Motivation, dedication and sacrifice alone don’t make a bodybuilder a professional champion. There is also a bit of hanky-panky involved.

“Bodybuilding is a selfish sport. You have a poor family in which the one who is into the sport will let his family members starve as he helps himself to their share of the food. How else is he going to build that body?” former Mr Pakistan and president Sindh Body Building Association Sohail Anwar tries to reason while turning the pages of his album of champions. There are men in flexing their muscles in powerful poses, their bodies glistening thanks to the Rs3,000 Dream Tan gel tube ... each muscle defined.

Anwar, who is also senior vice president of the Pakistan Body Building Federation along with being the vice president of Sindh Olympic Association, these days serves as general secretary of South Asian Body Building Federation.

“As a professional private fitness consultant, I have been running several fitness clubs where I also train bodybuilders. I gave up a customs’ job for this. There is much talent in Pakistan but who can be a champion while going to bed after having dried bread and water? Who would want to train without water to bathe, without electricity and very little food? So if I see a talented boy who has it in him to go further in the sport I give him a job at one of my gyms to help him sustain himself,” he says.

“A coach’s job will help you earn up to Rs20,000 a month. And if you get noticed by the departments such as the airlines, railways, Wapda or any of the banks, then you can also add a proper salary of another 20,000 to 25,000 to it. But when you are eating three dozen eggs, 2kg fish or chicken a day the expenses are immense. Add to this the money serious bodybuilders spend on steroid use,” he points out.

Noticing the shocked expressions around him, he goes on, “Professional bodybuilding demands more than sweat and tears. You tell me, why do we not think of going to battle holding swords only like our ancestors? Why did we have to come up with an atomic bomb?” He pauses, waiting for a response.

“It is because you have to keep pace with the rest of the world or be left behind,” he says, answering his own question.

“When every other professional bodybuilder out there uses steroids to enhance his performance, you have to do the same if you want to compete with them,” he points out.

“All sportsmen use dope of some kind or the other. This includes even those competing in archery events because you need to keep a steady hand when aiming the arrow and there are drugs to control your heartbeat for you to be able to do that. Besides, in today’s world you just can’t escape steroids or hormones when even livestock is being injected with it. It is indirectly also a part of your food chain,” he reasons.

“The only problem is excess use or not knowing which steroid to take. We had great pehelwans of the likes of Gama and Bholu but they all lost their physiques and died because they ate whole goats or 10 chickens for breakfast. I mean, who does that? It’s quality not quantity. Today, we know what to take for what. You have a Shoaib Akhtar who took supplements with Nandrolone. Well, didn’t he know that it stuck around in the system for 18 months? I mean, really …

“There are steroids that help build body muscles and which stay in the system for a certain number of days only. There are also some steroids that stay in your system for a couple of hours. But you need to know the science to get anywhere here and not get caught when tested,” he says.

“Quite frankly, we never even got any of the bodybuilders tested for steroids after the recent South Asian Championship. What was the use when from the first to sixth position, everyone is taking them? It costs around Rs23,000 per test and you have to send the samples abroad, too.

“Elsewhere in the world you get arrested on the stage after winning an event until you hand over your urine sample for dope testing. It’s all a big farce,” he maintains.

“Bodybuilding keeps you healthy as you can’t smoke cigarettes, can’t take supari and have to lead a life of discipline. As for steroid use, well some are also anti-aging,” he adds.

His somewhat unexpected segue into steroids now at an end, Anwar replies to a far more conventional question: what the ideal age to start bodybuilding is and if it is true that lifting weights stunts growth in adolescent boys.

“That’s a myth,” he says. “You are working your muscles which help your bones open up. You gain in width and height.”

Meanwhile, he is of the opinion that the best time for competing in professional bodybuilding events is after the age of 30. “The Pakistani physique reaches maturity around this time as growth halts and you can work on building your muscles only,” he concludes.