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Dubai Fitness Challenge participants included government ministers, shaikhs, students as well as white and blue-collar workers. Image Credit: Twitter

Dubai: The 30-day Dubai Dubai Fitness Challenge came to a close with massive numbers crunched, muscles stretched and calories burnt.

With sheer muscle power, the Dubai 'strongmen' pulled a train, an A380 superjumbo jet and a double-decker bus. That's just for starters.

The icing on the cake was the 1.5 billion+ calories burnt by those who took the challenge as of Day 28, out of the 30-day health fest. 

Though the final numbers are yet unknown, here's how the challenge panned out:

With a healthy dose of fun and awesome willpower, 25 RTA employees managed to pull a 185-tonne Dubai Metro train for a whopping 25-metres inside a train depo in Dubai.


Morever, Asian workers flexed their muscles in a mini marathon, showed their physical prowes with various tests of strength and other fun games during a weekend event spearheaded by the Dubai Police.

The move was held over as part of the challenge (also known as #Dubai30x30), pitting teams of worker against each other near their camp. The fun day out was held in Al Quoz, an industrial enclave in Dubai where many workers' accommodations are located.

Earlier, a team from the Dubai Police landed a world record by pulling the superjumbo Emirates A380 plane for around 100 metres.

The month-long Dubai Fitness Challenge encouraged residents, citizens and visitors in Dubai to engage in physical activity for 30 minutes each day for 30 days — also known as the Dubai30x30 challenge — aimed to make Dubai the world's most active city.

Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, announced the challenge on October 2.

An employee of Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) tackled a different kind of physical challenge — by pulling a double-decker bus.

Participants included government ministers, shaikhs, students as well as white- and blue-collar workers.

Every weekend during the month, people who have taken the challenge took to different venues in droves to do group physical exercises.

The grand finale was held at the Dubai Festival City on November 17 and November 18, during which performances included football freestylers and ballet dancers as well as competitions and mass participation exercise classes. 

Altogether, Dubai residents burnt over 1.5 billion calories (28-day tally out of the 30-day challenge) since it was launched on October 20.

That number was culled from the dedicated app for the challenge. As Dubai has a population of 2.8 million, a simple number crunching would show an average loss of 535 calories per person per day.

But given that 5,446 participants registered themselves on the app, it would mean each of them burnt around 6,000 calories per day.

 

But why do it only for 30 days?

Health experts say the key to managing diabetes and heart disease lies in lifestyle change. But any fundamental change to lifestyle is an uphill task that requires tremendous willpower and community support.

For any habit or mindset to change, it requires an intervention of minimum 20 days, said Dr Wafa Ayesh, director of Clinical Nutrition at Dubai Healthcare Authority.