Pic: Abdul Basit
Sahtak Awalan (Your Health First) has launched an innovative free fitness initiative to boost health and wellbeing of people in Qatar.
The ‘Fitness Box’ initiative, which allows people to exercise while following the instructors through giant screens installed in parks, was inaugurated at Al Rayyan Park yesterday.
Sahtak Awalan, the flagship public health campaign of Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q), has launched the new initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality’s Public Parks Department.
Director of Public Parks at the Ministry, Mohammed Ali Al Khouri; Director of Al Rayyan Municipality, Jaber Hassan Al Jaber; Dr. Javaid Sheikh, Dean of WCM-Q; several diplomats and officials were present at the launch event.
“This is a very specific initiative within the Your Health First project aimed at transforming the health and wellness of the population of Qatar. This is like a 24x7 fitness class free for the population. We are planning to replicate ‘Fitness Box’ in several other places in the country,” said Dr. Sheikh.
At present, Al Rayyan Park Green Carpet and Airport Park are hosting sustainable, solar-powered Fitness Box installations, which are made from upcycled shipping containers and equipped with giant screens to broadcast free fitness classes led by internationally renowned instructors to the community.
Sessions are offered to people of all ages, are suitable for all fitness levels and last between 15 and 20 minutes.
More Fitness Box installations will be rolled out at other parks and venues across Qatar, giving more people access to healthy exercise.
“This collaboration with Sahtak Awalan, launched by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, a Qatar Foundation partner university, is part of our recognition of the importance of social responsibility in which all efforts are united toward Qatar National Vision 2030. This excellent initiative supports the Ministry of Municipality’s strategic goals to collaborate with health and sports entities to develop the entertainment areas at the public parks in order to encourage park visitors from all different age groups to exercise,” said Al Khouri.
“The Fitness Box is a fantastic initiative that will give the health and wellbeing of the community a huge boost. With the FIFA World Cup 2022 approaching, levels of enthusiasm for physical activity are sky high and The Fitness Box gives people a great outlet for that energy, helping them to achieve their personal fitness goals while meeting other members of the community and building social cohesion in Qatar," he added.
Director of Public Parks Mohammed Ali Al Khouri added: “The fact that The Fitness Box installations are solar powered is very significant and demonstrates that environmental practices and health and wellbeing can complement and support each other, creating a sustainable and healthy society for all”.
The Fitness Box classes are being run Sunday through Thursday from 3pm to 9pm, on Friday from 7am to 11am and 3pm to 9pm and on Saturday from 7am to 9pm.
