These men in Dubai take steps challenge to stay fit

Dubai - The group created four teams of five members.

Over 20 husbands were motivated to form their own fitness group after they saw their wives actively participating in group fitness activities as part of the Dubai Fitness Challenge (DFC). The men, mostly aged from 30-45, affirmed that the fitness challenge has taken their mediocre level of fitness of "once in a while jogging or exercise" to making them more conscious fitness buffs.
"Some of us were acquaintances for the last one year as we met each other during various social events organised by the UAE's largest social Malayalee Mums Group (MMME), of which our wives are members. One event led to the other and it was only in April this year when we actually started to know each other, during a ladies cricket tournament organised by this group. After the tournament we decided to start a WhatsApp group of our own for fun and to stay in touch. We initially named it as 'Kettiyons Group' (husbands' group)," said Rajeev Sivaraman, who spoke on behalf of the group, now called Arabian Blasters.
Although initially the group was only used for forwarding messages and get-together plans, they later decided to play cricket every Friday. After cricket, the group started playing football, indoor cricket, and badminton as well. With the commencement of the DFC, the group that has members from across the UAE, decided to up the game. "Keeping in mind the ongoing DFC, we decided to take our group activities to a different level altogether and started Arabian Blasters Fitness Challenge from this month," Rajeev said.
"Initially, we joined the challenge by doing one hour exercise. Since we all are working professionals staying in different emirates, we could not do it together. So, we modified our fitness schedule and decided to run an internal challenge within our group calling it "Arabian Blasters Fitness Freak" steps challenge," Rajeev said.
The group created four teams of five members and each group as a team is competing on the number of steps taken and distance covered. "The challenge was to see which group does maximum steps in a week. Also we announced individual milestone awards in various categories," he said.
"The challenge did wonders as we started waking more than 10,000 steps (close to 8km) every day. Some did extremely well by walking more than 25,000 steps and climbing 39 floors. Thanks to the DFC, we are transforming from non-active to high-active individuals," said Rajeev 
Most of the group members now try ditch their vehicles if the distance is "walkable" as the number of steps they would take would not only add to their fitness calculator, but also would indirectly help the UAE's go green movement. 
"The challenge is addressing all the major health concerns we are facing due to our lifestyle. We are thankful to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, to initiate such a challenge that motivates every one for a healthy lifestyle," he added.
saman@khaleejtimes.com