Thursday, February 14, 2008

Wherefore art thou, Romeo

Meet the world's smallest bodybuilder

At just 2ft 9in, Indian muscleman Aditya 'Romeo' Dev is the world's smallest bodybuilder. Pint-sized Romeo is well-known in his hometown of Phagwara, India - for his ability to lift 1.5kg dumbbells - despite his overall 9kg body weight. Every day, crowds flock to the local gym to the see the mini-muscleman in training
Unlike many dwarfs, Romeo is well proportioned, with a head circumference of 15in and a chest measurement of 20in. Romeo said: "I've been training as a bodybuilder for the last two years and by now I think I must be the strongest dwarf in the world. "I have always been fit but since I started working out, I have become famous for my strength. "My size has never stopped me. I train with dumbbells and do aerobics and dance. People are always pleased to see me. I have been invited on TV shows and dance on stage."
His trainer Ranjeet Pal spents hours helping his 19-year-old protege build his small muscles to perfection. Because of his small size, I don't assign him hard exercises. But Romeo trains more or less the same as anyone else and he's much more determined.
"When he first started, I insisted he did a month of basic exercises like aerobics, push-ups and basic gymnastics to prepare his body.
























OK, besides seeing a 2ft 9in body builder with yellow hair and a black mustache and spindly legs there was a couple of things that kind of stood out when I first saw these *pictures above.
The first thing that I noticed is why the heck can’t he find some weight lifting clothes that don’t look like they came from the toddlers department at Kmart?
The other thing I noticed is that that you would think if you were 1/3 the size of an average person one of the few advantages you might have is not looking your full age. This guy looks at least 40 and it says in the article he is only 19!

*These are real pictures. (No Blogball photo manipulation could compete with the real thing in this case)

5 comments:

Rob said...

i noticed that they use the term "well-proportioned". i wonder how i'd feel about that if i were a traditionally-proportioned dwarf -- like how i'm proportioned is "poorly proportioned...?"

si said...

i *really* thought these were altered pics that you had touched up! you're right -- 19 years old? and, well-proportioned -- that's sad! ;-)

jay are said...

I saw this abc.com first or else I would've been convinced you were doin' your thing! :) Very interesting. And I also couldn't believe he's 19. He definitely looks to be in his 40s or older. That's probably the least of his concerns, though, I imagine.

unca said...

He can lift 1.5 kg dumbbells which is about 16% of his body weight. Is that really that good? Is that 1.5 per hand or 1.5 total? Either way... ???
Anyway, I guess you've got to give the guy some credit for doing his best with what he's got. Good for him.

Preben and Ellen said...

I would have thought they were altered too...goodness, what a story!