Sutton man Luke Baker ate six meals a day for more than three months in order to get in shape for the Anglian Bodybuilding Championships.
The 24-year-old wolfed down a whopping 9,000 calories daily – more than three-and-a-half times the recommended amount for a man - as part of his preparations for the prestigious championships, held in Great Yarmouth, on June 8.
And all his hard work paid off as, in his first ever competition, he came away with the runners-up berth and a spot in the World Amateur Championships, set to take place in Dudley, West Mids, later this year.
Luke, who tipped the scales at 16 stone, said: “You go into competitions wanting to win but I suppose second place was pretty good, especially as it was my first time.”
A carpenter by trade, Luke spent seven days a week working out at the Paradise Centre gym, in Ely, in pursuit of his goal and he admits that many family and friends were baffled by his dedication to pumping iron and building muscle.
He said: “I’ve been training for about four years and I decided that I wanted to try and take my hobby to the next level and see whether it suited me. I found out about the Anglian Championships and decided to go for it.
“I was in the gym for something like 14-16 hours a week but the hardest part about it all was the diet. I started to cut down about eight weeks before the show. Eating six meals and day and snacks is easy but cutting down is hard.”
On the day, Luke had to strut his stuff on stage in front of dozens in the Atlantis Complex – including girlfriend Emily Kimber - which, he said, turned out to be the “most never-wracking part” of the whole event.
But, when the show was finally over, the former Witchford Village College student admits that he enjoyed it so much that he wanted to get straight back out on stage again.
He added: “When you’re up on stage it is quite hard to remember anything but as soon as you come off you just want to go back out there.
“When you’re thinking about competing, you tend to always think ‘next year will be the year’ but my advice is to find out when a competition is on and go for it.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here