There are ladies who lunch and there are ladies who lift. Sarah King is the latter. In fact, despite her size-eight figure, Sarah is a world champion power lifter as well as all-round fitness wonder woman.

Despite only taking up the once male-dominated sport seven years ago, the mum-of-two has demonstrated her almost Herculean strength by breaking a string of British power lifting records, as well as bringing home countless medals from competitions all over the world.

Yet looking at the 37-year-old’s sculpted frame you’d be hard pressed to guess this is a woman who can deadlift 29 stone – that’s more than three times her own body weight!

That’s why Sarah is keen to bust some of the stereotypes surrounding women who lift weights and prove that you can still be feminine and glamorous and succeed in power lifting.

She said: “It proves you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. People do label female power lifters and assume they are really big and butch, but that’s not the general case by any means. For me, it’s all about exercise and keeping fit and being disciplined in training.”

Fortunately, it seems this message could be starting to sink in with women across the globe, thanks to famous faces such as Cameron Diaz, Madonna and Jess Ennis, who all lift weights as part of their exercise regimes – and who have proved a muscular body can be much admired.

Weighing just 61.4kg (nine stone 10) herself and competing in the “unequipped 63kg category”, Sarah has broken 14 British power lifting records, including the British “total”

record, British “squat” record and the British “bench” record.

Sarah, who lives in Billericay and works as a personal trainer, fitness instructor and primary school PE teacher, has also recently returned from Miami, Florida, where she competed against some of the best power lifters on the planet in the World Powerlifting Championships. She came away with a silver and a bronzemedal.

Eight hundred competitors from 30 different countries took part in the event. On the British team, of which Sarah was a part, there were 18 lifters, but only four were women.

The previous year, when the World Championships were held in Prague, Sarah took the gold.

She said: “I was a bit disappointed not to get a gold again, but then again it’s been a tough year as I had an accident and brokemy foot, so was out of action for several weeks and couldn’t train.”

Power lifting involves three categories – squat, bench and deadlift – with the competitor getting three attempts at each, all of which all contribute to a final total weight lifted.

Sarah’s personal bests are 160kg for squat – that’s 352lb or 25 stone, 97.5kg for the bench – that’s 214lb or more than 15 stone, and 185kg for the deadlift – that’s the equivalent of 29.1 stone.

“At 37, I’m not the youngest woman at these contests. In fact, I’m often one of the oldest. So, combined with the fact I have only been doing this for a short while, I’m happy with the medals I’ve got so far.

“I always give it my all and I really enjoy competing at the highest levels, but for me the main focus is about being able to enjoy a sport that helps you build confidence and self esteem and that’s what I try to teach others.”

Sarah started getting into power lifting seven years ago after opting for a career change.

She had been working in a bank, but decided to study to become a personal trainer and fitness instructor.

She explained: “I’d always been into health and fitness. As a youngster, I grewup playing netball, taking part in swimming galas and running marathons and as I got older I still carried on with them, so from that I decided to become a fitness instructor and I started spending more time at the gym.

“I found howworking out with weights can have such a positive impact on the body and it all stemmed from there.”

Since her first competition, which took place at Hamilton’s Gym, in Colchester – as Sarah was living in the town then – she has gone from strength to strength, quite literally. She smashed the event and broke the competition record on her very first attempt.

“It was a great start and again it helped me build up my confidence and made me want to compete again,” she said.

“I couldn’t have done it without my trainer Michael Smith through. I can’t thank him enough for his continuous patience and understanding over the years and his belief in me when times were hard.

“I’ve also had so much support from Fitness First, in Basildon, as well as Emma James, the president of the British Powerlifting Union, who showed the British team how to nurture each other and come together as a team but still kick butt!”

Sarah teaches a variety of aerobic and fitness classes across the district, including at Fitness First, in Basildon, and also at the Basildon Sporting Village where her Saturday morning session is often packed out with 70 people.

She said: “What’s important to me is people not feeling unconfident about coming to a class or the gym and to make it fun. There are no cliques or anything at my classes. I know how intimidating some gyms can be and I don’t have any time for that.”

What about her own career? Does competing at world-class level mean it all gets a bit aggressive sometimes?

Echo: Sarah King with her gold medal from the 2013 World Powerlifting Championships in Prague

Sarah explained: “It’s only at the top events like the world championships that you might come across intimidation in the way of dirty looks or trying to deliberately break your concentration.

“It’s psychological warfare at that level, because you have people from all over the world and, of course, they want to win.

“You have to really try to focus your mind and just concentrate on your performance. I think most sports are probably like that at top levels.”

As if being a power-lifting, class-teaching single mum isn’t enough, Sarah also teaches youngsters PE at a primary school in Billericay.

“I teach really young children who are just starting school, so it’s all about making PE as fun as possible for them. But I also get in ways to teach them about the human body. I’ve got one game where we learn the Latin names of the bones, which they love.”

Sarah works out pretty much every day and keeps to a strict diet. She admits she finds it tough to kick back and take the reins off her exercise regime.

“When I’ve let myself have a break on holiday in the past it’s actually turned out to be detrimental because it takes double the amount of time to get back in shape again,” she said. “But saying that, I do try to make myself have a break now and again. I’ve worked out a few nights over Christmas where I will allow myself a couple of glasses of wine. Because I so rarely drink anymore I’ve found two glasses of wine are more than enough for me anyway!”

Sarah hopes to carry on with power lifting for as long as her body will allow.

“I’m often one of the oldest competing, but it doesn’t bother me,” she said. “You can keep going for as long as you want in power lifting, but obviously, like any sport, the older you get your body will deteriorate, so competing at the highest standard can become more difficult.

“My dream now would be to do some work supporting sports brands, doing some fitness modelling or even being in an action film.

“Whatever happens, I’ve achieved my own dream, but I’m still dedicated to inspiring others to get into the health and fitness industry.”