At one time, we would minimise the distance between car and shelter, carry parasols if we needed to step out before it was dark and cool, and speak in revered tones about the temperature hitting 50 degrees Celsius.
Not anymore! Outdoor enthusiasts are braving the weather to create activities that keep them and people like us in parks, pools and wadis in and around the country. Bring it on is their motto when confronted with the scorching desert heat.
A round-up of meetup groups in Dubai and Abu Dhabi shows that there are many activities scheduled for July through August and September, even with a break during Ramadan. Organisers of various outdoor groups on Meetup.com, an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings, are scheduling swimming, indoor training, mountain climbing, road trips to nearby cooler places, running around the Marina and horse treks this summer.
Amy Subaey, Organiser, UAE Trekkers, based in Abu Dhabi with members in Dubai as well, tells GN Focus, “Our summer strategy has definitely evolved since we began three years ago in 2011. We will continue to do our intervals workout at Ski Dubai, where we train Friday and Saturday mornings. We will also continue evening training at Zabeel Park and Safa Park in Dubai.
“In Abu Dhabi, we will continue workouts at the bridge and we will start stairs workout at Yas Island. And we are introducing swimming with a specialised trekking workout with H2O on Sundays,” Subaey says.Members of her group are motivated by the thought of making it to one of the bigger hikes later this year: Kilimanjaro in August and Everest Base Camp in November.
About 500-600 of the 2,025 members of this non-commercial group are active and turn up for the free training organised by the volunteers. Whether or not they make it to the final trek, hiking enthusiasts focus on staying fit.
Trainers agree that summer is better for certain types of workouts. And if you are the type that likes running around the park under the trees, don’t stop.
Brian Coones, a functional fitness expert, says, “Acclimatisation to the climate you live in is essential for maintaining good health. I continue to train outdoors in the summer for many reasons. One is that if you always stay in an air-conditioned environment, the body does not handle heat very well and if you’re exposed to it, you will be physically tired.”
Functional fitness involves using your own body weight to train and get physically fit.
In association with Subaey, and also on his own via UAE Rock Climbing, Coones trains wannabe trekkers and climbers at Safa Park every Tuesday evening. As late as June 24, he took a group to Dibba for deep-water soloing, which involves rock climbing from a boat on the sea cliffs over the water without ropes or harness.
Enthusiasts continue to stay outdoors during summer. Karin Willekins, a Dutch expat based in Dubai, says, “I need to exercise anyway and I would much rather do it outdoors than indoors. You are going to sweat in any case, so why not stay in the park? Plus I am more likely to be regular if there is a group and a scheduled activity.”
Keeping the weather in mind, it is wise to tweak the sessions a bit, says Mowrad Rownak, who runs Age of Rage of Range with a mind-boggling array of activities that includes callisthenics (body weight and street workout at parks), ninjutsu (stealth and evasion), and free running at the beach and pool workout.
“I like to train outdoors anyway. During summer, we have more water activities and we introduce money-saving incentives — our membership fee to cover costs starts at Dh25 in June and
gradually increases to Dh100 by September,” he tells GN Focus.
You can find his team of workout mates at Zabeel Park, the Meadows or Dubai Marina indulging in extreme frisbee, street or pool workouts.
Some activities are, in fact, better undertaken in summer, with its extra daylight hours. “Jebel Shams [in north-western Oman] is one of the roughest hikes in the region. We are planning it for mid-July when it is like a hot spring day. At that height, it is cooler. It is not comfortable, but doable,” Subaey says. “The thing about going in the summer is that you have an extra hour of sunlight. It takes about five hours to go up and the same to come down. In winter, it is hard to do both. You cannot leave earlier than sunrise and if you want to do it overnight, you have to carry so much more water, which makes it tougher.”
