Having been here in Egypt for a few months now I have an idea of the people in the gyms. I haven’t trained in many gyms in Cairo, only a few before I started training at Gold’s Gym because of my work. However I find that the majority of the people here have very limited knowledge about training and nutrition.

In my experience in Egypt there are 2 types of athletes:

• One who wants to be natural so much that they don’t even take supplements
• And the others who want to take steroids even for a job they could easily do without it

I think it is mainly because of the lack of information.

Supplementing your training is very important because there are certain essential bits that you most probably don’t get from your diet. I am not a big fan of protein shakes myself, however I have to admit that when you need protein quick, whey protein is the fastest way (whey) to go.

By all means food is more often than not a lot better than supplements but to get all the essential and non essential amino acids for example,  it’s best to choose an amino acid supplement from the market.

By taking supplements you are still ‘natural’ but you’re giving your body that extra kick to recover faster and to grow by providing the essential nutrients for that.

Now the steroids are a completely different issue. I strongly believe that if you don’t want to compete and stand on stage at any point of time in the future then you shouldn’t play with your hormones. That goes for men and women. The side effects can be quite bad and final (non reversible). The other issue here is the quantity. People don’t settle for the minimum, they want to take as much as they can for maximum results. Now let me tell you something: in this case less is always more.

Just think about it: if you haven’t used any steroids before, your receptors are clean. Even from the smallest amount your body will react. There is no need to put a huge amount into your body and there’s no need to start off with a ‘coctail’ straight away. If your first cycle looks like someone else’s cycle in their 2-3rd year of using steroids then what are you gonna use next? What are you gonna take 2 years later? How much and how many compounds?

If you just start off training all you need to do first is to have a solid diet and the results will come. Steroids are not magic drugs. They won’t do the job for you: if your diet is not right and your training is light you will not see results from steroids either. Steroids will only help if you have the determination and will to keep a solid nutrition and train hard.