Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Nuha Almarri, a member of Team Reebok, an elite group of super-fit amateur athletes and CrossFit fanatics who have agreed to represent Reebok in a number of the toughest competitions and events across the region.
Handpicked by Reebok from a range of sporting disciplines, the team have already competed in the notoriously gruelling Spartan Race and are training hard for the Talise Fitness Sandstorm, coming up at the end of April.
The team share Reebok’s belief that fitness enables individuals to improve the quality of their overall life, empowering people to live better, think better and deliver more.
Nuha is a young Emirati woman who took the brave decision to leave her safe pensions office job a few years ago and follow her dreams.
A super-fit Reebok CrossFit fanatic for the past three years, Nuha is gradually making a name for herself in the Middle East as a weightlifter. Right now she is concentrating all her efforts on the CrossFit Open, turning down an opportunity to try out for the Olympics later this year, but hopes to get another opportunity for the next Games in 2020.
Her sporting achievements so far include claiming first place at the GCC Fitness Championship 2014, the Emirate Fitness Championship 2015 and the Metalize lift-off Weightlifting Competition 2015 and placing second in the Battle of the East 2014-2015 and Abu Dhabi Fitness Project 2015.
Team Reebok consists of Nuha and five men – something she is very comfortable with, having grown up with seven brothers, which has made her very competitive. She holds third place in the team at the moment.
Passionate: Nuha Almarri is a weightlifter and CrossFit fanatic.
Nuha, like her team-mates, is very happy and excited about the partnership with Reebok and hopes to continue to take part in events well into the future.
Coaching is a career path Nuha is drawn to and together with other family members, she is considering opening up her own CrossFit Box at some point, thereby continuing her relationship with Reebok.
The first thing you notice about Nuha is her commitment and passion. She is indeed an inspiration to women everywhere to get fit, healthy and follow your dreams, no matter what prejudices you may encounter.
TEAM REEBOK & THE REEBOK PARTNERSHIP
The team meet and train at CrossFit Metalize in Ras Al Khor and their passion for CrossFit is key to their commitment to the team.
Their training schedule is astonishing and would leave those of us who manage to get in five sessions a week feeling a bit lazy.
Nuha trains five days a week, three times a day, doing weightlifting, gymnastics and cardio CrossFit, which wouldn’t be possible without the support from Reebok, something Nuha gratefully acknowledges.
Nabil Ibrahim, a 26-year-old Romanian, working hard to become a personal trainer, also works out three times a day to enable him to achieve his goals.
Bader Mohammed Al Noori, a 24-year-old Emirati working for the Dubai Police Force, works out two to three times a day and his goal for the future is to “stay healthy and fit for as long as I breathe.”
Martin Ziegler from Germany, currently working on the infrastructure for major sports projects in the region, acknowledges that keeping fit and maintaining a rigorous exercise routine of constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity takes commitment and that time management is essential.
There are no excuses from this team.
George Roberts-Smith, a 29-year-old from the UK can teach us all something about motivation. A Regional Director for McFarlane Telfer, he has no trouble keeping up with his training goals.
“Fitting both work and training into a day is easy as long as you commit to just making it happen,” he says.
“Be prepared for the day so you don’t waste time and don’t get tied up spending your energy and focus on things that are not important. If you need to get to the gym then get to the gym, it’s that simple. If you need to start at work earlier then start at work earlier. If you want to spend hours on Facebook or watching TV then do that but then don’t say you don’t have time for the gym.”
Saood Mohammed Al Noori, a 27-year-old Emirati is an inspiration to anyone struggling with their health and weight. By the age of 24, before getting into CrossFit, Saood weighed 125kgs.
“My health/fitness journey started three years ago, after I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and prediabetes,” he explains.
“I was leading a very unhealthy lifestyle that consisted of computer gaming and excessive amounts of fast food.”
He jokes: “My real motivation, as a very big foodie, was the fact that I could continue enjoying my excessive eating habits, which helped me stay consistent with my training. High intensity training demands good intake of food.”
Saood is a senior analyst for the Ministry of State for International cooperation. Asked how he fits in training with a demanding career, he said: “Consistency is key. I skip my afternoon naps and avoid going home, because once I get home, the lazy gene kicks in. I try to head to the gym immediately after work.
“It’s never too late to start. I used to hate gyms and anything that involved physical activity, but once I found CrossFit, it completely changed my life. I have lost 40kgs and I sleep like a baby at night. I honestly feel much better than I did before.”
I wanted to know how they managed to gain a partnership with Reebok and how useful this has been for them.
“Reebok were looking to support a team of serious but amateur athletes from the UAE who hold the same values as the brand and could represent them in a number of events across the region,” said Roberts-Smith.
“We have already done the Spartan Race and will be participating in Sandstorm on April 29. It is great to be supported by such a fantastic global brand such as Reebok which at its core believes that through fitness anyone can improve the quality of their life.”
Mark Greiner, the general manager of Reebok Middle East LLC said: “We are incredibly happy to be working with this group of very fit and talented individuals that we are calling Team Reebok.
“The idea for the team was conceived from us wanting to work with locally-based fitness athletes that we would consider to be part of the new fitness generation or “fit gen” as we would say.
“The key here is for Reebok to be able to support the team in their gruelling training sessions and through tough fitness events with our purpose-designed fitness products that allow them to perform to the best of their abilities whilst feeling confident in what they are wearing. It also allows the brand to be part of the local fitness community reaching out to both Emiratis and expatriates, men and women, working together to promote fitness and training. It’s a great match for us. “
Team Reebok will be entering events throughout the year all over the region. The next event is the Talise Fitness Sandstorm on April 29 where Team Reebok will be climbing, crawling, running or jumping through a series of unique challenges across a 4km sprint course in Dubai.
Visit www.talisefitness.com for more details on the event.
