A former scrawny teenager has triumphed over vile bullies by becoming a triple bodybuilding champion.
Adam Badat, now 27, joined a gym as a severely bullied 16-year-old. Naturally as a lanky 6’2” 126 pounds, he was the butt of many jokes. Looking back Badat told NYPOST that his anxiety was aggravated by bullies making jokes like, “There’s more meat on a sparrow’s knee cap.”
“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.”
Hell-bent on self-transformation, Badat spent eight years trying to augment his slender frame and adopted 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.’”
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 has also broken his habit of not eating, consuming meals like chicken and broccoli over eight times a day to maintain his multi-award winning physique.
He clinched his first trophy, at a IBFA Mr Lincolnshire First Times bodybuilding category in 2016, 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, 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.”
Badat is now eyeing up the world bodybuilding champions in Italy next year.
Along with his girlfriend Kimberley Grant, 30, he set up a training business, AK Athletics, to help other people going through the same situation.
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.”
