MUSCLE: OZARK BODY BUILDING CHAMPIONSHIPS SATURDAY AT THE SHOW ME CENTER

From 5:30 to 7:30 every morning, and again for four or five hours in the evening, 40-year-old Linda Mann pumps iron and leads step aerobics classes. Mann, who works as a service representative for Southwestern Bell, is fending off the final stage of Lyme disease by transforming her body into a shape it has never before known.

Cape Girardean Jeff Renner has a less urgent motivation for putting himself through an equally taxing regimen of workouts: He has his sights set on possibly becoming a national-caliber bodybuilder.

For Karen and Derek Campbell, a sister and brother from Oak Ridge, bodybuilding is a lifestyle they've more or less goaded each other into. Neither is very serious about it yet; they just like the effect on their bodies.

All four will be among the more than 100 hopefuls competing Saturday in the NPC Ozark Bodybuilding Championships at the Show Me Center. The contest is sponsored by Universal Physique Fitness and Racquet Center.

The event, which begins with pre-judging at 9 a.m. and concludes with the finals at 7 p.m., will feature an appearance by Shawn Ray, winner of the Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic and other professional bodybuilding competitions. During the past three years he has placed in the top five in the Mr. Olympia contest, bodybuilding's premier event.

Competition will take place in eight categories: men's teenage, men's over 35, men's novice, men's open, women's novice, women's open, women's over 35 and couples. During the drama-filled finals, the winners from each category will perform a routine to music for the judges, who will determine an overall titlist.

Competitors from Missouri, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Illinois will vie for the top prizes.

Tickets are $5 for pre-judging, $20 for reserved, floor seating during the finals, and $12 for rising seating. Student-reserved riser seating is available for $6.

Preparing for a bodybuilding competition requires a heavy commitment to working out, dieting, tanning, and practicing the routine that will be performed before an estimated 1,500 spectators Saturday.

Renner is a veteran, having won his lightweight class in the Ozark championships last year. He also won the Mr. Missouri title last year.

This year he is stepping up to the middleweight (154 1/4 to 176 1/4 pounds) division, which has required bulking up. The heavier weights, the 27-year-old has discovered after competing in eight contests as a lightweight, usually win the overall title.

Renner, who preaches drug-free bodybuilding, has added a pound or two every other week over the past three or four months by increasing his intake of calories.

A bodybuilder's enemy is fat because it hides and softens the rippling muscles he or she has worked so hard to build. The goal, in bodybuilder parlance, is to look "ripped."

"I'm kind of blessed," Renner said. "I can go out and eat anything in the book and I don't put on much fat."

He says genetics play a big part in how far a bodybuilder can go in the sport. At 5-7 most successful bodybuilders are on the short side he is the beneficiary of a thin father and muscular mother, Renner said.

"Some people are lucky; they have the inherent genetics."

Renner, the assistant manager of a pizza parlor, has a chest of about 42 inches and a waist of 28-29 inches. His biceps and calves are almost the desired match of 16 3/4 inches and 16 1/2 inches, respectively.

The Ozark contest is a qualifying event for the competitions sponsored by the National Physique Committee. Renner could advance to national contests if he does well Saturday.

Mann, along with the Campbells, is a first-timer in the highly competitive arena of bodybuilding. She will perform Saturday to Madonna's song "Fever" from her "Erotica" album.

Though her boyfriend has been encouraging, not everyone in her life is as enthused about bodybuilding as she is.

"My daughter and son-in-law feel kind of funny about it," she said. "My mom at first went off the deep end."

Now her mother is borrowing her diet.

"I haven't gone for the muscular look," Mann said. "When I walk down the street I don't look like a man."

Mann, who has three grandchildren, says, "My energy level is higher and my whole body looks different."

Bodybuilding has especially helped with one of the most debilitating effects of Lyme disease rheumatoid arthritis. "The heat in my body helps to kill the bacteria," said Mann, who added that her physician is "behind me 100 percent on this."

For 27-year-old Derek Campbell, bodybuilding grew out of a simple desire to stay in shape. At 5-8, he only weighs 149 pounds.

"I'm not really big just toned up," he says.

Campbell, who is a machine operator for M&W Packaging, began eating a diet of rice, egg whites and baked potatoes as he entered the final week before his first competition.

He doesn't really have any expectations about how he'll do in the novice class. "I just want to be able to say I did it," he said.

It was Derek who convinced his 19-year-old sister, Karen, to enter the bodybuilding competition. Both attended recent Ozark events and were duly impressed.

She also has been eating rice and egg whites (for protein) along with peas. Since she began dieting a month ago, she has dropped from 140 to 130 pounds.

She lifts 1 1/2 hours a day, six days a week, in addition to doing aerobics. That's in addition to working at the Show Me Center and studying at Southeast Missouri State University to be a paralegal.

The posing is much more difficult than it appears, she says. "For 90 seconds straight you're trying to flex every single muscle in your body."

Her boyfriend also lifts weights and she guesses he likes her somewhat muscular look. "I don't look like a guy," she says.

The competition that lies ahead has her a bit nervous, but she has done some modeling before and her parents will be in the audience cheering both their children on.

"It's something not very many people can say they have done," she said.