Single mum amazed by Strongest Woman title

Rosie Abercrombie she was keen to know what else she was capable of

A mother who first went to a gym to improve her mental health and confidence has been crowned England's Strongest Woman.

Rosie Abercrombie, 27, from Knutton in Staffordshire, said she felt she did not have many prospects ahead of her after becoming a single mother, and wanted to improve her self-esteem.

However, soon after joining a gym in her early 20s, she discovered a talent for weightlifting.

Ms Abecrombie said she only began training seriously for England's Strongest Woman competition last year and was amazed she had won the Under 73kg category.

'Least athletic person'

Ms Abercrombie, who grew up two streets away from former World's Strongest Man Eddie Hall, said she was in a "dark place" in her early 20s and turned to exercise to help.

"I was quite a young single parent and I didn't have a lot of prospects in front of me so I just sort of got into the gym.

"I was the least athletic person. I never did PE in school - that was not my jam - and then I started doing circuit classes and it was genuinely to just get me out the house and lift my mood a little bit.

"It wasn't until my early 20s that people started saying to me 'you do know you're pretty good at all this'."

Becoming England's Strongest Woman made her feel like she had imposter syndrome, she added.

"It's all happened so quickly with the strong man thing as I've done various body building over the years and I've done some cross fit, but I've only been doing the strong man training for about 12 months.

She said it all started by "playing with some Atlas stones", adding she had not had a chance to let the title win sink yet.

"It's amazing and I just want to take it as far as I can now and see what else I can do," she said.

On growing up near strongman Eddie Hall she joked that everyone living in the area - Clayton - "was absolutely massive".

She said she had originally had the same coach as him, and when the coach died she wanted to keep going as he had inspired her so much.

"He was a great guy and one person believing in you sometimes can make a huge difference."

She said she hoped to encourage others to get into a gym to improve their fitness and mindset.

"The best thing I've done to build my confidence... is putting myself out of my comfort zone - making myself go into those areas of the gym I felt intimidated by before.

"It's only going and doing it, like it is with anything."