A new year is upon us, and with it comes our annual pledges to make healthier choices. Whether it’s replacing smoking with spinning, opting to run on Friday mornings instead of staying out all night Thursday, or snacking on Bake Stix instead of binging on ice cream, we can always do more to limit self-destructive habits.
In honor of those health-conscious resolutions to live well, we’re highlighting inspiring personalities who have changed the fitness game in Egypt.
When it comes to training, there are those of us trying to lose some extra kilos and maintain a healthy lifestyle, and then there are the athletes – people aiming to conquer a race or fitness competition.
While they offer training for amateurs and professionals, Train For Aim is the industry leader in the latter category, providing not only preparation for athletes with specific goals, but also opportunities to participate in local and international fitness events.
Get TFA co-founder Ayman Hakky’s take on healthy living in his own words, below:
In your opinion, what’s the biggest fitness mistake people make?
One of the most common fitness mistakes I notice people making is aiming for instant success and results, which is very dangerous both physically and psychologically.
Trying to achieve immediate results and targeting aggressive body transformations in short time frames can lead to very serious injuries. Not to mention that people are very likely to lose those quick results faster than they achieved them, which consequently demotivates them.
So remember to work on long-term fitness plans that get the right fitness results rather than those quick summer body fixes.
Another very common misconception is that hard training can offset a bad diet and that’s completely wrong. Diet is the primary tool for achieving your fitness targets. Using the right fuel for your body will drive you in the right direction. Remember that abs start in the kitchen!
What’s one obstacle you’ve faced in your fitness journey and how did you overcome it?
I had to overcome a horrible injury to my knee and the agony that comes with it to rediscover my passion for sports and achieve a childhood dream. After suffering from a torn ACL in my knee, I was unable to play water polo or football, my two favorite sports, and had to go through surgery and a very consuming physiotherapy program.
This experience was very demotivating for me, however, I finally managed to turn it all around. With football and water polo out of the question, I had to find a new sport that I could perform and be passionate about, and that’s how I found out about triathlon.
Triathlon was safe for my injured knee and it seemed very exciting. It’s an endurance race that consists of swimming, cycling and running. Eventually, my new-found passion for triathlon led to the start of Train For Aim with the help of my friend Tino Waked.
Together, we managed to train a group of beginners and achieve my dream of representing the national team at the London Triathlon World Championship in 2013.
Give us one piece of advice about healthy living.
Healthy living goes hand in hand with regular exercise, proper nutrition and sleep habits, among other things. I really believe in the concept we follow at TFA of raising your fitness level and improving your health by committing to a challenge/aim that’s currently beyond your abilities.
It’s very hard to commit to regular exercise and follow strict nutrition guidelines in our busy and stressful lives. However, having a specific aim ahead of you, such as completing your first marathon, puts you in a completely different mindset and motivates you to live like a professional, committed athlete.
This formula has proved its success over and over again with members of Train For Aim over the past two years, so with the new year around the corner, my one piece of advice for healthy living is to go ahead and set yourself a very challenging target this year, like climbing a mountain or entering a triathlon!
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*This content is sponsored by Bake Family