Biography:

Hi, my name is Shannon Lynch (my friends call me Lynch!). I am a 29 year-old CBBF national bikini competitor and published fitness model who works as a full-time equity research associate (stock market analyst) for Canada's largest independently-owned investment bank. I was born and raised in the small-town of Sydney, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia and I now live in the beautiful, laid-back seaside city of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

I began training with weights when I was 15-years old. I wanted to get strong for high school volleyball team tryouts so I joined a gym and started training with local competitive bodybuilders the summer before high school started. I trained a 5-day split and started eating egg whites, reading bodybuilding magazines and taking bodybuilding supplements. All-in-all, I ended up completely falling in love with weight training and it has been a major part of my life ever since! Oh and I also ended up making the high school volleyball team too!

From there I continued weight-training throughout high school and also during university when I played for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) nationally ranked Acadia women's varsity volleyball team. At 5'8" I was considered a midget by volleyball standards; however what I lacked in height I tried to make up for in strength and grit. I was no stranger to the weight-room during the season; but during the off-season and in the summer I would dive back into my bodybuilding training. Pound-for-pound I would finish at the top for team strength testing in the fall; however my indifference for plyos and agility training and over-focus on isolation training left my vertical pretty grounded. Needless to say I played a lot of defense and specialty serving!

I had always wanted to compete but never had the time with varsity volleyball, so I hired a trainer to guide me and I ended up winning my class at my first competition – the 2007 NSABBA provincials – not a bad start! After that I was hooked and the next year I won the Nova Scotia Figure Overall title and a bye for life to compete at Nationals.

In 2010 I made the switch to bikini and won my WBFF pro card at the WBFF World Championships and in 2011, I rescinded my WBFF pro status to come back to the CBBF with the goal of earning an IFBB pro card. That year I won the Bikini Overall and a bye for life for Nationals at Nova Scotia Amateur Bodybuilding Provincials, which made me the first athlete in Canada to win both of their province's respective titles. This past April I finished 2nd in the Bikini Tall Class for the second year in a row at the Canadian IFBB World Qualifier in Winnipeg, AB.

This past spring I finished 2nd at the Canadian Nationals in Winnipeg, MB.

My current goal is to win my IFBB procard within the next 12-months and to do that I have to place FIRST, not second (like my last two tries) at a National or International Amateur IFBB event. I have not decided on which event I will be competing at next but I can assure you that I whichever show I do I will be bringing my BEST yet!

*2012 IFBB World Qualifier (CBBF Canadian Natural Physique Championships) Bikini Tall Runner Up
*2011 Atlantic Classic Womens Figure Model Tall Runner Up
*2011 NSABBA Overall Bikini Champion
*2011 NSABBA Bikini Tall Champion
*2011 CBBF Canadian Natural Physique Championships Bikini Tall Runner Up
*2010 WBFF World Championships Open Bikini Tied Runner Up out of 74 competitors ***Awarded WBFF Pro Card***
*2010 CBBF Nationals Bikini Tall 6th Place
*2010 Atlantic Classic Womens Figure Model Tall Runner Up
*2008 NSABBA Womens Overall Figure Champion
*2008 NSABBA Womens Overall Figure Tall Champion
*2008 Atlantic Classic Womens Overall Figure Runner Up
*2007 NSABBA Womens Overall Figure Runner Up
*2007 NSABBA Womens Figure Tall Champion
*2007 Atlantic Classic Womens Figure Tall Runner Up