My friend studying sociology claims that cult of body is nonexistent in arab countries hence bodybuilding is not popular sport there. I beg to claim otherwise as I know that arab bodybuilding scene is very strong and bb is amongst most popular sports for example in Afghanistan. Yet I cannot find any sources or examples to illustrate this thesis. First hand information would be very appreciated.
I remember one of guys from here having posted billboard with bodybuilders on it from arab country - my friend doesn't believe it to be true, does anyone remember where can I find it? I searched forum without much success.
almost every arab country has a bodybuilding federation... that tells you something. In the IFBB worlds you see qatar, saudi arabia, bahrain, kuwait, egypt, palestine, iraq, syria, tunisia, morroco.... do you see the united states?
bodybuilding is huge in the middle east... and is huge with arabs... a bodybuilder is much more respected in arab countries than he is in the united states for example.... in the US, they're basically laughed at by the general public... i'm not talking about 200 lbs at 5'11... i'm talking 250 at 5'7...
the problem is, as with almost anything in arab countries except for terrorism, there's no exposure. there's a facebook page for the saudi federation... i'll send it to you once i remember what it's called! LOL
but, the easier way is just type in a name of a country and write bodybuilding after it in the youtube search bar.... here, this is how you write it in arabic
كمال أجسام
that's bodybuilding, copy it and paste it, then write the name of the country... here are some country names
saudi arabia السعودية
qatar قطر
kuwait الكويت
bahrain البحرين
egypt مصر
palestine فلسطين
syria سورية
jordan الأردن
UAE الإمارات
Morocco المغرب
Tunisia تونس
just copy the arabic writing and paste it after the arabic word for bodybuilding
hey there. I am not arabian nor am I a muslim but I live in a conservitive Muslim country in the Middle East. I can say that bodybuilding is indeed picking up in popularity, but nothing like it is in other countries. Most Arabian countries revolve around Islam and with this focus, comes many rules governing food, nutrition, sleeping habits and general state of mind. It seems to me (although I am an outsider of course) that Islam conflicts with a focus on the body. Now this doesnt mean that there arent arabian bodybuilders (because there are) but I think that not as many average Joe's will throw themselves so deeply into bodybuilding because orthodox islam does not jive so well with bodybuilding. The concept of modesty also conflicts with the idea of revealing and showing off the body. But with all things changing, this is changing too and a simple search on google will show you many arabian bodybuilders.
that's correct in extremist muslim ideology... which is almost non existent in practice... it's just "words" and a lot of people will act like that's the case but you see them crossing borders on the weekend to get drunk and sleep with hookers. I know a guy who is fucking huge... shoots up a shit ton of gear... but refuses to watch bodybuilding contests because they show their "private parts" LOL and it has music... the religion will never affect bodybuilding because there is a famous saying by the prophet and it translates to "A strong muslim (physically) is closer and more loved by god than a weak muslim (physically)"... a lot of religious people bodybuild because of that saying.
lots of Israeli arabs are into it.
Israelis aren't arabs... you mean palestinians
well i have been to around 5 countries in the middle east. i lived mostly in Dubai. From what i saw, religion effects bodybuilding.
because of the religion, and also the minimum connection between male-female, the only things teens can do is sports especially bodybuilding.
then why don't we hear about all these bodybuilders??
because most have minimum education on aas, so they abuse and most of them get really sick in their mid 20's so they stop.
Another reason is the competitions, a bodybuilder cant afford to prepare for a competition and then get a meddle for overall.
when i was a teen, i trained in a gym that Ahmed Haider owned and coached in. it took him alot of time to be able to compete internationally. same thing goes for Essa obaid. worked out in the same gym for 3 years. he was always competed nationally, winning most of his shows but he couldn't go internationally because he couldn't afford it.
And when they have the money to do so, their federations always restricted them. wanting them to stay Amateurs so they represent the country not them selves. Sami Haddad is the biggest example.
competing internationally is almost impossible unless you are related to the federation head
... the country would never want to spend money to get the athlete out of their hands! Also, most of the amateurs don't even know how to write a simple letter in english to apply for an international contest. funds aren't the biggest problem... the biggest problem they have is that they don't know who to contact. my friend faisal wanted to compete in the arnold amateur but it took him some time to admit to me that he doesn't even know how to write an email, let alone find a contact to send it to.
if they can afford the damn drugs, they can afford to go to big contests, but that aint their problem.
they probably gain 30 pounds in 11 months and then lose it all on Ramadan
LOOOOOOOL..... I eat more in ramadan than i do all throughout the year
....
you gotta come around these parts in ramadan, we call it the month of food
.gif "IP Gear")
