A competitive crossfitter at the time, a heavily pregnant Vasicek was training at Wagga's Chronicle Athlete Development Centre in the morning, before giving birth later that day.

After welcoming son, Arlo, into the world via C-section Vasicek was back training within a few weeks, but this time to join her husband Josh on the Strongman/woman circuit.

It reaped dividends, with the Vasiceks and fellow Wagga athlete Emily Naismith earning invites to the Arnold Amateur Australia Sports Festival in Melbourne later this month.

Now ten months, Arlo has been there for every second of the Vasicek's heavy training regime as they prepare for the country's biggest event.

Josh qualified by winning NSW's Strongest Man in his under-80kg weight division, while Emily and Kiaya progressed by finishing first and second respectively at a regional competition in Canberra.

"He (Arlo) comes to the gym with us, we take turns holding him while the other trains and he's kind of our rest spot between sets," Josh said.

"We aren't Wagga locals, so we have no family to look after the little dude.

"I started the sport at the start of last year, the first six months Kiaya was watching on heavily pregnant and jumped on board once the baby came.

"She was a pretty competitive crossfitter before she got pregnant, and was training up until the day she went into labour.

"She was in the gym in the morning, and then went into labour at 1pm."

Vasicek said she got the itch to take up the sport after watching Josh compete at the nationals in Melbourne last year.

"I was 36 weeks pregnant when he competed at the Arnold in Melbourne, but since then I thought as soon as I have the baby I'll give it a go," she said.

"I didn't expect to take it this far, I picked up my first implement when I was 12 weeks postpartum and my recovery was much faster than I thought it'd be.

"It was pretty hectic with the training sessions (and looking after the baby), but we made it work. Every training session we've had since the baby he's been there with us."

The amateur strongman/woman competition features five different categories - stone carry, yoke carry, farmers carry, axle deadlift and overhead lift medley, with competitors accruing points throughout.

"There's a misconception in strongman that it's just really big, fat guys lifting really big things, which is not the case," Josh said.

"But there's weight divisions and it's also cardio oriented, given you're carrying heavy things over a long distance."

The winners of the Arnold Australia Amateur Sports Festival qualify for the Arnold Worldwide Classic to be held in Ohio, United States next year.

The event features 18,000 athletes from 80 countries competing in 70 sports and events.

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