GYM RATS: WORKING OUT MORE THAN JUST A PASTIME TO MANY FITNESS BUFFS

Perrey Lee spends 1 1/2 hours five days a week doing vigorous aerobic exercise. Compared to natural childbirth, which she is an advocate of, running on a treadmill is easy, she says.

"If you can have a baby naturally, you can do anything."

Lee, who works out at Main Street Fitness in Jackson, Mo., is a gym rat, a breed of people more likely to miss their own birthday party than a workout. Plenty of time or the ability to work out efficiently are things all gym rats seem to have in common.

Lee, a stay-at-home mom, has the time. She takes her two children to the gym child care center and then goes at it.

Before giving birth to her younger child last summer, she weighed 230 pounds. She started working out last November at 200 pounds. Since then she has lost 60 pounds. Though her body fat is only 10 percent, she says she needs to lose five more pounds.

Most people who work out spend 30 minutes on aerobic activity. "Thirty minutes is wimpy," says the 26-year-old Lee, who has a star and crescent moon tattooed on her flattening belly.

To her, a good workout is a five-mile run followed by five miles on a bicycle. Or she'll spend 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer and 45 minutes on the Stairmaster. That's in addition to weightlifting every other day.

Lee has struggled with food throughout her life. "In high school, if I got above 300 calories in a day I would freak out," she said, a bit embarrassed. In college, she gained 50 pounds she attributes to "drinking and eating Taco Bell."

Now that she's working out, she eats whatever she wants, though she tries to restrict carbohydrates and consume lots of fresh fruit.

Lee has a master's degree in psychology but says her natural childbirth training is more help in keeping to her taxing workout. "When I have been running a long time, I count," she says. "Just to stay in rhythm and not get tense. When you get tense, your breathing gets shallow."

She also finds a focal point when running just as she did when giving birth.

Olympic winner

Lee may be one of the gym's most dedicated patrons, but she does have an idol. He's 20-year-old Bryan Valentine, a power lifter who recently won the seniors division championship in the Missouri Special Olympics for the third year in a row.

"He's awesome," Lee says.

Bryan and his father, David, are at the gym four times a week. They work out together and spot for each other.

Valentine began weightlifting in 1998 just to lose some weight. "He took right to it," his father said.

Trainers at the gym showed him the proper techniques for lifting the weights and he began making big jumps in strength. He also dropped from 200 pounds to his current 154. He has 13 percent body fat.

Valentine, who works at Burger King In Jackson, also works out at home on the gym TV star Chuck Norris endorses. He doesn't have to be motivated to work out. "We almost have to sit on him to slow him down," his father said.

At the Olympics, he competes in the bench press, the dead lift and squats. His best lifts 250 for the bench press, 315 for the dead lift and 335 for the squat place him among the top competitors in the World Games, David says.

He hopes to qualify for the next World Games in 2003 in Ireland.

Valentine has inspired his mother, Linda, to try power lifting as well.

Trudy Lasswell is a 40-year-old Cape Girardeau woman who has gained 20 pounds of muscle since she began working out in 1992. She is 5-2 1/2 and weighs 120 pounds.

Lasswell does 15 minutes of cardiovascular exercise followed by weightlifting followed by 15 more minutes of cardio work three or four times a week at St. Francis Universal Health and Fitness Center in Cape Girardeau.

"It makes me strong, I feel healthy, I look better," she says. "I feel better physically and emotionally in every way.

Unlike some women, going into the room with the heavy weights did not intimidate her. "In high school I did a little bit of lifting," she said. "I was used to being around men."

Lasswell, who is divorced, says working out has another benefit. "It slows down the aging process."

Limited time

Kris Jeffers, a 34-year-old salesman, has three sons under the age of 10. He doesn't have much time to spend at the gym. He dedicates just 30 to 45 minutes a day after work but goes six days a week, spending three days on cardiovascular activities and three days on weight training.

His wife, Angela, was the one who started going to the gym first. "When we had three kids, she did it just to get a shower," he said.

For him, working out is primarily a way of relieving stress. "In my job, I'm driving around in a car all day," he says. "Working out gets some blood pumping."

Sue Perry, a 49-year-old Jackson housewife, began working out seriously after her youngest child graduated from high school. She would spend two hours a day at the gym, mostly doing aerobics. That left her tired and didn't produce results.

Then she read Bill Phillips' bestseller "Body for Life," in which he challenges readers to follow his 12-week gung-ho regimen for turning flabby bodies into bodies that look more like Superman and Superwoman. The before and after pictures in Phillips' book are amazing. They are people who won prizes taking the challenge.

She didn't win the challenge. But after just four weeks, friends noticed something different about her. "People said, What are you doing?" she said.

Perry submitted her before and after pictures. In the after photo, she wore a two-piece swimming suit after a lifetime of wearing one-piece suits. "Last year was the first year I got to wear a two-piece at 48," she said.

The main thing is how she feels, she says.

"I feel better than I ever have."

Phillips' plan allows for one day when "you eat stuff you shouldn't," Perry says. Her day is Saturday and her poison is calzone.

After the weekend, like a true gym rat, she can't wait to get back in the gym.

"I almost have withdrawal symptoms," she says. "I really need to go back and do it."