A fitness-loving mum, who picked up her first bodybuilding trophy just months after getting into the sport, has been crowned a world champion.
Mother-of-two Charlene Harvey, from Malmesbury, Wiltshire, was a keen runner who enjoyed taking part in marathons, but had always preferred cardio over pumping iron.
The 36-year-old was left ‘absolutely gutted’ when she was forced to quit the competitive sport a few years ago due to a hamstring injury.
After having two children – Louis, now 11 and Lilli, 10 – she and husband Chris started hitting her local gym once more, and Charlene was encouraged to enter a bodybuilding contest by a fellow training partner.
Charlene took part in her first competition nine months later in June 2015, at the Pure Elite in Manchester, where she picked up no less than three trophies. ‘After that, I was hooked,’ she admits.
And she took to the stage once again on 25 November, when she took part in the Pure Elite World Championships in Margate, Kent.
Flexing her muscles against competitors from all over the world – including Nigeria, United Arab Emirates and the States – Charlene beat off stiff competition to win the Muscle Model open World Champion trophy.
Charlene said: ‘I didn’t fancy it at first. All that prancing about on stage just wasn’t me. But I finally decided to give it a go.
‘I couldn’t believe it when my name was read out as the winner. I was absolutely stunned.’
Now Charlene will juggle bringing up Louis and Lilli with her job in accounts and her rigorous training programme, which involves getting up at 5.30am and limiting herself to just 1,200 calories a day.
‘To do this you have to follow a very strict diet and get your body fat percentage down to eight per cent, which is difficult for women,’ Charlene admits.
She’ll normally avoid anything more indulgent than chicken, fish, steak, nuts, berries, salads, egg whites and protein powder – though she’ll often ‘cheat’ by treating herself to ‘a jacket potato with cheese and beans’.
‘Anyone can train in the gym, but the diet is the most difficult part,’ Charlene explains.
‘I’m going to see how far I can go with it.’
Courtesy of: Daily Mail
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