THE world's strongest girl dubbed 'Girl Hercules' stunned the world with her superhuman brawn – but now she looks completely unrecognisable.
Varya Akulova went viral as a teenager when she could lift four times her own body weight despite having a slight frame and tiny muscles.
Her parents first noticed their daughter's unusual strength when she was just a toddler, and she began competing in – and winning – powerlifting competitions at the age of seven.
She accomplished one of her most famous feats of strength aged just 10, when she managed to flip her 17-and-a-half stone father Uri in a wrestling match.
Uri says that his daughter was already stronger than him by age 12, and believes his side of the family have a rare strength gene that few others have.
Varya's great-grandfather managed the astonishing feat of carrying 2,600lbs on his back in 1910.
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Varya set her many world records with relative ease, as her father only let her show about 75 per cent of her maximum strength for health and safety reasons.
Despite her astonishing strength, Varya was just 5ft tall and weighed just over eight stone, and only ate noodles and water as that was all the family could afford at the time.
Now, 'Girl Hercules' looks unrecognisable – but is showing no signs of slowing down.
Going from strength to strength, she has been trained in acrobatics, boxing, kick boxing, wrestling and circus juggling.
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In one picture, Varya wears a black dress and she seems less slim, but still gives no obvious indication of her mysterious strength.
She also regularly performs in the circus, where she is seen lifting her colleague on her shoulders with ease.
Now an adult, Varya has moved on from her noodle-filled diet, regularly finding room for eggs on toast, macaroni and meat.
She also drinks one glass of milk a day for calcium.
But despite her amazing success, Varya wishes her strength wasn't such a secret, and would like to get visibly bigger and bulkier.
She said: "I do not take steroids, I only take multi vitamins. I wish I could be big, really big: 190 cm tall and weigh more than 100 kg, like my dad."
On top of her physical strength, she is also highly intelligent, and learned to read aged just three.
'BODYBUILDING YOUNGSTER'
Varya isn't the only bodybuilding youngster to look unrecognisable years after becoming well known.
Tristyn Lee became famous when followers began noticing his gladiator-like physique in videos the teenager uploaded online.
In an Instagram post captioned "Working out saved my life," Tristyn shares a short clip comparing his 15-year-old self to the bodybuilding machine he is today.
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He follows a strict dieting routine and says he goes to the gym at least twice a day.
The young bodybuilder claims his shredding physique comes from completely avoiding sugar and following a high-protein keto diet without any cheat meals.
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