The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

There’s
no doubt that most of us have put on some weight the past couple of months. The
terribly long winter that has taken over Cairo asks for warm comfort food and
snuggling up in front of the TV. As every year, spring will probably take us by
surprise and we give it just a few weeks before you can start digging up your flip-flops
and shorts again. So now is the time to lose that winter weight and get back
into summer shape. The BootCamp brings a whole new workout concept to
Cairo; one that makes working out fun and effective.

The BootCamp
was started by Nabil and Norshek who are both ISSA certified personal and group
exercise trainers. There are six workout sessions a week; three at Gezira Club in Zamalek and three
at Gardenia compound in 6th October City. Each session lasts an hour
during which you improve your endurance, fitness, stamina, strength and speed. 
The best thing about the BootCamp is that it is outdoors so you can
get some fresh air while working out. The second best thing is that you always work out
in a group of up to twenty people, which is very motivating. 

We
participated in a session at Gezira Club, where the BootCamp uses the field inside
the tracks close to the squash court. You start the session with a warm-up that’s
vaguely reminiscent of an assault course. You jump over ropes, make your way sideward
through pylons, run backwards and jump forward. After this part of the warm-up
you continue onto the strength and coordination exercises. While standing with both feet fixed to the ground, you do various exercises to warm up your muscles. After this, the fun
starts as you begin at a station where you have to perform exercises such as
pull-ups, push-ups and weightlifting. When you finish that exercise, you run
three shorts sprints to a new station where you do a new exercise. Finishing
all the stations takes about half an hour. During the last fifteen minutes of
the class you do some weight work, before the session ends with stretches to
avoid muscle pain the next day.

Nabil
and Norshek are great instructors who give a lot of individual attention to
every participant. If you don’t know what to do at your station they come to
the rescue immediately. The overall atmosphere in the group is great, too.
Though we suffered tremendously during the session and the day after, we felt
so much better after the work out. It gives a boost of energy and trains all
your muscles very intensely. The BootCamp is not necessarily focused on weight
loss but you will more than likely lose some kilos if you attend regularly. We also
heard a lot of their participants gave up smoking as well. We totally
understand why, because after our session the thought of a cigarette was simply
sickening (in all honesty that feeling faded away within half-an-hour or so).

If you
really want to put yourself to the test and work out while enjoying
fresh air with a great group of like-minded individuals, you should definitely opt for the BootCamp. A
session is 50LE and there are package deals available as well.