Mr Muscular

After earning the titles of Mr J&K  and Mr Kashmir for many years, besides winning two gold medals at the north–zone level competitions in bodybuilding, Muddasir Aziz is now guiding youngsters in developing their physique in his own capacity, after the government failed to provide him with any support. Junaid Nabi Bazaz reports.

During his teenage Muddasir Aziz of the Batamaloo area was a lanky and skinny guy. His parents often insisted him to join a gym to work out in order to improve his physique. It was on his parental insistence that Mudasir joined a gym to improve his physique. But with time his interest in body-building became a passion. Now he has earned the titles of Mr Kashmir five times, Mr J&K two times and won two gold medals in north India level competitions.

To earn a series of such titles, Mudasir has competed with not only the bodybuilders of the region, state but with players of national and international standards.

“I never did bodybuilding for winning titles. It was my passion to develop it,” says a tall and broad Mudasir.

Mudasir is right now running his own gym and since its inception, it has produced many bodybuilders who have won many state-level competitions. Mohsin Gilkar is recent of these players who won Mr Srinagar competition. In September this year, he will be fighting for Mr Kashmir title.

In the year 2002, Muddasir won Mr Kashmir title for the first time and continued with his winning streak for five consecutive years till 2006. He says, “It takes a lot of effort to win any competitions that too consecutively.”

 Bodybuilding is a rich man’s affair. It takes a lot of money to develop your body. After Muddasir won Mr Kashmir title for the first time in 2002, he started a small gym just for his own workout.

“My father gave me complete financial support for many years but then I thought I should do something on my own,” he says.

 Muddasir converted it into a full-fledged one and made it a source of earning for himself. With his sincere efforts, the gym earned fame and became successful.

“When passion becomes a profession, it is literally great,” he says.

Since the early days of his body-building career, Muddasir felt the need to have good health and physique as basic to human beings. It is in fact a need for every human being particularly for sportspersons. Muddasir says, “No sports person can turn out to be a successful sportsman until he has good health. It is not only game practice but fitness also that plays a pivotal role in their overall performance.”

But Muddasir is unhappy with the state government’s indifference to sports. Since everyone in Kashmir cannot afford to go the gym, he thought to develop a facility that everyone can afford would be a real contribution to society.  To accomplish this dream he visited the states sports council department for their assistance but they turned down his offer.

 “They told me that I should have a fitness certificate first for that,” Muddasir told Kashmir Life.

In 2008 Muddasir left for Jalander and completed a three month’s certificate course in bodybuilding and fitness in which he topped. Muddasir was then hopeful that his dream will come true. After he returned from Jalander, he went to the sports department once again. But this time again, the offer was turned down.

 “They now asked me that I should have a fitness course certificate from the National Institute of sports then only it is possible to translate your dream into reality,” said Muddasir.

Passionate Muddasir did not lose hope. In 2012, he left for Mumbai to have that certificate also. After successfully topping the course, he approached the sports council once again to fulfil their promise. “But now they rejected my offer completely,” said Muddasir.

At present, there is no state-owned bodybuilding gym in Kashmir but Muddasir in his personal capacity is filling this vacuum to a certain extent. At present, he trains more than 150 people at his institute ‘Muscle break’ in the Rainawari area of Srinagar.

 Rubbishing the apprehensions of people that the body expands due to supplements, Muddasir says that people are confusing supplements with steroids. These are two different things. The food supplement is a mixture of various fruits and vegetables which gives minerals and other essential nutrients to the body in a fixed proportion which is not possible otherwise. And steroids are something different. In fact, he says, food supplement is given as a prescription and a person cannot take it without consultation.

 He says, “If food supplement is taken in a proper quantity, it can never be hazardous to the human body.”