Bodybuilder Helen in top three in UK

Helen Cowden, who regularly shows the men how it’s done at Upperlands Gym where she is the only female to lift weights, took third place in a UK-wide bodybuilding competition at the weekend.

The 39-year-old said she was delighted to win a trophy at the Nabda Novice Miss Britain finals in Birmingham on Sunday, having only entered the competitive bodybuilding arena seven months ago. Now the mother-of-three hopes to achieve even greater glory in the Northern Ireland qualifiers next April, with the aim of making the World finals in Dublin later that year.

Helen, who works as a personal trainer and said she has always enjoyed exercising, explained that getting her body in shape takes a lot of mental as well as physical dedication.

“You have to be completely motivated,” said Helen. “It’s a lifestyle really. When you cut the carbohydrates out of your diet you really lose a lot of energy and there are times when you have to convince your brain to switch on and get on with exercise.”

Helen adheres to a strict diet plan all year round but is particularly disciplined in the run-up to a competition when she trains five days a week in the gym.

She said: “I have a 12-week diet plan where I will eat porridge with protein powder for breakfast, then I have five meals throughout the day of turkey, green vegetables and a small portion of brown rice. Then before bed I’ll have a cup of cottage cheese mixed with protein powder. I measure out all my food portions.”

And although her family and friends were supportive of her decision to go into bodybuilding from the beginning, Helen admitted the men at her local gym were a bit confused when she first joined.

“I think they thought it was a bit strange what I was doing,” she laughed. “But now they understand what I’m doing and they see that I just get on with things.

“They are very interested in what I’m doing and they spur me on.”

But Helen said her three biggest fans are her children. “They are great and really support what I’m doing,” she said. “My eldest girl is quite interested and said she’d like to take it up but I’ve told her there’s plenty of time for that and she needs to get her school exams out of the way first!”

Helen will compete in the Northern Ireland Qualifiers in Belfast on 21 April 2012.