NABBA Figure competitor, UK.
"In 2010 I began a journey that would change the way I feel about myself forever."
Who would have thought that the dumpy wallflower with an eating disorder, that the bullies loved to pick on would be inspired by her idol Arnold Schwarzenegger via a book called 'the education of a bodybuilder' at the age of 15 and have her dream come true and compete one day!
Linda's words: ''I've never been in the 'in crowd' always been a wall flower, & never seemed to fit in to anything, because of this I was bullied throughout junior & senior school. so for me weight training seemed the perfect past time.
23 yrs passed & a new gym had opened up near me, I joined and this is where I found what I wanted, I wanted to compete. I set a momentous task, I wanted to be on stage by the time I was 40.''
She trained like a demon with one aim in sight that by 2010 she would be on that stage. Searching for a prep guy that she could gel with she stumbled across a guy called Ken 'Skip' Hill from Colorado whom has turned out to be invaluable to her.
A 20 wk diet was set & in January 2010, it commenced aiming for NABBA NW in May.
4 wks into the diet Linda was hit from behind by a 26 tonne truck in her job as a driving instructor, the diet had to cease. Sights had to be set on another competition.
On September 26th 2010 that wallflower came alive at the NABBA England in the trained figure class and took second place. Four weeks later on October 23rd 2010 she stepped on the NABBA UK stage and took first place and then one week later on October 30th NABBA Universe and placed fifth in the competition.
With only 2 months off-season she had to prepare for the NABBA British Finals on 28th May 2011 where unbelievable to her she took first place in class 2-trained figure and then won the overall to become the British Champion 2011 and only 2 weeks later on the 11th June 2011 in Sao Paulo Brazil at the NABBA World Championships she placed fifth amongst seasoned competitors.
Each time Linda stepped on stage her goal was not to win but to prove to the bullies & her eating disorder that they had not won!
People that don't know Linda very well are unaware that she is a successful business woman working at her own driving instructor company & the mother of 2 fabulous children that she has brought up single handily. She has a 2nd degree black belt in Taekwondo, & a qualified Holistic Therapist.
Linda's words: "I work with a very close network of supportive friends They are all my rocks, which have made a mountain & my Dream to Compete come true. When I compete they are with me on that stage and without them it would mean nothing.
"Juggling everything is tasking but you only get one crack at life, so you may as well enjoy it to the full and you can't keep me down for long.
"Yes I've struggled having an eating disorder but after stepping off stage in Brazil I underwent hypnotherapy and regression therapy off a world leading clinical hypnotherapist Chris Wynne Jones.
"The therapy has worked as I no longer hide behind food and next time I'm on stage I will be better... the best is yet to come''