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| by Simon Barnes at Hotsnapz |
Stunning
Stephen Box is a young fitness model from Bath in Somerset, England who is
represented by W Athletic agency and locally works with Room3 Agency,
Gingersnap Modelling Agency in Bristol and Artemis Modelling Agency in
Birmingham.
Simon Barnes
Stephen was recently crowned Mister International Great Britain, and will be competing in November for the main title in Thailand.
Stephen
is a Sport Performance Graduate BSc 2010, from the University of Bath. Besides weightlifting, he likes
volleyball and hockey among other sports.
| Thanks to his dedication to training and healthy living, in just a few years, this up and coming model has achieved an amazing physique. |
Stephen
also shares many tips on training and also on food and nutrition, including
meal plans and recipes with detailed nutrition values. Join his Facebook page
and ‘like’ it to see more of his work and get all those tips! You can also
follow him on Twitter.
We
catch up with Stephen just as he is crowned Mister International Great Britain
in Leeds. It is a pleasure and an honour to feature him at Stunning Men and to
be able to interview him!
Here's Stephen's interview in full
Stephen, a warm
welcome to Stunning Men and many thanks for taking the time to do the
interview.
First of all, you
have just been crowned Mr International Great Britain. Our warm
congratulations! How did you get to participate?
You must feel on the top of the world right now! So, what's next? Thailand?
You must feel on the top of the world right now! So, what's next? Thailand?
Yep Thailand in
November for the Mister International competition. Currently training hard,
keeping a strict diet and luckily I’m being supported by my ICON Nutrition who
are fuelling my training and helping me recover, huge thanks to those guys as I’d
never be able to meet my training goals without them.
Now could we talk a
little about yourself and your background?
Well,
I’m 24 years old, I grew up in Bath and went to the University of Bath, where I
studied Sport Performance for three years. Along with my degree I was a full
time volleyball athlete playing both indoor and beach volleyball. Then I moved
to Loughborough where I worked for the NGB of Volleyball teaching/coaching volleyball
full time. Now I am back living in Bath coaching CrosFit and personal training,
so if anyone want to be trained give me a shout on my facebook page.
How did you get
into modelling? Is it something you
always wanted to do?
Funny you should ask that as I did my first cat walk
at the age of 11, then when I was 17, I was in New York on a school trip and
was asked to model for A&F as an in store model. Again I put it out of my
head thinking I would never be able to do it. Until two years into university I
decided to give it a try and got some shoots in with some fantastic
photographers.
Have you done any
more runway work after that?
I have always been
part of as many charity catwalk shows as possible; it gives me a chance to give
back and be part of something really special. However I’d love to model at The
Clothes’ show or in London fashion week.
What do you enjoy
the most about modelling?
I
really enjoy working with others and being creative, always thinking how can I
make the picture look the best possible. I love training and knowing I have a
photoshoot coming up is a huge motivation for me to push myself harder than
ever.
How do you prepare
before a photoshoot?
Well
over the years I have slowly learnt that preparation is key. Now I will make
sure I’ll get a haircut if needed. Good spray tan really helps, shaving of
course, have to keep my boy next door look, along with dieting and training
extra hard in the gym.
What
do you like the most about working with a photographer?
Putting
our ideas together to make the best possible picture, trying to put their
amazing ideas into a practical form.
What’s
the best advice you have ever been given? And from your experience, what advice
would you give a new model?
How
to “smieyes” or whatever you call it, basically smiling with your eyes, really
helps with the intensity/emotion of the picture.
You have a stunning
physique. How do you maintain it and keep healthy? Do you do any sport?
Well I used to play
volleyball 24hrs a week, now I have taken up powerlifting, I really love that
style of training and getting new personal bests. I have also recently taken up
CrossFit and am a fulltime CrossFit coach this year. Their philosophy of
training and diet is fantastic and I recommend everyone should try CrossFit;
it’s so much fun doing it with all your team mates. It forces you to work
harder than you could ever think possible, which in return is an amazing
feeling which you can take into the rest of your daily life.
What are your top
three favourite exercises and why?
Has to be the Push
Press, using the legs then shoulders to push as much weight as possible above
your head and hold it. Next it has to be muscle ups, it’s basically a chin up
straight into a tricep dip, it requires all of your back and abs to work with
huge amounts of power. Thirdly Clean and Jerk, Olympic weight lifting is
intense full body power exercise that gets my heart racing faster than anything
else.
What’s the best
form of cardio for you?
I don’t actually do
any. If you train hard enough in the gym and eat well you don’t need to.
How do you keep
motivated?
Apart from having a
looming photoshoot, I get my motivation from trying to be the best I can be.
That’s why I enjoy powerlifting and Crossfit as every session I can compete
against myself trying to beat last week’s scores.
How do you fit
fitness into your life? Is it a difficult thing to achieve?
Well having a
fulltime job, training 2-3 hours every day and all my other projects I have
coming up, I don’t ever watch TV, the odd film maybe, but if you want something
you have to make sacrifices.
How do you approach
a challenge?
I love a challenge and I always tackle it
head on, I’m a bit of a geek so I will plan and prepare to make sure I meet it.
What do you do in your down time?
I’m a big movie fan so chilling out with my mates going to the
cinema or at home with a game of dominoes after a hard week of dieting.
Do you have any
role models? People who inspire you?
There
are a few people for different reasons, someone who has inspired me recently is
Ross Austen great guy and we have really helped each other this year in the
industry, can’t thank him enough for the support.
We featured the amazing Ross at
Stunning Men two weeks ago.
So
good having friends that are into the same things as you and who support
everything you do.
Now a few quick fun
questions if we may? Do you think you are a good date?
No I’m terrible, I
don’t drink and I’ll more than likely have to pick the restaurant and it will
have to be a healthy menu. Also I’d more than likely be late as my training
session would have run over.
Are you a brief man
or a boxer kinda guy?
Skins actually. I’m
always coaching or training so I spend most of my day in skins.
What do you listen
to on your iPod?
Depends what mood
I’m in, love dance and chart music while I’m training but will listen to some
heavy rock, hip hop/rap before my gym session to increase my focus.
Your favourite
song/piece of music to play while running?
Du
Hust by Rammstein always gets me motivated to train harder.
What kind of movies
do you like?
Love action hero
films or anything with Will Ferrel in.
What three words
describe you best?
Dedicated, Charming
and a bit of a geek.
That’s eight words
... but we’ll forgive you! One last question Stephen, where do you see yourself
and what would you like to be doing in 10 years time?
I’d love to own a
CrossFit Box and strength gym, a chance to really help people achieve their
goals, create a community of people who enjoy an active lifestyle and who push
each other on.
Stephen, you have
been a pleasure to interview! Thank you for your time and for being a good
sport. All the best for the future!
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