Sarah, who works as a catering manager for Eastern Education Group, has been on a 20-year weight loss and fitness journey and now she is hoping to win a medal on the global stage of these world finals in America.<\/p>\n
Sarah Stannard today preparing for the LA bodybuilding championships in November. Picture: Supplied by Sarah Stannard
Sarah Stannard before taking up bodybuilding. Picture: Supplied by Sarah Stannard<\/p>\n
Sarah said: \u201cAfter school and training to be a qualified chef, I got married, had two children and put on a lot of weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always battled with it and, although I was named slimmer of the year for Slimming World in 2004, I\u2019ve been conscious of putting the weight back on.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo try and control it, I initially did running and cycling. Then just before Covid, I started at a gym. My son Jack encouraged me and I went along to lift some weights and try and do some exercise.<\/p>\n
Sarah Stannard competing in a bodybuilding tournament. Picture: ShowShoots<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out I was good at weightlifting and from there, I moved on to strongwoman training, but had to rethink after suffering an injury.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that I was approached by a World Champion WNBF title holder from our gym, IronIsland, and she asked if I would be up for doing some body building. I thought \u2018why not – give it a shot\u2019. She then went on to be my coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started my journey of prep in February of this year. I\u2019ve subsequently gained two second places in two competitions and now I\u2019ve been invited to take part in the World Natural Bodybuilding Finals in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in the Masters category \u2013 and that is for anyone aged 40 and over. I\u2019ll be representing Team GB on the 22 and 23 of November.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah said the opportunity to represent her country felt \u2018surreal but amazing\u2019, adding winning a medal would be a good way to end the year following a tough time recently.<\/p>\n
She said getting fit had been a \u2018gradual progression\u2019, and it had helped her mentally and given her a huge focus.<\/p>\n
Sarah Stannard in the University Professional Development Centre in Bury St Edmunds. Picture: Supplied by Eastern Education Group<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing to the gym clears my head and mind,\u201d said Sarah. \u201cTo get to this level I train two hours a day, six days a week. All my food is pre-planned and the whole science behind this has been fascinating.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am immensely proud it is all natural and no steroids or Peds (performance-enhancing drugs) are involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her message to others is talk to people, get in the gym and \u2018don\u2019t be afraid\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot all gyms are scary places. At our gym (IronIsland) we have a good age range and you feel accepted. There are people who will help you progress, and once you get on that journey there is no going back.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Stannard before taking up bodybuilding. Picture: Supplied by Sarah Stannard<\/p>\n
Zoe Hobbs, finance manager for Eastern Education Group, said: \u201cSarah is an inspiration in what she has already achieved and what she is striving to achieve.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she was to win a medal I would be immensely proud of her achievements \u2013 it would be incredible. But just for her to be there is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An \u2018inspirational\u2019 mum of two who has lost over seven stone through diet and exercise is heading to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234148,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[130080,526,337,97,957,112233],"class_list":{"0":"post-234147","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-bury-st-edmunds","9":"tag-education","10":"tag-fitness","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-human-interest","13":"tag-suffolk-homepage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=234147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}