Pumping Iron, Chapter II

Women are taking to toting that bar (bell)

At Gold's Gym in Santa Monica, Calif., a man and a woman are straining against two weight machines, grimacing, muscles tightening with the rhythmic push and pull. He is Frank Zane, 37, also known as Mr. Olympia, the top titlist in professional body building. She is Christine Zane, 31, his wife, and she is not working out just because she believes families that strain together stay together. She too is a serious body builder, all 5 ft. 7 in. and 120 lbs. of her.

Christine Zane is one of about 100 women at this "21" of gyms who religiously train to build rock-hard muscles and a tight, well-toned look. Women across the country who have been drawn to the rigorous sport claim that they feel stronger and more confident. Stacey Bentley, 23, a body-building champion who moved from Philadelphia to train at Gold's, says she has become a better athlete. "I hadn't skied for a while," said the 5 ft. 2 in. competitor, "but when I did last winter, it felt like I had shock absorbers in my legs. It was wonderful." Others lift weights simply because they want to look better. Says Pete Grymkowski, owner of Gold's and currently Mr. World: "There's that Raquel Welch image they'd like: wide shoulders, slim waists and hips, firm and high breasts." Thirteen years of body building certainly have paid off for Christine Zane. Like Bentley, who dropped from 140 to 108 Ibs., Christine changed drastically: her shoulders got wider and she trimmed inches off her hips. Says she: "I always had a weight problem before I started training. Now I can eat all I want and stay thin."

George Snyder, who owns the Olympus Gym in Warrington, Pa., is president and founder of the Women's Bodybuilding Association. He makes a clear distinction between what he calls "freaks" --the "Superwomen" of the sport, of whom there are about 50 in the U.S.--and the "average" female body builder. Most participants fall into the second category: women who work out just enough to compete in body-building contests where top prize goes to the best-proportioned, shapeliest and firmest body. Women can easily take off a few pounds in the first month after they start working out, says Tim Kimber, general manager of Gold's. But to qualify for competition they must buckle down to rigorous, five-times-a-week training. "Women can actually mold their figures the way men do," says Snyder, who is not alone in his distaste for more heavily muscled women. One judge at a recent competition sent a contestant running from the stage in tears when he lamented aloud, "Oh, she's gone too far."

Women are steadily moving deeper into another once exclusive male domain --power lifting. Pam Meister, 24 and 105 Ibs., holds the current women's dead-lift record with 335 Ibs. Though some of her male colleagues at Gold's gave her a chilly reception, Meister hung tough. "I decided that I had to let them know this wasn't some kind of joke for me," she says, "so I dead-lifted 300 Ibs. three times. Since then it's been downhill all the way."

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