By JOLENE OGLE
LOCAL personal trainer Sean Miller has taken out second place in the junior division at the state body building championships in Brisbane.
The 21-year-old personal trainer for My Fitness Club, Noosaville, competed alongside 852 other competitors at the International Natural Bodybuilding Brisbane Classic, last month.
Sean started training aged 15 at the same gym where he now works, where his passion for body building and fitness first began.
“Me and my brother used to train together at this gym when we were young, I was 15 and he was 19, and it just grew from there,” he said.
Now, Sean will spend up to 15 weeks preparing for a competition with a diet of protein and carbohydrates coupled with training twice a day, six days a week.
“About 15 weeks out I’ll start controlling what I’m eating and measuring, weighing, counting calories, that sort of thing,” he said.
“Training is two hours of weights and one hour of cardio exercise.”
Sean said he still gets nervous when competing, despite this being his fifth competition.
“Backstage was interesting, pretty much all the guys in my division were all extremely muscular and in really good shape for the competition. It was nerve-wracking,” he said.
“But, you know you’ve done the best you can. So long as you’ve progressed physically from where you were last time, then that’s all that really matters.
“I was lucky enough to come away with second and that’s among guys who were all in really good shape.”
But Sean’s nerves are forgotten once he steps onto the stage, which he describes as surreal.
“Once you’re out there, it’s almost like an out-of-body experience,” he said.
“You can’t see past the front row with the lights, so you just do your thing.”
To Sean, body building is a cross of art and a beauty contest with competitors judged on their size, symmetry and vascularity.
But it hasn’t always been so easy, with Sean once weighing in at 115 kilograms.
“I wasn’t exactly in the best shape, but you can overcome that with consistency and discipline,” he said.
As a personal trainer, Sean said working with his clients helps keep him motivated and on track and he enjoys helping others get in shape.
Sean won’t get long to rest following his success at the Brisbane Classic, with the Queensland Titles on 14 September and Nationals on 4 October.
“It’s very hard to juggle it all. In the weeks prior to competing I become very anti-social,” he said.
But understanding friends and family mean Sean can continue to compete in a sport that started out as a fun way to spend time with his brother.
“It just kind of grew from training with my brother as a kid. Who knows where this will lead?” he said.
“Hopefully somewhere big.”
