annoying thing in the X001 was searching for an artist. It doesn’t get much better in the W407. You can’t search using an onscreen keyboard to type an artist name for some reason instead you need to scroll down to the artist u want. You can scroll down by letter as in if you are looking for Smashing Pumpkins you can press “page down” when u r at A and it will take u to B and u keep pressing till u get to S. A painfully long process which I do not recommend while driving. Once you get to S you then have to scroll down regularly by pressing “down” untill u get to Smashing Pumpkins. Takes forever and not practical at all.

On the bright side, that’s the only negative thing I found. The multi display screen is very cool (see picture above) which basically allows you to display up to 4 different kinds of information on the same screen. I Just wish there were more widgets to add out of the current 6 including calculator and sound adjustment which are not pictured above. What I would have liked to have seen is a weather widget (could use my iPhone’s internet connection for the date) or an RSS reader.

The W407 has Bluetooth built in. Once I get into the car my iPhone connects to the Alpine automatically and whenever I want to call someone I bring up the phone number on the Alpine screen and call it. When I get a phone call I can either answer it on the Alpine or if I want privacy I can talk directly on my iPhone. Now all thats pretty normal but my favorite thing is the fact that I can stream music from my iPhone to the Alpine using Bluetooth. Like my iPod and the Radio I have Bluetooth as an audio source. When I select Bluetooth as a source whatever sound my iPhone makes I hear it on the cars sound system. Other than listening to your iPod’s music wirelessly or playing games and have the sound blast out of the cars sound system, another cool feature is the fact I stream music from the web over 3G and onto my car stereo using bluetooth. I’ve got the iPhone app WunderRadio (which I’ve posted about before) and I use it to tune into radio stations in Lebanon and stream them into my car. I don’t have any problems streaming the Lebanese radio stations since they broadcast in EDGE but Ministry of Sound UK for example streams as 3G and after a minute or so the music cuts off and I have to buffer for like 10 seconds which is very annoying. But, I am going to be upgrading my iPhones internet connection from 600kb to 14.4MB at the end of the month which should solve my problem.

I really like the iXA-W407 and if I had to do the purchase all over again I would in a heartbeat. The final score is a 4 out of 5. The lack of a decent search feature and the fact there aren’t any extra widgets I can download and install are the reasons it’s not perfect. If anyone has any specific questions regarding that Alpine unit or the install just ask it below and I will try to answer it. Regarding the PAC TR7, it worked perfectly with the W407. With the TR7 install I can watch videos and change the stereo system settings while I am driving. Without the TR7 I would have to put the car in PARK and raise the handbrake. I also had the PAC SWI-Jack installed which allows the Alpine to be controlled with the FJ’s steering wheel buttons. The PAC SWI-Jack works on a number of cars and with a number of sound systems.

I ordered all my items from Amazon, here is the list with links:

Alpine iXA-W407 Digital Media Station $554.48
Alpine HCE-C107D Rear View Camera $176.99
Scosche TA2076B 2007 Toyota FJ ISO/Double DIN With Pocket Kit $19.58
Scosche Stereo Wire Harness Toyota FJ Cruiser $12.31
PAC TR7 Multi control interface bypass module $23.26
PAC SWI-JACK $42.90
Total: $829.52

Today I heard a really freaky story but one that ended with a happy ending. A receptionist I know nearly got kidnapped by a taxi driver. She took a cab to go home but instead the taxi cab driver started driving in a different direction. He then closed all the windows and locked the doors and started shouting at the receptionist whenever she said anything.

So she decided to SMS for help since she didn’t know how the driver would react if he saw her on the phone. She sent an SMS to the emergency number 112 with the taxi driver details which she got off the back of the seat. She told them she was being kidnapped and she needed help. 112 then called her up and straight away told her to pretend she’s talking to a friend so the driver doesn’t suspect anything. They told her to stay calm and that they would send help. They asked her to SMS them her location and to keep them posted by SMS on which road they were on. She did that and 112 were able to set up a police check point and catch the taxi driver.

It’s really scary the stories you hear about taxi drivers in Kuwait. Awhile back I read in the paper where a bunch of taxi drivers were capturing woman and taking them to this building where they would be locked up and forced into prostitution. Luckily for the receptionist she managed to escape. I was really surprised that 112 actually receive and react to SMS’s. I think that’s incredible and the speed and the way they reacted to this situation was spot on.

Great job!

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.

I recently purchased a Garmin GPS device from Amazon, it was a really good deal costing me under KD40 with shipping to Kuwait via Aramex. I know most of the roads in Kuwait but every now and then I need to go somewhere I haven’t been to before and a GPS device would come in handy. Turns out its actually a lot more handy then I was expecting since a forum user (Burhan) made me realize I could use the device as a radar detector.

All you need is a Garmin GPS unit and the following file which you need to download and copy onto it [POI File]

What this file does is tell the GPS unit where all the speeding and red light cameras are located. When you get near a radar camera the device alerts you with a beep. If you’re driving below the speed limit you get a gray box alerting you of the camera ahead and just a single beep. If you’re driving over the speed limit you get a red box alerting you that you’re speeding and the device beeps frequently until you either pass the camera or drop your speed below that roads speed limit.

It’s very cool and practical and it cost me under KD40. If you’re interested in the same device I have which is pictured above, its called the Garmin Nuvi 255 and it’s available on Amazon for around KD30. [Amazon Link]

A friend of mine is starting a small casting business here in Kuwait. She’s looking for people who are interested in starring in ads that will appear locally and regionally. I told her I would help her out by spreading the word so if you’re interested in making some extra cash while starring in TV commercials or photo shoots then email her on [email protected]

Please send your picture along with your contact details and age.

Last week I did two things to my FJ Cruiser, the first thing was getting a tint and the second thing was installing the sound system I had previously posted about. I’ve been wanting to get a tint for ages now but it would have been really useless on the Wrangler since even if I tinted the windows I would still get a lot of heat come in from the roof since it didn’t have any kind of insulation, just bare plastic.

Anyway, all my friends got their tints done at Huper Optik whom I’ve posted about before when they participated in the Eid giveaway so I decided to get my tint there as well. Choosing the type of tint I wanted wasn’t too difficult since I just checked out everyone’s car outside our weekly diwaniya and decided to go with C40 tint all around and C70 tint in the front.

There are different colored tints from practically transparent to extremely dark and each one of them has a different amount of heat and UV rejection. C40 is a dark tint (not too dark) while C70 is a nearly clear tint. You can see some of the different types in the picture below, the one with the arrow is the C40. Here is also a link with info on the C40 [Link] and here is one for the C70 [Link]

What’s great about the C40 tint is that when you’re inside the car it doesn’t feel like it’s tinted which means it doesn’t effect night time driving. But, when you look at it from the outside you can tell its tinted which my black car looks great. I kept the front window with nearly no tint so that the car doesn’t end up too dark inside since I’ve got a completely black interior as well.

If you’re interested in getting your car tint Huper Optik have the best tints in Kuwait. They’re located in Al Rai and their telephone number is 24719999. When I passed by they had an offer where you could get up to a KD130 discount when you tint your car and install front protection (transparent material that protects your car from rocks and getting sand blasted). My next car post will be about the sound system install, I found a very cool place that did everything for me to stay tuned for that.

www.huperoptik-kw.com and www.huperoptik.com

Check out Marzouqs review of Hüper Optik (he’s got better pics and more specific details) [Here]

Back in January I joined Core Fitness and the first thing they did was take my measurements so I can compare them 7 weeks later. Well it’s been 7 weeks and I finished my first course and here are the results:

What do these numbers mean? Basically my weight has gone down from 84.7 to 80 and that includes gaining around 1.7kg of muscle. I’ve lost fat around my waist and hips (I actually had to add two new holes on my belts) and I’ve added muscle to my other areas like chest, shoulders, thighs and arms. My aim wasn’t to lose weight but gain muscle mass and right now I’m actually below my ideal weight. But, this is just the middle area because I’ve lost weight in fat and now will gain weight with muscle which is why most probably when I get measurements again in 7 weeks time I would either be the same weight or hopefully more.

The first week was very intense, I didn’t puke but I very nearly did, like just about to but didn’t. It was a killer and it scared the shit out of me but I kept going back and I now actually enjoy going to the gym. Even though its still exhausting, I no longer feel like I am going to die from a heart attack or puke. The lessons are as advertised, just 20 minutes long and I go 3 times a week. I’ve refused to do any work out or cardio during my off days since what attracted me to Core Fitness was the 20 minutes 3 times a week selling line. 20 minutes 3 times a week was all the time I had to give and wanted to give and I’ve stuck to my guns. My cardio hasn’t improved that much because of that since I was advised to run during my off days.

Every week I have a different trainer that takes me through the 20 minutes of workout. Whats cool about that is every trainer has their own style of training and exercises so once my body feels like it’s getting used to a routine, my trainers change and I’ve suddenly got to survive and get used to a new routine. After every 20 minute session I get a fully body stretch out by the trainer which is nearly as grueling as the 20 minute workout.

One of the cool things I like about Core is the SMS’s I get on the day of my workouts. They serve as a reminder on what time my course is but they also provide health tips as well like the following:

Hi Mark! Workout today at 8:20PM! FYI: Drink 1 glass of cold water 15min before a meal gives your metablism a 25% boost!

Hi Mark! Workout today at 8:00PM! FYI: Pizza? Choose Domino’s. 1 small order, thin slices, add anything, but ditch the ground beef and pepperoni

I was given a nutritional plan when I first started which you can see [Here]. It wasn’t too difficult to stick to since it mostly involved eating what I usually eat. The biggest change was the breakfast and dinner. Breakfast I used to have pancakes from McDonalds while dinner I used to have a lot of carbs (3 turkey & cheese sandwiches or bread with labneh for example). For breakfast I now have sausage & egg mcmuffin while for dinner I either pickup 2 chicken taouk + 2 meat tikka in a plate (no bread) from Kebabji near my house or I grill steak at home. I get my steak (fillet) from a butcher but recently I started getting ostrich steak from Sultan Center which I found out has the superior nutrient content of red meat while having less fat than a chicken breast. Too bad I can’t have it breaded and fried! Oh and another big change is the greens, I now eat a lot more vegetables and salads. I used to barely eat anything green before but now I want to eat them. For example when I go to Le Notre I usually order a fish or meat dish and their sides are usually rice or potato. I now have them swap them for steamed vegetables. It’s really weird but I think I do this because I want to get healthier and I am seeing my self get fitter.

I’m not perfect though and I do cheat but I like cheating. I look forward to cheating because it helps me stick to my diet. For example I passed by Chocolate Bar twice during this 7 weeks and overdosed on chocolate (enough to last me through the 7 weeks!) and once a week I pick up a Cadbury Flake or a Twix from the bakala. Oh and there was the Ferrero Rocher incident. The one thing though I am REALLY craving but can’t and shouldn’t have is the molten chocolate cake from Chili’s. It’s always on my mind but I’ve still managed to resist it!

So that’s basically it. I am going to sign up for another 7 weeks and I want to continue improving. I’m going to have Fahad post about Core Fitness to give you guys a better idea of what it involves since it’s his gym and he will be better able to explain it. I will definitely post my measurements again after 7 weeks and we’ll see how things changed.

Oula just sent us this email in response to the previous post:

Dear All;
This incident was just brought to our attention by this blog. We are very grateful for this effort from your side to point out any deficiency on our side as we always aim to be the best employer we could be. we are currently investigating the issue and whoever denied him treatment in the first place will not be ignored and will be accountable for this violation. We at Oula Fuel are very clear with our contractors that we require the most fair treatment for the employees and that is why we pay even more than the market price to the contractor just to make sure that these employees are treated as best as possible. As long as we require the employees to be on their best while serving our customers, then it’s only fair to treat them well in the first place.

We here at Oula Fuel extend our best regards and wishes to everyone who provided us with a chance to correct a violation and whoever would point out misunderstandings that might go un-noticed without the collective effort from all concerned citizens who aim to make Kuwait the best country ever.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us on 1800111 or [email protected].

Regards,

Mohammad Al-Khareji
Sales Supervisor
Marketing & Sales & PR Dept.
Oula Fuel

Tel: (965) 2 2321 709
Fax: (965) 2 2321 333
Hotline: 1 800 111
m.alkhareji @oula1.com
www.oula1.com

Posted by Z District

I got this in an email from a friend, and I’m shocked that any company can refuse an employee medical treatment for 2nd or 3rd degree burns such as this.

I saw this guy in “Oula” gas station in Kuwait City on march 8. I saw the Indian running over to fill my tank as I stepped outside, I saw the poor Indian’s hand and told him to back off; I will do the filling u just relax. I asked him a few questions about how and what happened to his hand.

This Indian employee accidentally burned his hand with hot cooking oil while cooking himself food at 1 am on the 3rd of March. He only had one day off which is the same day of the incident. Apparently the only reason he had a day off is to go to the doctor for checkup because his hand is very sore and it looked like a huge bubble growing within his hand. I spoke to the Kuwaiti man in charge and he said that he told the company that this man requires medical treatment but they haven’t allowed him to rest during this recovery period. He was there during the whole week working, and his hand was all puffed up and swollen and the puss burst from sores on his hand. He wasn’t able to move his hand at all but they refused him to take days off to recover. When he was trying to fill my gas tank his hand was shaking and he looks like he is in pain, and he is exposed to dangerous chemicals and his hand is in this state. He is on contract from Tanzifco to Oula gas station now I’m not sure who isn’t allowing him to take time off but this is a complete violation of human rights

I don’t know what exactly is the company policy but this is unacceptable in any human form. This man has 2nd to 3rd degree burns which may require major treatment or even skin grafting at the worst of it. Please keep in mind the pictures below are of graphic nature and not to everyone’s taste. I can’t believe any company would allow an employee in this state to continue working especially since his job is labor intensive.

UPDATE I: Click on GOOGLE MAPS for the location of the Gas Station. Its just by 1st ring road and Fahaheel Express Way (30), tucked on the right hand side just after crossing over 1st ring road while on Fahaheel Express Way (30) heading towards the city.

UPDATE II: Through a friend we were able to get to the Chairman/CEO of Tanzifco. He didn’t know of the issue and it will be investigated internally. They found the employee working at the Oula gas station that was mentioned above. They have now taken him from there and to have his hand checked, and he has been given two weeks off. Thank you all for your effort to help this man. A few friends and myself will be passing by today and every few days to fill up gas and to check and see if he is working or not. If anyone has an update on him when he gets back please do make sure to email me or comment please.

UPDATE III: Oula have responded [Link]

As I mentioned last week I am getting my veneers done at Bayan Dental. I also said I would explain what veneers were in a different post so here it is.

A veneer is a very thin material that is placed over the tooth either to visually enhance/fix the teeth or in some cases to protect a damaged tooth. It requires very minimal tooth preparation which means they don’t drill a lot to get them to fit on your teeth. They’re nicknamed the Hollywood smile since veneers are used by actors to get the perfect smile. I asked Bayan Dental to send me some cases they’ve worked on so I can share it with my readers and they sent me a zip file containing around 10 different cases which you can download from [Here]

Anyway I passed by my dentist (Dr Samer Khaddour) today and got my teeth prepped for the veneers. I have temporary dental veneers on right now while my proper ones get made. These temporary veneers do help give an idea of how the finished outcome will look like and so far I’m finding them pretty cool although a bit tall so he is going to shorten my actual veneers for me by just a bit. You also get to choose the color of your veneers (don’t get any ideas no bling bling colors just different shades of white) and I ended up going with a shade that’s slightly lighter than the original. My next session is next week so will post again after that.

Like last time if you have any dental questions ask below and someone from Bayan Dental will reply back. They’re actually very quick to reply and also helpful so take advantage of this.

Posted by Fahad AlYehya | Core Fitness – Kuwait

Eating out isn’t necessarily a problem, but can be a fuss to those around me. I start by scanning the restaurant’s menu for a lean source of protein, followed by a good source of carbs and a great source of fat. Usually, I pick a great option, a good option and a decent option; the waiter that’s about to approach me is bound to shut me down with words like fried, breaded and sauteed, so might as well make due with other sources since I’m already at my 3 hour mark and my muscles are aching for some food.

Me: “I’ll have the Cajun Chicken Platter with no Monterey jack cheese, crisps, refried black beans and mashed potatoes.”

Waiter: “You mean you want the Cajun Chicken Platter with absolutely nothing on it?”

Me: “Yes, but I’m not done yet. Do you serve sweet potato?”

Waiter: “No sir, we only serve mashed potatoes.”

Me: “Do you mash it in with butter?”

Waiter: “I’m not sure sir.”

Me: “Would you ask someone that knows please.”

Accompanying Friend: “Dude, are you serious? No he’s not doing that.”

Me: “Ok, may I have a baked potato please.”

Waiter: “I’m sorry sir, we serve only mashed potatoes.”

Me: “Are they mashed before or after they arrived in the kitchen?”

Waiter: “After sir.”

Me: “Ok, so take one unmashed medium sized potato and bake or boil it.”

Waiter: “I’m sorry sir, we cannot do that.”

Annoying Fat Friend: “FHAID! Cut that crap out! I want to order!”

Me: “Ok Ok. I’ll have the Cajun Chicken Platter with nothing on it, and only broccoli on the side. Is the broccoli sauteed or steamed?”

Friend: “F*ck you.”

I am literally a waiter’s worst nightmare and I don’t care. I even question a restaurant’s supposedly healthier options, and after a thorough investigation (i.e. annoying the hell out of the restaurant’s staff) it doesn’t seem healthy at all. I persuade any health conscious individual to do the same.

The Awesome Subject at Hand

I was contacted by a 248am subscriber in order to help him out with a diet plan. His routine was simple and average, and could easily relate to anyone who decides to pursue the healthy lifestyle, so I used him as an example in order to explain the ins and outs of nutrition calculation and timing. Hopefully, I’ll be able to simplify things as much as possible.