A mother who lost both her arms from an electric shock as a toddler has found a love of bodybuilding.
Barbie Thomas, 37, has been competing against able bodied women in bodybuilding for over a decade after a youth crammed full of dance, soccer and swimming competitions.
The mother of two says there is little she cannot do. She shrugs off the amount of effort it takes to compete as a body builder and just like any other family, she says raising her two teenage sons is hard work.
But anything that could prove challenging makes her work even harder to achieve it, because she says her biggest inspiration is being told she can't do something.
Speaking to the Huffington Post, she said: 'Someone once told me that you know you can never win, and to this day those words light a fire under me like you would not believe. Because when someone tells me I can't do something I will bust my buns to prove them wrong.'
Mrs Thomas lost both her arms when they were burnt to the bone by an electric shock when she climbed up onto a transformer and grabbed the wires with both hands.
She was aged just two and her mother was distraught, but almost immediately young Mrs Thomas learnt to adapt, holding out her legs to hug her mother.
Every day, the stay-at-home mother, who has recently gone through a divorce, goes to the gym to train.
She does cardio in the morning followed by a routine of either weights, dance, track training, lunges and leg exercises and of course, practicing her competition routine.
In her next competition, she plans to being out a new move to wow the judges, a complete flip. But, according to the news service, she's promised her mother not to do any tumbles, since this is how she has previously hurt her knee.
Reliant on her legs and feet, Mrs Thomas says she dresses and prepares herself like any other person without any help.
Given her disability, you might expect she would get extra help for her sons, aged 13 and 17, around the house, but she tells the Huffington Post: 'They're teenage boys. I still have a hard time getting them to do chores.'
In addition to her gym work, Mrs Thomas does some modelling and is now setting her sights on some film parts.
She told the newspaper she was offered a part in the Steven Spielberg film A.I. but had to turn it down because she was pregnant. She said limbless actors were often used in Hollywood films where people are dismembered.
The inspirational mother is also giving motivational speeches to help others achieve their goals.
Barbie Thomas, 37, has been competing against able bodied women in bodybuilding for over a decade after a youth crammed full of dance, soccer and swimming competitions.
The mother of two says there is little she cannot do. She shrugs off the amount of effort it takes to compete as a body builder and just like any other family, she says raising her two teenage sons is hard work.
But anything that could prove challenging makes her work even harder to achieve it, because she says her biggest inspiration is being told she can't do something.
Speaking to the Huffington Post, she said: 'Someone once told me that you know you can never win, and to this day those words light a fire under me like you would not believe. Because when someone tells me I can't do something I will bust my buns to prove them wrong.'
Mrs Thomas lost both her arms when they were burnt to the bone by an electric shock when she climbed up onto a transformer and grabbed the wires with both hands.
She was aged just two and her mother was distraught, but almost immediately young Mrs Thomas learnt to adapt, holding out her legs to hug her mother.
Every day, the stay-at-home mother, who has recently gone through a divorce, goes to the gym to train.
She does cardio in the morning followed by a routine of either weights, dance, track training, lunges and leg exercises and of course, practicing her competition routine.
In her next competition, she plans to being out a new move to wow the judges, a complete flip. But, according to the news service, she's promised her mother not to do any tumbles, since this is how she has previously hurt her knee.
Reliant on her legs and feet, Mrs Thomas says she dresses and prepares herself like any other person without any help.
Given her disability, you might expect she would get extra help for her sons, aged 13 and 17, around the house, but she tells the Huffington Post: 'They're teenage boys. I still have a hard time getting them to do chores.'
In addition to her gym work, Mrs Thomas does some modelling and is now setting her sights on some film parts.
She told the newspaper she was offered a part in the Steven Spielberg film A.I. but had to turn it down because she was pregnant. She said limbless actors were often used in Hollywood films where people are dismembered.
The inspirational mother is also giving motivational speeches to help others achieve their goals.
Source : HuffingtonPost , DailyMail
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