Weightlifter Marc Sidney has set a new British bench-press record at the Midlands championship.

North London-based Mr Sidney, 45, has been bench-pressing competitively for the past two years. At last month’s championship, he lifted 170kg — one-and-a-half times his own bodyweight of 115kg — or, as he puts it, the equivalent of 375 bags of sugar or two large men.

“I’m elated to have beaten the previous record, especially after it was set over eight years ago,” Mr Sidney tells People. He beat 30 other people to take the crown and is now determined to beat his record and press 180kg at the World Bench Press Championships in Belgium later this year. Also champion of the West Midlands division, he is a member of the Wood Green power-lifting team. He has a strict diet and regularly makes up protein shakes consisting of chicken, raw eggs and soya.