Building the body, beating stereotypes

    A year ago, 41-year-old Delaina Allen was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia and could barely walk or make it through her daily routine.

    Despite her doctor's words that she'd never set foot in a gym, she worked with a personal trainer in hopes of feeling "normal" again.

    Saturday, in a Doherty High School auditorium, the 100-pound Littleton woman donned a bikini, lathered herself in bronze and struck poses for judges in which even the most obscure muscles popped out.

    She was the only contestant in her class, lightweight women's bodybuilding, but that didn't seem to matter.

    She was one of several dozen Colorado Springs and Denver-area women and men who showed off their guns, six-packs, pecs and other muscles for the 2008 Southern Colorado and Armed Forces Natural Bodybuilding & Figure Championships.

    For her and many of the contestants, what began as a twice-weekly trip to the gym to lose a few pounds or feel better morphed into a hobby of packing on the muscle.

    "I could barely lift (anything) at first," said Allen, adding that the pain and chemotherapy to treat it left her unable to take on much activity. "Now I can lift my whole body weight."

    The Lockheed Martin employee, who also goes to school part time and teaches aquatics for an arthritis foundation, said preparing her meals and training for competition isn't easy, but she feels better than she has in years.

    For 73-year-old Wilma Conner, the gym was a way to get in better shape when she joined one in 1998.

    Before long, she was determined to "prove science wrong" about aging and a sluggish metabolism.

    "My son pulled some pictures off the computer and posted them on the fridge and said ‘This is our goal.' And I said, ‘Why not?'"

    The Denver business owner gets some strange looks when she asks for a spotter to watch her push her limits on the leg-press machine.

    The 139-pound mother of three grown men can press 625 pounds.

    "For every plateau that I cross, I feel good," she said.

    Bodybuilding, in which people train for months and are judged in surprising detail on their physiques or figures, has kept a devoted fan base for decades among men. In recent years, bodybuilding's popularity has shrunk among women as a new category for figure has emerged.

    In the figure competition, women are judged for an athletic, feminine figure over the muscle-popping looks of bodybuilders.

    A small but enthusiastic crowd gathered to watch competitors, a combination of friends, family and trainers, and people looking for motivation. As the middleweight male novices took center stage, supporters cheered them as they squeezed their muscles and flexed.

    "There you go. That's it. C'mon baby. There you go. Hit it hard," a man called out.

    Then a woman, "Good tri, Jeff," she said of a tricep pose.

    Carla Sanchez, 37, grew up in Colorado Springs and began lifting weights while playing sports such as basketball at Colorado College.

    She signed up for an amateur competition, took second place and soon after became a professional in the fitness competition. Now she trains other people.

    She concedes it's not easy to take on the diet and time in the gym necessary to compete at showing off the bod. But she notes everyone is busy and people who fall into it find a way to get better organized.

    The way they feel, she said, is the payoff.