Michael Manley weighs 17 stone, but that still means he is a small fish in the big pond of strongmen.

The 30-year-old forklift truck driver from Shipley said: "Usually they're about 6ft 4in and 24 stone."

But, despite there being no handicaps for the bigger men, Michael is still confident of qualifying from Saturday's Northern regional round of England's Strongest Man competition.

"It's at Stanley in County Durham, and only the top eight go through from a field of 30," he said.

"But I'm confident I'll go all the way to the British finals, which are shown on BBC TV in the summer, even though I've only been doing strongman for about 12 months."

After years of watching on television and thinking 'I can do that', Michael made his debut in the 2002 Highland Games at Blair Atholl.

He explained: "Being a strongman is something I have wanted to do since I was a kid, and I just got tired of being an armchair athlete.

"Mind you, it took me a while to find the appropriate website, but now I am a member of IFSA - the International Federation of Strength Athletes.

"I could have started off by doing novice competitions, but if I had won them I would have thought it was easy and wouldn't have pushed myself.

"I didn't want any 'walkovers'. I preferred to go straight into the harder competitions where to get anywhere I was going to have to push myself. I wanted to learn my trade at a tough level.

"It is all right doing something in a gym, but quite another doing it in competition, and you have to know how to handle yourself."

But Michael isn't fazed by the tests that he will face on Saturday, even though the first two are eliminators i.e. if you cannot do them you are out.

He explained: "Firstly we have a 110kg log lift. Actually it's a steel log and you have to lift it above your head.

"Then there is a straight 250kg weight to be lifted off a bar, and I'm confident about completing this too."

Next up is the stone circle - rotating a weight that is between 350-400kg as many times and as fast as you can.

Michael said: "One problem is you can't practice this in training because there just isn't that kind of equipment about, but it is all about balance and breath.

"You have to rest the weight on your chest and if you get it wrong it could crush you."

That's comforting. Then after another 15 to 20 minutes - the designated rest period between each test - comes the fourth and final challenge, an arm-over-arm pull of a truck via a pulley.

He said: "I'm not certain over what distance we have to do this, but I can tell you it is an explosive exercise that tests everything - your legs,

your back etc. It can be a

nightmare."

And despite his training partner Mark Rutter from Tingley having been in Australia for six months, Michael is confident he'll finish in the crucial top eight, and be in the field of 24 for the second stage of the English finals.

That is again in Stanley on March 29-30, the line-up being completed by eight qualifiers from both the Southern and Midland regions.

The Celtic regions have a separate qualifier leading up to the British finals in May.

So what diet does a strongman need to give him the bulk and energy to complete what are increasingly difficult tests?

Michael confesses to eating "two whole chickens a day, each with 1lb of potatoes, plus about six smaller meals, such as tuna sandwiches."

And he reckons the whole package will add up to a meeting with TV strongman's front-man John Inverdale later in the spring.

However, advertisers please note, Michael could do with some help on the sponsorship front. He can be contacted on 07866-962080.