Meet supermum Vicki Eaglefield. A former veterinary nurse, a three-time world record-holder in weightlifting and a single mum.
This year, 37-year-old Vicki took the world records for three lifts at her very first power-lifting competition.
Alongside these huge personal achievements, Vicki is a mum to Grace, 12, and Elsie-Rose, nine, and works full-time as the health and fitness membership advisor at the Branston Golf and Country Club.
But this life of weightlifting and exceptional fitness has not always been the case for Vicki.
At her heaviest, Vicki was 19 stone. Her second daughter had been born and she admits that she was not doing any exercise and was eating a ‘rubbish’ diet.
She said: “I always said I was too busy to exercise. I had always been a big girl and when I met my husband at 17 I just kept gaining weight.
“I had tried every fad diet available including meal replacement. Everyone wants it to happen instantly, but it doesn’t work like that.”
On Boxing Day 2011, something inside Vicki snapped. She pulled on her trainers and went for a mile run.
She said: “I walked and ran, but I was determined to complete the mile in one go.”
The new year saw Vicki join the Fat Loss Lifestyle diet, which involves low amounts of carbohydrates and high amounts of fat and also training sessions and bootcamps.
One session a week turned to two a week and eventually she was going twice a day when she could.
Between January and September 2012, Vicki lost an astounding four-and-a-half stone and 10 inches off her waistline and hips.
She said: “It hooked me. It was the feeling you get from exercising and the results from the combination of eating right and exercising.
“I felt better too, in fact, I felt amazing.
“It required a completely new wardrobe, but I can take the stairs two at a time now.
“But I looked like a runner, thin and willowy, and I wanted a bit more shape.”
Vicki joined a gym in autumn 2012 and began training with people who were doing weights and she began bodybuilding.
After having her children, Vicki had not gone back to her job as a veterinary nurse, and other than a brief period in 2012 where she ran a dog-biscuit bakery with a friend and a job at a tanning cabin, she had not thought about returning to work.
However, when Vicki was offered a job at David Wilson gym in Burton, she took it. Her experience there helped her apply for her current position at Branston Golf and Country Club, which she took up in 2014.
Through her training with body-builders, Vicki discovered power-lifting.
Power-lifting includes three main disciplines – squat, bench-lift and deadlift.
Vicki holds world records in the Straddle Deadlift, lifting 130kg, 35kg in the Two-hander Anyhow lift, and she secured her third world record with the One-Armed Zercher, lifting 60kgs.
She joked: “I just wanted to be able to lift my shopping from the car in one go.
“Actually, I was interested to see what my body could do naturally. It involves toning your body so that you can lift the weights.”
Vicki took a six-month hiatus from weights last September while she went through a divorce from her husband of 19 years, Gavin, but then returned to the sport and now lifts with the Powerhouse in Burton.
It was at the All Round Weightlifting AssociationWorld Championships, in Glasgow, earlier this year, her first major competition, that she took the world record.
She said: “I didn’t expect it at all as I didn’t know who I would be competing against.”
There are some dangers to power-lifting – Vicki has an impressive set of bruises on her arms, legs and stomach, and has even dropped a weight on her head in a competition before, but she does not seem bothered and said they are worthwhile risks to take.
Vicki will be appearing at the IAWA World Championships, in Pensylvania, in America, next year.
Vicki said that she started weights with no experience and said that anyone could do it.
She said: “My advice to anyone would be to always seek professional advice before taking part in weightlifting.
“Everyone has to start somewhere, so don’t be frightened of being a beginner.
“Even the Arnold Schwarzeneggers of the world have to begin somewhere and I’m still a work in progress.”
Courtesy of: Burton Mail