Lyon broke barriers for girls’s physiques.
Within the Seventies, many ladies were still reluctant to lift weights resulting from its association with heavily muscled physiques. But in 1979, along with her win on the very first International Federation of Bodybuilding (IFBB) women’s bodybuilding contest — the World Pro Bodybuilding Championship — Lisa Lyon helped to offer a template for muscular, aesthetic, self-empowered women.
While that inaugural competition was Lyon’s only appearance on a competitive stage, she would go on to attract attention along with her physique in mainstream television and movie outlets, in addition to modeling for artistic photographers including Helmut Newton and Robert Mapplethorpe. Unfortunately, on Sept. 8, 2023, Lyon died of cancer at age 70.
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After her initial foray into bodybuilding, Lyon authored a book to guide women toward weight training — “Lisa Lyon’s Body Magic” — before transitioning into non-athletic displays of her physical prowess. She was featured in several relatively low budget movies before becoming a consistent muse to artists, most notably the controversial American artist Robert Mapplethorpe.
Within the early Eighties, Mapplethorpe took greater than 100 black and white photographs showcasing Lyon’s eye-catching physique. His work presented her then-uncommon muscularity in quite a lot of dramatic, sometimes provocative, poses. The gathering of art culminated in a broadcast book, “Lady, Lisa Lyon.”
Lyon’s striking figure also inspired comic book author and artist Frank Miller in 1981 to create the athletic and formidable character Elektra. A native Californian and regular of bodybuilding hub Gold’s Gym, Lyon eventually struck up a friendship with bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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For her achievements in helping to bring myth-busting attention to the advantages of weight training for girls while redefining the concept of female muscularity, Lyon was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2000. In a brief video documentary released in 1987, “Lisa Lyon: A Portrait of Power,” she described her approach to training as a driver of aesthetic exhibition.
“… When I’m going into the gym, I’ve all the time defined myself as an artist. I’m talking about redefining my very own body and my very own image. Not only for myself, but as an art and product. As something that I’ll then present, aesthetically, to the general public. In order that’s my concept of resculpting my body, of making a completely different image of woman.
What I would love for people to do once they see me posing on stage is to say, ‘What planet did that come from? What form of animal is that?’ To transcend their idea of what a lady is, beyond their definition of what a human is. To make them query, through my work, their very own concepts of themselves, their very own limitations of the flesh.
When you might have this type of body where you’re in a position to do what you would like, where you’re in a position to be more sensual, where you’re more capable, you’re in a position to develop into a greater survival machine redefining yourself as an animal on this planet. And at the identical time, to present a really classical aesthetic. To only present something that I consider is gorgeous.”
As per an announcement from Lyon’s family, donations could also be made to the Lisa Lyon Fund at StandUpToCancer.org/LisaLyon, which advantages cancer research and treatment.
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