I get many e-mails and requests for help from different people, mainly on my Facebook page. Everyone who knows me, they know that I generally help people because I love helping out. If you ask me a training or nutrition related question, I will probably try and find out what the best solution would be for you. It also means that I will ask back to find out more about you and your training and eating habits. If you expect a general reply, then why not just ask anyone or try and Google your question?

Generally when I ask back to get more info from people so that I can help them with a tailor made reply, they tend not to answer – maybe it’s too much time to let me see their lifestyle habits or training routine. And if they give me the info – more often than not they don’t follow my advise anyway.

There’s always an excuse why this happens:

• they don’t understand  English properly – well, You could ask me in English so I assume you will understand my reply.
• they didn’t realize it takes that much dedication ie. eating every 2 hours and do things on timings. Well, all I can say is that if you think it’s that dead easy, why do you think not that many people have decent physiques? I tell you why: because of the lack of dedication, not because of the lack of information.
• they didn’t realize it will cost them that much money. Now that’s a valid point: unfortunately eating clean – whichever country you live in – it will cost you more than eating what’s available junk. This is a universal problem. You can get a burger and a drink for less than you would pay for a healthy salad. I think it is plain wrong, especially when so many countries struggle with obesity. However it is still not my problem. I’ve spent my time preparing your nutrition plan or training plan. If you cannot afford to follow it it shouldn’t be my waste of time still.

So my point is: if you ask for a free advice, be prepared to follow it through, and more importantly: if you are really that serious about your training and nutrition, be prepared to pay for the advice. As you don’t go to the shops and expect free food, or go to the hair dresser and ask for a free hair cut and styling (for ladies), expecting free advice to change your physique and possibly your life is a bit cheeky, especially if you don’t even have any desire to follow it through.

• And another aspect: when my knowledge or physique is used for commercial purposes – for free. If you think that I could represent your company or product the best, then please have that much courtesy to pay towards the up keeping this physique (or knowledge of mine). Photographers asking for free photoshoots where they will sell the photos later, or will get paid for the article presenting the shots, or companies asking for free seminars: as I said earlier I’m a very helpful person. However when companies abuse this, sooner or later the answer will turn to ‘no’.

Please consider that this is my ‘business’. I don’t get free food at the supermarket, because I’m a world champion, or get free transportation. I have to pay my bills, too. As much as every company is concerned about their profit, I have to make my living.

You can always join my seminars on Fitness and Body Building where I discuss nutrition and training. Drop me an email to discuss the details hello@tamaramakar.me

Many people who go to the gym here in Egypt seem to be confused about supplementation and nutrition. It is a very broad topic and sometimes it’s difficult to filter out the most important information. I’m  setting up seminars to help you guys. These seminars are for anyone who train in the gym: from a beginner who just wants to start off to the advanced who wants to compete in the future, men and women. On these seminars I will discuss a lot of topics related to fitness and body building: how to eat for your goal, how to train etc Starting from the very basics and building it up to the advanced level we will discuss nutrition, supplements, training techniques from the beginner to the advanced, how to train body parts that don’t improve as fast as the others, how to split your training etc. Places are limited to 10-12 people maximum so you need to book in advance. The first seminar will be on the 11th October in Maadi, please inbox me for details if you’re interested

hello@tamaramakar.me

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.

The weather is very hot, sunshine all day! It’s pretty good, I’m liking it!

I’m having a wonderful time. If I’d had more time to rest it would be like a holiday! No compromises with my training though, I’m still getting the sessions in besides work but so far it’s been manageable, I can work around my schedule.

My friend was visiting from London last weekend and we went on a cruise on the Nile with unlimited food… That was heaven! The food was quality: there was grilled meat, beef, turkey and different salads. Oh and oriental sweets! Yummy!

Next day we visited the Egyptian Museum. I found it very interesting although to me it seemed like I’ve seen it all after the first hour. I think Egypt’s history is fascinating and this museum is massive, full with ancient stuff. After the museum we went to TGIF on the Nile. This was one of the best steaks I’ve had – the end of the day it’s TGI!

I look forward to Ramadan, I’ve never spent Ramadan in a muslim country. It will be interesting to see and be part of it.

One thing will be better at Ramadan: the gym will be empty when I train!!! That’s definitely a plus! It is brilliant to train in a gym with other champions! It’s a real inspiration!

I have been thinking about lately how blessed I am to do what I love to do and to live my life how I want to. Nothing is easy and you always have to compromise, but the happiest people don’t have everything they want, they make the most of the things they have.

I’m happy to be in Egypt and be surrounded by lovely people. It’s great to train at Gold’s Gym, any of the branches here. I’m very blessed to have a great job that I enjoy doing and it allows me to spend even more time in the gym talking to the trainers and the clients.

I do miss my friends, my real ones – from the UK and from Hungary, and of course my family. People who have been beside me for a long time and who don’t judge me when I do something. People who don’t ask: why, but tell me: do it, if you think this is the best for you.

What I found here in Egypt is that people who have already achieved something don’t have an attitude. They’re very helpful and respectful to each other – and to me. They rather push you to achieve even more than tell you to stop or question you. This is a completely different attitude. There are some great athletes, world champions here who  don’t get jealous but instead they push you, they help you and want you to be the best.

I am not saying everything is perfect here. Far from it. I work long hours and have to deal with some negative people as well. Not to mention that my job doesn’t stop when I go to the gym to train, it’s like I’m always working. Clients stop me, ask me questions, want to take photos etc But it’s a completely different life experience. I’m glad I’ve made the decision to travel. Although England wasn’t my home country to start with, but every time I travel it opens my eyes even more. The people I meet, the culture, the habits, the feel of another country regardless of the religion and the colour of their skin. You cannot experience that from films or documentaries. You need to live that life to know what it is like. This is what life is all about.

Another month is gone, time truly flies here in Cairo. Maybe because I’m having fun? I get a lot of questions when I’m going back to London… The truth is: I don’t know yet but definitely not in the near future. I will probably do some travelling in Europe in October/November time, but no exact dates yet and don’t know where either. Christmas most probably will be spent in Hungary.

My days here in Cairo are getting very busy. My training is going great and work is exciting. I meet lovely and inspiring people a lot here. I got a lot of interest from people to coach them for competitions. As great and honored it feels I cannot coach so many people because I haven’t got the time. However I would like to have probably 1 very serious athlete sometime in the near future. I keep looking 😉

Have a great week everyone! Happy Monday, start fresh!