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Lee taking it easy.

Redefining Her Image

Linda Lee shatters the notions of APA femininity

By Ji Hyun Lim
AsianWeek Staff Writer

Frighteningly hardcore, each contestant dazzles the stage in her bikini, striking a well-choreographed pose as the music drowns the oohs and ahhs of the audience. Judges are seated near the stage as the spotlight illuminates contestants who show off their vein-popping, oiled, tanned and waxed bodies. Each pose presents a new set of bulging muscles that reveal the rippling pain and hard work on their physique.

‘I Didn’t Want to Be a Petite, Frail Woman Anymore’

Oakland, Calif., local Linda Lee, 35, is an ex-bodybuilder and current physical trainer. Placing third at the 1991 Athena Bodybuilding Championship and first at the 1991 California Natural Bodybuilding Championship, Lee reigns as one of the few APA amateur bodybuilding winners among a handful of others including Van Nguyen, a Vietnamese American who was the former male USA teen champion.

Seven years after her last competition, Lee does not appear like a stereotypical bodybuilder. Standing 5 feet 1 inch and 110 pounds, tanned and hardly bulging, Lee perkily explains how she got into bodybuilding.

“I started out 98 pounds, and I didn’t want to be a petite, frail woman anymore,” Lee says. “I wanted to feel stronger and powerful. In high school, I weight trained. In college, I took a body shaping class, and I joined Gold’s Gym in 1989.”

She claims that since her first competition in 1991, she stayed in shape, allowing her to recondition herself for a competition in a five-month period in 1995. Since then, she has sculpted her body to be in top physical shape as a “walking presentation” of her healthy living habits.

As a contestant of the Miss Oakland Chinatown Pageant in 1989, Lee performed an aerobic fitness dance in the talent competition. Though she did not place, she realized that beauty pageants weren’t for her and tackled more physical competitions.

“Pageants are more about poise and femininity,” Lee explains. “When you’re around your own race, you try to be like them and not go beyond that circle. A lot of pageants are [sponsored by] the president of the Lion’s Club and the Chamber of Commerce. They don’t want to you to be loud but act more reserved. It has to do with pride and respect of the last name.”

She adds, “In [bodybuilding] competitions, you have to shine. It’s less feminine. It’s more about personality, the song you choose and the poses [you do].”

Lee decided to take on bodybuilding after watching her supervisor at her bank job enter an amateur competition. Confident that she too could compete, Lee undertook two years of conditioning before she tackled the amateur bodybuilding circuit herself. She contacted a professional trainer named Harold Hatcher who decided to make Lee a project.

An Hour of Posing

Hatcher designed a program where Lee would wake up 6 a.m., do 45 minutes of cardiovascular work on the stationary bike, do a mid-day training session of lifting weights for one hour, an hour of posing at 6 p.m. and 30 minutes of cardio at 7 p.m. Lee was also required to sleep 7-8 hours a night.

While in training Lee ate six mini-meals per day, eating every two hours. She describes her diet as “really clean,” with complex carbohydrates and proteins such as brown rice, steamed broccoli and steamed chicken. In the morning, she consumed egg whites, oatmeal or a plain baked potato. A protein drink would help her keep the muscle weight on.

“The diet is the hardest part,” Lee cringes. “[Sometimes] I was too tired to drool over food. Everything you do, it shows. Cookies, sugar, piece of gum — you can tell on the body. It’s a very boring, strict diet. You eat to live, not live to eat.”

Lee enjoys modeling on the side.

Lee utilized tanning salons or bottled tanners, and waxed her arms and legs to remove all hair prior to the competition. At times, slipping on the diet would be detrimental to her winning. Hatcher recalls how Lee had once consumed tuna with salt a week before a competition. He advised her to wrap herself in a trash bag and ride the stationary bike to sweat out her water retention from the sodium.

“Her body fat was 10 to 11 percent,” Hatcher explained, with a strained frustration in his voice. “But you couldn’t see her muscles because she had retained so much water. She would have gotten first place instead of second place if she hadn’t consumed the tuna with salt.”

Question: Do you think bodybuilding is attractive?

J.P. Lu, 25 Absolutely not. I think gym work is great, but if a person is spending way too much time working out, that’s not healthy. People should be doing other things. And physically, it’s not fun to hug [a bodybuilder].

Kevin Takenaga, 29 Extreme bodybuilding is not. Definition is nice, but if you can’t move your arms and lose flexibility, it’s form over function.

Chris Chin, 19 Yes, for [me], but not the opposite sex. It makes you more confident so you feel more attractive. For women, it makes them less feminine.

Elliot Wong, 17 Yes, for yourself. When you see progress, it makes you feel confident and good about yourself.

Francine Lee, 30 No, because it’s unattractive for men and women. Bodybuilders are intimidating. Bodybuilding is fine if they’re not taking steroids.

During 1991 and 1995, Lee competed in four of the some 30 natural or “drug free” bodybuilding competitions in the country. Lee was one of the only APA women and went on to win trophies.

“As a judge, we look for symmetry, muscularity and density, and conditioning,” Al Thurston, trainer, competitor and judge of the North American Bodybuilding Federation, said. “Some organizations are looking for a bigger, fuller look, more conditioned look or lower body fat — very vascular. Height doesn’t make a difference. Judging goes by weight classes, and short and compact competitors have an advantage because they look bigger onstage.”

Lee gave up the idea of competing professionally to win cash prizes because in professional bodybuilding, women often took winning to the extreme by taking growth hormones to alter their bodies. Thurston states that though professional contests do drug tests, there is no foolproof way of detecting drugs.

“Even if they drug-test, there are ways of getting around it,” Lee explained. “Some take certain drinks that cleanse the system. I just don’t want to take [these] drugs.”

Hatcher warns that the use of diuretics may be unhealthy by causing dehydration. Supplements may also harm the liver and kidney, and women who abuse steroids can cause fatal, if not embarrassing, characteristics such as facial hair and male features. He also reminds women bodybuilders not to fall below 14 percent body fat post-competition, as cessation of menstruation may occur.

Though Lee’s competition days are now over, she works as a trainer for professional athletes and celebrities such as football players Fred Beasley, Jeremy Newberry and Takeo Spikes, volleyball player Gayle Stammer, Raiderette of the year 2000 Tiaja Jacks, songwriter Howard Hewett and the music group Christian.

Meanwhile, Lee’s physique has landed her modeling jobs. She has been featured in the 1996 East Meets West calendar; the 1998 Zen Zele calendar, a women of color calendar; Lady Foot Locker ads; a Kinko’s ad, among other things.

“It’s part of business now,” Lee bubbles. “I like the way it feels and [the way it] looks. I have a passion for it. It helps you focus on life, work and more energy. It can create better eating habits and reverse the aging process. It’s not for everyone, [but] it creates discipline and pushes you to the limits.” 

Reach Ji Hyun Lim at jlim@asianweek.com.