INAS KULI
Most of us struggle with health and fitness when we’re growing up. My life was no different in this regard. School was tough and with it the ever growing chubbiness I had to deal with. I used to love munching on rolls, chinese dishes and other tasty food and a daily exercise was nowhere in my routine. I wasn’t involved in any physical activities either.
Slowly and gradually I started to put on more weight. Criticisms are common if you’re a fat kid. Even a light comment might affect your self esteem. I realized it was only up to me to change this.
Things were going wrong. I wanted to cut down weight and start living a healthy life. So I went to the extreme end. I had no idea about dieting and stopped eating almost completely for several days. I could see my weight going down but at the same time I felt weak and still unhealthy.
I needed guidance, and I am grateful to Pallav Das, who made me understand the proper way to diet to reduce body fat and build muscle.
I worked really hard and that improved my body shape and fitness a lot. Later, I participated in a North-East Regional BodyBuilding Event and stood third place. This motivated me a lot, but honestly, I wasn’t satisfied with the placing. I knew I could do a lot better. I needed a coach who could give me more guidance and professional knowledge in this field to gain a better physique.
Thankfully, Pallav later introduced me to Pulak Sir, a CPT expert in the fitness industry. I met him at an Aerofit gym. It was through his help that I understood my body better and I started seeing muscle training from a completely different perspective. On 25 June 2018, I began my training rigorously and continued for 3 months under him. Unfortunately I could not compete in the event I was preparing for, as I suffered from dengue 2 weeks prior. I lost 3-4 lbs of weight after that. But it could not keep me down for long.
On 2nd July 2019 I started my preparation for a bigger goal, the Mr. India Bodybuilding Championship. During this phase I learned many new things about training muscles effectively. I won Gold in Mr. Kamrup 2019 District Championship and also won The Overall Title. This was a qualifier for the National Event and I was directly selected for it, where I later achieved third place. It was my first ever national level participation and I was excited that I could secure a position for myself.
Even today, I always feel like I have a lot more to learn from him. During training, I was consuming roughly around 3500 calories a day. The journey was very enjoyable and enriching. The one thing that kept me motivated was that my coach believed in me.
During our first meeting I told him I wanted to compete at the stage naturally without using drugs or steroids. I have met many trainers who claim that you cannot get results naturally. Not true at all. It is definitely a slow process, but with dedication, discipline and patience anyone can achieve these dreams. There is nothing wrong with using steroids if you study about them and use them accordingly, but that is not what I was pursuing. I strongly believe that with patience and hardwork you can achieve great heights and I wanted to prove it to myself. My coach and I, both, believe in purely natural bodybuilding and both of us have won many championships this way.
It took a huge amount of commitment, discipline, consistency, hard work, and pushing myself beyond my limits but in the end, it feels good having a six-pack, pumped chest and a v-line that I know I earned with my own sweat and blood.