In her day job, Dr Amna Khan can be found inspiring the next generation as a senior lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. In her spare time, her incredible strength has seen her break boundaries as the first British Pakistani woman to be named British Champion Powerlifter.
Dr Amna, 41, holds a British deadlift record in her weight class - lifting three times her own body weight at 158kg. Incredibly, she only started training in the gym as a way to help shape up after pregnancy six years ago.
The mum-of-two's incredible strength was immediately spotted by a trainer - and within a month she was lifting twice her own body weight. Her natural ability then began to be honed by her dedication to challenging herself to her limits.
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She became the British Champion Powerlifter in June 2022 - and says she is proud to have become the first British Pakistani woman to achieve it. Now, she hopes that her lived experience can inspire other women - from all backgrounds - that they can achieve their goals in sport and in life.
Amna said: "I am passionate about creating change in sport and love discussing my journey from a non-gym goer to a champion. I have always wanted to represent British Pakistani women in sport, to help create sport which is more inclusive.
"I want to motivate young women from any ethnicity to focus on their passions and dreams, like I did. Even if you're a mum, even if you're working full time, whatever you're doing, you can follow your passion and be successful.
"It's your beliefs that will drive you to change things. The most important part of my journey is representing that everyone can do well in sport.
"Powerlifting has often been seen as a man's sport, but it's for women as well, we can lift heavy weights too. it's just as important for our mental and physical well-being."
Amna grew up in Cheetham Hill, and went to school at St Chad's RC Primary and Our Lady's RC High School in Blackley. She said: "I'm British Pakistani muslim, but I've always been taught in faith schools that have not been about my own faith, and it taught me a lot about culture and diversity. I went to a catholic college, before taking my first degree at Manchester Business School."
Amna's parents had always supported her career ambitions, but she says sport was never something her family had focussed on when she was growing up. She said: "Sport in Asian families isn't something you would really focus on, you focus on education and business.
"My parents wanted me to have a career that helped me be a part of the British culture. Sport always took a back step from that, it was somethng you could do but only as a hobby.
"When I was young my favourite thing to do was sprint, I was always very active."
But going on to study at university to achieve her doctorate and becoming a lecturer at MMU, and starting a family with husband Asam, meant sport took a back seat. That is until Amna decided to head to the gym to shape up after becoming a mum.
She said: "Once I'd been to university I had my first child and I put a lot of pregnancy weight on like a lot of women do, so I went to the gym. I felt awkward, I felt like people were watching me, so I got a personal trainer.
"After kicking amd screaming about going into the weights room, I went in as a woman weighing 47kg and picked up 60kg, I felt quite strong straight away. Within four months I was lifting 100kg."
But when she began to suffer swelling in her knees, her doctor told her to stop with lifting weights as "she wasn't made for it". Having enjoyed what she had achieved so far, she sought a second opinion, and consulted strength training coach, Joe Lyons.
She said: "He loooked at me when I was lifting, and said technically I can't see a reason not to lift. So we went with it, and the swelling didn't happen again when I was being taught the proper technique.
"When I did my deadlift, I lifted 100kg and Joe couldn't stop laughing. He said "It's so rare for someone to walk through the door and lift double their bodyweight without any training".
Amna showed such promise that she enterted her first competition in 2021, and by June 2022 had won her first national championship, competing in the under-52kg category and breaking national records in the process. What does she put her success down to?
She said: "I think it's just determination, that' I'm going to do this. There has to be some natural capacity, but it's all about training and consistency, I work hard to get where I have, I train four times a week."
Amna lives in Stretford with her husband and two children and trains at gyms in Eccles and Stretford. Aside from her sporting achievements, Amna is a speaker, leading consumer behaviour media expert, academic researcher and published author.
She says her family have supported her every step of the way. She said: "At first my parents didn't quite get it. It's only when I went to the north west competition that they thought no, she's really serious about this. When I went to the national competition they were like wow that's amazing.
"They're super super proud of it, they're proud that I'm challeging the stereotypes. I have to give them a lot of credit for always telling me to push myself and challenge the boundaries. I never went out to create change but I always wanted to keep challenging boundaries."
Amna hopes that by telling her story, she can help others to see what can be achieved, particularly in International Women's Week, with the theme this year embrace equity. She said: "That's what this story is about. If I can be the first, then there can be a second, there can be a third.
"I never thought I could do something like this but I went from a regual gym goer to achieving something amazing. For my next goal I want to go to another competition and push another record, and to keep being active in the sport."
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