A teenage cerebral palsy sufferer has defeated the odds to become a bodybuilding champion.
Doctors told Joshua Whipday that he would never walk or talk and spend his life in a wheelchair because of his neurological condition.
But through sheer determination he is now a bodybuilding champ at the age of 18, bulking up by three stone over the past 18 months.
Joshua, from Langworthy in Greater Manchester, trains five times a week and follows a high-protein diet in the run up to competitions to build muscle.
He eats six times a day, every two hours, and is in such great shape that he triumphed in his first bodybuilding competition, winning the disability category of the Hercules Olympia contest in Colchester.
Joshua said: “I started training to help my disability and it has made me even more determined.
“Doctors told my mum and dad that I wouldn’t walk or talk and I would spend my life in a wheelchair. I wanted to do this because I like to prove people wrong, and I have succeeded.
“Going to the gym and training has made me strong.”
Joshua, who was in a wheelchair from the age of 10 until he was 15 and fought to attend mainstream school, starts the day at 7am with porridge and eight eggs, a lunch of chicken, rice and broccoli followed by regular helpings of ground beef and rice.
After competitions he introduces carbohydrates.
His weight has increased from seven to 10 stone through his special diet.
His workouts at Achieve Fitness, in Oldfield Road, and Olympic Gym, in Eccles, have also seen his confidence rocket and he is now looking forward to competing in the International Bodybuilding and Fitness Association Championships in Newcastle in June.
Joshua added: “I feel so proud of what I have achieved and people say I’m an inspiration. My physio didn’t think it would do me any good but I've proven them wrong.”