👋 Hi! Tell us about yourself and your training
Hello, my name is Mohamed Radi. I’m 25 years old and live in Casablanca, Morocco.
This year I reached my goal of 96 kg (212 lbs) which I’m very proud of. That’s 34 kg (75 lbs) more than when I started training 8 years ago (back in 2011)!
What prompted me to start bodybuilding was seeing my friends go to the gym, feeling good and strong. I also imagined how I would look myself with a beautiful body and more muscle.
Before practicing bodybuilding, I practiced karate for 2 years. I even won 2 gold medals in karate, but I stopped because I liked bodybuilding more.
Besides bodybuilding, I got my master’s degree in 2017 in audit and finance. I now work as an auditor in a company.
After a bad day at work, I like how bodybuilding allows me to de-stress and feel good. Training makes me forget my bad day and relax.
Apart from bodybuilding, I also like to play football from time to time.
My best days are spent with my partner, but we don’t have children yet.
⏱ Describe a typical day of training
I especially love shoulder days. Shoulder exercises are my favorite exercises.
I train four times a week, which is enough for me to train every muscle in my body.
When I’m bulking, I can train for more than 1.5 hours. When I’m cutting or having a cardio regimen, I only train for 50-60 minutes because during cutting you should do more repetitions than exercises.
For my training sessions, I try to work as hard as possible. It’s more difficult when I train alone. When I train with a friend or partner, it improves the motivation of both of us.
I especially love shoulder days. Shoulder exercises are my favorite exercises.
I usually train before I go to work and don’t really care about which gym I go to. That’s an advantage since I can easily change gym if I move to another place.
When I go to the gym, I bring shorts, t-shirt, sneakers and whey protein in my training bag.
I take one scoop of protein before my workout and two after my workout. The protein I take is Whey Dymatize.
👊 How do you keep going and push harder?
When you want to train sports and especially bodybuilding, you should before anything else make sure you are motivated for it and have a goal you want to achieve.
In bodybuilding you will face a routine every day, so motivation will be your best partner that will push you every time you feel laze and every time you feel like not going to the gym.
My motivation is to try to have the best body and work for it every day.
I wake up 7 o’clock and go the gym and then I go to work at 9 o’clock. I do things in that order to have more time with my family and friends after work.
Every time I feel bad, I’m sick and I don’t have the motivation, the routine of doing the same thing every day destroys me and don’t make me feel like going to the gym.
But my desire to reach my goals and having the best body keeps me going anyway. It keeps me training again and again.
Before I started training, I was thin and wanted to look bigger. I have trained hard for my body and I know how training have changed me.
🏆 How are you doing today and what does the future look like?
I have just been sick and lost 2 kg, but now I feel great again. I can’t wait to have my next training session.
Besides my training, I’m also planning to build a gym clothes company. I try to travel a lot to meet people who can help me and get in contact with manufacturers.
By building a gym clothes company, I can combine my love of bodybuilding and fitness with my fashion hobby.
I work really hard on this project and hope it will become one of the biggest brands in fitness.
In bodybuilding, my goal is to win at least one competition here in Morocco. I train hard so I can reach that dream.
🤕 How do you recover, rest and handle injuries?
Bodybuilding is a dangerous sport where you can easily get hurt. For example by tearing something.
I therefore recommend warming up before each session. Warming up helps your muscle stretch, so you can do your exercises right without fearing that you will hurt yourself.
I also recommend using gloves and a lumbar belt.
Once, I wasn’t wearing my lumbar belt and I got hurt in my back. The injury stopped my training for 3 weeks and the only way to recover was to rest and sleep (I normally sleep like 7 hours every day, but after my injury I tried to sleep as much as possible).
Also, I have at least a month of every year for traveling.
Just relax about these breaks. It’s difficult to resume training after a break, but if you do it slowly you will get your strength back quickly.
I have also found that magnesium helps my body recover more quickly. Besides magnesium, I also take vitamin B6.
🍎 How is your diet and what supplements do you use?
If you want to do well in bodybuilding, you need to change your bad habits. It’s difficult to get results if you don’t change and improve your meals.
For me there are two periods that help me get a perfect body:
Muscle building period
In this period, I work to build muscle. I make sure my caloric intake is above my caloric expenditure, so I have enough energy to build muscle.
I go for 3500 calories per day during this period and to control my intake and expenditure, I use an online calorie calculator.
Besides focusing on the calories, I also focus on macronutrients, take Whey Dymatize protein and Xtend BCAA.
During this period I also run twice a week to develop my breathing.
Fat loss period
When I go out with my friends during this period, I make sure not to have lunch.
In this period, I work on losing fat. My goal here is to make sure my caloric intake is below my caloric expenditure.
During this period I’m going for 2700 calories per day, a little bit of protein and not much lipid.
When I go out with my friends during this period, I make sure not to have lunch.
It’s not as difficult as it sounds because I can have one cheat day a week where I can eat whatever I want.
On my cheat days, I eat McDonald’s and pancakes and make sure I get enough in terms of salt and sugar (which I might be missing because of my lower food intake during this period).
If I feel hungry during my fat loss period and it’s not cheat day, I try to take a protein bar (usually a protein bar from Snickers).
👍 What has inspired and motivated you?
Son, you’ll never regret practicing sport.
In order to know as much as possible about training and movements, you should read a lot and watch a lot of videos. It will all help you grow you knowledge of fitness.
Remember that there are always people who know more than you and who have practiced fitness longer than you. It’s a good idea to listen to their opinions and consider their advice.
It will certainly help you to listen to people like Simeon Panda and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Music is also a good idea. It helps you relieve stress and you can use it with good effect during your workout.
I listen to hip-hop and R&B music during my training.
The best advice I have ever received was from my father. One they he said to me: Son, you’ll never regret practicing sport.
✏️ Advice for other people who want to improve themselves?
If you want a bigger chest, bigger shoulders, etc. you should do the exercises correctly.
If you are new to bodybuilding, I recommend learning as much as you possibly can. Learning will improve your motivation and help you see more benefits from your training.
I especially learned a lot about bodybuilding from Simeon Panda.
One strange thing I often see in the gym is when people have a chest day and then start combining it with leg training or back training.
It’s completely wrong to combine two big muscle groups when you are training. It’s like training for nothing.
If you want a bigger chest, bigger shoulders, etc. you should do the exercises correctly.
I recommend combining fitness with running. It helps you develop your breathing which is an important thing in fitness.
🤝 Are you taking on clients right now?
I take on clients who want to develop themselves. Both with friends in real life and online.
My plan is to soon start doing videos too.
My secret of getting many clients is to make sure they are happy with their results – and they are because the results are just insane if they follow my program.
📝 Where can we learn more about you?
I’m working on some videos that will soon be available on YouTube.
You can also follow me on Instagram: @simoradii
