Kerri Stewart may not have received the recognition that her dad has but she has achieved something that her father has not; she is world champion. Kerri is the daughter of Ray Stewart, the former Scottish international footballer who played for Dundee United, St Johnstone and Stirling Albion but is most famous for making 345 appearances for West Ham United in the 1980s. Kerri has followed in the footsteps of her father’s sporting success, last month becoming World Bodybuilding Champion in Miami and it was the culmination of an impressive year in which she also became Scottish and then British champion. Her achievement has, she says, still not sunk in. “This whole year has been a complete whirlwind,” the 28 year-old says. “I remember starting my prep in January and then the next thing I know, I’m going to compete at the world finals in Miami. I was completely gob-smacked when they announced my name and said I’d won – I broke into a stupid little dance on stage because I didn’t know what to do. I can’t even explain how it felt.”
Stewart, from Perth, travelled to the event two years ago but in 2014, she competed in the figure category, which she describes as being a more feminine body shape. This year, however, she competed in the athletic category, which is more about muscularity and the preparation is, to say the least, intense. “You have to think about your diet 24/7,” she says. “I don’t do cheat meals – my coach keeps track of every meal I have and he looks at me on a weekly basis. But the diet keeps me focused. In 2014, my diet made me ill because it was so little food but this year, it was ok – I could eat a decent amount and the weight came off me. Being social can become quite difficult but I’ve had a couple of years now of learning how to socialise during my prep. And people are getting more used to me bringing little tubs of food with me everywhere I go.”
While the recognition of bodybuilding is increasing, it remains a niche sport although Stewart rarely receives a negative reaction when disclosing that she is involved, despite it traditionally being a male pursuit. There is, however, often an assumption that she must be taking performance-enhancing drugs in order to look as she does. “People assume all the time that I’m taking drugs,” she says. “The way I train is that I set myself targets to lift heavier weights than I did the year before so I’m always training hard but there’s still people who’ll say: ‘she’s lifting that or she looks like that so she must be taking something’. That’s just part and parcel of the sport though and I get drug tested and take lie detector tests so people can say what they want, I don’t let it bother me.”
Stewart has never felt even the slightest of temptations to dope and she admits that with her body already extremely muscular, she cannot foresee wanting it to becoming even more so. “I can’t imagine feeling any more manly than I do already,” she says of her physique. “Your body changes during your prep- you become quite masculine, you lose your curves and your chest but I like the process. And if I took something, I’d feel like I’d cheated myself so I don’t want to do that.”
Stewart got into the sport because, she says, she was “a bit lost”. Bodybuilding has given her a focus and got her life back on track and while she does not shout about her achievements, one of the greatest facets of her success has been the numerous people who have got in touch to let her know how much she has inspired them. “A lot of people have contacted me saying that what I do is inspirational and I really like that part of it,” she says, before adding: “I’m not in your face about what I do but it’s nice to think that other people might be inspired. I’m just doing something that I love so to think that other people might change their own lives after looking at me is great.”
Stewart’s future is unclear; she begins a new job with the fire service in January and will almost certainly not compete again as a professional until 2018. The improvements she needs to make will take time but she is certain that becoming world champion does not signal the end of the road. “I need time to build muscle and throughout my off-season, I’ll focus on lifting heavy weights,” she says. “Just because I’m a world champion, it doesn’t stop here. I know that there’s other girls out there who are still better than me so that’s who I want to go up against.”
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