A transcript of the above interview – Where we caught up with Maz just before the Fibo show in April of 2025
So got into bodybuilding. I was a personal trainer at the gym for about four years and always trained, always had a fitness background.
But also loved to eat. I didn’t really take my diet seriously. And then there was just one time I thought, “You know what? There was people in the gym that did compete.”
And I thought, “I’m going to give it a go.” Not necessarily stepping on stage. It was more so, “I’m going to get a coach just so I can be accountable, follow a diet and see where it takes me.” So I did that. And within seven weeks, he’d assigned me up to a local show and I was backstage of a theatre. Never been to a bodybuilding show in my life and thought, “What the hell am I here for? How have I got here?” But yeah, that was like a quick seven-week prep.
And I’ve done 15 shows now. That was back in 2018, so crazy.
I always wanted to look muscly. I remember when I used to train in the gym, I always wanted to look like Cass Martin. She’s downsized a lot now and people used to laugh at me going, “You’ll never get that big.”
Just following her on Instagram and stuff.
And when I look at her now, it’s like, “I look like I’ve ate Cass Martin.”
But yeah, it was that side of it. It’s just the aesthetic side.
But then once I started following the diet and seeing…
It just elevated all aspects of my life. So my family life, my business, just with the discipline and the structure.
Obviously health as well.
Beforehand, I used to go out drinking, live a little bit of a life. That side, be a bit normal, so to speak. But then I’m so much better mentally, physically with the bodybuilding side. And you get to look good from it. But the fingers as well. Once, obviously, my first show, I felt I looked the best I ever had. The next show, again, I looked the best I ever had. It’s just you constantly progressing further.
And I’m still… I’m 37, nearly, next month. And there’s still life in the old dog yet. So as long as I keep progressing, I’m going to keep doing it until I’m not able to grow any more muscle and be competitive. But for now, I’ve got a few days left in there. In terms of reactions of people in the gym, when I first started, it was, “You’re boring now. You’ve changed.”
They were like people that I used to associate with. But reactions now is, if I walk into a gym that people don’t know me, they look at me like, “Who the hell’s this?” And in my off-season, for instance, I’m pretty much outlifting most of the men. I can, like, they’ll be side-eyeing me, like, “What’s she doing now?” And I’m there just pressing the 45s on my chest.
So I do get a bit of a kick out of that, like, deadlifting, raffles and stuff like that. I love being strong. And I think that side of me, that’s more of the bodybuilding side-of-the-life rather than the stepping on stage. It is more so the stage is the by-products of me training.
So when people are there in the gym and they’re like, “What the hell’s she doing now?” I’m thinking, “She’s not going to lift that,” and then I do. It’s like a bit of a kick for myself.
But yeah, I’ve always been regimented, so to speak. So I come from an athletic background. We used to do athletics growing up.
I was the eldest of six, so I started it off.
And from the age of 11, I used to train five times a week. My dad used to take me a good few miles to training.
That was five times a week, races at weekend. Even before school, from the age of 14 to leaving school, I used to get up before school and go on five-mile runs.
My dad used to drive so far, let me catch up, and then drive again for it because it wasn’t safe being in Mostyn in Manchester, running at 5am in the morning. So I’ve always been, once I’ve set my goal, and I’ve always been really regimented, very structured, disciplined.
But then, having kids and stuff, I lost my way a little bit. And then that’s when I got back into the gym later on when I had both of my children.
And obviously fell into the bodybuilding again. So my younger experiences of being so disciplined has fell hand in hand with what I do now. So even though it’s a bit hard to start off with, and people look and think, “Oh God, how she do that day in, day out?” I’ve wired that way, so to speak. Yeah, so the last time I stepped on stage was Italy 23, and it was a kick in the teeth because the last four shows in the UK I won.
And I went over to Italy, and there was 14 girls, and I came fifth. So it’s like, “Right, go away and work.” So I’ve literally had a really long off-season. I feel like I’ve built enough muscle now to be competitive as a pro. So my goal now is, in a week’s time, I’ll be, well, a week and a half, I’ll be stepping on stage again. For the first time this season, for a regional, and then I’ll be going over to Germany for the FIBO, for the pro qualifier.
And then from there, depends on obviously, whether I get the pro card. Usually I do a pro qualifier, and I think right now it’s a kick in the teeth, go away and work, take the feedback on board. But I think this year it’s a case of showing up and making sure I don’t just chuck the towel in at the first kickback. I’m going to go for then Essex, sorry, Maidenhead, and then there’s one in Portugal, Spain. So I’m going for it.
And then I’ll be a pro.
Yeah, so it’s just, obviously the first shoot we did, really enjoyed it. It’s something I’ve not done before. And I wanted to push myself just to see how I would. And I was actually shocked at how I looked on the camera.
Because obviously I’m always pushing for perfection. So I’m very self-critical, and I’m always wanting to be better, and I’m always striving for that. So to actually see the finished product, it’s kind of given me a confidence boost, especially going into my next show. And I enjoyed it as well. It’s been fun, obviously meeting you as well. It’s just new opportunities. Yeah, I think definitely I want to do more.