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Hassan Mostafa
The Newest Beast From the Middle East
By Ron Harris
Another Great Talent From Egypt
A few years ago we introduced you to Mahmood Al Durrah, a star on the rise in the 212 division. He is carrying on the proud tradition of elite bodybuilders from Egypt that includes 1983 and 1984 Mr. Olympia runner-up Mohamed Makkawy and Big Ramy, as well as one of the greatest amateurs in the history of our sport, 7-Time IFBB World Champion El Shahat Mabrouk. In 2019, we witnessed the debut in the pro ranks of 27-year-old Hassan Mostafa, born and raised in Egypt and now residing in what has become the new Mecca for bodybuilding in the Eastern World, Kuwait. His first appearance on the pro stage was at the Indy Pro, where he placed third behind winner Steve Kuclo and runner-up Akim Williams, beating out some names like Luke Sandoe and Justin Rodriguez along the way. I had my first glimpse of this massive young man at the Tampa Pro. With his tremendous overall thickness, wide structure, round muscle bellies, and quads the billowed off the hips like twin zeppelins, I couldn’t help but compare him immediately to Big Ramy. Little did I know they had more in common than simply physical traits. Dexter Jackson fended off a strong challenge from Luke Sandoe to win that show, while Hassan was awarded fifth place. All in attendance were impressed with the package of size and shape this rookie brought to Tampa, and many felt that had his condition been sharper and crisper, he certainly would have fared better, and might have even been the one to push The Blade hardest for the win. Meanwhile, buzz began to build at a fever pitch about Mostafa. Who was this new guy? Where the hell did he come from, and why are we only finding out about him now? I had to get the scoop, with a little translation help from his wife Riham.
This Was His Destiny
Many if not most of the champion bodybuilders I’ve ever known had athletic backgrounds in other sports as diverse as football, soccer, or wrestling. Not so with Hassan. He had shown neither interest not talent in any other athletic endeavor prior to bodybuilding. Hassan was always impressed by his father, who had always been into weight training, as well as the legendary aforementioned Egyptian amateur, El Shahat Mabrouk. When he was 17, the father of one of Hassan’s best friends won a local contest. It was his friend’s pride at his dad’s accomplishment that was the final impetus needed to get started pumping iron himself. A foreshadowing of his possible potential for the flexing sport could be found in his pre-trained body. Hassan was already a lean and solid 192 pounds at 5-11. “I was never a skinny kid,” he notes. “And my legs were always bigger, even though I did no exercise or manual labor with them.” Within a year, Hassan entered a local contest at 209 pounds and won. Impressed with his son’s dedication to his new pursuit, Mostafa’s father invested in a small gym for Hassan to operate and train clients in. Named simply “Hassan’s Gym,” he operated it for nearly four years. But it was a small town outside of Cairo, and there were no knowledgeable trainers and coaches to provide guidance when it was time to compete. When he was in contest prep, Hassan would stay with coaches for the final month to dial in. Every trainer and coach he worked with marveled at his genetics and potential, which further served to keep him motivated. At age 23 in 2014, he won his first major contest, his weight division at the IFBB Junior World Championships. It was there that he caught the attention of the owner of Gold’s Gym in Kuwait, who offered him a job as a trainer and would also sponsor him as an athlete for competitions. He soon moved to Kuwait City, where he began working with the “third coach” at Oxygen Gym along with Abdullah Al-Otaibi and Ahmad Askar, Ahmad Alnaqi. Alnaqi would be his coach all the way up until weeks before the 2019 Tampa Pro.
Another Kuwait Colossus on the IFBB Stage
In April of 2018, Hassan handily won the Overall title at the Amateur Olympia in Kuwait, just as Big Ramy had done six years earlier before. He took just under a year before flying across the world to Indianapolis to make his debut at the Indy Pro, weighing 246 pounds. There, he earned third place. Hassan solicited feedback from the judges as to what they felt he needed to improve on for next time. “They were very honest and helpful,” he tells us. “The judges told me my condition could be better, especially in my legs. That had always been an issue for me. I was able to get the deep lines and cuts in my upper body, but never in my legs.” They also told him he needed to control his midsection better and work on his posing and stage presence. “It was suggested to me that I should do more work for my abdominals, and also start doing vacuums.” Hassan had never attempted a vacuum in his life, but he checked out a YouTube tutorial on how to pull one, and immediately began both more frequent ab work and plenty of practice sucking in his gut in the vacuum. Knowing he wanted to compete again fairly soon, he targeted the Tampa Pro in early August and reached out to Chris Aceto to see if he would be interested in taking him on as a client. With Mr. Olympia champions like Jay Cutler and Shawn Rhoden for a track record, Hassan hoped Aceto would be able to help him take his condition to the next level. Aceto agreed, and it was game on. The 240-pound package he brought to Tampa was far more defined, and Mostafa no longer let his midsection relax at any point while he was on stage. Had this been a show with a lesser lineup, he may have scored his first win at just his second pro show. But The Blade, Dexter Jackson, had decided to enter this show for all the fans in his native Florida. Luke Sandoe showed up nearly as ripped as he’d been at the Arnold at the start of the season, and Iain Valliere and Lukas Osladil were both at their peak form. Though his placing was lower at fifth than it had been in Indiana, Hassan was vastly improved and was the talk of the weekend, along with Dexter, of course. “Some people tried to discourage me from even entering the Tampa show because Dexter would be competing,” Mostafa reveals. “They were saying things like, who are you to stand next to someone of his caliber? I never had any expectations of beating him, but I knew it would be a huge honor just to stand up there with such a great champion, and it was.”
Training, Nutrition, and Goals
Hassan’s training split sees him working the entire body over three days, a practice followed by both men who share the record of 8 Mr. Olympia wins, Lee Haney and Ronnie Coleman. “I know it’s more popular today to train a muscle group only once a week, but for me I feel I get more in terms of both size and hopefully more muscle maturity by working the muscles more often,” he explains. Hassan also cycles his training to preserve his joints, going two weeks with heavier weights and lower reps, then backing off to more moderate resistance and higher weeks on the third week. His diet follows the standard bodybuilding approach, eating plenty of chicken, fish, beef, and eggs along with oats and rice. For a “clean” cheat meal, Hassan prefers sushi. When all bets are off, he’s all about stuffed crust pizza. There is even a local Cheesecake Factory in Kuwait City that he and his wife like to dine at in the off-season. As for macros, he cycles his carbs for high and low days when dieting, but there are no zero-carb days. “Carbs are my best friend,” he laughs. As for improvements he hopes to make, they aren’t centered on further size, as he feels he doesn’t need to be much bigger. “My focus is on bringing my upper body up a little bit so that it matches my legs,” he tells us. I asked him if would consider a moratorium on leg training for a period of months, as both Branch Warren and Flex Lewis did early in their pro careers to achieve better balance between their upper and lower bodies. “For now, I am still training my legs hard,” he replied. “If I don’t see the results I want to, I might think about doing that.” Vacuums and more posing practice are also on the agenda.
Hassan is part of a new wave of top-tier talent from the Middle East that began 10 years ago with Big Ramy. “For many years, the bodybuilders in our part of the world didn’t think we could turn pro, and if we did, we never thought we could do well as professionals. That’s changing now, because what used to seem out of reach now seems possible.”
Hassan Mostafa is proving to be the newest beast from the Middle East. I believe we are just witnessing him scratch the surface of his full potential, and that he will soon be one of the very top competitors in the Open division. Along with extremely gifted genetics, Hassan is humble, hardworking, and seeks out those who can help him improve. That’s a tough combination to beat. Keep an eye out for Hassan Mostafa, because you’ll be seeing a lot more of him in the months and years to come.
Contest Highlights
2014 IFBB Junior World Over 75kg Winner
2018 Amateur Olympia Kuwait Super Heavyweight and Overall
2019 Indy Pro Third Place
2019 Tampa Pro Fifth Place
2020 NY Pro Fourth Place
2021 Chicago Pro Sixth Place
2021 Texas Pro Fifth Place
2021 Arnold Classic Ninth Place
2021 Mr. Olympia Thirteenth Place
2022 Orlando Pro Winner
2022 Puerto Rico Pro Winner
Training Split
Day 1: Chest, delts, biceps
Day 2: Back, triceps, rear delts
Day 3: Legs*
Day 4: Rest
*Hassan does quads in one rotation of the split, then does hams on the next.
Similarities Between Hassan and Big Ramy
- Both grew up in Egypt and moved to Kuwait
- Both turned pro at the Amateur Olympia Kuwait
- Both were coached by one of Team Oxygen’s coaches
- Both made their pro debut in the USA
- Both are married
- Both are known for their inanely huge quads
Ron Harris got his start in the bodybuilding industry during the eight years he worked in Los Angeles as Associate Producer for ESPN’s “American Muscle Magazine” show in the 1990s. Since 1992 he has published nearly 5,000 articles in bodybuilding and fitness magazines, making him the most prolific bodybuilding writer ever. Ron has been training since the age of 14 and competing as a bodybuilder since 1989. He lives with his wife and two children in the Boston area. Facebook Instagram
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