On December 1, 2022, athletes gathered at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for the first briefing of the weekend’s events at the Dubai Fitness Championship (DFC). The meeting included details on five of the eight practices for the weekend competition, with more to be revealed in the coming days.
We know that the first test will take place on December 2nd, and now we know two of the tests on each Saturday and Sunday that the athletes will participate in. There are 800 points available to athletes throughout the competition, and we’re breaking down what we know below.
Event 1: The Burj Khalifa Challenge (offsite)
The opening event of the 10th year of the DFC is a stair climb of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest building in the world. It is 828 meters (2,716 ft) tall and has 160 floors and 2,909 individual staircases. Athletes go one by one at two-minute intervals to make their ascent.
Men to watch: Brent Fikowski, Lazar Đukić and Luka Đukić
Women to watch: Emily Rolfe, Matilde Garnes, Hanna Karlsson and Aimee Cringle
Saturday trainings
The athletes said that the next two training sessions would take place on Saturday, December 3, 2022, from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM GST, but we don’t know the order of events yet.
Get a Shot (three rounds, 22 minute limit)
Each round has a buy-in of 40 calories on the rower for men and 30 for women, followed by 40 toes on bars. Then they move to a barbell to increase the weight and decrease the reps.
The men will do 40 deadlifts at 75 pounds in the first round, 20 at 115 pounds in the second round, and 10 at 185 pounds in the final round. For the women, the weights will be 55, 75 and 135 pounds per round with the same number of repetitions.
Here both toe volume on the bars and competition with the deadlift will be taken into account. Those last 10 reps are going to be tough, and for some, they’ll make or break this workout.
Men to watch: Brent Fikowski, Lazar Đukić and Luka Đukić
Women to watch: Matilde Garnes and Jamie Simmonds
Hanger Clean Scale (one rep max clean)
For these hang cleans, the men start at 305 pounds and the women at 200. The weight increases over nine rounds (topping 365 pounds for the men and 250 pounds for the women) until one competitor remains. Each athlete has a 20-second lift window and 10-second transition window. In the event of a tie, athletes must perform five clean hang squats.
Men to watch: Simon Mantyla, Moritz Fiebig, Reggie Fasa and Fabian Beneito
Women to watch: Karin Frey and Oihana Moya
Sunday trainings
The next two events take place on Sunday 4th December 2022 from 16:00 to 21:00 GST, but as with Saturday training, we don’t know the exact order yet.
Fast as an oryx (intervals: four sets of 2:30 on / 1:00 off)
The buy-in for each round here will be 10 shuttle runs, followed by 10 burpee box clears (24/20).
After that, athletes will do maximum repetitions of dumbbell pushers for the remaining time. Men will start with a pair of 70-pound dumbbells, while women will start with 50 pounds. Once men and women hit 40 reps, they’ll drop down to 50- and 35-pound dumbbells, respectively, for the rest of the workout.
You must be efficient, but not necessarily fast, through the purchase of each round. Ultimately, however, the best booster athletes excel at this workout, along with any competitor who can recover and repeat quickly.
Men to watch: Jonne Koski, Luka Vunjak, Aniol Ekai and Luka Đukić
Women to watch: Seher Kaya, Valentina Magalotti and Jamie Simmonds
Barbell Furious (Under Three Minutes)
This workout includes 10 cleans, 10 front squats, and 10 overhead squats with a weight of 220 pounds (100 kilograms) for men and 154 pounds (70 kilograms) for women. Dubai loves events like these: they’re short, fast and all about who can move the bar.
In this case, it is fully guaranteed that the shoulder on the overload will be the deciding factor. Athletes can go fast early if they want to, but if they can’t hold a minimum of two sets of five and five overhead, they’ll be outclassed late either way.
Men to watch: Jonne Koski, Mortiz Fiebig, Khan Porter, Brent Fikowski and Reggie Fasa
Women to watch: Karin Frey, Jamie Simmonds and Oihana Moya
We should learn the rest of the training details in the briefings on Saturday and Sunday, along with the rest of the training on those days.
Featured Image: @dxbfitnesschamp on Instagram