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    Default Mohamed Makkawy is the Most Aesthetic Bodybuilder You’ve (Probably) Never Heard Of



    The year is 1982, and everyone is ablaze about the Mr. Olympia. After two controversial contests in a row, it finally seems that bodybuilding is returning to some form of normality.


    To the dismay of many fans and media members, Arnold Schwarzenegger won the 1980 Mr. Olympia. So incensed were Arnold’s rivals that several refused to participate the following year, and one athlete, Mike Mentzer, outright retired. In 1981 Franco Columbu returned from a horrific leg injury at the 1977 World Strongest Man contest to claim his second Olympia title. Franco’s win was also contentious, with many competitors claiming that the contest was rigged.


    In 1982 there were no debates. Chris Dickerson and Frank Zane brought incredible packages to the stage, and Dickerson edged out Zane to claim his only Olympia title. It was a feel-good moment and an indication to fans that bodybuilding was once again more about the bodies and not the politics.




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    Finishing seventh that evening was Mohamed Makkawy, later nicknamed the “Magic Egyptian.” The 1982 Mr. O was Makkawy’s first Olympia, and his routine was, in this author’s opinion, one of the best in bodybuilding history. At the time, Makkawy stood 5’4,” weighing around 170 pounds on stage, and is the only bodybuilder with a consistent win record over eight-time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney.


    Not the largest athlete, Makkawy distinguished himself through his leanness and posing mastery. From the late 1970s to the early 1980s, Makkawy is widely regarded as the best poser of his generation.


    Owing to ill-luck and the quality of his rivals, Makkawy never won a Mr. Olympia title. And despite being victorious in a recorded 13 IFBB contests (between the overall and the “short” category), Makkawy’s inability to capture an Olympia means he’s sometimes forgotten by fans — both old and new — of bodybuilding.


    Meet Mohamed Makkawy
    Born in Egypt in 1953, Makkawy came of age when Egyptian weightlifters regularly dominated the international scene. (1) At the 1936 Olympics, for example, Khadr El-Touni won a gold medal in the under 75-kilogram class. (2) In Health & Strength magazine and Strength & Health magazine, two of the most prominent weightlifting magazines of the mid-twentieth century, the country was written about as a hotbed of weightlifting activities. (3)




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    Such activities boded well for a young Makkawy who, although short in stature, drew inspiration from his home country. Egypt was also not entirely dominated by weightlifting. Bodybuilding had similarly captured the nation’s attention. For Makkawy, who was regarded as a proficient weightlifter and powerlifter in his own right, it was in this sport that he would truly shine.


    In 1969, Makkawy entered and won his first bodybuilding contest — the Mr. Egypt show. Supposedly weighing around 155 pounds, Makkawy’s victory was an indication of future success. Over the next several years, Makkawy would rack up a series of impressive wins: first in the “Short” and “Overall” category at the 1972 Mediterranean Amateur Championships, first in the 1975 Mr. International competition, and then he logged his most impressive win to date at the 1976 Mr. Universe contest. He placed second the following year and then moved to Toronto, Canada, making it easier to compete in North America IFBB contests. (4)


    Makkawy’s Pro Career
    Based in Toronto, Makkawy finished seventh in the 1978 Mr. World contest. It was a promising debut, but the still-young athlete was only learning the ropes. That year he also finished sixth in the under 200 pounds class at the Mr. Olympia show. (Frank Zane won that year.)


    From 1978 to 1981, Makkawy was a respected athlete but rarely failed to break into the top five of IFBB contests. Starting in 1982, however, Makkawy began to win shows outright, gained a reputation as a fantastic poser, and was considered by many to be a Mr. Olympia contender.


    What changed? Most notably, Makkawy enlisted the help of the “Iron Guru,” Vince Gironda.


    Seen by Gironda as one of the best bodybuilders of his generation, Makkawy worked with the “Iron Guru” during his most successful periods in the 1980s. Makkawy was, in many ways, the perfect Gironda disciple. He was smaller than the mass monsters of his age, had smart training habits, and believed in symmetry and the art of posing.


    These two changes brought Makkawy from the mid-card to the top of the ticket. In 1982, Makkawy won the IFBB Grand Prix in Belgium and Sweden after two 10th-place finishes and an eighth-place finish the year prior. Although he finished seventh at the 1982 Mr. Olympia, it was clear that he turned a corner.



    The following year, 1983, was Makkawy’s most successful Olympia showing as a bodybuilder. He won four separate IFBB competitions and finished second at the Mr. Olympia, losing narrowly to Samir Bannout. Notably, Makkawy finished ahead of Lee Haney, who finished third in his Mr. Olympia debut.


    Haney went on to dominate bodybuilding from 1984 to 1991, winning eight consecutive Mr. Olympia titles. In 1983, however, Haney struggled to compete with Makkawy. That same year, Makkawy placed ahead of Haney in five IFBB contests (including the Olympia), according to musclememory.com.


    What makes this feat all the more impressive is the size difference between the two. In stark contrast to Makkawy, Haney stood 5’11” and around 250 pounds on stage. Makkawy was 5’4? and close to 170.


    Once again, Makkawy finished second at the 1984 Mr. Olympia. After one more attempt at a Sandow, he placed fourth in 1985 Mr. Olympia, and then retired indefinitely from the sport.


    He sensationally returned briefly in the late 1990s when he competed in six different IFBB shows. Failures to place higher than seventh at any of these shows did nothing to diminish his mystique. Much like Kevin Levrone’s 2016 Olympia return, Makkawy’s reemergence allowed a new set of fans to experience the “Magic Egyptian.”


    Training and Feeding the Magic Egyptian
    To compete with the big boys of bodybuilding, Makkawy was methodical in his training and eating. In this regard, it was no surprise he joined forces with Vince Gironda, who was one of the generation’s most thoughtful trainers.



    Rather than detailing every aspect of Makkawy’s approach, we focus on his 1983 and 1984 Olympia routines, devised with the help of Gironda. The following comes from Gironda’s training book Unleashing the Wild Physique. (5)


    Day One
    Pectorals


    • Neck Press: 8 x 8
    • Low Bench Flye: 8 x 8
    • Decline Pulley Flye: 8 x 8
    • Wide Parallel Bar Dip: 8 x 8

    Latissimus


    • 90-Degree Short Pulley: 8 x 8
    • Chest-to-Bar Pull-Up: 8 x 8
    • High Bench Row: 8 x 8
    • Short Lat Pulley: 8 x 8

    Deltoids


    • Alternate Front and Back Press: 8 x 8
    • 70-Degree Lateral Raise: 8 x 8
    • Bent-Over Pulley: 8 x 8

    Day Two
    Triceps


    • Kickback: 8 x 8
    • 90-degree Cradle Bench Rope Pulley: 8 x 8
    • Close-grip Bench Press: 8 x 8
    • Nautilus Triceps Pressdown: 8 x 8

    Biceps


    • Dumbbell Preacher Bench Curl: 8 x 8
    • Alternate Incline Bench Curl: 8 x 8
    • Spider Bench Curl: 8 x 8
    • Concentration Short-Range Pulley Curl: 8 x 8

    Forearms


    • Decline Wrist Curl: 5 x 10
    • Reverse Barbell Curl: 5 x 10
    • Zottman Curl: 5 x 10

    Day Three
    Thigh


    • Hack Slide: 8 x 12
    • Roman Chair Squat: 8 x 12
    • Thigh Extension: 8 x 12
    • Flat Leg Curl: 3 x 20
    • Power Leg Curl: 3 x 20
    • Pulley Squeeze: 5 x 12

    Calves


    • Prone Hack Heel Raise: 8 x 20
    • Seated Heel Raise: 8 x 20

    Abdominals


    • Leg Raise: 8 x 8
    • Crunch: 8 x 8

    In an article with Muscle Magazine around this time, Makkawy described his pre-contest diet as follows:


    “My diet has been the same as it always is when preparing for a contest. In other words, I start by eating only meat, chicken, and fish (zero carbohydrates). Then as the contest gets nearer, I reduce the amount of food, and I take amino-acids and liver tablets instead until the last week when I am living entirely on amino-acids and liver tablets and no food.” (6)


    This was a time before calorie counting had indeed become the norm for professional bodybuilders. One can see the lengths Makkawy was willing to go to get lean. Even by his contemporaries, Makkawy was known for his extremes. That he trained so intensely and on such little food (and no carbohydrates) is a testament to his willpower and dedication.


    Such training and eating brought Makkawy into competition shape, but what he did on the stage solidified his legend. Bodybuilding is part art and part sport. The artistry comes in the posing, and Makkawy was simply magnificent when it came to showing the strengths and hiding the flaws of his physique.



    Today, Makkawy is an online coach and “performance specialist.” He sells online training courses and offers training videos on his YouTube channel.


    Summing Up The Magic Egyptian
    By today’s standards, Makkawy would have been dwarfed on stage next to the likes of 2020-2021 Mr. Olympia Big Ramy, who stands 5’11” and around 295 pounds on stage. (Though, he may have given the competitors in Classic Physique a run for their money.)


    However, what the stats don’t show was Makkawy’s symmetry, leanness, and impeccable posing. Makkawy competed when Frank Zane, Chris Dickerson, and Samir Bannout were challenging for and winning Olympia titles. This was when mass monsters did not yet define bodybuilding; variety and competition were at the heart of the sport.


    Makkawy never won a Mr. Olympia. That should not, however, detract from his accomplishments in the sport of bodybuilding —13 professional wins, multiple victories over Lee Haney, and posing routines that are still lauded by fans today for being works of art. Makkawy was often outsized, but he proved that bodybuilding could, and should, be open to all.


    References
    [*]Mohamed Makkawy, Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. https://www.encyclopediaofbodybuilding.net/mohamed-makkawy.html [*]Khadr El Touni, Childlovski https://chidlovski.livejournal.com/1131452.html [*]More on Egyptian physical culture can be found at Jacob, Wilson Chacko. Working out Egypt: Masculinity and subject formation between colonial modernity and nationalism, 1870–1940. New York University, 2005.[*]Mohamed Makkawy, Muscle Insider, https://muscleinsider.com/canadian-profiles/mohamed-makkawy [*]Gironda, Vince, and Robert Kennedy. Unleashing the Wild Physique: Ultimate Bodybuilding for Men and Women. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1984, 163-167.[*] Bill Dobbins, ‘Mohamed Breaks Through – To An Unbeatable Back,’ Flex, July (1995), 26-32.

    Featured Image: @bodybuildingnation on Instagram




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    He's been on my gym wall for many yrs, great classic BB
     

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