My first “blog” post
Well here I am, a man who claims a passion for writing, staring nervously at my computer screen as if I’m preparing to give a National Address speech. Fact is, no one is likely to read this so I might as well just keep tapping these little letter buttons until I’ve formed enough words to officially submit my first “blog” post. I put the word blog in quotations because I’m not entirely sure this qualifies as a blog, or what it’s intended to do exactly. I guess best case scenario is this provides me a platform to write (something I do generally enjoy to do) about topics I have a fair amount of experience and knowledge in (sports performance, fitness training, and related auxiliary subjects) and potentially reach a new audience in the digital world otherwise inaccessible to a homebody like myself.
I’m sure I’ll extrapolate more later on, but for now I’ll give you a brief introduction to who I am and hopefully why you should spend a few minutes reading what I write here.
Well first off, my name is Tariq. It’s still funny to me how we always start off introducing ourselves with our name; as if it’s the most important fact. We didn’t pick our name, some of us change ours later in life, while others like myself simply resign to the fact of having a name I’m not even sure I can pronounce properly. Interesting fact, Tariq is an Arabic name but was selected by my mother (who is American) out of a magazine/book she saw at a store. Apparently the ‘q’ caught her attention.
Moving on past my name, I’m currently based in Dubai where I’ve been living and working since 2012 (it’s now 2022). It’s been a rollercoaster of a decade personally for me since I’ve left the US for here, but I’m proud I took the chance at such a young age. Living here has provided me the opportunities to see different parts of the world and experience different cultures and learn more about myself than I think I would have if I had stayed in the states all this time.
Before leaving America, I was working in Jacksonville, Florida at a sports performance facility called the HIT (high intensity training) center. It was an incredible place where I got to train athletes across a wide range of talent level and physical ability. I ran athletic development programs for youngsters between the ages of 12 and 16. I worked with collegiate athletes preparing for the combine where a tenth of a second could mean the difference in millions of dollars in potential salary. And I had the joy of training professional athletes, mostly NFL players, as they worked to improve during the offseason. It truly was a magnificent place to work, and I met some world-class trainers that I still look up to and communicate with to this day (shout out to Chewy and Jerrian).
After some time, I decided to take a leap of faith and move to Dubai to get closer to my siblings who were living here. It was a tough call to make morally, deciding to leave not only my friends, my career, and my mom; but also leaving behind my sense of comfort and security. I had never been outside of The States before, so landing in a strange place like Dubai was scary and foreign in many aspects. Luckily I was able to become acclimated with the help of my UAE family and quickly made friends who showed me around and made me feel at home in this new place. I also quickly began my research into the local fitness facilities and gym landscape of the city, and one place easily stood out to me. If anyone is reading this and was living in Dubai during the early 2010’s, you’re likely familiar with the gym called ‘U Energy’ that was located in the DIFC Gate Village. It was a cool concept; part fitness training studio and part night club socialite gathering place.
Moving on from there, I joined with someone from my university and started my own company that was focused on providing athletic scholarship opportunities for young football (soccer) players. It was a ton of work, and my first experience in the cut-throat world of business. I’ve always been blessed to work in settings where things were crystal clear for me: people pay me to ensure they reach their health/fitness/performance goals. But when you’re dealing with companies and governments and facilities and travel agencies, etc; it’s a whole new ballgame. Although challenging, it was incredibly exciting to use different problem solving techniques. We were able to successfully launch and operate events in countries like Colombia, USA, Germany, and the UAE. And best of all, we were successful in our goal of being able to provide athletic scholarships to some of the athletes. It truly was a rewarding journey filled with many life lessons.
For the several years following, I spent my time training and also developing my skills and knowledge-base in other areas outside of health and fitness. I believe I’m happiest while being stimulated and challenged in new and exciting ways, so I took the chance to learn and develop some foundational coherence in other areas. Some of these included filming and video editing, reading and writing Swedish, mobile app and website UX, online marketing and SEO. I also focused my fitness training on a new demographic, one that I saw myself fast approaching: the middle-aged human who wants to get out of bed in one attempt, play with their nieces and nephews on the floor without struggle, and generally be able to enjoy an active lifestyle.
What was my reason for choosing this new focus? Well I myself experienced what it was like to have my basic movement abilities taken from me when I suffered a severe back injury playing ice hockey. For over a year I was unable to move without serious and limiting pain, so I dove completely into proper mobility and pain management training strategies. And that’s where I spend a majority of my time at the moment. Working with 30/40 year olds who want to trim some weight and be able to move around with confidence and ease.
In future posts; I’ll explore more about what I’ve found to be most effective in my training experience for myself and my amazing clients. I’ll hopefully add a touch of personality here and there to keep things interesting. And I want to thank anyone who may have stumbled across this post and stuck around ‘til the ending.
Until next time,
- Tariq Kamil