Lily Churchyard - an amateur world champion powerlifter - has opened up about how the sport saved her life by helping her overcome eating disorders as a teenager. The 21-year-old pursued powerlifting three years ago and has already broken a range of records, with more in her sights.
Churchyard was once training at Fortitude Fitness in Ipswich, her hometown, when a personal trainer, who just so happened to be a powerlifter, offered to show her the ropes.
Three months later, she signed up for her first competition, and a "coincidence" soon became a passion that she claims "saved" her.
"Powerlifting has literally saved me," Churchyard told the . "I came from a place where I've had eating disorders, and powerlifting has taught me that I can eat what I want and still lift heavy.
"It makes me feel so happy because being able to achieve these things that you're seeing other people do in the gym, you're weightlifting next to men as well.
"You feel like you're a part of the community... and not just sitting in a corner worrying what people are going to think about you.
"I don't think me, three years ago, would have thought [I'd be here] now with world records."
Powerlifting involves three different lifts - a bench press, a deadlift and a squat. Churchyard's success has earned her the nickname 'Tiny Tank', inspired by her petite frame and deceptively high strength.
Fortitude Fitness owner Kamal Mamedov has hailed the talent as an inspiration for women who consider weightlifting daunting.
He said: "It's great to see [Lily] come in, day in, day out. I think a lot of girls can find it quite daunting to start lifting weights, especially getting all the way to the squat rack.
"People like Lily make it a lot more accessible for them.
"Luckily, we get to see people from all walks of life here and we've seen some incredible world class athletes, and she definitely has the attributes of a world-class athlete."
Churchyard's commitment consists of six training sessions a week and a pre-workout diet of 250g of mince, three eggs and a whole avocado.
She'll need to maintain those levels of dedication to continue on her upward trajectory and achieve her lofty goals in the future.
"I have two more years in this age class," Churchyard explained.
"I'm hoping to have my name across all the world, European and British records, and then I'm also hoping to take a couple of open records, so an age class above me while still at a junior level.
"I've also got a deadlift competition coming up at the end of next year where I compete in a pro-division. I'm hoping for my triple bodyweight deadlift of 135kg (298lb).
"I've got more to achieve, so I'll be even prouder when I have all of the records to my name; that'll be nice."
You may also like
Harris-Walz campaign aims for rural votes with bird hunt, Trump calls it a desperate bid for male support
Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath reach Nadda's residence to discuss by-elections
King Charles and Queen Camilla are leading the UK's chicken adoption trend
Lee Carsley branded 'a clown' over latest Trent Alexander-Arnold and England experiment