A few years ago WGC competed in Dubai in DB Max Best of the Best. Along with Iceland and the UK, the United Arab Emirates is the only other country that has a following in X Training. WGC speaks to one of their best who is also a very good triathlete - he talks about the comparisons to X Training and how the two sports sometimes cross over - it's great reading ...

The last XT event in 2007 was the "Best of The Best" in November, and it was one of the most challenging for me in that year, it was my first Best of the Best, and I really enjoyed it especially competing in the open category with all the elite xtrainers coming over from the UK besides some of the most prominent xtrainers in the UAE.

I was very enthusiastic for that event and trained hard for it, cut down on my triathlon training to focus on more power and anaerobic fitness. In fact, I enjoyed the training for that event more than I enjoyed the actual event, since on the day I did the mistake of eating a bit late before knowing my allocated slot time, I was going strong on the first stations, but I ended up feeling sick and in oxygen debt in the last three stations. I've learned a very precious lesson about food timing that day.

Yes I competed in that one, and it was the latest xtraining event I took part in till date. That was the Fitness First Xtreme fitness challenge in October 2008. It included 12 stations with weights fixed as a percentage of body weight (50% of your body weight for squats, lat pulldowns and bench press, and 25% for preacher curls) as well as the cardio stations (rowing, stepper, biking, treadmill, squat thrusts),in addition to pressups, situps, and tricep dips...not in that order.

 Again I have trained hard for that one but somehow failed to drop my body weight to less that 92kg for the event especially with all the weight training I had to do for it. I have cruised throughout the whole course though, despite some hiccups in judging which I thought were a bit overboard, like having to touch your lower earlobes rather than your upper earlobes for the situps, which was never mentioned in the rules to start with, and I had to do what seemed like a 100 situps instead of 60 because of that which drained my time. 

The most notable station in that event was indeed the preacher curl station that came right after your 1km treadmill run. 30 reps of 25% of your body weight were torture for me especially with my set weight at 25kg and being breathless after the treadmill, then came the squat thrusts which everybody agreed were a bit odd in the range of their movement due to the distance between the tapes.

However, even though I was slightly disappointed with my delays at certain stations especially the situps, I was happy with my achievement since I did not stop, except slightly at the preacher curls, and was happy to know I have recorded the fastest splits on several other stations. So this year I'm hopefully coming back for it.

Would you compete in the UK?

I would love to compete someday in the UK when time and resources permit, since there is a way better community that takes xtraining much more seriously there, unlike in Dubai where xtraining challenges are limited to two or three per year. This year I was seriously planning to train for and travel to do the indoor ironman that took place in February, but things didn't work out as planned.

It would be great to see cross training and cross-fit as a sport taken more seriously and given the credit it deserves. The duration of the cross training competition would seem trivial to a non-experimenting endurance athlete, however, he/she will know how hard these disciplines are just when they try to get into the sport.

What I would like to see happen in the future of xtraining in Dubai is simply more competitions to get you continuously motivated to train. I think there are many enthusiasts for the sport here, and it can easily take an upturn if managed properly and challenges are regularly organized.

 By all means YES. I feel most at home in the xtraining types of competitions, and I'm waiting for the next one in Dubai, unless I have the chance to go to the UK or elsewhere to do one.

I think each is a different form of cross training. Triathlons require tons of more time and hassle if you want to train for them properly since you do need to do your mileage on the three disciplines in order to finish decently in a triathlon, and this takes some time in Dubai because you have to drive to specific and safe areas especially to cycle or swim and if one is living within the city and has a full time job, it's not easy to do that everyday.
 

My longest distance so far in triathlon was the half ironman distance (2km sea swim,90km bike, and 21km run) around two years back, and I had to specifically train an average of 14 hours per week for that. 

I have lost a considerable amount of power and strength in training for that event though, but it was essential to build an endurance base and keep my weight under control, since excess muscle works against you on such races. I also had an xtraining event a week before that half ironman event, and I seriously suffered on it because I did not train specifically for that but was focusing on my triathlon training. I was thinking of training for the full ironman, but that needs way more time and planning but I do hope to complete at least one ironman in the future. 

On the other hand, xtraining is far more convenient in that sense. You just hit the gym, choose and do your circuit, then leave, and it usually takes way less time to do an effective xtraining session than it takes to do a good triathlon training session. But you have to be ready for the pain on each session.

Needless to say I enjoy both, but triathlons are actually for me just a form of keeping fit, while I take xtraining challenges much more seriously. I have never been on the podium in triathlons, and many times I was pathetically slow compared to other good triathletes, but I did win or place in the top three on several xtraining events in Dubai. Comparatively, I saw some of the top triathletes suffer seriously when they tried to compete in an xtraining event.

I definitely find xtraining far harder than triathlon training due to the intensity of the session. You come to the gym ready for absolute pain if you want to make it worth while. It's what some elite xtrainers term the "Hurtbox" or pain chamber, and this is what really motivates and pushes me. Remembering the pain you had in training will toughen you and push you more on race day, and whenever you face any problem that intimidates you in life, well for the most part... Once you're conditioned, you can just enjoy one or two short intense sessions per day and tend to your work and life the rest of the day.

While triathlon training can easily get boring despite the variety among the three disciplines, besides requiring far more time commitment and putting in the mileage and hours, but it's still a very enjoyable outdoors activity that can push your limits as well.

Anything - training etc you would like to add.

While I'm a religious follower of xtraining workouts, I also firmly believe in moderation, and the importance of recovery and rejuvenation to avoid injuries and keep things interesting and rewarding.

I'm not an authority on sports myself, but can confidently say from practical experience that I have suffered when I took on only one sport, both from boredom and from minor injuries due to the wear and tear on the same muscles, and the inadequate recovery, stretching, and rest when you take things too seriously when focusing on only one discipline.  This is why I advocate the cross between several disciplines, and this is where the importance of cross training lies, either as an active recovery, or to ease workout monotony for one-sport athletes.

At the same time, do your workouts with passion, and renew that passion daily; embrace the pain in each session knowing it's improving you and making you a better athlete, and a tougher person, while keeping you sane by keeping your mind off things.

My thanks goes to Hasan for this article. It was a pleasure meeting him a few years ago and I wish him well for any event he enters - he has the passsion and the knowledge in X Training and is outstanding ambassador for the sport.

Sean (UK GCA)