Man with stammer shares videos to inspire others

Adam Barlow, 35, has been living with a stammer since early childhood

A man whose gym routine inspired him to post videos about living with a stammer, has made it his mission to help others.

Adam Barlow, 35, from Shrewsbury, has lived with a stammer since the age of three and said it had been "hard work" over the years.

He created a TikTok page in May, called Lift The Fear, where he shares daily videos and goes live, gaining thousands of views.

"It took years to build up a confidence. But I always knew this is something I wanted to do and I just went for it," Mr Barlow said.

Stuttering, or stammering, is a type of speech disorder where the flow of spoken words is altered by repetitions or prolonged sounds.

Mr Barlow spoke of how living with the condition had had its challenges and he had avoided talking in school.

"I couldn't string a sentence, going through school I would always avoid talking," he explained.

"It's all to do with psychological confidence, if you're nervous you're not going to be able to string a sentence at all. There's been blood and tears and now I'm here and I've got there and I can actually string a sentence."

'Be something'

The 35-year-old said he was inspired to create a TikTok page after he started listening to other motivational content whilst lifting weights in the gym.

"People telling me on the speeches I was listening to; 'you can do this, you can do this', over years gave me motivation to actually chase my dreams which was helping other people," he said.

"I called it Lift The Fear because lifting in the gym, just sounded perfect for me."

Mr Barlow said the videos were "massively out of my comfort zone" but the support he had received from others was "amazing".

"I'd always wanted to help others and I'd never had the chance to speak up when I was younger. Now i'm 35, so 32 years later I've finally got the confidence," he said.

"Be something, don't just exist in this world, make it count."