The phone goes off at random now. Not a call, not a message – an emergency alert, the kind that tightens your chest before your eyes have even focused.
In Dubai in recent weeks, residents have grown used to the sound: drones and missiles intercepted overhead, flashes visible in the distance, a background awareness of events unfolding somewhere beyond the city. What has followed is not panic so much as adaptation – some choosing to stay in more, others stepping out cautiously, waiting for reassurance before moving through their day. A new, faintly disorienting way of life.
Most people have stayed. Some have packed a bag and left. Those who remain describe it in similar terms: life continuing – cafés open, traffic moving, runners still tracing the canal paths at dawn – and yet something undeniably altered beneath it all.
It is into this atmosphere – tense, watchful, surreal – that Jason Grima has continued to show up to train people.
Grima, an Australian coach who has lived in Dubai for seven years, and is the founder of 365 Physique, a coaching platform built around personal training and small group sessions, focused on helping clients build routines that hold even when life doesn’t.
Over the years, he’s seen just how fast routines can unravel – and how much effort it takes to get them back on track once they do.
“For a lot of people in Dubai, we’ve had a little bit of trauma with how COVID was,” he says. “Staying home can actually bring back some fairly negative memories – having no flexibility to get out and about, to socialise, to be active.”
He pauses briefly.
“Now more than ever, we should lean into the government’s reassurances that it’s okay to proceed as normal. Seeing friends, turning up to your exercise facilities, still moving the body and not losing your whole routine – these things matter more right now, not less.”
He’s not telling anyone to ignore their fear. But he’s blunt about what happens when caution turns into hiding: routines fall apart, movement slows, and with it, your sense of control slips away.
The first thing he tackles with anyone who feels stuck, out of shape, or overwhelmed is the idea that all they need is motivation.
“When someone says they have no motivation, I personally believe they’re just looking in the wrong place for something they probably never really felt before. Motivation can come and go with the click of your fingers. Whereas we want to lean into daily habits – simple, daily habits – to actually see progress.”
He’s not immune to this himself.
“I’ve been training since I was thirteen, even younger playing football,” he says, “and every couple of days I don’t feel like training, believe it or not. But the most important thing I always think about is how good it will feel afterwards. I just go – you know what, sweating today and moving is gonna make me feel so much better. It’s called chase that feeling, and it never lets me down.”
The first step he recommends for anyone who’s fallen out of routine is deceptively simple: a thirty-minute walk, every day at the same time.
“If someone’s starting from zero at home, I would definitely have them doing a walk,” he says. “That’s the first thing, a daily walk at a set point every single day. This would be the biggest thing they could do. By quickly shifting expectations you will understand the importance of discipline over motivation,” he says. “The biggest mistake people make is they think they don’t really need to apply themselves – and that’s where quite often they’ll get let down.”
He talks about his most successful clients in the same way. “They just turn up. They commit to that appointment. Maybe some days the workout’s not as good as others. Maybe their food’s not as good. But they’re still showing up with a focus in mind. Even 1% every day goes a long way.”
There is also a more practical logic to the walk.
“The best way to control boredom or emotional eating is to prioritise steps,” he says. “If I sat on the couch for 30 or 40 minutes, or went for a walk for 30 or 40 minutes – generally it’s going to be 30 or 40 minutes less that I’m digging into the pantry.”
When it comes to nutrition, his approach is practical and structured – but never extreme.
“Sometimes people aren’t aware of portion sizes and calories in certain items, something like olive oil can really add up if it’s consumed frequently.” His baseline is straightforward: protein at each meal, vegetables, fibre, limiting processed food. “Remove processed foods or perhaps limit takeout to either zero in seven days or one.”
Sleep, he adds, is often the missing piece. “The less we sleep, the more cravings we have the next day. It ends up being this vicious cycle – caffeine, sugar, repeat.”
Before any of that, though, comes mindset.
“Much harder to fix mindset. Mindset’s first.” He works with clients to define goals – both immediate and long-term – giving them something to lean on when motivation drops. On the hard days, you lean into your goals, short-term wins create momentum.” The biggest lie that people tell themselves is: I could never look like that, I could never do that.”
In reality, change is incremental.
“Those people in amazing shape didn’t necessarily start that way – they just applied themselves every single day, just a little bit.”
For anyone still on the fence, his message couldn’t be clearer:
“We’ve got two choices. Either we remain feeling stuck and unhappy or we put one foot in front of the other and start making small, progressive changes.”
“One week of proactive changes can really change everything in your life. If you can just prioritise walking 30 minutes every single day for 30 days, something in your life will improve.”
On training itself, he resists unnecessary complexity. “Push-ups, squats, sit-ups – don’t overcomplicate it. Sometimes the simple things, done well and consistently, will get incredible results.” If possible, he adds, make it social. “Any social sport you will see how the time passes without you feeling the intensity.”
Dubai has not stopped. But the way people move through it has shifted – more conscious of their surroundings, more aware of how easily routines can unravel when pressure builds.
In that context, Grima’s message isn’t about optimism or empty reassurance. It is about control – the part of it that remains firmly in your hands.
That control can be as simple as stepping out for a walk when you’d rather stay inside, or finishing a training session even when motivation is low. On their own, these choices may seem small. Taken consistently, they accumulate. They create structure, and structure is what keeps life from slipping further.
It won’t change what is happening beyond the city. But it will change how you move through it, and that is entirely within your control.
