Short distances, slow corners
If you live and work on the island, your commute crosses no bridge, and on a map everything looks a short hop away. In practice the trip is set by signals, U-turns, one-way streets and the hunt for a space. A gym adds a third point to that daily line, and where it sits on the line matters more than how far it is from either end.
This page is the worksheet for that third point. For what RPM itself offers, see RPM's gym in Abu Dhabi. If you cross to Reem, Saadiyat, Yas or the mainland every day, a central gym or an island one fits your week better.
The triangle worksheet
Measure every leg in your maps app with the departure time set to the hour you would really travel. Use car park entrances, not area names. Write the results as letters, not guesses.
- Your commute, home to office, at your usual hours. Call it C.
- Before-work shape: home to gym, plus gym to office. The detour is that total minus C.
- After-work shape: office to gym, plus gym to home. The detour is that total minus C, measured at the evening hour.
- Lunch shape: office to gym and back. The whole round trip is the detour, since you would not otherwise move.
- Weekend shape: home to gym and back, at the hour you would go on Saturday.
- At the gym end, add parking and the walk to the floor. At the office end, add anything a lunch trip costs, such as queuing to get back into the car park.
Compare each detour with C, your plain commute. The thresholds are rules of thumb for how often a busy person keeps going.
| Detour compared with C | Shape | Weekly sessions it usually carries |
|---|---|---|
| Under a quarter of C | On your line | Four or five, before or after work |
| A quarter to a half of C | A side trip | Two or three, on lighter days |
| More than half of C | A backtrack | Weekend sessions, plus perhaps one weekday |
Score every gym for each shape you would use. The same gym can be on your line after work and a backtrack before it.
Why one gym scores differently by shape
Traffic on the island is not the same in both directions or at both ends of the day, so the morning and evening detours rarely match. A gym that sits on your evening route can need a U-turn and a slow junction in the morning. A gym that looks halfway between home and office can be a side trip if its car park entrance faces the wrong carriageway.
- On your line: you pass it anyway. The session costs little more than the session itself.
- A side trip: you leave your route and come back to it. Keep it for days with an earlier finish.
- A backtrack: the gym sits beyond home when you come from work, or beyond the office when you come from home. You pay for the leg twice.
To time each part of a single visit in detail, door to floor, the location convenience worksheet does that per gym. The triangle answers the earlier question: which gyms deserve that test at all.
One flat, one office, two gyms
A finance manager lives in a tower at one end of her commute and works at the other. She trains four times a week, mostly after work, and on Saturday morning.
- Gym A, beside her building: no detour on Saturday, but after work she must drive home first, and the evening detour comes out almost as large as C. A backtrack on weekdays.
- Gym B, partway along her evening route: after work the detour is about a fifth of C. On your line. On Saturday it is a short round trip from home.
Gym A looked like the obvious choice, because it is downstairs. The triangle shows it would carry her Saturday session and little else. She joins Gym B and uses the tower gym for an easy session on Tuesday, when she works late.
Parking at three corners
Every corner of the triangle has its own parking question, and any one of them can sink a good shape.
- Home: if you park on the street, does an evening session cost you your space when you get back?
- Office: if your space is assigned or paid by the hour, does a lunch session lose it or cost you twice?
- Gym: is there parking in the building, or a search for a street bay at your hour?
- All three: much of the island's street parking is paid at set hours, so check the rules for the times you would be parked.
When the triangle moves
Redraw it whenever one corner changes. A new flat or a new office can turn your gym from a line into a backtrack overnight. The calendar moves it too:
- Ramadan: working hours are often shorter and the roads busiest before iftar, so the after-work shape changes for the month.
- July and August: many residents travel, and the evening leg can be lighter.
- Fridays: the midday prayer shifts traffic, and many gyms keep shorter hours.
Putting RPM into your triangle
RPM is one club, on Level 4 of AD HUB Sports Complex in Al Manhal on the island. Parking at the gym corner is settled, since AD HUB has free on-site parking and a lift to Level 4. Whether RPM is on your line, a side trip or a backtrack depends on where you live and work, so measure its legs like any other gym's.
Inside, there is a Mixed section, where men train, and a women-only Ladies section with its own strength and cardio equipment and the Pilates studio. A recovery suite has a Finnish sauna, an aroma steam room and an ice bath. Its three tiers, Floor, Engine and Atelier, have inclusions and prices that the team confirms when you ask.
Where it does not fit: if RPM comes out as a backtrack in every weekday shape you use, it will carry your weekends at most. The club opens early and closes late, with shorter hours on Friday:
| Days | Opening hours |
|---|---|
| Saturday to Thursday | 06:00–23:00 |
| Friday | 09:00–22:00 |
Hours can change, for example during Ramadan. Confirm with the team before a late or early visit.
Questions, answered.
Is a gym by my office better than one by my flat?
It depends on when you train. A gym by the office suits lunch and straight-after-work sessions, while one by the flat suits weekends and late evenings. Run both through the triangle and count the sessions each would carry.
My partner works elsewhere on the island. Whose triangle counts?
Draw both. Look for a gym that is on one person's line and no worse than a side trip for the other. At RPM, men train in the Mixed section, so a couple training together would use the Mixed section.
I work from home two days a week. How does that change it?
On home days the triangle folds into a single line, home to gym and back. Those days often suit a midday session. Remote and hybrid workers plans that week in full.
I take a taxi to work. Does the worksheet still apply?
Yes, but add the wait for a car at each stop, and the extra fare for a trip split in two. A gym on your line by car can become a side trip once you count two pickups instead of one.