‘I had to stay patient and abide by the rules of society’: Pakistan’s Bilal Tariq tells of his struggles to promote CrossFit

Bilal Tariq remembers the feeling of working in investment banking in his hometown of Karachi, Pakistan. He knew wearing a suit and tie while working nine to five was not for him, even though he had obtained a bachelor’s degree in accounting and business with honours from Brunel University in London.

“I wasn’t cut out for the desk job and everyone around me could see that from the first day I joined,” said the 32-year-old, who started in the finance industry in 2010.

Tariq found himself heading to the gym before and after work, chasing his real passion: fitness and the dream of opening his own business in Pakistan. But life in a conservative country, known for strict social and religious ideals, was not welcoming of new ideas, said Tariq.

But there was no antidote. Working out – given his background in bodybuilding, weightlifting and various other sports – had become an obsession. He spent all day thinking about doing something other than what he was doing professionally.

“But it wasn’t enough to take the risk of starting a business so I had to stay patient and abide by the rules of society,” he said.

By 2012, after bouncing from one job to the next in corporate banking, Tariq had had enough. He got accepted to the University College London to complete his master’s in business management and then moved to Jakarta to live with his parents. It was here one night that Tariq noticed a unique looking gym, CrossFit Equator, while he was driving home. Tariq said like most CrossFit diehards, he was hooked from the first class.