A McDonald's team member is competing to be crowned the strongest woman in the world after bulking up by chomping through the fast food menu at work. Maria Krzesinska, 41, will jet off to the USA next month to compete in the Official Strongman Games after previously being crowned Britain's strongest woman over 40.
The mum-of-three started powerlifting a few years ago as a way to build up her confidence after suffering depression and escaping an abusive relationship. She quickly became obsessed with her new hobby and was soon lifting cars and pulling lorries in her spare time when she wasn't flipping burgers at work.
Maria even credits being able to maintain her protein-rich diet by munching through the McDonald's menu - including Chicken Selects, Big Tasty burgers and McFlurrys. She has previously been crowned winner in the Masters Category (aged 40 and over) at the World Heavy Events Association World Championship in Finland last year.
Maria, who is 5ft 8ins, is now hoping she can be crowned the world's strongest woman at the Official Strongman Games in Daytona, Florida. During the four day event, she will have to lift sandbags and frames weighing 100kg as well as hauling a VW Beetle weighing 267.5kg.
Maria said: "It's a much more competitive event to previous ones I've entered and won but I'm determined. The competition this year will be a lot tougher. Everyone is back after Covid and there's meant to be double the number of competitors in my category compared to 2021.
“I finished 16th last year, so the dream would be to first make the top 10 and then see where that takes me. That would means you get an automatic invite back to compete next year, so you don’t have to requalify.
“The last two years I have had to qualify. You can’t just enter the competition. I qualified in July as I placed in the top three. There's an axle deadlift, which for my category weighs 172.5kg, and you have to lift it as many times as you can in a minute.
"Then there's the Farmer’s Walk, where you carry two frames, one in each hand. That one includes two runs of 15 meters at 80kg, followed by another 15m at 100kg. On the second day, there's the sandbag to shoulder, which starts at 60kg and goes all the way up to just over 100kg. The final event is a Viking press of 75kg.
"The third day is the final day where the top 10 competitors compete. On this day, we must tackle the famous atlas stone lift. We also have to lift and carry a hollowed-out VW Beetle weighing 267.5kg so it's quite a challenge.
"I just love it though, the community in our sport is amazing. Even though you are competing against each other, everyone cheers you on and wants you to lift the heavy weights.
“I love the buzz of the sport and the feeling it is making me stronger. I’ve suffered with depression and came out of an abusive relationship, and it helped me find me again and rebuild myself.
“It’s helped me feel more capable in other parts of my life."
Maria trains four days a week for between one to three hours to keep in shape for competitions alongside working over 20 hours a week at McDonald's. he says her strength can prove handy at work when she helps male colleagues with heavy deliveries of stock.
The heaviest thing she has ever lifted was a 1.3 tonne (1,323 kg) Renault Clio which saw her clinch a previous strongwoman title. She added: "I try and eat as much protein as I can and at work there's obviously plenty of food so I often have a Big Tasty with bacon, chicken breast strips, McFlurry and a milk shake.
"It takes a lot of hard work and dedication but I enjoy it so much and love the variety, there's no end of things to lift and carry. I just train in my back garden at home and down the gym.
"It even helps at work when unloading deliveries, some of the men just sit back and let me do the hard work."
The 2022 Official Strongman Competition will be held between November 11-13 at Daytona Beach, Florida. The completely self-funded event means Maria will have to raise the money for flights and accommodation herself.
To help her raise the £1,000, Maria has set up a GoFundmepage at https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-get-me-to-osg-worlds-strongest-woman-2022
