Whether it’s Muay Thai, boxing, kickboxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, wrestling or martial arts, technique is as paramount as physical ability.
Getting into any of the disciplines can be intimidating, but with Pride Fitness Center’s knowledgeable team of trainers and their technical approach, taking the leap to become a fighter is made easier.
The Dubai-based gym, located in Al Quoz, is the vision of its co-founders, Australian John Pender and American Nick Bismack.
Pender met what would become his good friend at a Thai boxing camp in Thailand at the age of 21. When he moved to Dubai and started a Thai boxing programme, he called Bismack and encouraged him to come work with him.
The pair later formed a class on the beach to get their clients up to the point of becoming their training partners before eventually opening Pride Fitness Center in 2012, fulfilling what Pender calls a “dream” of owning their own gym.
Pender and Bismack’s friendship is a major reason for the gym’s close-knit atmosphere.
“When you’ve got training partners, they’re not customers. They’re brothers and sisters and they’re in there doing the hard yards with you. They become very close family members,” Pender said. “That’s the sort of feel people get from our facility, which is something I’ve never experienced myself at any other gym I’ve trained at.”
Mixing it up: A variety of combat sports are available at the gym.
Atmosphere is all well and good, but it’s nothing without the ability to provide professional training and teach combat sports. Fortunately, Pride Fitness Center back it up with their extensive attention to detail and technique.
The gym host classes throughout the day in which you can specifically train for Muay Thai, jiu-jitsu or whatever combat sport you desire, along with strength and conditioning sessions to build up the physical side of it.
“We’ve got a detailed training regimen for people who haven’t been exposed to a striking art or combat sport before,” Pender said. “We’ve got a really interesting, beautiful way of explaining the sport to people who are strategic-minded business people that understand statistics, which is the way we understand and the way you understand martial arts at a higher level.
“It’s about taking those sedentary, non-combat sports people to the point where they’re addicted to the sport and eventually become competitors themselves.”
Even if you’re not interested in becoming a fighter, Pride Fitness Center have extended their facility to also include a general training area in the past year.
Memberships start from Dh80 for a single session to Dh1,050 per month for unlimited access. For a full price list and more information, visit www.pridefitnesscenter.com and discover the fighter in you.
