The Dubai Headlines

JkH is a passionate Health & Wellbeing Coach for many one on one executive clientele and their teams @jkh_corpsquad.

Specialising in training clientele for results in performance specifically complimenting their favourite sports from lifting to cycling to distance running to iron man events and skiing. She also specialises in training brides and grooms for their big day @jkh_wedshred_squad

She enjoys blogging sustainable health and wellbeing tips that are approachable for all lifestyles almost anywhere in the world.

She’s passionate about building like minded, Health & Wellbeing communities and aligning these concepts with raising funds and awareness for Charity.

Petra was born in a small town in the Czech Republic called Kromeriz. Czechoslovakia at the time was communist. Under communism, the government tested all children to decide what schools they should attend based on their athletic and academic abilities. Petra has an athletic gene, as her father was a pro volleyball player and her uncle a pro soccer player. Following in their footsteps, Petra also excelled athletically with a focus on tennis and volleyball. One would think she would be tracked exclusively for an athletic program but she was chosen for a school for gifted children in math and science and she became a chess champion at a very young age.

Petra studied international business, trade and diplomacy at the Prague School of Economics while supporting herself as a model. Modeling success notwithstanding, Petra finished both undergraduate and graduate degrees at the top of her class and moved to the United States to attend law school at Georgetown University. Petra was first in her class in law school & practiced law at the international law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, LLP representing many political nominees and appointees during the Bush Administration. She was subsequently recruited for the Obama Presidential Transition and later the Obama White House where she served as General Counsel to the White House Council of Economic Advisors and Senior Advisor to the President.
While working as a lawyer, Petra continued to exercise religiously competing in marathons, triathlons and other running competitions. One day while injured, Petra tried hot Bikram Yoga and her life has forever changed. Not only did she notice a physical transformation, she also observed improved focus, concentration and other psychological benefits. At some point, Petra crossed paths with the founder of Bikram Yoga, Bikram Choudhury, who recruited her to become the President and CEO of Bikram Yoga brand and leave Barack Obama and his White House.
Petra, as an avid practitioner of the hot yoga formerly known as Bikram Yoga, knew and enjoyed all of the extraordinary benefits derived from the twenty six postures and two breathing exercises. However, the well-documented failures of Bikram Yoga’s namesake founder created chaos in the community. Out of the chaos Petra built SweatNGlow, a global hot yoga brand, that is modernizing hot yoga world through innovation and positive value system while honoring the twenty six and two as its core practice.
Petra was born in a small town in the Czech Republic called Kromeriz. Czechoslovakia at the time was communist. Under communism, the government tested all children to decide what schools they should attend based on their athletic and academic abilities. Petra has an athletic gene, as her father was a pro volleyball player and her uncle a pro soccer player. Following in their footsteps, Petra also excelled athletically with a focus on tennis and volleyball. One would think she would be tracked exclusively for an athletic program but she was chosen for a school for gifted children in math and science and she became a chess champion at a very young age.

While working as a lawyer, Petra continued to exercise religiously competing in marathons, triathlons and other running competitions. One day while injured, Petra tried hot Bikram Yoga and her life has forever changed. Not only did she notice a physical transformation, she also observed improved focus, concentration and other psychological benefits. At some point, Petra crossed paths with the founder of Bikram Yoga, Bikram Choudhury, who recruited her to become the President and CEO of Bikram Yoga brand and leave Barack Obama and his White House.

Petra, as an avid practitioner of the hot yoga formerly known as Bikram Yoga, knew and enjoyed all of the extraordinary benefits derived from the twenty six postures and two breathing exercises. However, the well-documented failures of Bikram Yoga’s namesake founder created chaos in the community. Out of the chaos Petra built SweatNGlow, a global hot yoga brand, that is modernizing hot yoga world through innovation and positive value system while honoring the twenty six and two as its core practice.

5th St. Gym Goes Bananas
It’s been about 60 Years since the 5th St. Gym Opened. 40 years since Ali trained there and about 8 years since Angelo Dundee passed away. 17 world champions had been trained at the 5th St. Gym and by Angelo. Since taken over by Dino Spencer and Tom Tsatas, and re-opened in 2010, a decade later the gym has its 20th World World Champion and 1st real full Champion in 25 years. Over the weekend Jeison Rosario shockingly stopped opponent Julian Williams in spectacular fashion for the 154lb WBA, IBF, IBO belts. It was a clear upset and shock. “It’s always a team effort” claims 5th St. Gym co-owner, head coach & trainer as well as top conditioning coach Dino Spencer. Spencer isn’t well known in the main stream but he is no stranger to Boxing. He is mostly known as a celebrity trainer and former martial artist but has probably worked more corners in boxing and worked with more champions than anyone in the sport. David Haye, Bernard Hopkins, Paulie Malinaggi, Chris Algeri, Luis Ortiz, Fres Oquendo, James DeGale and Kid Chocolate are just a few of the pros, challengers and champions with whom he has worked. He is currently head trainer to several ranked and undefeated fighters, Danielle Scardina, Mateo Papa, Charley Hoy and Christian Thun. The gym has serious sparring and attracts the best fighters around the world.

Learning his craft under Freddie Roach and Angelo Dundee, “Stallion” as he’s known to his closest friends (for his love of Rocky and his Italian heritage) got his start in combat fighting at age 5. He began training in Shaolin Kung-Fu and by age 13 he was teaching new students as a Black-Belt. He eventually was trained by Arlene Limas, the 1st woman to win a gold medal in TaeKwon-Do at the 1988 Olympics in Korea. A former pro football player walked into the gym one day which led Spencer to pivot into boxing when he realized the boxer had some talent. He called his best friend and fellow trainee Tom Tsatas in to help and off they were. Seventeen years since that day They resurrected Fres Oquendo’s career and got him a title shot at age 41 and 46, and along the way trained a UFC heavyweight Champion, Andre Arlovski, opened up the most famous boxing gym in the world with Angelo Dundee, became best friends with their mentor Muhammad Ali, and have trained fighters, champions, celebrities and regular folks ever since. It’s not by accident that their gyms 1st true world Champion would come the day after Ali’s and Tsatas’ birthday, and in Philadelphia. “It’s very telling” says Spencer that such a coincidence would happen. Tom and Muhammad always celebrated their birthdays and for some reason Toms would never take center stage” jokes Spencer. “And here it happened, right here in Rocky’s home town is just icing on the cake and very appropriate.” Spencer continues that it’s always a team.”Coach Luis is also responsible in what the gym has accomplished. He is quiet, low key but his passion and commitment to the sport, the fighters and the gym is unparalleled. A true boxing purist” says Spencer.

Spencer’s partner Tom Tsatas sums it up “It’s taken us nearly a decade of hard work, perseverance and dedication to get here. In my opinion, and with absolutely no disrespect to any other trainers or gyms, I believe that 5th St. Gym, Dino, Chiro and all of our team here is the best anywhere. We cannot be inside the ring with the fighter, it’s his will, heart and soul that is in those ropes. But we are the ones who make sure he has the correct tools once he steps between them. Just in case you were wondering all of us here at 5th St. Gym are going bananas.”

Early Western travelers, traveling to India, Persia, Turkey, or China, would frequently remark on the absence of change in fashion in those countries. The Japanese shōgun’s secretary bragged (not completely accurately) to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years.[6] However, there is considerable evidence in Ming China of rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing.[7] Changes in costume often took place at times of economic or social change, as occurred in ancient Rome and the medieval Caliphate, followed by a long period without significant changes. In 8th-century Moorish Spain, the musician Ziryab introduced to Córdoba[8][unreliable source][9] sophisticated clothing-styles based on seasonal and daily fashions from his native Baghdad, modified by his inspiration. Similar changes in fashion occurred in the 11th century in the Middle East following the arrival of the Turks, who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia and the Far East.[10]

Additionally, there is a long history of fashion in West Africa.[11] The Cloth was used as a form of currency in trade with the Portuguese and Dutch as early as the 16th Century.[11] Locally produced cloth and cheaper European imports were assembled into new styles to accommodate the growing elite class of West Africans and resident gold and slave traders.[11] There was an Exceptionally strong tradition of cloth-weaving in Oyo and the areas inhabited by the Igbo people.[11]

The beginning in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated. Historians, including James Laver and Fernand Braudel, date the start of Western fashion in clothing to the middle of the 14th century,[12][13] though they tend to rely heavily on contemporary imagery[14] and illuminated manuscripts were not common before the fourteenth century.[15] The most dramatic early change in fashion was a sudden drastic shortening and tightening of the male over-garment from calf-length to barely covering the buttocks,[16] sometimes accompanied with stuffing in the chest to make it look bigger. This created the distinctive Western outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers.

The pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women’s and men’s fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex. Art historians are, therefore ,able to use fashion with confidence and precision to date images, often to within five years, particularly in the case of images from the 15th century. Initially, changes in fashion led to a fragmentation across the upper classes of Europe of what had previously been a very similar style of dressing and the subsequent development of distinctive national styles. These national styles remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, mostly originating from Ancien Régime France.[17] Though the rich usually led fashion, the increasing affluence of early modern Europe led to the bourgeoisie and even peasants following trends at a distance, but still uncomfortably close for the elites – a factor that Fernand Braudel regards as one of the main motors of changing fashio

“My love for accessories, started as a little girl when my mother would take me on shopping trips,” says AdelyaBakhtiyarova. Like every young girl, the Dubai-based jewellery designer spent endless hours playing dress-up in her mother’s closet. “She always had an eye for unique and rare pieces that she bought while travelling to different countries, especially from antique shops in post-Soviet countries,” she explains.

This set the background for Adelya’sfirst collection which she created in 2010. The collection was created for a close circle of friends who influenced Adelya to create her own brand. After the success of the collection she later launched her eponymous brand after gaining a gemstone diploma from the International Gemstone Institute (IGI). Her work is heavily inspired by places where she has lived and visited. “Growing up in places such as Samarkand and Dubai helped me appreciate the rich culture and evolution of architecture and architectural sculpture,” she says. “From there, I decided to create jewellery with similar exotic, beautiful design elements as a way of bringing sculptural appreciation to a smaller, more accessible scale.” International meetings with clients and craftsmen in Paris, Moscow and Hong Kong further fuelled her imagination and drive to create unique and inspired jewellery.

Today Adelya Jewellery is stocked internationally from Dubai to leading boutiques in Moscow, Almaty, Kuwait and Paris. Although Adelya’s collections are distinctively different in design the idea behind every collection is to allow customers to mix and match between collections. This has rapidly made Adelya Jewellery a favourite among fashionistas and jewellery connoisseurs for personal buys or as gifts with individuality and a strong sense of meaning. The Elements collection is the latest collection that draws on sustainability and recycling. The collection key focus is on pressed stones a new technique that originates from Japan where left over pieces from stone cutting are recompressed to form a new stone. This technique minimizes waste and is aimed at reducing stone mining thus making jewellery industry more sustainable. It was important for Adelya Jewellery to start a sustainable line as Adelya believes that is the future for the jewellery industry. The brands must have collections are Love Letters and Felix collections. The Felix line, for example, draws on the ancient belief in numerical relationships for its designs. The eye-catching rings in 18-karat gold and diamonds are perfect for stacking together in different combinations of personalised numbers to bring good luck. Meanwhile the Love Letters collection features rings in diamonds and 18-karat white or rose gold that can spell out a number of special messages.

Adelya’s overriding design philosophy clearly lies in creating jewels that carry symbolism and meaning for the wearer. To this end she also re-imagines vintage pieces into new styles, such as creating clients inherited antique brooches into rings.

Each piece is as standout as it is wearable, and the brand is already looking towards its 2020 collections which will include more pressed stones and ancient Chinese symbolism.