Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
As the number of fitness fanatics continues to grow and the choice of which gym to join becomes increasingly difficult, one centre is aiming to stand out from the crowd by focussing on the next revolution in action activity.
The growing pulling power of parkour, the sport of moving rapidly through an area, typically in an urban environment, negotiating obstacles by running, jumping and climbing, is also packing in a growing band of teenage enthusiasts.
BigUp Sports, located next to the Harley Davidson showroom on Budaiya Highway, is a new location replacing the old Tribal Fitness Centre and is the first official gym for calisthenics and free running in the kingdom. It was opened in May by brothers Shahab and Omran Saeed, who both grew up with a passion for fitness but wanted to do something a little different from the norm.
Shahab explained: “It was always our dream to open up a centre together. When Omran came back to Bahrain from his studies, we decided to do it. However, I wanted something different from a normal gym as I feel the standard weights, treadmills and normal equipment you’d associate with a gym are already everywhere.
“Two years ago, I learned about calisthenics and fell in love with it because it is constantly about progress and learning new things, rather than just gaining weight and getting bigger.
“With calisthenics, you’re not just practising the moves you already know, but you’re looking at the next move to unlock and constantly improve your body, learning for six months or even a year to get stronger and unlock a new move.”
Shahab hosted the two iterations of the Team Calisthenics World Cup, hosted under the patronage of Shaikh Abdulla bin Rashid Al Khalifa, held in Bahrain in 2015 and 2016.
Calisthenics is a word that originates from the Greek language, roughly translated as a combination of beauty and strength which epitomises a sport that combines moves derived from gymnastics, parkour and break-dancing, with the latter providing the format for the face-off battles that occurred to music.
After the event, calisthenics was made an official sport under the Bahrain Olympic Committee, with Shahab becoming its president.
He then set up his first calisthenics centre at St Christopher’s School, but the huge popularity took him by surprise and it soon outgrew its facilities. That was when the move to the current location was planned, with much more room for both floor space and equipment, including the first foam pit in Bahrain for gym-goers to practice tricks without fear of a broken neck.
Shahab said: “The evolution of body-building was Crossfit, and now the evolution of Crossfit is calisthenics.
“We also offer the similar disciplines of parkour and free running, and also host bootcamps for people to improve their conditioning.
“What’s great about this sport is that people can practice at home, all they need is a bar or even just floor space. Then they can come here if they want encouragement or to learn from others. We have people of all ability levels, from amateurs who can only do a couple of press-ups, to guys who can do the human flagpole. However, they will all be mixed together and helping each other rather than separated by ability.”
After one gruelling parkour session, GulfWeekly spoke to some exhausted, yet determined, health, fitness and thrill-seekers.
One, Stan Szecowka Jnr, 14, said: “I really wanted to get fit and find another way to do exercise other than football and karate, and this seemed the most fun way of doing it compared to joining a normal gym. It’s a different type of training and I felt fitter after just one of these sessions.
His pal Daniel Thornley added: “The classes sounded really cool so I thought I’d try it out. I’m glad I did as I love it and every session is different rather than repeating the same thing over and over again.”
It’s proving popular with the girls too, with one teenager saying she had spotted details about the classes on Instagram. “I’ve always wanted to try parkour but was a little scared,” she admitted. “I still am, but I’m getting better and really love it.”
Overseeing the classes are two calisthenics masters hailing from Barcelona. One is Georgi Petkov, a member of the winning Spanish team from the first Bahrain Calisthenics World Cup, and experienced athlete Alejandra Garcia, and they are joined by a team of Bahraini instructors.
For more information, search @bigup_sports on Instagram, or call 36335502.
