Kalpesh Bedsa decided to work on his body under the most difficult circumstances. His love for gymnastics and bodybuilding began under rather unfortunate circumstances, after his friends at school bullied and made fun of him for his physical appearance. Something that began to overcome the trauma of his childhood, has brought him praise in the last stage of his life.
Bedsa, who has worked with the likes of India Today, Mid Day, ZEEL and DNA, is now Regional Business Development Manager at Bharat Media Group. Furthermore, she has represented Maharashtra twice and Mumbai district three times in bodybuilding competitions.
Bedsa has been a Muscleblaze sponsored athlete in 2019, 2020 and 2022. He was in the top five finishers in Mr. Mumbai Men’s Physique Athlete in 2019. In the same year, he was in the top six finishers from Maharashtra in Men’s Physique. In the Mr. Mumbai competition in 2020, he was among the top 10 contestants in the same category.
Remembering his early days bedsa He says, “I was someone who suffered a lot of bullying as a child, mainly because of my physical appearance. It has created a lot of mental trauma for me as a child. I decided to work on it and started my fitness journey when I was 16 years old. I didn’t have much idea about bodybuilding and fitness, but as the days went by, my passion for fitness grew. While I was graduating, at the same time I took physical conditioning, nutrition, and sports nutrition courses from various accredited institutions.”
Bedsa tried her hand at modeling during this period. She even walked the ramp for a few fashion shows at the time.
“My days in college were so much better compared to my days in school because the fitness path has helped me stay mentally and physically fit. But I never had any intention of participating in any competition until 2018.” Bedsa says.
Professional push…
It was his coach Viraj Sarmalkar who encouraged him to take part in competitions and helped him gain the confidence to do so.
“Participating in bodybuilding competitions is a completely different game than a corporate job. But, I decided to take a step. Today I am a Muscleblaze sponsored athlete and currently preparing for the district, state and Asia level competitions this year starting in December 2022,” Bedsa says.
On the challenges, he says, “I wanted to balance my work and fitness journey to challenge myself. Having a full-time job, especially in sales and marketing, and following a passion where you have restrictions on your food intake is challenging. You will be in the field meeting with clients and at night you will have to go to the gym. While you compete you are on stage with people who have dedicated all day and night to it, while the same does not happen to me. I strive to be successful at both and that’s an amazing feeling.”
Bedsa is inspired by coach Sarmalkar, who is her “constant cheerleader”. His support system is his parents Badrinarayan and Parvati, and his wife Pooja, his sons Krishiv and Ravya.
“In the beginning, my family had a problem due to the lower food intake, but as the days went by they understood my passion and supported me. Also, you won’t be able to spend much time with family with work and training sessions, even on weekends. What I normally do is once I finish competitions, I make sure to take my family on vacation, so I can make up for the time I was away from them.” he says.
In addition to pursuing her passion for fitness, Bedsa also helps people transform and achieve their fitness goals. How do you manage time? He trains people online and through his Instagram account.
Where there is passion, there is always a way.
