{"id":819411,"date":"2026-10-31T05:02:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819411\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T05:02:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:02:12","slug":"father-of-five-crowned-british-bodybuilding-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819411\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of five crowned British bodybuilding champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n  Ant Shepherd, 36, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.falmouthpacket.co.uk\/search\/?search=falmouth&amp;ref=au\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Falmouth<\/a>, took home the overall title at the IBFA British Bodybuilding Finals on October 25, 2026, after winning his height class (Class 2) earlier in the competition.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ant said: &#8220;After everything I&#8217;d put into the preparation, I was genuinely speechless.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;I was crowned the overall IBFA British Bodybuilding Champion.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ant works as a cleaning manager, overseeing operations at the Falmouth and Penryn university campuses.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He also runs an online fitness and bodybuilding coaching business, ShepherdFitness.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He began his bodybuilding journey in the Men\u2019s Physique category before moving into traditional bodybuilding, all while managing full-time work, family life, and a chronic health condition.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ant lives with ankylosing spondylitis, a long-term inflammatory condition that affects the spine and joints.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He said: &#8220;There are days when simply getting through work and normal daily responsibilities can be a challenge, never mind finding the energy to train afterwards.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;I don&#8217;t want my condition to define what I&#8217;m capable of achieving.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  In 2025, he won both the Novice Bodybuilding and Class 2 categories at the WFF Hulk Classic in Exeter, earning his WFF Professional Card.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Despite surgery in May 2026, Ant returned to competition and placed second in the Professional Bodybuilding category at the WFF British Grand Prix.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  He went on to win his class at the IBFA Teesside Championships, securing a second professional card and qualifying for the IBFA British Finals.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  Ant said: &#8220;I&#8217;ve also been documenting my preparation and competition journey through social media, sharing both the positive moments and the difficult days.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  &#8220;Sometimes it&#8217;s about making the most of what you have available, being consistent and finding ways to keep progressing despite the challenges you face.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ant Shepherd, 36, from Falmouth, took home the overall title at the IBFA British Bodybuilding Finals on October&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[6647,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-819411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}