There’s something very cool about Urban Playground. It could be its location (on the rooftop of the Apex Atrium Building in Motor City) or the fact that said rooftop is made up of solar panels harnessing the Sun’s energy to feed power directly into the facility’s Dewa grid.
Eco-friendly efforts aside, the 20,000-square-foot arena also offers more than a dozen sports and fitness activities aimed, says founder Kunal Dhamecha, “at active people, be they novices or professionals”.
There's a section called MyPrivateGym, which is accommodating of time-short fitness seekers or, as Dhamecha puts it, “those who hate going to the gym”.
Trainers are on hand for HIST sessions, for example. High Intensity Stimulus Training is a type of resistance workout that requires two 30-minute sessions per week to see results. Each exercise is performed super-slow and controlled until momentary muscle failure is achieved. “We lose muscle as we age, and it becomes even more important to keep the body’s muscle-fat ratio in check,” says Dhamecha. “Here we follow the principles of Dr Doug McGuff [an expert in high intensity training] of lifting weights at a very slow pace to enhance muscle growth.”
MyPrivateGym also has a recovery room that uses red light therapy, which is proven to accelerate recovery time, relieve pain and inflammation, promote better sleep and reduce stress hormones – all in a matter of 10 minutes.
All types of tennis
Improve your game with a spot of touchtennis, a modified version of the sport ideal for beginners, which is played on a smaller court with 21-inch racquets rackets and foam balls.
The fast-paced pickleball is another modified game of tennis with long rallies that are best suited to a doubles game, although, Dhamecha says, “singles is also fun to play for those looking for more of a challenge”.
Platform tennis combines tennis and squash, using a paddle instead of a racquet and a sponge ball. The rules are the same as tennis, except the ball can be played off of the back or side walls after its first strike within the court.
Finally, Urban Playground has brought spec tennis to the UAE, a quick, high-energy paddle game played using a Wilson Orange Dot tennis ball on a pickleball court, which measures 9 metres by 18 metres.
Bat and ball
Cricket fans can practise their batting game at the facility’s nets, which are equipped with a bowling machine that can deliver fast balls at up to 152 kilometres per hour, as well as spin, swing and pace balls, and a random variation setting. If you’d rather play with a group – small or big – Urban Playground also has a ballpark cricket court for between two and 16 players.
If baseball is more your thing, you can work on your swing and simulate a real baseball fast ball in the hitting cages at Urban Playground, and even compete with friends and family in side-by-side cages. The facility provides safety gear and bats, while the staff assist with ball collection and feeding.
For a ball sport that’s a bit more offbeat, try your hand at 360ball. Played with a rubber ball on a circular court, this is a blend of spike ball and squash for two players or two teams of players. The aim is to smash the ball into a centrally placed concave disc, forcing your opponents to run after it and do the same.
Group fitness classes
Mainstream and offbeat sports aside, Urban Playground has an indoor and outdoor gym as well as studio spaces that host group sessions such as HIIT, Boxfit, circuit training, yoga and Pilates, plus dance sessions conducted by Step Up Academy, which is also owned by Dhamecha.
More information is available at urbanplayground.ae
RIDE%20ON
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The specs
Engine: 2.2-litre, turbodiesel
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Power: 160hp
Torque: 385Nm
Price: Dh116,900
On sale: now
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Sweet%20Tooth
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'How To Build A Boat'
Jonathan Gornall, Simon & Schuster
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Global Fungi Facts
• Scientists estimate there could be as many as 3 million fungal species globally
• Only about 160,000 have been officially described leaving around 90% undiscovered
• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
• Forest fungi help tackle climate change, absorbing up to 36% of global fossil fuel emissions annually and storing around 5 billion tonnes of carbon in the planet's topsoil
What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
U19 WORLD CUP, WEST INDIES
UAE group fixtures (all in St Kitts)
- Saturday 15 January: UAE beat Canada by 49 runs
- Thursday 20 January: v England
- Saturday 22 January: v Bangladesh
UAE squad:
Alishan Sharafu (captain), Shival Bawa, Jash Giyanani, Sailles
Jaishankar, Nilansh Keswani, Aayan Khan, Punya Mehra, Ali Naseer, Ronak Panoly,
Dhruv Parashar, Vinayak Raghavan, Soorya Sathish, Aryansh Sharma, Adithya
Shetty, Kai Smith
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
The specs: 2018 Maserati Levante S
Price, base / as tested: Dh409,000 / Dh467,000
Engine: 3.0-litre V6
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 430hp @ 5,750rpm
Torque: 580Nm @ 4,500rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 10.9L / 100km
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