#360fit: Body Language health club

Kara Martin 07:42 10/11/2016
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  • Body Language.

    Tucked away beyond the lush, winding roads of Dubai’s jaw-dropping hidden gem, Al Barari is where you’ll find probably one of our favourite-ever health clubs. For our most recent return we checked out Toning Tuesdays, a bargain of a midweek mini retreat which you’re going to thank us for not keeping to ourselves.

    Firstly, we have to say that Body Language Health Club, and Al Barari as a whole, is both blessed and cursed to be as drop-dead-gorgeous and hidden away as it is. The slip-road entrance to the whole estate is so thick with beautifully-defiant shrubbery, and void of any entry/highway exit signage, so it’s fairly tricky to find if you don’t already know it exists.

    This is obviously one reason we describe it to friends as our hideout-cum-home-away-from-home – that “secret sanctuary” feel of exclusivity is no doubt one of its strongest selling points to residents and guests alike.

    However, this obviously also works against them when it comes to shuttling in more punters. And those that do hear about it often immediately match the setting and facilities with several dollar signs. But really, if you enquire you’ll find it’s fairly reasonably priced, and anyway, there are always ways to get in as much Barari time as you need via little steals such as Toning Tuesdays.

    Every Tuesday at the health club you can take in a group fitness class or one-on-one personal training session, follow that up with a little free time at the outdoor temperature-controlled pool, and enjoy some healthy snacks prepared by the club’s Fresh Start juice bar… all for just Dh250.

    Why is this amazing? Well, firstly, have you seen this gym? It’s state-of-the-art everything set within the most zen-like surroundings; feels more like a retreat than any place of exercise we’ve ever known. Facilities include floodlit sunken amphi-theatre tennis courts (which you can use during Tuesday morning’s Cardio Tennis sessions, if you like), and a stunning floor-toceiling glass yoga studio that’s fully suspended in verdant nature (also accessible for some midweek mat time).

    Currently, other classes you can take on Tuesdays include Boot Camp and the equally feisty TRX, with more exciting new workouts hitting the schedule every month; but the icing on the cake for this package, we think, is the Personal Training option.

    Information:

    • What: Toning Tuesdays at Body Language Health Club, situated in Al Barari
    • When: Every Tuesday, with classes starting as early as 08:30
    • Where: Al Barari, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Road, off the E311 junction
    • Contact & Info: 04 326 7277, [email protected], www.bodylanguage.ae

    One hour-long personal training session at Body Language normally goes for Dh350 – do the math. And of course there will normally be further dirhams to dish out on pool access and drinks and nibbles on other days, whereas Tuesdays, it’s all yours for a sum you might have just casually thrown at dinner or a night out. This is way healthier, the perfect midweek tune-in and tone-up to help you finish the week strong.

    Gym Manager, Fani Chatzizisi, says: “One of the reasons we started Toning Tuesdays was to cater to all the housewives and stay-at-home mums that live in Al Barari. We thought it would be a good way of motivating them to come and work out – with the reward of being able to relax by the pool and have a healthy breakfast or lunch afterwards.

    “It proved to be really popular during Ramadan and the summer, when there is not much going on, and we had people often coming with friends tagging along, couples… It’s a great offer, especially for all those people who want to spend a lot of time at Body Language (because of its amazing facilities) but fear the fees might be too high – which, by the way, they’re not.”

    Chatzizisi insists: “You’d actually be surprised by our rates – they’re pretty close to those you would find at your Fitness First or Gold’s Gym, it’s very reasonable.”

    Tuesdays appear to be their least busy day of the week – hence this tantalising package – so we were pleased to have pretty much the run of the place (mostly) to ourselves. Perhaps arriving later in the morning is the key – you just miss the mums who have done their post-school-run workout. Our PT session with the wonderful Uros Sibinovic was pretty thorough, too, a circuit-style bootcamp.

    While you will find everything from TechnoGym’s cutting-edge cardio and resistance machines, and all the rest at your disposal on the gym floor, Body Language still loves to champion the functional and bodyweight training movements, which is great because they teach you to make your body work stronger and better for itself – little to no equipment needed.

    “When we train clients, we try to always include a lot of exercises and movements they can later do on their own at home or while travelling…” says Sibinovic. “Today in the hour we did a full body workout and really the only equipment we took advantage of were dumbbells, a couple kettlebells and the TRX straps, everything else you made use of your own body weight.”

    Body Language is surrounded by heaps of free space and beautiful pocketed areas for inspired outdoor workouts, which clients take advantage of, too, says Chatzizisi.

    “From stair runs/workouts to Aqua Kickboxing and yoga in the pool, we can cater to any kind of workout. We are even currently preparing a glass clearing outdoors fitted with battle ropes, pull-up bars, climbing frames, medicine balls and more that should be ready by the end of November, so get ready to take advantage of that now that we have good weather.”

    The 21x8m pool is small but gorgeous in the midst of lush greenery, with grassy lounging areas and lazy fans, and this is where we enjoyed our complimentary post-workout snack. A large selection of clean juices and salad jars, filling, superfood-laden smoothies, chia seed porridge, fruit and more is available to choose from on Toning Tuesdays – even protein-packed, healthy vanilla peanut butter or pistachio-flavoured waffles!

    Need we say more, if you’re blessed enough to work later in the day, not at all, or have flexible hours, we’d make Toning Tuesdays a part of your weekly schedule – because everybody could use a bit of personal time (and training) sometimes.

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