Karim Strougo, Founder and Managing Partner of STEP Center and President of SAFE, is one of the fitness pioneers in Egypt and the Middle-East. Karim was the first Egyptian instructor to bring structured choreography to the aerobics arena in Egypt. He was also among the first instructors to bring international techniques to the Egyptian community. Such techniques included PUMP, Power Step, Super Step, Stylized workouts and many more. Karim was also the first Egyptian instructor to introduce the “No Tap” technique to fitness enthusiasts, which lead to a boom in the number of fitness attendees of all levels.

Karim was the first Egyptian instructor to use the “Layering” technique in his classes, and any other instructors using this technique in Egypt today are most probably students of his.

Karim obtained his first certification as a fitness instructor locally in 1997. Feeling that there was more to fitness than the Egyptian Educational system had to offer back then, in the same year, Karim applied for and obtained his first international certificate as a Group Exercise Instructor from the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA). The year after that, in May 1998, Karim studied to become a Personal Trainer and obtained his second international certificate, once again from AFAA. After that, deciding that training the average exerciser who just wants to loose a few pounds was not challenging enough for him, Karim chose the difficult specialization of training people with medical problems and/or specific medical needs. In spite of the hard work required to keep his two international degrees valid, Karim chose to start studying towards his third international degree, this time, to become a Fitness Therapist.

Very early in his fitness career, Karim Strougo found current available courses on the local market to be lacking and very outdated in relation to what was available on the international market. Therefore, he created the first Egyptian Fitness Instructors’ Course entitled “Primary Certification in Physical Education & Aerobics^®™” which was a revolutionary landmark in fitness education in Egypt. Karim today can count many of his former students who are now renowned fitness instructors in Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, Italy, France and the United States.

Towards the end of 2004, Strougo launched his internationally acclaimed IBM^® (Integrated Body Mechanics^®), which is now registered worldwide under his name. IBM^® is a revolutionary training system that is currently helping hundreds of people lose dress-sizes in record time.

In 2005, Karim was chosen to teach AFAA’s Group Exercise Certification Course, making him the first Egyptian instructor to teach an international course. He is also an AFAA CEU Provider.

Today, Karim Strougo is the proud President of SAFE, the first fitness education academy in the Middle-East to be offering internationally recognized courses, workshops, lectures and master-classes.

In September 2005, SAFE organized and hosted the first international fitness convention to ever take place in the Middle-East. Among the presenters in that convention was international fitness super-star Christi Taylor.

Due to his fame as a Fitness-Education Guru and his huge success in creating successful protocols for managing fitness centers, Karim is currently a consultant for a multitude of health and fitness centers, sports clubs and gym-room equipment companies in Egypt and several countries in the Middle-East. He is also a frequent speaker on several TV and Radio shows and his expertise is often sought by Egyptian and Middle-Eastern magazines.

Before entering the fitness arena, Karim had a long history of achievements as a dancer and choreographer, both on stage and on the big screen. During his fitness career, Karim also directed, choreographed and participated in a multitude of fitness shows and performances.

Karim’s motto is : “With determination, today’s dreams are tomorrow’s reality !”.