CANDID: This was a very challenging journey, says Nasser al-Maslamani.

‘The feeling you get when they finally call out your name is unbelievable.
It was such an honour to represent Qatar and win. It was overwhelming,’
amateur bodybuilder Nasser al-Maslamani tells Anand Holla


Fifteen years ago, had you asked a very obese Nasser al-Maslamani whether he believes he could ever achieve glory for Qatar on the world bodybuilding stage, his answer would have been a yes. You might have shrugged off such dreamy optimism as wishful thinking but al-Maslamani was well on his way to making up his mind, and body.
By winning Joe Weider’s Mr. Olympia 2015 competition, recently in Liverpool, UK, in the Men’s 95kg category, the Qatari amateur bodybuilder has put his nation on the muscle map. Al-Maslamani defeated the world’s top amateur bodybuilders to become the first Qatari national to triumph at the prestigious competition.
As he sits at his office by the Corniche — as the Director of Human Resources at the Qatar Stars League (QSL) — al-Maslamani is visibly charged the moment the conversation veers to Qatar. “My dream was to show to the world that Qatar has professional athletes that can compete with the best of the best at an international level. Insha’Allah, I will excel at the next competition as well,” the 30-something says. Here, Al-Maslamani lets us in on his fantastic story:
 
You used to weigh more than 100 kilos. How did your journey down the path of fitness start?
It all started when I returned to Qatar around 1999, from the UK. I was in my early 20s and had just studied Business and Marketing. In Qatar, as we know, obesity is an issue. I, too, was an obese teenager. I was very unconfident. I didn’t want to step out of my house because I didn’t feel comfortable wearing my traditional clothes. Just to look at myself and my sagging stomach in the mirror was utterly embarrassing. Even when my family wanted to go out shopping, to the cinema or to visit relatives, I would always find an excuse to stay home, order Burger King and eat my day into a happy circumstance — food always makes one happy. My concerns reached a breaking point when I had to go to my close cousin’s wedding but I didn’t want to go. I somehow forced myself to go. From that day on, I told myself — Listen, you will have to go to the gym. So I enrolled in gym and my journey began.
 
What was your initial plan? How clued in were you about exercising then?
I wasn’t looking for a six-pack or anything special. I just wanted to look normal in my clothing, like having a semi-flat belly (laughs). Since I was so angry and upset with myself, I hit the gym with a vengeance and would be there for hours. The only thing I knew was I wanted to lose weight. So with my uneducated mind, I would finish my training and then go and eat at Burger King. But because of the amount of training, despite eating unhealthy, I was still losing fat. But I was also losing muscle and getting unhealthier because I was overtraining and also eating the wrong kinds of food. Luckily for me, I managed to register in a gym where the national team of bodybuilders was training. Initially, I would get disgusted just looking at them. These guys were huge — veins popping out of their necks, shoulders the size of bowling balls, and backs the size of walls. But I really respected how supportive they were. They would always come up and give me their two cents, like if you train this way for a week, you will improve your endurance by this much. Eventually that created a hunger for knowledge. It drove me to learn about nutrition. The motto that you are what you eat is very true. After about three years, my body began to transform. It became a passion.
 
So meeting bodybuilders back then was key to finding your swing?
Yes. Since I got to know some of them, I was invited to meet the national team coach of the bodybuilding federation around 2003. This gentleman looked at me and said: ‘Son, there are people who have the genetics to be a bodybuilder and then those who have the genetics to build a beach body. I’m sorry but your body wasn’t meant to be on a bodybuilding stage.’ And that was the ignition. If anybody who tells me I can’t do it will learn that I can. I always believe that if there’s a will, there’s a way. I began training intensively and six years later, in 2009, I made my first bodybuilding competition appearance. It was in Sheraton Doha, organised by Qatar Body-building and Weight-lifting Federation, which was dissolved two years ago. I came fifth.
 
Did that give you the boost you needed?
Yes. So, that year, I was invited by Qatar’s national team to compete in Mr Arabia in Jordan. The gentleman I referred to was now the national team coach of Jordan. I decided to go. I met him. He said he had seen me before but he couldn’t remember me. A guy accompanying us told him that I was that fat kid with glasses. The coach didn’t say a word, just shook my hand and said — Proud of you. My proof to myself was that I could compete. I was out of the pre-qualifying; I wasn’t even in the top six. The others were so sculpted that it was unreal. This competition changed my perspective. I started learning more about training and nutrition and went on to compete at five other competitions, and guess what? I lost every single one of them. I continued to compete, I continued to fail, which led me to learn that the key to success is failure. You need to fail, fall flat on the face on the floor to learn to take your first step back up and move forward.
 
At that point, you might not have had this wisdom. So what kept you going?
It’s simple — I didn’t give up. My dream was to imprint our country’s flag onto the stage, onto the sport. I didn’t give up because people — my family, colleagues, friends — told me that I could do it. I had to prove them right. That’s what kept me going when I was tired and eating chicken and steamed rice without any salt six times a day, tired of waking up at 4am in the morning, doing cardio, going to work, eating every two hours, leaving office, going back to the gym at 2pm, train and go home have another meal, return to gym at 7pm, train again, relax, get home, eat my meal at 9pm, hit the treadmill at 10.30pm, eat my last meal before going to sleep. I was exhausted. But what kept me going was my dream to have my maroon and white flag with me as I am on stage with a Gold Medal and a cup that says number one on it, at the World Championships. And it happened.
 
You bagged Silver at the 2013 Mr. Olympia Middle East. What did that do to you?
Everybody told me it’s impossible to compete with guys that beat the best of the best. Guess what? That gave me another ignition. It was my first Mr. Olympia. To my right was a four-time Mr World, Ahmed Alwadani of Egypt. I was so nervous, thinking I am not going to win this. But inside me, something told me I had done my work. I gave it my best and I got my first Silver. What pleased me was Alwadani came up to me and said — You made me nervous. I had lost to him by only a point, which pumped me up even more.
 
Has pursuing bodybuilding majorly affected other aspects of your life, too?
Body-building is a 24-hour pursuit. It’s extremely scientific and time-precise. When you really get into it, it’s a whole different level. But family comes first and I had to take a break for two years as some of my family members took ill. I got back in April, with the support of QSL and my family, and trained for six months for Mr. Olympia 2015. Just the journey itself teaches you a lot. You grow as an individual. You become more disciplined and mature. It helps me in my job. When I managed my meals and weight, it improved my way of thinking about budgets and project deadlines. My sport made me a better professional.
 
How was the feeling of being up there on stage and realising your dream?
This was a very challenging journey because this was just me. I didn’t have the financial support and I had to get myself a nutritionist, coach, dietician for supplementation, and a doctor to monitor where I can improve. I took 40 days of leave before the competition and went to Egypt to train with the Egyptian national team. That’s because if you want to challenge lions, you need to train with the lions. Egypt, Kuwait and Iran are the top three teams in the world. At Mr. Olympia, every country had 14 to 15 competitors. I was the only one representing Qatar. I clutched my flag dearly. The feeling you get when they finally call out your name is unbelievable. It was such an honour to represent Qatar and win for Qatar. It was overwhelming.
 
If you are an aspiring bodybuilder or athlete in need of advice or inspiration, you can get in touch with al-Maslamani on Twitter at @nassermaslamani  or Instagram at @the_competitor_



Related Story