“At the end of every week, I’ll take a couple of pictures, front and back, and I’ll put them up against the pics from the week before and analyse them – see where I’m looking toned, what I need to work on. You need to lose at least a kilo a week. If you’re not doing that, you’re plateauing and it’s time to up your training.

“In the off season, I do low reps (six to eight) of heavy weights to gain muscle. But to strip down for a comp, I change to higher reps (15 to 20) with lighter weights. It’s a different kind of training.

“My trainer is Jenny Lind, the 2006 Figure Olympia champion – No. 1 in the world. She’s in the US, so we do a lot over the internet. She helps me with my progress. When you’re dieting, you’re often not thinking straight, so it’s vital to have somebody there to guide you through it.”

IN THE GYM

“I prefer free weights, although sometimes I will use a machine. Free weights are better because you’re controlling it yourself. When you use a machine, you can slack off a bit. You push one handle and the other one goes up as well.”

SHOULDERS: “I start off with a shoulder press, using 6kg dumbbells to warm up. Then I’ll use two 15kg dumbbells for 15 reps. Then I’ll do a set using 17kg, then another with 19kg, moving up in small jumps. If you start with the heaviest weights, you’ll fatigue and not be able to finish the sets. “Next I might do a seated lateral raise – 10kg dumbbells out to the side. And then out to the front using 12.5kg – nothing too heavy, because you want to be able to lift and hold and bring it back down slowly. You want to isolate – that’s how you get the best results. “Then I’ll use the cable-pull, before finishing off with a bent-over raise. Generally, I’ll do four or five exercises for the shoulders, stick with them for four weeks and then change to different ones. There are many different exercises: laying down lat raises, military press, upright rows – but I always do a shoulder press with the dumbbells.”

CHEST: “I start off on an incline bench, doing a press with dumbbells. Then I’ll move to the flat press, then push-ups off a stability ball and push-ups with a 20kg plate on my back. In the off season, I keep my reps for shoulder and back a bit lower than every other body part, because I want to grow more in the shoulders and back to create the hourglass figure the judges look for.”

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