Fitness Addicts Chip Down Macqueripe

BACK for second year, scores of fitness enthusiasts, Carnival lovers and many who describe themselves as both, will convene at the north-west coast for the unique Fit Addict Movements' (FAM) Chip Down Macqueripe tomorrow from 6 am to 1 pm.

Conceptualised by Daniel "Pablo" Phillip – an internationally-certified fitness trainer and former back-up dancer to Machel Montano – the event is once again expected to burst with energy and colour in a J'Ouvert-style mix of aerobics and dance.

"Paint, powder, water, fitness and fun" will be provided for what he describes as the "ultimate J'Ouvert fitness fete."

As many as 1,000 participants are expected to face the challenge.

The "chip down" will kick start at Samaan Park and proceed down Tucker Valley Road. The course will then divert en route the Chaguaramas Golf Course where participants will challenge an obstacle course, before they meet the first workout junction where paint will be provided.

The second workout junction will feature powder, before the challengers get to pose at a "pic and post" station. There will be a third workout junction at the penultimate stop where water will be supplied.

The "chip down" will end with a cool-down after party, which will close off at 1 pm.

Speaking with Newsday, Phillip explained his career path and how the Chip Down concept was born. "(The event) was inspired by my trying to be different in the whole fitness scene because everybody and their grandmother is fitness trainers now. It goes back to my name FAM, an acronym for Fit Addicts Movement.

"I’ve been doing it for about four years now," Phillip said.

"I used to be one of Machel Montano’s dancers for about ten years. That momentum helped me to be out there. Being in a different arena now, I had to work from the bottom up. People know me but I still had to work my way up. I’ve moved up the ranks and I’m still moving up the ranks and I’m humble with it."

Phillip and FAM's entertainment fitness routines, he says, have attracted some of the most prominent names in soca, namely Nadia Batson and Patrice Roberts.

He gave some insight into what newcomers can expect tomorrow. "When you come, there’s an aerobics session and we chip up the road until we reach a certain part we called the squat junction, where you’d have to do 100 squats, then 100 jumping jacks.

Phillips says he incorporates a "kind of mix the dance and fitness."

"So it’s not really aerobics but I did put some aerobics moves in it."

Referring to a past event he organised, Phillip said changes became necessary to continue attracting a wide variety of participants.

"They didn’t want to go up Chancellor because they found it was hard. So I was like cool, hear what, I will put a speaker behind a van and we’ll run up to soca music. It was around Carnival time. I put it up on Facebook and over 300 people replied saying they wanted to come. So I had to get a bigger truck and I also had a drinks truck.

He said the increase in interest meant a larger and more suitable venue became necessary. Phillip said participants without a ticket may also pay at the entrance.

Phillip and FAM team have managed to attract a considerable number of sponsors, some of which include Pita Pit, Oasis, Gillette and Angostura LLB, Gatorade, Fat Boy, V8, Body Glow, Ginseng Up and Ocean Spray.