In today's world, the view on body image is constantly changing. The idea of "the perfect body" or "the right shape" is becoming irrelevant and people around the world are more and more comfortable looking the way they want to and changing their bodies for themselves, not for others.
Ilya Tsikov decided to transform his figure so that he would be happier with himself and more confident with his body. In his YouTube video, he tells us about his story and what pushed him to change. "As far as I remember myself, I've always been one of the skinniest kids in my childhood. Growing up, I was very passionate about football and at the age of 9, I started playing for one of the best teams in my country." Ilya wanted to become a professional football player, he worked very hard to achieve that. Although, he was too focused on football to do good in school.
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Iliya's body before the transformation, he is 16-years-old in this photo
Image credits: Iliya Tsikov
Image credits: Iliya Tsikov
In the sports team in school, Ilya was one of the smallest but that didn't stop him from working hard, "What really kept me motivated was the progress I was making throughout the years" - he said in his video. Sadly, Ilya was rejected by a few major sports teams. "After I got rejected, I lost my entire motivation and stopped playing football, probably the biggest mistake of my life, to be honest, but what can I say, I was a kid with a weak mentality."
Image credits: Iliya Tsikov
Image credits: Iliya Tsikov
After training hard at the gym and changing his diet plan, Ilya transformed his appearance completely
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When Ilya was 16, he was losing self-confidence because he was worried he was too skinny, so he made an important wish for his birthday - to make a change. From that day on, he started working out by himself, going to the gym, changing his diet plan. By the time he was 19, the transformation he went through was incredible. He is now 22 and still training hard.
Ilya is 19 in this photo, 3 years after he started working out
Image credits: itfitness_
Image credits: itfitness_
In the description of his video, he mentions that he never thought he had the courage to be the person he is today. "I'm pleased enough to say that I did it - I became a better version of myself" - Ilya writes. He wants to motivate others to reach their goals and become the best version of themselves "If you want something badly from yourself, you own it! I've had many situations where I was so discouraged and wanted to quit but I turned that discouragement into fuel that made me push harder and never give up no matter what the circumstance!"
Image credits: itfitness_
Ilya is finally happy and confident with his body
Image credits: itfitness_