00:00Hello everyone, this is Anjana Kumar from Gulf News and with me is Freddy, who is Freddy,
00:14Freddy is the founder of At The Park, At The Park is a free fitness community for UAE residents
00:21to come and do fitness, as we said, for free, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
00:29Freddy, welcome to Gulf News. Hi Anjana. Amazing concept, we don't hear of free fitness, I mean a
00:35lot of people pay money at gyms and clubs, but here you are offering like free fitness, so where
00:42did that come from? Well, so At The Park has now eight years in UAE, me and my wife Tatiana,
00:51we came from London and basically when we started working in the region, we observed
00:59that a lot of people working with us did not have the access to go to the gym or even the knowledge
01:06about fitness, about sports. Me and her, we decided to literally take people with us because we used
01:14to train almost every day and take them with us to the park and do some workouts and teach
01:20them about simple movements. I was doing a lot of CrossFit back then, it started like this, very
01:28informal, just with a group of friends, the friends start inviting more friends, family
01:36and the community starts growing naturally. How big is the community today? So we have, right now we
01:43have 17 coaches working with us, sharing the same mindset, providing free classes every single day
01:52of the week, we have sessions every day of the week and in some days we have multiple sessions
01:59in different locations, which is amazing and all the sessions are for free. When we look at
02:06the number of attendees on a week, we touch the lives of around 350-400 people a week.
02:15What are the fitness sessions that we have? We have multiple activities, we have cross training,
02:20we have running, we have yoga, sound healing, we started very recently meditation, so yes, we have
02:32different sessions that people can attend with different kind of levels,
02:37fitness levels. Basically what we are looking for is to eliminate all kind of excuse that you
02:45might have because some people they don't like to run, okay fine, come to a yoga session, you don't
02:51like yoga, come to a cross training session. We have different alternatives, Zumba, we have different
02:58things that people can just come and try for themselves, see what suits better for them,
03:04for their fitness levels and for their goals and we are here to help people to kind of
03:09have a more healthy and better life.
03:19How Atapark has changed your life? So I've been with Atapark for the last three years
03:26and I've done some really amazing stuff with them like triathlons, marathons, even spartan races.
03:34The biggest takeaway would be doing the things which I never imagined that I could do like a
03:40full marathon or even like triathlons. There are a lot of major disciplines and I hope to
03:46someday represent Atapark in an Ironman as well if possible. You're a regular with Atapark,
03:52what brings you here every time? First of all when I found out that this sport community provides
04:00such a wide range of exercises, I was like oh I have to try it. So when I came here I realized that
04:09they are not only here, there are not only people of a very very high level of
04:18exercises. The beginners are here, intermediate, very professional ones too. So I said okay I can
04:24find myself here comfortably. You can choose anything if you are not ready for the hardcore
04:29like calisthenics or crossfit. You can go for yoga, you can go for Zumba, this is very nice and the
04:35best thing here is the atmosphere and the good vibes of the team because when you come here
04:43it's not only just to exercise, it's also your mental health with yoga as I said and the positive
04:47mood. This is the best thing I like about this place. You're coming from Ajman to Atapark. Yes.
04:54You don't miss workouts. So tell us what brings you here? I feel Atapark is the inspiration for
04:59every member that are coming here. It doesn't matter from which place I'm coming but this
05:03gives me the the society, gives me the motivation to come and to be addicted on the sport. I get to
05:09know a lot of friends, I get to get other people, other sessions. We play different types of
05:15exercise that gives me like lifestyle. So all the time I like to come and play something different
05:23I never did before and keep the motivation for other people that's young people to join us and
05:31even spread videos with them and show all the time. I'm all the time talking about the society and
05:36other places. Alhamdulillah this is since three years or four years I'm with them. Every time
05:42coming here it's something different. Experience is amazing. New friends, new exercise, challenging
05:51ourselves, challenge other people. We get to know a lot kind of sport. We participate in different
05:58occasions, events. I regularly go to the gym but I used to go three times a week
06:05only. That was before joining at the park. After joining at the park
06:11I work out six times a week. The community is really amazing. You get to be surrounded
06:20by like-minded people who share the same passion basically and we're all crazy
06:28about sports here. Most important thing is that I have achieved things I never would have
06:35thought I'd achieve. One of them like running a race of 10 kilometers. I did it three times.
06:42I motivate myself to come here when I heard it about this community from a friend that there
06:47is a free sessions. So I found out I joined first yoga and then from that session
06:56I found out there's a lot more sessions that they're coming on this group. I did spartan race
07:05for super. So I was with the at the park community and it was very amazing spartan race that I've
07:15ever had in my life because the support of the ATP family is there. They're always there and
07:21they never let you left you behind alone. So they're always there. Even I got injured that
07:27time but I keep they keep wishing me to finish until the end. We have a fantastic support from
07:32Science Park, from Dubai Internet City. We are also expanding to Palm Jumeirah. There are several
07:43places that we are able to to do exercise but also we have to get some extra support and the
07:49IC for example it's a very very good support for us to to succeed with these fantastic sessions.
07:56Running session starts in Townsend this year actually and have been fantastic. We are reaching
08:03out to communities and also it's not just about the running self. We are start coming together
08:10understanding who lives there and it's fantastic. It's really good to know the other side of the
08:18people not just work-wise but how people want to to showcase on themselves. So going forward
08:26Freddie do you have are you working on special events or is it just the classes that that you
08:32have? Yes so last year we start organizing big events. Last year the International Day of Yoga was
08:41a success event and we're going to do it again this year on the 24th of June.
08:49So I want to invite everyone to come and join us. We have already almost 400 people
08:54already pre-registered. It's going to be on Dubai Officers Club Stadium and if people want
09:03to know more about just go to the official website www.idydubai.com and register pre-register
09:13and join us on this amazing event. Amazing. Thank you so much Freddie. What an amazing story.
09:19So there is no excuse anymore to get fit. This is Anjana Kumar for Gulf News.
09:33you
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