Abu Dhabi residents turn their lives around at Yas fitness group

'Now it’s not even so much about the weight loss but the training and being fit is the main goal. It’s completely shifted my focus on what’s important.'

Fraser Knox, 19, has lost 20 kilograms since working out at Vogue Fitness on Yas Island. Delores Johnson / The National

ABU DHABI // After several years of overindulgence, it took finding a passion for fitness and a harsh reality check for Fraser Knox to make the big changes he needed to turn his health around.

The 19-year-old led what he felt was a healthy lifestyle, playing rugby regularly, although daily overeating and a junk-food diet was having an adverse affect.

“I was playing rugby four times a week but my diet was poor and I wasn’t really focusing on school,” said Mr Knox, who recently left school.

“When I started with Vogue Fitness in April I didn’t know if I even wanted to go to university. They said that if I got into university and passed my A-Levels they would give me a job for a year before I went to university.”

Since then, he has lost 20 kilograms, passed his A-Levels and been accepted at Leeds Metropolitan University, in England, to study business and marketing.

In the year before he starts university he is working on reception at Vogue Fitness, which also doubles as Abu Dhabi’s first CrossFit facility, CrossFit Yas.

Now, Mr Knox no longer eats takeaway sandwiches and hamburgers on a daily basis like before.

“I feel much healthier now,” he said. “I can do more stuff. I used to go home after school and have a nap, but I have so much more energy and confidence now.”

Elizabeth Marie Mouchard, 32, is a pilot. She works long hours and crosses international time zones on a weekly basis so she approached Vogue Fitness to help her to find some routine and a healthy balance in her life.

She has been working with the team since May. “I initially wanted to lose weight and, from there, everything changed,” she said. “I quit smoking and I literally train as often as I can now.”

Although she has lost about 8kg since May, she said: “Now it’s not so much about the weight loss, the training and being fit is the main goal. It’s completely shifted my focus on what’s important.”

Initially, she could barely hold a plank – a yoga and pilates posture – for 20 seconds but already she has built the strength to hold it for about two minutes.

On a recent trip to Japan, she did an uphill hike of 7km much easier than she would have done just a few months back.

“I couldn’t even have done that before,” Ms Mouchard said.

“I just feel so much better in general, less tired, better moods. It’s so good to come here and just meet new people away from work in such a nice atmosphere.”

Even the way she eats has changed. “I never used to eat breakfast and now I do, which makes me feel so much better.”

The centre has members of all ages. Mahmoud Khan, 55, has been training with the team since they were running community boot camps at Al Muneera 18 months ago. He has type two diabetes and, since starting with Vogue Fitness, has reduced his insulin intake from 160 units a day to 60.

“Some days I can even take less,” said the former county cricketer from the UK. “I was training five or six days a week and really changed my diet because I’d been careless, not really realising diabetes was a disease. Now I eat only fresh foods, no more frozen food. After exercising, your body feels good and your mental stresses go. I feel more cheerful.”