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I got you sneak peek pictures for the new health club and spa Al Hamra Thermae that is currently in soft opening phase. I posted perspective photos a few months ago but even in real it looks luxurious and indeed one of the finest health clubs in Kuwait with the spacious training areas and fancy decorations. Health Clubs are getting better and better by the day in Kuwait with numerous offers and new training techniques, so it’s not just free weights area and benches anymore since many are now offering new ideas and techniques for fitness seekers and I was curious if Al Hamra Thermae brings new creative training concepts or if it’s merely one good looking health club and spa.

So to answer all my questions I had a long chitchat with the owner and have asked umpteen questions. First of all, Thermae means hot or warm springs and the health club is located on the top level of Al Hamra Luxury Center right above Grand Cinemas but don’t freak out because members won’t enter the through the mall because there’s a special entrance and elevator that is only accessed via the membership card, so no one can ever get in without a prior appointment which I think gives members more privacy. The gym was designed to have indoor and outdoor training areas, outdoor there is a rooftop walkway overlooking Kuwait city skyline.

There will be two different sections located on two different floors for men and women. Speaking of facilities it has the following;

Men’s Gym

Men’s Grooming Area

Ladies Swimming Pool

Different Countries Theme Spas

Sky Garden

Sky Lounge

Sky Restaurant

VIP Cinema

Cigar Lounge

This is good but what got me interested is that there are first time things in Kuwait such as the anti-gravity treadmill machines in which users will feel like they are running in the air, guess it feels good. Also have you ever heard of a salt and mud rooms? They say these rooms are for body scrubbing and skin care.

Another interesting thing is that the training machines are connected to the Internet and were made exclusively for Al Hamra Thermae, WiFi is also available across the gym. They said there are special aerobics and bootcamp sessions plus yoga classes. I admit seeing how Al Hamra Thermae looks tempt me to give it a try but as a bodybuilder my main concern is the free weight area but I couldn’t see it yet because the men section is not yet open plus I want to check out the swimming pool and spa section so I’ll make sure to have another visit later.

Now “unto” the part that many of you are awaiting, pricing right? They said the annual subscription costs KD1,000 (plus one month free) and that includes a personal trainer throughout the year plus free nutrition consultations from popular local nutritionist Ghanima Alrayyes (AKA gcalories). So by doing simple math, Al Hamra Thermae costs around KD76 per month (KD1000 for 13 months) but I think the management is targeting the yearly membership, I admit I’ve fallen in love with this health club but I’d love it even more if they introduce special offers.

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I managed to get you a sneak peek visit to Fitness First health club which will supposedly open in about a week at 360 Mall – Level 3, this is their first branch in Kuwait and they said they will later open two other branches in Salmiya and Sulaibikhat. Little introduction; Fitness First is the largest privately owned health club group in the world with over 540 branches around the world, but does it really worth the popularity? That is the question.

My first question to them was of course “Why do you always open inside malls instead of having separate building?”, they said it’s their philosophy to open health clubs within malls because they have facilities such as large parking area, food court, cinema, recreational, shopping…etc. so their members can enjoy working out and enjoy shopping or dining or say go to cinema later, “we also target office workers in the mall” they added.I noted they had two separate clubs for men and women with common reception area with total area of about 2,200 sq. m. I started with the women club which was spacious on the inside with cardio area with treadmills, free weights area, stretch area, group exercise area, mind and body, freestyle area. I noted there were new multi-purpose training machines that I haven’t seen in other clubs, changing room was large with many lockers and there were steam, sauna and showers.

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As for the men club it was more like a gym rather than fitness club, it was smaller than the women side with a strength section, cardio area with treadmills, free weights area with dumbbells and benches, showers and lockers room, sauna and steam rooms. They also have a small lounge area with free WiFi Internet connections and computers.

The men gym looked nice but don’t expect a big gym with large free weights and numerous training and weight-resistance machines like the other gyms. Their machines are from brand Life Fitness and they had around 58 treadmills in total (both clubs). I asked about their prices but they said they can only provide me with the prices for the first 200 members that will subscribe, as follows;

6 months; KD311

12 months; KD 388

18 months; KD467

The normal rates will be announced when they are officially opened. Fitness First does look nice and neat but some things were missing like a swimming pool , therapy and massage treatment but personally I rarely use such facilities anyway.

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I’m glad that I managed to keep up with my workout for several months now and drop my weight from 97KG to around 86KG and maintain the result, but of course my target is not only to lose weight but to get back in shape by losing fat and gaining muscle mass to get the toned body look. However, the biggest challenge that I’m facing now is that on some days I feel little drowsy when I arrive to the gym, also feel tired when I do intensive workout for say 50-60 minutes. I usually start with a warm up then do weight resistance exercises and finish with cardio or sometimes swimming at the pool.

So I’m now considering to add supplements to my regimen, the ones that I used before are shown above but I’ve checked online (supplements in Kuwait too expensive) for bodybuilding, vitamin shoppe, and amazon websites and there are many new supplements that I know nothing about, what I’m basically looking for are the best supplements that help with raising energy level, boost natural testosterone and growth hormones, improve muscle anabolism, whey protein and multi-vitamin. I’d would be thankful if you could share your experience about supplements so we could all benefit, also if you know good shops or trusted websites that sell them for good prices.

Note: I wanted to add that ordering supplements online has also become tough in Kuwait because of customs and Ministry of Health new regulations, package has to be sent to test labs before it can be retrieved.

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I had a sneak peek tour at new Oxygen Gym in Jabriya which is located next to Champions health club on 4th ring road, it will open in a few days and subscription will cost KD50/Month and I gotta say it worth the money after what I saw. Inside I met with the owner Mr. Bader Bodai and had chance to ask him questions about the gym and facilities.

I find Oxygen gym as one of the most successful (and busiest) Men gyms in Kuwait, what I like about it is that it offers decent facilities for a reasonable price, also the trainers are always there to help. The new Jabriya branch has a totally new concept and has much better design and facilities than the older branches.

As I stepped inside the interior design caught my attention, mind the low quality pictures since my DSLR camera wasn’t with me. The interior design looked unique with dimmed lighting and dark theme, the design felt it had “Masculine” feeling. The workout area is one of the biggest that I’ve seen, also the cardio area had tons of treadmills and bikes. The gym was built on three levels with two elevators, ground floor had the reception, cafeteria, supplements shop, locker room, swimming pool; 2nd floor had the cardio area, leg machines, spinning area, aerobics area, and 3rd floor has the main workout area.

The facilities are as follow:

Workout area: 1,800 sq.meter and there were tons of machines.

Spinning area: 180 sq.meter with many spinning machines.

Aerobics area: 240 sq. meter

Swimming Pool:  21 x 10 meters

Supplements Shop

Lockers room

Air Massage room

Air Shower

Cafeteria

Number of treadmills: 45

Number of bikes: 20

Number of stair machines: 8

Cross-trainers: 20

Sauna

Hot & Cold Jacuzzi

Outdoor Cafe & Tan area

“It took us long time and massive efforts to make this gym, we had to choose every machine, all equipment were carefully selected and we tried to introduce many new ideas and concepts that weren’t there before” said Bader Bodai. I was impressed with the design and large training areas, my only concern is about accessibility to Jabriya. 

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I went to AlHamra Luxury Center on Eid and I gotta say that I never saw it this much crowded before, maybe because of Grand Hamra Cinema was opened? Good news is that the stores keep opening one after the other, I’d say 70% of the mall is now open. I spotted new restaurants, cafe’s, shops have opened and others opening soon, so let’s see what we got;

Bice Ristorante: It’s about to open and if I’m not mistaken it’s an Italian concept restaurant with over 30 branches worldwide, and now they are expanding into the Middle East with branches opening in Kuwait, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi. It’s located on level 3 ad they said the opening is on the 15th of November.

Cuts Steak Restaurant: It’s a new restaurant that will serve a variety of steaks opening soon on level 3 of the mall.

Al Hamra Thermae: I posted about this one before, they say it will be the most luxurious SPA/Gym in Kuwait and I wonder how much subscription will cost, opening is on December. Read more [link]

IL Caffe Di Roma: Small Italian cafe serving various hot and cold drinks located right beside Elevation Burger.

Samsung Store: Looks like Samsung is opening electronics store that will probably sell Samsung phones and electronics though I’m not sure if belongs to the same Samsung dealer in Kuwait City.

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I have observed that many quick gyms are opening in Kuwait lately, I’m talking about gyms that organize small exercise sessions that take no more than 30mins to one hour. We have Core Fitness, Rush Gym, Club Fit, Curves for women among others. A friend of mine told me about a new gym with almost similar concept that was opened in Shuweikh named Circuit+ Gym.

They have CrossFit type of training, which is a strength and conditioning program with high intensity and functional movement to improve fitness, I think that’s the first in Kuwait. They also have Boot Camp type of exercise. Inside there is relatively large sized training area with training machines and equipment.

Their training sessions last for one hour starting at 6:00 AM till 10:00 PM from Sunday through Thursday. I’m liking the idea but I’ll pay them a quick visit sometime next week to meet with the trainers and see if they have training sessions for women.

Address: Lilly Center - Shuweikh, behind Tilal Complex

Phone: 66045273

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I knew that there will be a health club opening in Al Hamra Tower but I didn’t know what is it, I just saw rendered photos through our friend Dusty-Roses for a new health club and spa called Thermae that will open at Al Hamra Tower in November. I got to say that this is the finest and most luxurious health club I get to see in Kuwait so far.

If I’m not mistaken Thermae means hot or warm springs? It sure looks top of the line but I suppose all of this won’t come for regular price. I’ll make sure to check Thermae out when it first opens, it will include the following;

Men’s Gym

Men’s Grooming Area

Ladies Swimming Pool

Different Countries Theme Spas

Sky Garden

Sky Lounge

Sky Restaurant

VIP Cinema

Cigar Lounge

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I finally found the exact location of Fitness First health club since they said they’re opening in Kuwait soon but wasn’t sure where. The location is Salem Mubarak street in Salmiya in an under-construction mall called Al Salam Mall.

I was also able to reach the management who said they will probably open by end of this year and that they will be one of the biggest health clubs in Kuwait. Can’t wait for the opening, its nice to see franchises that are not restaurants.

Thanks [Dono]

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Do you think we need more gyms and health centers in Kuwait? I say yes gyms can help us greatly to get in shape bearing in mind the zillion calories we consume especially that we have numerous restaurants and tempations are infinitely many, also more gyms will help improve prices and services for the exisitng gyms, but I noticed most of the new gyms are men-only, also women health clubs are more expensive. So let’s see what are the gyms:

Fitness First: Its the world’s largest and most popular with over 540 branches, they said they have plans to further expand in Middle East and Kuwait is included, though they were supposed to open in first quarter of 2012 but nothing so far, I really wish they open soon.

Gold’s Gym: I spotted it in Salmiya beside electrozan, Gold’s Gym is American health club and also considered one of the best with over 650 branches worldwide, I expect it will open by end of this year.

Oxygen Gym – Jabriya: I’m sure you are all familiar with this one since its one of the most popular ones in Kuwait, they are opening another one in Jabriya on August beside Champions. I personally like it becauase they have good prices, the other locations are Adeileya, Fahaheel, and Al Riggae.

Platinum Gym – Sabah Al Salem: Its also one of my favorite gyms in Kuwait, nice facilities and offers, they will soon open Platinum at Sabah Al Salem area. The other locations are Kaifan, Salmiya, Fahaheel, and Corniche.

Thanks [AlMubarkia]

Power Gym: It was recently opened at Jahra, they say its amazing with great facilities and charges 40 KD/Month, sadly its way too far from my home but its a great option for those who live in surrounding areas.

Phone: 24570995

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Today I had a quick tour at the recently opened health and fitness club named Inspire Pure Fitness at Bida’a, I’ve been numerous times to Bida’a but never noticed it because there were no signs, its located nearby Melenzane restaurant. They welcomed to give me a brief tour along with their manager.

My first question to them “What is different about your gym since we already have many in Kuwait?”, their answer was the trainers and fitness experience they have, I liked how the gym was spacious and neat.

The gym is mixed, some of the facilities included group fitness studio, free weights area, treadmills, punch bags, kick bags, kettle bells, different fitness equipment, private lockers, changing rooms, and nice reception area spread on two levels. I liked how the training machines were located next to windows with nice landscapes, this helps with exercise.

They provide personal training sessions and advice on how to achieve the required fitness level.

Shortcomings: There was no swimming pool, jacuzzi, sauna, steam room or cafeteria and their reasoning is that they want to focus on fitness rather than SPA experience. Also I wish they lower their prices so more people can afford it.

Find other health clubs here

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Today morning I went to get some supplements such as omega 3-5-9 fish oils, multi-vitamins, low-calorie chocolates and shakes, and boosters to help me with my training but I was blown away by the prices, they were sky high!

I usually order my supplements online and my invoice never exceeded 40-80 KD for 3 months supply and today when I did my quick calculation I found that that same supplements would cost me as high as 200+ KD in Kuwait, that’s just absurd. Problem is that even online ordering has become a major headache since the Ministry of Health is now sending every package we order to the drug monitoring department in Shuwaikh and customs are charging higher.

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