By XAVIER SMERDON
POINT Cook is home to the strongest woman in Australia.
Sharon Waters is the only Australian to ever compete in the World’s Strongest Woman competition, where she came seventh.
She is also a winner of the Miss Australasia bodybuilding championship and she holds the record for the most weight bench pressed by an Australian in a competition.
Her record for bench pressing in competition is 140 kilograms, while her personal record is 160kg.
Originally from Manchester England, Ms Waters moved to Australia with her family when she was three-years-old.
She described herself as a timid and shy person that had always wanted to be bigger and stronger.
“I used to look at female body building magazines behind my chemistry books at school because I was just fascinated by it,” Ms Water said.
“In my mind I had this image of what I wanted to be. I really loved that Amazonian look, but I never thought I could be like that.”
When she was a child, sport of any kind was never an option due to her chronic asthma, but as she got older, Ms Waters decided to change everything about herself.
“I did an aerobics course because I wanted to have stronger lungs, but when no one else was in the gym I would go and lift weights,” she said.
“I didn’t believe I do could what I had always dreamed, so I wasn’t aiming towards it.”
It was not until years later when Ms Waters saw her own reflection in a window and thought she was looking at someone else that she realised she had become a bodybuilder.
She said she wanted other girls and women to feel comfortable in their own skin.
“Strongwoman is my title, but it’s not who I am,” she said.
“Everything I’ve learned in the gym can be related to other areas of my life. It has made me a stronger person mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually.
“I want other women to know that how strong you are depends on what you feel like, not what you look like and that they can be what they want to be.”
Today she has become her own brand and has set up a business, Strongwoman, where she works as a life coach and a mentor, operating out of Platinum Fitness in Hoppers Crossing.
Ms Waters is currently out of competition mode but she would not rule out returning to the sport in the future.
For more information visit www.strongwoman.com.au or email info@strongwoman.com.au
