The Mo Samuels we have today is not the same Mo Samuels you would’ve met two years ago. A lad from the United Kingdom, two years ago Mo was only 17 and weighed in at 140 pounds at 10% body fat, and while that may sound perfectly “average” to you it wasn’t until Mo’s knee condition worsened that he began his foray into the bodybuilding world.
According to The Sun, Mo had always suffered from a knee condition called “lymphedema,” in which his knee experiences localized fluid retention and tissue swelling. Prior to then Mo had always just dealt with it, however it wasn’t until one fateful night in 2013 that he woke up in the middle of the night in pain and puking. Rushed to a hospital, doctors found a life-threatening bacterial infection in his knee joint.
After a month-long stay, Mo noticed his clothes were starting to fall off of him:
He explained: “Those three weeks in hospital were absolute hell.
“I couldn’t keep any food down and my knee was causing me extreme pain.
“I was so preoccupied with trying to get better I hadn’t noticed the weight slipping off me.
“Before I was ill I used to wear large or medium then immediately after all my medium clothes were hanging off me.(via)
Realizing that this was not who he wanted to be, Mo began the long journey of working towards rebuilding his strength. However there was one thing affecting him that most people wouldn’t have to deal with:
His lymphedema.
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He said: “I went into all my physio sessions like a raging bull.
“I pushed myself to my absolute limits as I was so determined to get back to my old self.
“Even in the shower, I would stand on one leg and try to bend my knee so my foot touched my bum.
“It was excruciating, but I kept on doing it more and more until my flexibility improved.”(via)
Eventually Mo was able to walk without help. A month later, he could squat his own body weight.
But he didn’t stop there.
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“After two months of this, I looked back to a picture of myself when I got out of hospital and it dawned on me how much I’d bulked up in such a short space of time.
“That’s when I caught the gym bug.
“I became determined to take advantage of my health and push my physique as far as possible and utilise everything I have.
“So that’s when I seriously got into training and sorting out my nutrition to achieve the body of my dreams.”(via)
In order to maintain his bodybuilder’s physique, Mo eats five separate meals a day that add up to 240 grams of protein. Now, two years after his hospitalization Mo says he’s “in the best shape of my life” and even entered his first men’s bodybuilding competition…and placed third.
Not bad for a kid who almost couldn’t walk, huh?
https://twitter.com/MoSamuels_/status/692776519224147969
[H/T The Sun]