LAUNCESTON’S Louis Perkett has trumped his iron pumping peers to become the youngest ever Mr Tasmania.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 17-year-old is also the third consecutive Mr Tasmania to come out of the city’s Health and Fitness world — joining the ranks of his trainers Matt Burgess and Josh McGrath.
The title was awarded to Perkett after his performance at this last weekend’s International Natural Bodybuilding Association Tasmanian championships.
His journey, involving strict dieting and a lot of heavy lifting, began about three years ago.
‘‘My best friend started lifting and got all the attention from everybody, I got jealous,’’ Perkett laughed.
‘‘I started and kept going, he was going to enter a competition, so I decided I would too.
‘‘I just kept training, everything he did I would do the same and try and put more work in.’’
He said his rally for attention proved successful and had gained about 200 new friendship requests on Facebook in the days after competing.
Training for the competition was a solid 12 months work, involving about 90 minutes at the gym every day after school.
A strict diet three months in the lead-up to competitions was also necessary.
Burgess said he was confident of Perkett’s chances in the national titles after viewing pictures from other state results. National titles will be held in Queensland on October 4 and 5.