BEHIND THE LEGEND OF IMRAN

Since his Basic Military Training (BMT) photo went viral, the swole (very muscular) full-time national serviceman Specialist Cadet (SCT) Muhammad Imran Bin Azeman has started his training at Specialist Cadet School. PIONEER caught up with him at Pasir Laba Camp to find out three things you didn’t know about the "man of legend".

1. He is a former national youth rugby player

SCT Imran was a national youth rugby player. He started playing rugby in secondary school and made it into Singapore's National Under 20 Men's team as well as the Southeast Asian Games training squad.

The 23-year-old was not born swole. He used to be so skinny that his friends would call him galah or "pole" in Malay. He started bulking up when he began his Higher Nitec course in Sport Management, hitting the gym about four to five times a week.

2. He had his fair share of struggles in BMT

Despite looking like he can whizz through BMT, SCT Imran had a difficult start at Pulau Tekong. His fitness was not up to standard and he even had a fever in his first week.

He credits his family for supporting him and checking in on him while he was sick. He eventually lost 10kg in BMT and improved his fitness levels.

3. He credits his family & friends for their support

In spite of the various "legends" of Imran, no man is an island. SCT Imran said he could not have made it through BMT without the brotherhood of his platoon and section mates.

He also thanked his elder brother, 3rd Sergeant (NS) Muhammad Nurjali who served as a military police, for sharing tips on ways to survive field camp and dig a shellscrape.

Want to know more about how SCT Imran "got swole" and what his diet and fitness regime is? Check out our video where he answers 17 quick-fire questions from PIONEER: