Mahmoud Ezz has been in the fitness business for 10 years. He coaches at LA7 gym, and before that, he started as a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym.

Ezz earned his bachelor’s degree in physical sports and kinesiology and his master’s degree in rehabilitation with a concentration in sports injuries. In addition, he worked on various fitness, rehab and nutrition certificates. Earlier in his career, he entered many global physique competitions and is currently recognized as a world athlete. The judges evaluate the competitors based on who they think has the best overall body shape (muscles are small, proportionate and symmetrical). Usually, there are 100 competitors. The judges split them into groups of 10, and only one moves to the next round.

Ezz, a certified International Sports Science Association (ISSA) personal trainer, is passionate about the profession simply because he is trying to push people to embrace fitness and implement it in their daily lives. He wants to change this notion of fitness as an obligatory chore. He encourages people to lead a healthy lifestyle. “Fitness mentally affects people’s personal lives and their work,” he said.

Occasionally, he posts workouts on his Instagram page so people recognize the importance of sports and fitness and recognize that it could be done even at home. Ezz pushes the notion that you do not need weights to be able to train. You could train from the comfort of your home using one dumbbell, a resistance band or even your body weight with no equipment.

During quarantine, Ezz was the first coach in Egypt to provide home exercises. He introduced the concept of a home workout. He even demonstrated workouts on the TV show Abla Fahita, the Egyptian puppet talk show, to show people how to workout at home. Ezz became popular when he started training celebrities, and that is a part of the reason why he was on the show. He demonstrated exercises for all male and female age groups. He also discussed calorie intake and how many calories are burnt during each workout.

Ezz also implements a “transformation” program with his clients. Even after the workout period is over, the clients have access to a check-in session with Ezz and Dr. Yomna Kassem (the certified nutritionist). Then, they send the client a new program or discuss the next steps. “I also want people to understand how to incorporate fitness everyday. It should be a priority because it has many benefits, including improving endurance and improving blood circulation,” he said.

Ezz trains all male and female age groups and wants to make fitness accessible to everyone. He has an online training program that he implements through a mobile application. Once the client pays the fees, Ezz creates a WhatsApp group with the nutritionist and the client, and the first step is for the client to send them pictures (front, back and left and right sides), a picture of the target they want to reach and an InBody test (body fat analysis) to determine how much fat and muscle the client has. This home or gym program is tailored to the client’s needs. There is a follow-up session with Ezz and the nutritionist every Friday, and they adjust according to the results.

During quarantine, Ezz thought about how people were going to exercise when all the gyms were closed. He came up with the idea of training with a resistance band that people use during physical therapy or rehabilitation. With the band, you could work on all the muscles in the body. Due to his knowledge of anatomy, he knows how the muscles work. He started training with the band and started uploading the videos to Instagram. It was a success. Ezz said the band is similar to lifting weights in many ways. For example, today the client will work on chest muscles only. Then, Ezz puts a plan, including how many repetitions and sets the client will do. If you make the band a bit shorter, the resistance becomes harder, the equivalent of lifting heavier weights, he said.

“I became the first person to implement home workouts without any equipment,” he said. “The idea is that there has to be some form of exercise throughout the day. Fitness of any form relieves negative energy, relieves stress and makes the heart pump blood to the brain and muscles faster, and therefore, the muscles and the brain receive more oxygen.”

Ezz wants people to recognize that they could train while using only their body weight. “Running alone does not keep your body toned. Body workouts keep the body toned because it pulls the fat that is on the skin,” he said.

Ezz is also known for coaching many celebrities because he is able to provide them with a healthy fitness strategy to execute the results that they need. For example, if Amr Youssef needs to lose weight and gain muscle because he is filming in a month and a half, Ezz can deliver. He tailors a workout to fit Youssef’s goals. “People come and see me because I could fix their body shape in the fastest time,” he said.