{"id":5814,"date":"2026-01-08T19:19:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=5814"},"modified":"2026-01-08T19:19:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T19:19:13","slug":"bury-st-edmunds-bodybuilder-matthew-seddon-returns-after-seven-year-break-to-win-national-nac-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=5814","title":{"rendered":"Bury St Edmunds bodybuilder Matthew Seddon returns after seven-year break to win national NAC title"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>  <!-- Article Start --><\/p>\n<p>A 38-year-old bodybuilder from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.suffolknews.co.uk\/\">Suffolk<\/a> has returned to win a national title after taking a seven-year break to spend time raising his children.<\/p>\n<p>Matthew Seddon, of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.suffolknews.co.uk\/bury-st-edmunds\/\">Bury St Edmunds<\/a>, began bodybuilding when he was 18 and over the past two decades has been to NABBA (National Amateur Body-Builders\u2019 Association) Britain Finals, world championships and more.<\/p>\n<p>Before returning to competing this year, Matthew\u2019s last show came in 2017 where he placed fifth out of 12 people for NABBA\u2019s Mr Universe competition in the short class (up to 165cm) category.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1298 2048\" alt=\"Suffolk bodybuilder Matthew Seddon won a national title following a seven-year break away from competing. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"GVYAMUDBPPK6DX445B37.jpg\" data-ar=\"0.63\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.suffolknews.co.uk\/_media\/img\/GVYAMUDBPPK6DX445B37.jpg\" alt=\"Suffolk bodybuilder Matthew Seddon won a national title following a seven-year break away from competing. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex\"\/><figcaption>Suffolk bodybuilder Matthew Seddon won a national title following a seven-year break away from competing. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last month, he won the NAC\u2019s Mr UK in the short class category, despite not competing for seven years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt felt really nice to be back competing and after such a long time away from competitions it felt amazing to win a big one,\u201d Matthew said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a bit surprised but I know I\u2019ve put in the work and I\u2019ve still been training hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 2048 1364\" alt=\"Matthew competing at the NABBA midlands competition. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"NZXQNSLJTFHRRVIPDLZ1.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.50\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.suffolknews.co.uk\/_media\/img\/NZXQNSLJTFHRRVIPDLZ1.jpg\" alt=\"Matthew competing at the NABBA midlands competition. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex\"\/><figcaption>Matthew competing at the NABBA midlands competition. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cBodybuilding has become massive over the last few years which surprised me. It\u2019s a demanding sport, it\u2019s gruelling stuff, but I feel great and there\u2019s just not many things quite like it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Matthew is now engaged to his partner Rachel and has three children, Emily, 12, Leonidas, 7, and Rex, 5.<\/p>\n<p>He trains five times a week at Fitta Bodies in Bury and is thankful to the gym owner, Edward Selsby, who encouraged him to get involved with competing at shows in the first place.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1647 1098\" alt=\"Competitors are judged on a mixture of muscle size, balance and conditioning. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"1I1J39Y6LOYDGL7Z2GTJ.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.50\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.suffolknews.co.uk\/_media\/img\/1I1J39Y6LOYDGL7Z2GTJ.jpg\" alt=\"Competitors are judged on a mixture of muscle size, balance and conditioning. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex\"\/><figcaption>Competitors are judged on a mixture of muscle size, balance and conditioning. Picture: Lee Archer Photo Flex<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have all my trophies if it wasn\u2019t for Edward and I\u2019m so grateful and thankful to him for all of his help.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"teads\" class=\"teads-advert SAVBRN\" data-provider=\"3\" data-devices=\"dtm\" data-format=\"['teads',2,1]\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe sorted my travelling and expenses for going to all these places for events and once you start doing a couple shows, you really kind of enjoy it.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy family have been incredible too and they\u2019re very supportive. Rachel is great and I couldn\u2019t do this without her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf any local businesses want to support and sponsor me then please feel free to get in touch as it is quite an expensive sport due to the large quantity of food that has to be eaten.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- Article End -->  <\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<hr\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.suffolknews.co.uk\/bury-st-edmunds\/news\/it-s-gruelling-stuff-but-i-feel-great-bodybuilder-wins-na-9366875\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A 38-year-old bodybuilder from Suffolk has returned to win a national title after taking a seven-year break to spend time raising his children. Matthew Seddon, of Bury St Edmunds, began bodybuilding when he was 18 and over the past two decades has been to NABBA (National Amateur Body-Builders\u2019 Association) Britain Finals, world championships and more. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":5815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-international-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bury St Edmunds bodybuilder Matthew Seddon returns after seven-year break to win national NAC title - World Bodybuilding News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldbodybuildingnews.com\/?p=5814\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bury St Edmunds bodybuilder Matthew Seddon returns after seven-year break to win national NAC title - World Bodybuilding News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A 38-year-old bodybuilder from Suffolk has returned to win a national title after taking a seven-year break to spend time raising his children. Matthew Seddon, of Bury St Edmunds, began bodybuilding when he was 18 and over the past two decades has been to NABBA (National Amateur Body-Builders\u2019 Association) Britain Finals, world championships and more. 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