A STRONGMAN is weighing up his future prospects after success in a major body building competition.

Luke Sandoe, 23, from Highcliffe, came first in the junior section of the UK Body Building and Fitness Federation’s regional event and second overall.

Luke, who works in the Nutricentre at Tesco Extra in Caste Lane, Bournemouth, goes to the gym four or five times a week at the moment but says it’s his body-building diet that dominates his days.

“I have what they call an off-season where you increase your bulk so you can put on muscle in certain areas to improve yourself. I do that until mid-August and then I try reducing my diet,” he says.

“Since Christmas, my days pretty much revolved around what time I’ve got to eat. I’m eating every two-and-a-half hours, even if I’m training.

“I’ve got to make sure I’m getting the right supplements at the right time of day. It’s slightly scientific at times.

“The actual competition is probably not the most significant part of the process.”

Luke only took up building around two-and-a-half years ago. “I’d always followed the sport. The opportunity came to me to do it properly and I thought ‘I’m going to go for it’,” he said.

After his success in the regional competition consisting of around 150 people in Portsmouth, Luke will go forward to the national contest at Manchester’s Trafford Centre in October, with around 250 competitors.

He will turn 24 before the national event, ruling him out of the junior category, but will be put forward in the men’s class.

He said feedback from people at the regional event had been “extremely positive”.

“One said ‘Within the next few years, you could be a threat for the overall title’,” he said.

“But whether I go through or not, I’m the one who’s going to have to put the work in.”