fourteen i s s u e 006
THE
SNAP
mar 27 2017
STORY
A sit down with one of the most trusted spor ts journalists in Football
03 27 2017
the sports journal
F EAT U R ES
WARM-UP 03
interview
04
of the month
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08
The longest standing member of the Davis Cup takes our quick-fire interview Quote, Number, Comment, Top and Flop
news
Al Khorafi qualifies to the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018 and Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq sets a new record in the Guinness World Records
some history
A quick look back at Sheikh Abdullah Al Jaber Al Sabah, known as the “Father of athletes”
Front Cover, Above: Bader Sarraf
i s s u e 006
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pain & sorrow
13
the snap story
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The President of the Kuwait Women’s Sports Federation denies Kuwaiti athletes from competing in the 5th GCC tournament in Qatar One of Kuwait’s most trusted sports journalists assesses the state of sports journalism in Kuwait and his absence from sports punditry programs
RECOVERY 31
highlight
33
university athletics
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the event
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the gym
the falcons
Fahad Al Hunaidi talks about the National Ice Hockey team’s journey in the Asian Winter Games 2017 in Japan and their plans for the future
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Faisal Al Shawa, the founder of Believe Nutrition, offers four tips on how to burn fat Women sports dominated by the Wolfpack, but can AUK repeat last year’s historical season? The Viking Club of the Radisson Blu organizes its annual 3 KM Fun Run on the 18th of March Fitness Lab: Personal training at its best
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THE INTERVIEW
Mohammed Al Ghareeb The longest standing member and tennis player in the Davis Cup takes the 14 Quiz
Who is your all-time favorite tennis player? The American tennis player Pete Sampras and the Swiss player Roger Federer. Most underrated Tennis player? There is no underrated player in tennis because it’s an individual sport and a player’s record is what makes him stand out. Before every match, I listen to…? I listen to Techno and Heavy Metal before any practice or match to get pumped. A sport you dislike watching or playing? I love all sports with no exceptions.
Sports Corner
Who is the smartest player that you have played against? In the professional tennis world, most players are smart. If I wasn’t a tennis player I would have tried to become a professional…? Basketball player. Favorite Restaurant? I love all kinds of food but my favorite is Italian and home cooked food. What is a dream that you had growing up that you were not able to accomplish? I wanted to continue my professional tennis career but unfortunately, I had to stop because of an injury.
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Do you know how to cook? What can you cook best? I don’t know how to cook. Favorite Movie? “Mohammed Ali”, “Rocky” and the documentary about the Formula One racer “Senna”. The most thing that used to scare you as a child? Being left alone. If you were a professor at university what subject would you like to teach? Physical Education.
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OF THE MONTH
NUMBER OF THE MONTH
450
TWEET OF THE MONTH would like to point out to some people that the Fencing, Gymnastics, Futsal youth, and U16 Judo team all won first place. There are 18 sports in a club, not just Football”
The Kuwait Tennis Open tournament is considered the biggest tournament organized by the Kuwait Tennis Federation. The tournament this year witnessed 450 players sign up which is the largest number of participants in the history of the tournament.
@na9er_alosaimi - “I
Nasser Al Osaimi - 19/3/2017
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Our problem in Kuwait is that our allegiance is to individuals and not the country.” Al Adalah TV, Al Lobby program Abdullah Wabran - 17/3/2017
TOP OF THE MONTH
FLOP OF THE MONTH
Ahmed Ashkanani won first place in the Classic 212 as part of the Arnold Sports Festival 2017 on the 3rd of March. The festival was held in Columbus, Ohio, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
After a fight between Kuwait SC and Al Qadsia Club, the Kuwait Basketball Association issued fines and match bans to most of Al Qadsia players. In return, Al Qadsia’s administration threatened to withdraw from the league and have gone on strike. Al Qadsia did not turn up to their last match versus Al Jahra.
Left: Frank Jansky | Getty Images Right: pay.gov.kw
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The SilverAir Sock ENGINEERED F O R P E RF O RMA NCE DESIGNE D W ITH S O U L
YATHL ETICS.COM
NEWS
Yousef Al Abdulrazzaq sets a new Guinness World Record
T
he Union International M o to n a u t i q u e ( U I M ) , the World’s governing body for all power boating activities, officially declared Al Abdulrazzaq a Guinness World Record holder, following his third International Jet Sports Boating A s s o c i a t i o n ’s ( I J S B A ) W o r l d Championship title. Al Abdulrazzag competed against professionals from all over the world, winning the Runabout GP1 category three times in 2013, 2015 and 2016. This achievement is the first of its kind in the world of jet-ski racing.
Courtesy of aquabike.net Alaan.cc, Kuna.net.kw, Kuwaittimes.net
Prominent figures in the country flooded the Champion with congratulations and praise, including Speaker of Parliament Mr. Marzouq Ali Al Ghanim, who expressed his delight saying, “It’s an incredible achievement. Such achievements prove that Kuwaiti youths’ excellence and exceptionality in all sports and competitions.” Al Abdulrazzaq expressed his pride in representing Kuwait and breaking the record saying, “I’m honored to have this achievement be recorded in the name of Kuwait. The whole point of competing and the podium is to see Kuwait’s flag raised around the world.”
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He added, “My recent success did not come out of nowhere. It is a natural result of my ongoing and relentless practice and efforts. I am blessed to have been able to achieve something that makes my family and country proud.” It is worth noting that Al Abdulrazzaq has represented Kuwait throughout the past years in several local and international competitions, winning several prominent titles. He has attained the World Championship in several professional categories seven different times.
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NEWS
Unpre ce dente d Success A l i A l K h o r a f i q u a l i f i e s t o t h e F E I Wo r l d E q u e s t r i a n G a m e s 2 0 1 8
Horseback rider Ali Al Khorafi registered a new achievement in the final of the Amir ’s Cup in Doha, Qatar, by becoming the first Kuwaiti equestrian to qualify for the FEI tournament. Al Khorafi, on his horse “Cheril” cleared the 160cm round with only four faults thus qualifying to the FEI World Equestrian Games 2018.
who provided us with all the resources to succeed in this tournament which had participants from all over the world.” Al Khorafi considers his qualification for the tournament, held every four years in the United States, as a career high and has dedicated this success to the Kuwaiti people in honor of National and liberation days. He added that he will continue to work hard and progress in the equestrian world.
The Kuwaiti show jumper expressed his happiness and pride to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) saying, “This achievement and success adds to the impressive results of Kuwait in international competitions. The feeling is indescribable, I am so happy and I am glad that this success coincides with the national and liberation celebrations. This achievement was only possible because of the support of the administrators
He thanked the Minister of Trade and Commerce and the Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Mr. Khaled Al Rodhan and the General Manager of the Public Authority of Sports Sheikh Ahmed Al Mansour, as well as the Assistant General Manager Dr. Humoud Flaiteh for their ongoing support and efforts in helping the Kuwaiti show jumpers succeed in the tournament.
Courtesy of kuna.net.kw
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SOME HISTORY
Sheikh Abdulllah Al Jaber Al Sabah “… Father of athletes… Sheikh Abdullah Al Jaber, the Amir’s adviser, earned that title because of his long history of serving sports and athletes, which at times went beyond the borders of Kuwait and extended to the rest of the Arab world.” Sheikh Abdullah Al Jaber practiced football, swimming, horseback riding, and shooting. He was President of the Arts Club in 1924 and headed several ministries, among them, the Ministry of Justice (1927), the Ministry of Awqaf and Orphans, and the Ministry of Education, which was responsible for sports from 1936 to 1954.
“Modern History of Sports in Kuwait” “Al Azraq, the roots and records 102-2015”
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THE MOMENT
salem aman BANGKOK, THAILAND: Salem Aman of Kuwait (Blue), runs with the ball during a game against the Czech Republic at the FIFA Futsal World Cup. The game took place at Indoor Stadium Huamark in Thailand on November 3, 2012. Mooinblack
PAIN & SORROW
Naeema deprives Kuwaiti athletes from GCC tournament
A
recent letter from Mr. Khalifa Ben Saad Al Abri, Assistant SecretaryGeneral for Economic and Development Affairs for the Gulf Cooperation Council, to the General Secretary of the Kuwait Olympic Committee (KOC) revealed Sheikha Naeema Al Ahmed’s role in depriving Kuwaiti athletes from participating in the 5th GCC Women’s Sports Competition held in Qatar from March 7-17, 2017. Al Abri clarified that the Chair of the Organizing Committee for Women’s Sports in the Gulf, Sheikha Naeema Al Ahmed, speaking on behalf of Kuwait told the members of the organizing committee in their 22nd meeting on January 31st, that Kuwait will not be participating due to the Olympic ban. Al Abri said in the letter, “The General Secretariat hopes you kindly coordinate with Sheikha Naima Al-Sabah and determine whether Kuwait will participate in the tournament or not and then notify us.” As is evident by Kuwait’s lack of participation in the tournament, the needed coordination didn’t take place and Kuwaiti athletes watched the opening ceremony of the tournament with pain and regret because they were hoping to compete for medals.
Courtesy of kuna.net.kw
Her actions were especially hurtful since the person trusted most to promote and grow female athletics in Kuwait, is instead standing in the way of so many ready and able female athletes.
invitation to the State of Kuwait, and as a result, Sheikha Naeema Al Ahmed contacted the women sports clubs as the president of the Women’s Sports Federation - an organization which violates the Olympic Charter.
Such oversights should no longer be permitted. Measures must be put in place to ensure that every opportunity presented to Kuwaiti female athletes aren’t dismissed so easily as this one was. Especially not when athletes are available and eager to participate.
The President of the Women’s Sports Federation acted beyond her jurisdiction and to the detriment of all female athletes in Kuwait. For undisclosed reasons, the WSF President decided to withdraw Kuwait from the 5th GCC Women’s Sports Competition.
According to sources close to Fourteen, the organizing committee sent an
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THE SNAP STORY
“A R E S PO N S I B I L I T Y TO THE AUDIENCE” A sit down with one of the most trusted sports journalists in Football An inter view with Mubarak Al Dosari
Left: Bader Sarraf
M
ubarak Al Dosari is one of the most prominent and influencing sports journalists in the country, he sh in ed in Al Watan TV
co-presenting “Maalab Al Watan” one of the most watched and controversial football programs and before the channel was shut down, he gained the respect and love of many of the football fans in Kuwait. He attends all league
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games and has strong relationships with many stakeholders in Kuwaiti football. Yet, Al Dosari has been absent from the media for years and has refused to return until he finds the opportunity to present something valuable to the audience. For the time being, he is content with staying in touch with his followers through Snapchat and Twitter. Fourteen sat down with Mubarak Al Dosari and talked about the reasons behind his absence and discussed the overall status of sports media in Kuwait.
a f t e r a lwata n t v
When they first shut down Al Watan TV I was approached by Kuwait TV 3 (sports channel) and they offered me a new program. We spent six months planning and getting details in order and throughout that period we had several meetings with the Adel Attalah the general manager of the channel and he promised us that there would be no censorship whatsoever. Later on, Abdulaziz Attiya joined the team and was going to co-present the program with me. Before the program goes live by a week the administration dropped Abdulaziz Attiya because he has allegiances to other people that the channel disagrees with politically. The day before we were expected to go live we had our last rehearsal, and during the rehearsal, the administration started changing, editing, and censoring parts of the episode. I was told, “Mubarak we have a clear direction and we must stick to it.” I rejected all their edits and I didn’t think anything would happen because were going on air the next day. Surprisingly, I received a phone call and was told that the program has been canceled. I was disappointed by the way it was canceled because we spent months meeting and negotiating with top administrators from the channel and in the end when they wanted to cancel the show they sent a lower rank employee who has nothing to do with the program to let us know it’s been canceled. All this happened with the knowledge of the ex-minister of information Sheikh Salman Al Humood and I
Bader Sarraf
was glad he was questioned and held responsible for his strategy and direction during his grilling session in parliament. Because it’s unacceptable to run the ministry in a manner that excludes certain points of views and silences others. I am glad that the members of parliament pushed him out and I wish him well in his future endeavors away from government. However, the top administrators running the channels also need to be questioned because when we met with them almost a year ago, they informed us that their budget has been doubled but we haven’t seen any enhancements made. We still
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have the same amount of games televised, no extra cameras were added to the broadcast, the same commentators, simply nothing has changed.
absence from tv
At Al Watan TV we had everything we needed. We had the freedom to speak our minds and criticize anyone without fearing for our jobs. When I used to present “Maalab Al Watan” I used to criticize Sheikh Talal Al-Fahad Al-Sabah and I used to call for his resignation after the GCC Cup and the Asian Cup and I was free to do that although the owners of Al Watan TV
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“... i
w o u l d r at h e r s tay at h o m e w i t h m y fa m i ly t h e n b e
p u t i n a s i m i l a r s i t uat i o n to t h e o n e i h a d w i t h k t v 3 ” were his cousins. Al Watan TV taught me everything I know and we reached the top with “Maalab Al Watan”. So, when I receive offers from other channels that don’t have the financial resources to create a program like “Maalab Al Watan” it’s difficult for me to accept them. Some channels offered me programs with only two reporters, how can I produce something of quality without having enough reporters? I have also reached a stage where I don’t want to be a pundit and I want to stick to presenting programs because as a presenter I carry the total responsibility of the
Bader Sarraf
program’s success or failure. Thus, I have reached the point where if I am not offered the right opportunity to create a successful program then I would rather keep my name untainted by failure.
stay at home with my family then be put in a similar situation to the one I had with KTV 3. Thankfully we have Snapchat and YouTube today and we can offer our audience a lot more than what TVs offer today.
I agree, that I have a responsibility to the audience and I owe it to the fans that got me to where I am today, but I will not willing to offer something that is only 20% of what we used to offer. If I decide to criticize a few people that we had the freedom to in Al Watan TV then they are going to let us all go and cancel the program, I would rather
considering the p r o b l e m s t h at w e h av e i n s p o r t s t o d ay , h o w d o yo u assess the current sports punditry prog r a m s i n k u wa i t ?
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I disagree with you. They are the same problems we don’t have any new
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problems in sports. The sports ban, lack of facilities, players not getting their salaries, mismanagement in club administrations, and so on we had them in the past and they exist today. The only difference is that in the past “Maalab Al Watan” was scrutinizing and revealing all the problems in sports regardless of its size. But if I am to assess the current TV programs, you must know anyone who has worked in this field and this industry can easily assess them. Today most episodes are just filled with opinions of pundits and in the past, there was more time given to reports which pundits based their opinions off. Why is that important? Most people think that the success of the program is based on the presenter and pundits and that’s a portion of it. But it really
Bader Sarraf
lies in the strength of your reporters, if a reporter reports about an issue and it is discussed, tackled, and resolved in the program then we all benefit as opposed to listening to opinions all day. For an example, a few years ago, Al Fahaheel goalkeeper Hussein Al Sanousi passed away at a time where his wife was pregnant and his family needed him as he was their main source of income. We worked hard on getting the family to allow us to do a report on their situation and soon after it was aired Mr. Waleed Al Fulaij the president of Al Fahaheel club gave the deceased’s family a monthly salary that they still receive today. That is one example of many where our program was able to help people. When we bring forward issues and cases and people respond to them proves to you how successful and influential the
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“ it
all depends
on what the owners of the channels want ; if they want to criticize or praise someone then that ’ s what the programs will do .”
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program is. Today this doesn’t exist. It all depends on what the owners of the channels want if they want to criticize someone or praise a certain someone then that’s what the programs will do.
w h at a r e s o m e o f t h e p o s i t i v e s i n s p o rt s m e d i a to day ?
A new positive that was added to sports media in Kuwait is social media. Snapchat and Twitter were able to apply pressure and influence the audience and members of parliament. Today, if anyone tries to alter the truth or try to convince people of false information they will be easily exposed. Also, sports media today has created a new source of income for retired players and now it’s easier for them to land punditry jobs than fight for a place in club administrations.
last words
In the end, I would like to thank a few people that have helped me reach where I am today. I would like to start by thanking the director Mohammed Al Tani who taught me how to be bold not get scared and how to look for the flaws in people instead of praising everyone. I would like to also thank Salah Jassim and Bandar Sulaiman and all the staff that worked with us on the program “Maalab Al Watan”.
A special thank you goes out to Sheikh Khalifa Al Ali and Sheikh Nasser Al Ali who supported us and stood up for us in many situations, and to Ahmed Al Dogheji who was the general manager of Al Watan TV who aided in the success of the channel and program. Last but not least, I would like to thank Abdulaziz Attiya who is my partner in crime and I enjoyed working with him and will hopefully work together again in the future.
“ unfortunately , there are sports journalists and media personali ties that ... never take a stand for what ’ s right or wrong .”
w h at a r e s o m e o f t h e n e g at i v e s o f s p o rt s m e d i a to day ?
Unfortunately, there are sports journalists and media personalities that always align themselves with the strongest person in the sports scene and never take a stand for what’s right or wrong and they only think about their own personal gain. They are willing to change their stances and praise or criticize anyone for their own gain and I have lost respect for those people that have been blinded by money.
h o w d o yo u c o m pa r e k u wa i t ’ s s p o rt s m e d i a to t h e r e s t o f t h e countries in the gulf?
I always say this and I will repeat it today, we possess what other countries in the region lack and they possess what we lack. They have a large and diverse media outlet and they have a much more successful football league than we do. As a result, their number of readers and size of their audience is much larger than we have in Kuwait. However, in Kuwait, we have the freedom to criticize club administrations and we have less red tape than any other country in the region.
Bader Sarraf
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THE MOMENT
ahmad ashkanani Ahmad Ashkanani erupts as David Henry is announced as the second place winner, giving Ashkanani the Arnold Classic 212 title in the Arnold Classic 212 as part of the Arnold Sports Festival on March 3, 2017, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, OH. Frank Jansky | Getty Images
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THE FALCONS
FALCONS Kuwait National Ice Hockey team’s journey in the Asian Winter Games 2017 in Japan and their plans for the future. An inter view with Fahad Al Hunaidi
Sportsspirit-kw
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F
rom the scolding, hot desert of Kuwait emerges one of the best Ice Hockey teams in the regions. “The Falcons� have come a long way from their first recorded victory vs. Macau in 2007. In 2008, The Falcons competed in the Arab Cup of Ice Hockey and won second place and the silver medal losing to the host nation the United Arab Emirates. A few years later, The Falcons competed in the IIHF Challenge Cup of Asia in 2010 and finished in 7th place but later in 2015 Kuwait both hosted the nation and won first place. The Falcons haves been improving and reaching new heights since its establishment. Their latest achievement was qualifying for the Asian Winter Games in Japan 2017. Fourteen interviewed Fahad Al Hunaidi a player in the Kuwait National Ice Hockey team who spoke about their experience in Japan.
Route to the Winter Games
The Kuwait National Ice Hockey team was stationed at a training camp in Sweden for 24 days without any government support whatsoever. The team practiced and played friendly games in preparations for the winter games with hopes that they will return home triumphant. The training camp took place in Hallstahammar which is the 5 th time
Sportsspirit-kw
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for them to hold a training camp in the Swedish city. They had the opportunity have several friendly matches and intensive training and tactical sessions.
Asian Winter Games
The Falcons were forced to be represented under the Olympic Flag as a result of the sports ban on Kuwait. The falcon’s group had 5 countries: Kyrgyzstan, Philippines, Qatar, Kuwait, and Iran. Following investigations made by the organizing committee, Iran was disqualified from the tournament because they don’t have a domestic league and
Sportsspirit-kw
“The National team was stationed at a training camp in Sweden for 24 days without any government support whatsoever.” 26
their professional players are not residents of Iran. We also submitted a complaint against the other countries in our group as they had several professional players, not from their host countries, but our complaint was rejected. In their first match in the Asian Winter Games, The Falcons faced off against Kyrgyzstan and suffered their first defeat at the hands of Kyrgyzstanis 5-0. Following the match against Kyrgyzstan, the Kuwait Winter Sports Club President spoke out against the reasons behind Kuwait’s loss “The main reason for Kuwait’s loss is that the Kyrgyzstan
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national team is made up many professionals that are not Kyrgyzstani.” It is worth mentioning that Kuwait beat Kyrgyzstan 9-2 in the Asian Cup held in Kuwait. In their second match, The Falcons outplayed Qatar and landed their first victory in the Asian games defeating Qatar 6-2. Kuwait needed one more win to qualify to the second round and their next game was against the Philippines. Unfortunately, The Falcons were up against a difficult challenge as the
Sportsspirit-kw
Filipino team has several professionals on their team too. Kuwait lost their ticket to the quarterfinals and lost their last match in Japan 7-3. Following their defeat, the General Secretary of the Kuwait Winter Sports Club expressed his disappointment with the number of professionals in the Filipino team saying “Unfortunately, today we lost to the Swiss national team and not the Filipino national team. Most Asian countries are heading towards granting nationalities to Europeans to represent their countries.”
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What’s next for The Falcons
The Falcons have returned to Kuwait from their experience in the Asian Winter Games ready to practice and compete in the upcoming Asian Cup held in Kuwait on the 21 st April. The Falcons have previously won this competition in 2015 and hope to repeat this achievement this year.
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THE MOMENT
Fahad Al Ansari Fahad Al Ansari celebrating with the Al Ittihad fans after winning the Saudi Crown Prince Cup against Al Nasr. March 10, 2017 King Fahad International Stadium in Riyadh. Abdullah Al Alyani Photography
HIGHLIGHT
HOW DO I ALLOW MY BODY TO BURN FAT Written by Faisal Al Shawa | Founder of Believe Nutrition
“W
e all want to burn fat. After all, our 6 packs won’t show if there’s a slob of fat on top of it! The question is, though, how do we actually adapt our body to use fat for fuel so we can actually shred that unwanted fat? The reason why I created Believe Nutrition is for people to understand their body. Believe me, once you understand the mechanisms of how your body works, you’ll better be able to manipulate your nutrition to achieve your desired goals. So, let’s take a look at ways you can manipulate
Courtesy of Faisal Al Shawa
both your nutrition and exercise program to allow your body to tap into stored fat.
1.
Fasted-State Exercise
Training first thing in the morning is probably one of the best approaches you can take to adapt your body to burn fat. When training on an empty stomach (prior to your breakfast meal), your body will shift towards using stored fat as fuel for exercise due to a limited carbohydrates availability.
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2.
Furthermore, this type of exercise should be a cardio-based session, exercising at low-moderate intensities. Why? Because during low-moderate intensity exercise, the body relies more on fat for fuel as opposed to carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are used as fuel for exercises of higher intensities.
Sleep Low, Train Low
A new concept in sports nutrition is that of ‘sleeping low and training low’. By low, I’m referring to carbohydrates. Similar to the concept of fasted-state
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3.
exercise, when you limit your carbohydrates intake at dinner time (sleep low) and wake up the next morning to train without consuming any carbohydrates (train low), you’re body needs to look somewhere else for energy! In this case, it will turn to stored fat for fuel to support your exercise.
Calorie Deficit
To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Of course, when you’re in a state of calorie deficit, your body shifts towards burning more fat at rest to support the
4.
energy needed to regulate normal body functions. Having said that, being in a calorie deficit puts your body in a negative fat balance, meaning you’re burning more fat than producing, which is exactly what you want when on the quest to burn fat!
Exercise Twice A Day
Some of us may not have the time to adopt this strategy, but exercising twice a day is another good way to adapt your body to use fat for energy. Also, limiting your carbohydrates intake in between the two sessions
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will further accelerate the use of fat for fuel to support your exercise. There you have it, fat burn strategies in the simplest, most informed way possible. As usual, I like to advice everyone using protocols and strategies back by science and this is just another one of those pieces of advice. By reading this, hopefully, you’d have understood the mechanisms of how your body adapts to using fat for fuel, or otherwise known as ‘fat burn’. Summer is coming, so lace up and get started!”
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UAAK
WOLFPACK
East (AUM), and Arab Open University (AOU). The Women’s Basketball, Table Tennis, Squash, and Soccer all won last season without a single loss.
T h e s p r i n g s e m e ste r co m p et i tions of the University Athletics A s s o c i a t i o n o f Ku w a i t ( UA A K ) is underway and the American University of Kuwait (AUK) will be the team to beat. As title holders of all 5 women competitions of the UAAK, AUK will have a tough time repeating last year’s heroics.
AUK’s athletics coaches and administration sang the praises of their student-athletes previous triumph, the AUK Senior Sports Coordinator; Omar Mehdi thanked all of the female student-athletes for a remarkable and historical season and for their hard work, dedication, and winning spirit. He also stressed that all AUK teams are ready to compete this season and will work very hard on keeping all titles in Salmiya for another season.
AUK female athletes dominated last season winning the Women’s Basketball, Table Tennis, Squash, Soccer, and Volleyball UAAK league 2015-2016. It was the first time in the history of the UAAK and the Universities Championship Cup (UCC) where one university dominates all competitions in any gender. AUK competed in the UAAK versus teams from Australian College of Kuwait (ACK), Gulf Institute of Science and Technology (GUST), American University of the Middle
Courtesy of AUK
AUK will surely have to work hard this season as their rivals are ready to push off the top. Good luck to all the participating universities and may the best team win.
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THE EVENT
(SPONSORED)
Radisson’s Fun Run The Viking Club organizes its annual 3 km run Radisson Blu’s Fun Run is the annual 3 km run organized by the Viking Club. This is the most anticipated and largest event of the year organized by the Viking Club. The run was held on the 18th of March and at 9 am with 250 participants. The race started at Al Anjifa Beach with a Zumba warm up session and finished at the Radisson Blu parking lot. Following the run, the participants enjoyed cold refreshments and a social get together at the Viking Club as the organizers announced the winners of the race. The winners of each category received a 50 KWD voucher from Fourteen and a voucher from the Radisson Blu. The Fun Run
Courtesy of SAS
had three categories men, women, and children (under the age of 14). The Viking Club is one of Kuwait City’s most exclusive clubs and offers a premier recreational experience with perfect views of the Gulf coast. Spanning 2,800m2, the outdoor garden area with three swimming pools beckon travelers to relax. The modern fitness center also features an indoor jet-powered spa pool as well as steam rooms and saunas. Other sports opportunities include squash courts, beach volleyball, basketball or various water sports. The club’s beach property includes a designated children’s playground.
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WINNERS:
MEN’S: 1st. Aziz Al Khani 2nd. Wisdom Galero 3rd. Zuheir Suhail Inayan WOMEN’S: 1st. Imogen Lambert 2nd. Charlene Scodellaro 3rd. Mai Raafat Amin CHILDREN’S: 1st. Omar Mohammed 2nd. Ismail Jawdal 3rd. Ahmed Emad
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THE GYM
(SPONSORED)
PERSONAL TRAINING AT ITS BEST
Located in one of the tallest and most recognized towers in Kuwait City, Fitness Lab offers their members the best personal training experience in the country. Fourteen got a tour of the impressive facility in Al Tijaria tower with Fitness Lab’s gym manager Osama Mohammed. At the start of the tour, I was introduced to the different areas of the gym. Osama first showed me the Cardio section equipped with cutting edge machinery from Life Fitness. The Cardio section is in its own separate area away from the rest of the gym with Televisions on every machine. Next, we went to the workout area that has machines for every muscle in your body. They are organized and group based on each muscle, for an example so all the machines that workout your back are in the next to each other and so on.
Courtesy of Fitness Lab
After that, we explored the free weights area which is also equipped for strength and boxing work outs. Moreover, you have space and equipment to conduct CrossFit exercises if you wish to do so. Fitness Lab also offers functional and strength classes conducted by their very own Powerlifting Florida Champion Mr. Bader Al Ojairi. What sets Fitness Lab aside from every other gym in Kuwait is that it’s not just an open gym it’s a gym that focuses on personal training. With your membership, you have to sign up for a minimum of three personal training sessions. You get the best of both world you have the option to use the gym freely and you have your personal training sessions. As you walk around in Fitness Lab you are excited by the variety of machines available to you. More importantly, the gym is never overcrowded with members and you won’t ever have to wait to use a machine. In addition, to the different workout spaces and classes available to their members Fitness Lab coaches
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track and asses their members’ physical development. Fitness Lab’s highly certified trainers and valuable personal training combined with their unmatched five-star changing rooms makes for the perfect and unique gym experience. Fitness Lab management have thought of every convenience for their members and starting the first of April members will have their own valet parking pass and when they’re done with their workout, Fitness Lab staff will call for your car and have it ready for you. Fitness Lab offers free trial sessions in the gym for people that are looking for a taste of their exceptional workout experience. So, hurry up and check out Fitness Lab in Al Tijaria tower and if you don’t believe us try out their trial sessions and we promise you won’t regret it. Fitness Lab is open from 5 am to 12 am during weekdays, Friday after the Friday Prayer until 9 pm, and Saturday from 11 am to 11 pm.
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Courtesy of Fitness Lab
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