Bearing Weight on His Shoulders
16-year-old bodybuilder, Muhammad Thaqim bin Arman shares his progress in the sport, dealing with criticism and finding motivation with ABDUL SHAFI ANSHARI BIN ABDUL AZIZ.
Thaqim experimented with multiple sports before but ultimately deciding that bodybuilding was the one for him.
PHOTO CREDITS: MUHAMMAD THAQIM BIN ARMAN
Muhammad Thaqim bin Arman, 16, practises bodybuilding roughly five times a week. On his best days, he carries weights up to 220 kg which is more than three times his body weight.
Thaqim started bodybuilding in February 2021. Since then, his body weight increased from around 58 kg to 70 kg. He finds that his physique is important to him, and he says that the reason dates back to his primary school days.
“I had nicknames, people calling me Ayam Pendek (short chicken),” he says.
During that period, he was constantly angry and insecure. He is now 170 cm tall, but he thinks he is still considered short.
However, bodybuilding helped Thaqim overcome his insecurities. He realised that even when he got bigger through bodybuilding, he was still a victim of criticism like people questioning whether he took performance enhancement drugs to boost his progress. Now, he chooses not to dwell on hate comments.
“No matter how big you get, people will still find a way to hate on you,” Thaqim says. “I had that mindset that I had to push forward no matter what people say.”
Thaqim’s mother says that he was more confident after he started bodybuilding.
PHOTO CREDITS: MUHAMMAD THAQIM BIN ARMAN
There is a common misconception that bodybuilding should be performed only by adults because of reasons like growth hindrance. Some may think that the most suitable age to begin bodybuilding is 20 to 30 years old. However, Thaqim disagrees and suggests that it is the perfect time for him to start.
Danie Dharma, a pro-bodybuilder who was crowned Mr Singapore 2016, says, “The growth spurts and hormonal changes from puberty makes these (teenage years) an ideal time to take up the sport as those elements greatly speed up the results, especially if a proper nutrition plan is emplaced.”
Luckily for Thaqim, he has a mentor, and it is his father, Mr Arman bin Armin. Being a bodybuilder in the past himself, Mr Arman taught his son diet plans, proper forms of exercises, and even posing.
“I believe he can do it because he follows my [steps],” says Mr Arman.
His mother, Mdm Ramilawati Binte Jumaain, also strongly advocates for her son to participate in bodybuilding and she ensures Thaqim never trains without stretching, proper gear or when his stomach is full.
Mdm Ramilawati says, “When we give him support, he [doesn’t] feel the stress of ‘I’m doing all this, but my parents don’t support me’.”
Additionally, Thaqim finds encouragement from his friends. He says most of his friendships were conveniently formed at the gym, so he gets to bond with them by simply training together. He gets excited to break his personal weightlifting records when he sees his friends breaking theirs. He even says that it is easier to keep up with his current diet, which is to bulk up, by having meals with both his family and friends on days he trains.
Other than family and friends, Thaqim’s motivation comes from an online community. He posts videos of himself posing and training on TikTok under the username, Bapkflyhigh, where he garnered over 6,000 followers and had a video with more than 300,000 views.
He says that he only realised how fast he was progressing when people commented that they were surprised he was only 16 years old. Thaqim felt even more driven when he received multiple direct messages from his TikTok followers about how he inspired them to start bodybuilding because he was able to do it at a young age.
“I can’t be slacking off when people look at me as an inspiration to work harder,” Thaqim says.
He says how he was recognised at gyms from Woodlands all the way to Tampines. On one occasion, he was approached for a photo while he was sleeping in an MRT train. However, Thaqim does not pride himself for his fame but his ability to encourage others to believe in themselves.
“The popularity doesn’t mean [anything] to me honestly. It is more about the people I manage to inspire to work on themselves, being the best version of themselves,” Thaqim says.