A champion strong woman from Newsome has embarked on a new challenge.
Single mum Emma Taylor is now training as a power lifter and wants to break a world record.
Ambitious Emma, 39, was crowned winner of the national Strong Woman championships in Northampton last November.
She will compete in the Yorkshire and North East Power Lifting competition in Eggborough on November 5 and make her world record attempt in February when she turns 40.
She undertakes two gruelling training sessions a day at Perseverance Gym in Lockwood in between working full time and looking after her six-year-old son Beau.
“I wanted a new challenge”, said Emma. “I was going to do the Strong Woman again this autumn but wanted a change so have turned to power lifting.
“People still recognise me from the Strong Woman contest. I train all sorts of people but now train men who want to body build. It took them the title to believe what I could do.
“Strong Woman focused on events such as tyre flipping whereas power lifting is about lifting from squat, bench press and dead lifting – picking up from the floor – positions.
“I’m really excited about my first contest. Sixty contestants have signed up so far.
“I now have a South African coach called Shilo Randin who got in touch with me last December.
“He coaches me over the internet by giving me weight exercises and I send him the training videos. I also have two local coaches.”
Meanwhile, Emma was shocked to be chosen as a semi-finalist in Specsavers’ Spectacle Wearer of the Year competition.
If she is chosen as a finalist, she will go to an awards ceremony in London on October 11.
“I wasn’t going to enter but my friends kept posting about it on my Facebook page,” she said.
“When I received the call I thought it was one of my friends playing a practical joke.
“I love wearing glasses and I’m always on the lookout for new frames for upcoming events.”
Emma wants to break a world dead lifting record to give herself a birthday to remember.
“When I turn 40 I will move into the masters category,” she said. “The current female world record is 167.5kg and I can already lift 170kg.
“I thought it would be an amazing 40th birthday present.”
