DUBAI // The country's exercise-mad CrossFit community is gearing up for the Asia regional competition and a fight for the fittest title.
Founded in 1995, CrossFit is an intense daily workout programme that includes elements of weightlifting, gymnastics and cardiovascular training.
Every day, CrossFit enthusiasts compete against each other to complete the "Work Out of the Day" (WOD). A typical WOD might include several rounds of overhead squats, box jumps, pull-ups and burpees.
In 2007, about 70 people took part in the international CrossFit games and this year that figure has risen to 25,000 competitors.
While warming up for the final round of a six-week CrossFit Open competition last month, 26-year-old Briton Candice Howe tore a muscle in her inner thigh. Despite the injury, she managed to finish fourth out of about 250 people competing to qualify for the regional finals of the CrossFit games in Japan next month.
Now, she says she is determined to continue training, claim the "Fittest Woman in Asia" title and qualify for the final round of the CrossFit Games that will take place in California in July.
"There was a small tear in the muscle and my sports therapist said not competing is the best thing I could do," said Ms Howe. But she would not give up her dream of competing in Okinawa, Japan, next month: she is still training, but not putting too much stress on the affected muscle.
Ms Howe is a certified CrossFit trainer and the owner of a CrossFit-affiliated gym, LifeSparkDubai - one of only two gyms in the country officially licensed to practise CrossFit.
She's not the only CrossFit fanatic enthusiastic enough to train through the pain. Marcus Smith, 32, is also from Britain and was ranked first on the board for the Asia regionals until he was hurt during the fourth week of the competition.
"I have crushed the vertebrae in my neck, so I don't feel anything in my right arm at all," said Mr Smith, who eventually finished fifth and wants to be named "Fittest Man".
"A specialised chiropractor is working with me because I want to compete and win," said Mr Smith, the owner of Innerfight, a website that provides free access to workouts. "It's a case of the power of the mind over the body, and you just have to keep working through it."
Mr Smith often trains twice a day, putting his body through tremendous stress to prepare himself for the competition.
Mr Smith and Ms Howe both say they felt like something was missing in their lives before they discovered CrossFit.
Ms Howe, who lives in Dubai but was a gymnast in the UK, said there wasn't a gymnastic community for her to compete. Through CrossFit she found her calling again.
"CrossFit has given me something back that I feel I am good at."
And, she says, the training is helping women break stereotypes: "We are getting people who are diabetic and told to be careful as to what exercise they do. We've also got men and women who have day jobs and never thought they'd get back to lifting."
Consider the Emirati mother-of-three Mai Salem Ahmed, 31, who collapses on the floor after finishing a WOD and immediately asks: "Did I beat the guys?"
"Training has been really good for me and I have achieved the body I want through CrossFit," she says.
Tamra Ferguson, a 37-year-old American, said she enjoys CrossFit because it never gets boring. "CrossFit is the only exercise I have ever stuck with because it's always challenging and exercises are never repetitive," she says. "Also, doing a pull-up on your own is an amazing feeling."
Craig Harriman, 21, from Britain, said what he likes most about CrossFit is the community.
"It's not just that you see results, but the competitive atmosphere within the team which feels like a family." Mr Harriman is also attending the Asia regionals, and currently ranks 10th.
For all those reasons and more, CrossFit continues to win new fans. "I think Dubai has a bad reputation in terms of being unfit, but I don't think that's necessary," said Ms Howe. "For as many people who come to the UAE and gain weight, there are those who come here and change their lives."
aalhaddad@thenational.ae
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Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
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Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
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Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
