Founder of one of the most renowned Brazilian bodybuilding pages, Hugo Abbá decided to become a stage athlete and experience the sport he has been commenting on for over a decade.
In an interview with the column, Abbá highlights the benefits that the decision generated even in other areas of his activity in sport: “It gave me more baggage […] It added a lot to my career. I was able to speak more assertively.”
Active on social media since the beginning of the last decade, the physical educator and communicator created Horsepower Pro in 2013. However, it was only in 2020 that he actually decided to compete. Among several reasons that led him to the stage, one of them was the validation that this would bring to his comments.
Abbá says that, initially, his intention was to perform just once: “I wanted to feel it firsthand, prove that I could do it.” However, the digital influencer got a taste for competitions and, today, has been involved in competitive bodybuilding for more than five years.
“It’s very difficult to be a bodybuilder. It’s very easy for a finish to go wrong. Many people criticize it as if it were easy to reach 100% in all the championships. With this, I was able to further develop my empathy and respect for everyone”, he adds.
For the 2026 season, his main objective is to win a professional card. He is currently preparing to climb at this year’s Arnold Classic Ohio.
Even before creating the page, Abbá was already making several publications regarding bodybuilding – a practice he started just over 15 years ago – on his personal profile on social media. A physical education student at the time, he even used his classes to create content. “Everything I learned in college became an idea for publication,” he says.
During the conversation, the digital influencer detailed the process that led him to create the logo and name of his brand: “I searched and saved several photos. One day, I saved an image that I particularly liked – it was a drawing of a muscular horse doing a bodybuilding pose […] until, at a certain point, I had the idea of creating a page and immediately thought of this image to use as my profile photo. So I added ‘horse’ [referente ao desenho em questão] e ‘power’ [referente ao ‘powerlifting’, que significa halterofilismo, esporte que praticava no início da década passada, em inglês]. It was only then that I noticed that this combination gave ‘Horsepower’, a word that means horsepower in English. Then, I added the ‘Pro’ in reference to professional bodybuilding. My intention was to make a kind of Brazilian version of magazines like ‘Muscular Development’ and ‘Flex Magazine’, for example.”
The athlete also remembers the dynamics he followed at the beginning of his business. “I published the publications at times when I had access to the college library. Before entering the classroom, during breaks… When I was able to buy a better cell phone, my productivity practically doubled. As there weren’t many people doing the same thing, the page grew quickly.”
Pressure
Asked about his entry into the sport competitively, Abbá reveals that it was not an easy decision. “I felt pressure. I was a little afraid, because if I did badly, it would be very bad for my image […] At that point, I had already been playing the sport for seven years. Seven years of cultivating this desire, but not knowing if I could do it. It was very productive. I made my dream come true and this helped Horsepower Pro grow. Almost six years later, we are here, reconciling everything. And it’s working.”
The communicator also emphasizes that his priority remains the page, regardless of his results on stage. “I’m not going to compete forever. My biggest goal is to get the professional card and be able to compete in the IFBB Professional League [Federação Internacional de Fisiculturismo e Fitness] at least once […] After I achieve this goal, I would like to continue competing, but for pleasure. With as few hormones as possible. The competitive level demands a lot. I would like to see what I can do prioritizing health and quality of life”, he concludes.
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