Bullied teen becomes bodybuilding champion
A former scrawny teenager has triumphed over vile bullies by becoming a triple bodybuilding champion.
Adam Badat, now 27, joined a gym as a 16-year-old and was laughed at as he attempted to fulfill his dream of being on the cover of “Men’s Fitness” magazine.
He was made the butt of several jokes about his lanky body shape — he stands six-foot-two-inches tall and standing at 6’2” and weighed just 126 pounds.
Super-toned Badat says his anxiety was hit hard after bullies mocked by saying, “There’s more meat on a sparrow’s knee cap.”
Badat, hell-bent on making a change, spent eight years trying to shake off his slender frame and reverted to a meal plan in the last 18 months to turn his ambitions into reality.
Badat, who is from north-west England, said: “My teenage years were filled with comments such as ‘you need to eat more.’”
“When I first got to my first gym session I remember it as clear as day, I just jumped on a treadmill for 45 minutes and that was it.”
“People used to laugh at me in the gym saying what’s he doing here, he can’t lift that.”
“I was a very self-conscious person — I didn’t like eating in front of people and so if nobody else at the table was eating, then I wouldn’t either.”
“Obviously it affected my self-confidence and hindered my development – I was quite a shy person.”
“I didn’t even dare go near the weights area – my anxiety was that bad.”
During his high school years, Badat became extremely insecure and said he didn’t like to eat in front of people – so would go hungry.
He joined the gym aged 16 as a way to show defiance against those laughing at his body shape.
Badat’s experience with bullies has been one he has turned on its head to wear as a badge of honor — and he is now a bodybuilding champion.
He now scarfs down on chicken and broccoli over eight times a day to keep his multi-award winning physique.
But even when he clinched his first trophy, at a IBFA Mr Lincolnshire First Times bodybuilding category in 2016, he thought it was a fluke.
He then collected his second and third first places at the GBO Mansfield (Male Model) and GBO Leicester (Men’s Physique) in the space of just six months.
Badat is now eyeing up the world bodybuilding champions in Italy next year.
Badat, who works as power train program leader at Jaguar Range Rover, said: “I just thought it was a fluke, but after claiming a second one it was enough to settle my demons.”
“I just kept on with the gym during my teen years, using the negativity to fuel the positive change.”
“I’m not on the cover of men’s fitness magazine just yet – but I am still trying.”
Along with his girlfriend Kimberley Grant, 30, the pair have set up their own personal training business, AK Athletics, to help other people going through the same situation.
Grant said following the birth of her two children to a former partner she had ballooned in size due to high estrogen levels.
The pair met at the gym and became each other’s support.
Badat said: “We’ve been through all the extremes to establish what works.”
“We can help other people because we’ve been both sides of the scales – a lot of personal trainers have always been big bodybuilders and know no different.”
“With us we help people who are in the same situation and have never been to a gym before – like we were when we first started out.”