Cairo (AFP)

Massive biceps and abdominal chocolate bars, the Egyptian "Mister Muscles", forced to train at home because of the new coronavirus, are in a hurry to find their livelihood in the weight rooms.

Square silhouette, Mohamed Ali, 33, nicknamed "Asab" ("Vein" in Arabic) because of his apparent veins, has lost his enthusiasm since the closure of bodybuilding clubs in March.

In his luxurious house in the west of Cairo, this coach for individuals and international champion of the discipline recognizes that he is no longer at his best.

With free time ahead of him, he hopes to "resume competition at the end of the year," he told AFP. And maybe compete for the title of Mr Olympia, during one of the biggest international bodybuilding competitions, scheduled for December in Las Vegas.

- Falling revenues -

In the past three months, Egypt has lived through a night curfew to try to stop Covid-19 disease, but the number of cases continues to increase with more than 58,000 officially registered infections and more than 2,300 death.

In addition to her competition plans, Asab is concerned about her mental health and declining income. Owner of 16 gyms in Cairo, he had to pay his hundreds of workers out of his pocket, he says.

In early June, the government announced that weight rooms and sports clubs could partially reopen, but did not give a specific date.

"We are like other industries such as tourism and catering which have been affected 100%," he said.

"It's my job and my livelihood (...) I have a whole team that depends on subscription fees," he says, surrounded by many dumbbells lying on the floor of his living room.

Mohamed Nassim, a 33-year-old Syrian exile who moved to Cairo to flee his war-torn country, is also not at his best. In competition, he says to reduce his fat volume to 3%: today, it is around 15%.

"I started bodybuilding in Syria around 2003 and originally it was just to build muscle because I was really skinny," he recalls.

The bodybuilder, who won his first national competition in 2011, shortly before going into exile at the outbreak of the Syrian conflict, has not participated in a competition since last year.

He had "planned to go up on the platform" this year, "but with the coronavirus everything stopped," he sighs.

"I tried to keep in shape by using dumbbells at home," says the Facebook poster of impressive pictures of him, his oiled and tense muscles at regional competitions.

Several Egyptian bodybuilding champions - like Big Ramy, whose actor and politician Arnold Schwarzenegger sang the praises - have turned into social media stars, pursuing international careers and even trying their hand at the cinema.

But Mohamed Nassim is content with more modest objectives. Private trainer in a local weight room of the American chain World's Gym, he dreams of only one thing: to find his work.

- Frustration -

"The confinement really affected us financially and psychologically," he says.

His friend Mostafa al-Rouby, 27, who owns a weight room, shares the same feeling of frustration, especially when watching other public places reopen, such as shopping centers.

"The coronavirus has completely erased the field of bodybuilding," he laments as he awaits the green light from the authorities for the reopening of his empty gym for which he pays thousands of Egyptian pounds in rent.

For him, one of the solutions to the new coronavirus would be to "reopen the world of bodybuilding". This would allow "people to become healthy and build their immunity," he concludes.

© 2020 AFP