BACK: “Back’s my favourite; I’m really strong in the back. I start off with a pull-up on a chin-up bar. Then I’ll do wide-grip lat pull-downs using 60kg. Then I’ll do a close-grip pull-down, before moving over to the T-bar for a bent-over row with 55kg. And lower back extensions using 10kg. I always wear a weights belt when I’m doing back.”

ABS: “There are all these weight machines for abdominals, but I don’t use them. I get on the floor and I grab a plate and I do crunches. You just can’t go wrong with crunches – they work. At the moment, I’m training abs every day, and I’ll do between 60-80 reps per set and I’ll do four sets, using 5kg and 10kg plates. I’m very strong in the mid section. I love that burning feeling. When it burns, you know it’s working.”

BICEPS/TRICEPS: “I use only three exercises for each of these. For the biceps, I do independent bicep curls and hammer curls using 12.5kg dumbbells as well as preacher curls using 15kg. For the triceps, I do rope pull-downs, dips and kick-backs, using 10kg. I change the different exercises every four weeks, to get the best results. I don’t work at all on my forearms. Guys do, but it’s not very feminine.”

QUADS: “I’ll do squats and sumo squats, with your feet pointing out to the side, on the Smith machine – 15 reps using around 80kg. I don’t do any free stuff with legs. I also do hack squats on an angle and leg extensions, either single, double or a mixture of both. For legs, I need a spot, so as much as possible I try to train with my partner.”

HAMSTRINGS: “I start off with lunges, either walking or on the Smith machine using 50-60kg. Then I’ll do leg presses with my feet up high – single or double – lying hamstrings and seated hamstrings lifting 55kg.”

FINAL COUNTDOWN

“If I’m competing on a Saturday, I start carb depleting the Sunday before. I even cut out beef, just fish, to get as lean as possible. You carb deplete through to Wednesday, which is very hard. Because you’re still training, you become very hungry and you have no energy.

“Weights stop on the Wednesday – because you physically can’t lift them anymore, because of the carb depleting, though you carry on with the cardio. It’s then that you carb load – eat sweet potato or rice – to pump up your muscles. At the same time, you’re reducing your water – from six litres down to one litre in the days leading up to the comp. The day before the comp, you cut out water altogether – just the odd tiny sip. You feel like crap. Sometimes people look really sick because they’ve gone too hard. You need to know when to stop.

hard. You need to know when to stop. “Just before you go on stage, you pump up for ten minutes. I use 4kg – a few bicep curls and shoulder presses, but that’s it, because physically you can’t do anymore.”

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