Fitness journal, mall initiative boost AZF’s health programme

The ‘Walk More…Walk the Mall’ initiative’s launch at Landmark Mall featured a raffle, health checks and a range of free gifts for participants.

Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) is set to launch a new health and fitness journal as part of the “step into health” programme. Meanwhile, its community outreach will continue through the “Walk More…Walk the Mall” initiative.

The new publication aims to reach out to both members and non-members of the campaign. It will be easily accessible, available in both Arabic and English, and feature a wide variety of information related to exercise and diet prepared by Aspire Zone’s team of specialist researchers. 

As AZF’s “step into health” programme continues to gain momentum, hundreds of people turned up at Landmark Mall on Saturday to take part in the “Walk More…Walk the Mall” initiative. With this launch, Landmark became the fourth and final shopping centre to become part of the “healthy malls” quartet.

The “Walk More…Walk the Mall” campaign encourages members of the community to stay active this summer by exercising in shopping centres from 8am to 10am and 10pm to midnight. Walking routes have been created at Landmark, Villaggio, Al Khor Mall and Hyatt Plaza; information about the circuits can be downloaded in advance by visiting www.stepintohealth.qa/

The Landmark route covers an estimated 1,800 steps and is designed to take approximately 20 minutes to complete, with participants burning an average of 90 calories along the way.

Abdulla al-Mohandi, a researcher from Aspetar hospital (a part of AZF), said: “The ‘Walk More…Walk the Mall’ initiative will take place throughout the summer and encourage Qatar’s residents to exercise on a daily basis. We suggest participants walk during the designated hours as it will help them avoid the mall rush hours.”

The Landmark launch included a raffle, health checks and a range of free gifts bearing the “step into health” slogan.

Ooredoo and Commercial Bank, sponsors of “step into health”, donated several prizes to the raffle, including iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and iPad Mini sets. Landmark also presented winners with a selection of vouchers.

Omran al-Sherawi from Commercial Bank presented the prizes to the winners, who included Ali Hamza, Sheeva Algari, Tamim Riyad and Ahmed Awad.

Rami Abdel Hamid, one of the participants, said: “I’m truly delighted to have got the opportunity to participate in this exciting initiative, which encourages us to maintain our fitness levels throughout the summer. It is a unique programme as it allows us to use the malls to exercise. I would like to thank Aspire Zone Foundation for its continuous support and encouragement.” 

An AZF team was also on hand to assist participants at the event, helping identify walking routes and distributing leaflets with information about the initiative.

The “step into health” programme is designed to engage the people of Qatar in a self-managed lifelong routine based on a moderate amount of daily healthy activity. It encourages participants to walk 10,000 steps or more per day in a non-competitive, recreational and social environment.