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People of the Middle East region have started, perhaps a few years back, to develop more structured knowledge of the concepts of fitness and health. Fitness fanatics and oat junkies now rush over to the “Light” isles of their local supermarkets to stock up on ingredients that are filling, but not fattening; tasty, but likely to cause the less damage possible in the long run. Nowadays, a bigger chunk of society appreciates the benefits of dieting and weight loss, not only to the benefit of the body, per se, but also the mind. “We have over 6,000 members at the three locations of our gym in Lebanon and we are looking to expand in the region,” said a senior marketing manager of one of Beirut’s high-end gyms. “A lot of our clients are high-performing business people looking to stay healthy and be as productive as possible, in and outside the gym.”

According to Men’s Fitness Magazine, in Ancient Greece ‘gymnasiums’ meant facilities that promoted athletic development alongside intellectual advancement. Arab tech entrepreneurs seem to be finally taking notice of that reality and building off of it to bring the traditional approach to fitness up to speed with the needs of the modern world.

With Junnah.com, an on-line health platform aspiring to help in tackling mass critical health issues, fitness advice and tailored workout programs are being made available at the users’ fingertips, for what promises to be a digitized, faster, and more results-yielding alternative to the conventional gym subscription or doctor’s appointment.

Co-founded by Fouad Alfarhan and Sami Al Hussayen from Saudi Arabia, Junnah is a platform helping people in leading healthy and committed lifestyles. Launched in December 2014 in Jeddah, Junnah.com is the result of 8 months of thought and planning. “We had been looking to start a health and fitness initiative for a while when we decided to start Junnah,” commented co-founder Sami Al Hussayen. Junnah.com was funded by an angel investor. The two co-founders also sit on the founding board of another startup, Rwaq, a Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform in Arabic. According to them, Junnah and Rwaq are two startups operating under the educational umbrella.

So what makes Junnah.com one of the best online fitness and health online destinations in the Arab world?

• It provides special fitness programs, tailored to the region and to the person’s health and goals

According to recent studies, two people die every hour from diabetes in Saudi Arabia. Forty-two diabetes-induced deaths are reported daily and a whopping 20,000 yearly. Based on these premises, Alfarhan and Al Hussayn spearheaded Junnah in an attempt to knock Saudi Arabia down a few notches on the list of “Nations With Most Diabetes Patients”, which it currently tops. Through pre-recorded explanatory videos and short conferences, users can learn more about threatening health conditions and ways to prevent and combat them. After watching the videos, users are invited to take quizzes and exercises to test their level of understanding and assimilation of the material. Health programs don’t end here, tough. Customized To-Do lists are generated, with a number of daily tasks and exercises. Eating habits are organized by documenting one’s daily food intake and designing specific meal plans.

• It monitors your progress and follows up like no one else does

Using multiple health and fitness applications and smart wearable technology, Junnah is always there to be the concerned medical doctor and the honest gym partner that are always there to keep the tabs on your progress, around the clock. Applications such as Moves, Jawbone UP, Run Keeper, and fibit are already up-and-running, with multiple others coming soon, including Google fit, Strava, Nike+Running, Microsoft Band, and the Junnah Scale.

• It rewards your improvement

Junnah uses an interactive reward system based on online competitions and data entered by the users. Progress is recompensed with distinction accolades, for more motivation and healthy competition with friends and family. You can also sign up for public challenges, such as the “Run 4kms a day for a week” challenge. One can also create their own public or private challenge and invite friends to join. Junnah will then collect the results electronically and rank participants based on their achievements. The latter are placed on leader boards, updated on a weekly basis.

• It motivates and supports your journey, each step of the way

Junnah also boasts a roster of professional medical and fitness consultants who are there to offer all the help one needs, especially when motivation levels run low. One can join a small online focus group moderated by a health expert to ask questions and share all kinds of concerns with fellow participants who share the same goals. One-on-one monitoring and consultancy is also available for those who prefer more personal interaction. Moreover, a regularly updated database with relevant information, based on popular questions and answers by users, is available.

“Junnah adopts the prevention approach rather the intervention one, which has been proven to reduce the risk of diabetes by 58%. Our goal is to certify the patient rather than the doctor. If we know the risks of diabetes and how we can live a better life and prevent the disease, we believe many people will choose that,” said Al Hussayen.

Junnah is similar to other online medical platforms such as WebMD, Epocrates and Mescape, but what distinguishes it is the fact that it tries to offer a wide range of services by educating through online training, monitoring through gadgets, gamifying through interactive tools, and providing support through medical consultants.

Alfarhan and Al Hussayen are now focusing on adding as many features as possible to Junnah, after which they will be shifting their attention towards raising awareness of the platform and adding more users. Junnah will not only work with individuals, but also with corporations and health organizations.