Egyptian Man, Moustafa Ismail, Tops World’s Largest Upper Arms While Skeptics Cry “Synthol”

Moustafa Ismail of Massachusetts says having arms as wide as an thinly built adult man’s waist comes with plenty of unexpected challenges, including difficulty in finding shirts with sleeves that fit his 31-inch muscles without dwarfing his 5-foot-11 frame.

Moustafa Ismail works out at World Gym in Milford, Mass. He was recently awarded the title of the person with the world’s biggest arms, biceps and triceps by the Guinness Book of World Records. Guinness does not drug-test record-holders.

Ismail denies using any local injections in his 31-inch upper arms, but many skeptics suspect he’s used Synthol or some similar substance to artificially enlarge his arms. Synthol is designed for topical use, but some fanatics inject it locally into their arms. He does admit using testosterone about four or more years ago when he lived in Egypt, and where testosterone was legal.

Synthol can cause pulmonary embolisms, nerve damage, infections, stroke, and the formation of oil-filled granulomas, cysts or ulcers in the muscle. Synthol is 85% oil, 7.5% lidocaine, and 7.5% alcohol. Lidocaine is an anesthetic that can cause muscles to lose tone and droop. The shape of the arms usually look ridiculous. Synthol is legal because it is sold as posing oil, and is then misused as an injection.

Sesame oil is also used to enlarge muscles. Sesame oil can allergic reactions and inflammation of blood vessel, known as vasculitis.

A strange obsession to obtain huge arms. Arnold Schwarzenegger had 22-inch biceps (Biceps is a bit of a misnomer, because the Guinness measurement and common term is taken with a tape wrapped around the entire flexed arm; including his large triceps, which contribute a large portion of the arm circumference). Moustafa Ismail had 26-inch biceps when he tested for Guinness Book of World Records. YouTube has a bunch of videos showing results of Synthol use, but none were tactful enough to put on The Cardinal. The strange shape of the arms of Synthol users look remarkably similar to Ismail’s arms.