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Lisa Curry saw this year as the perfect time to flex her muscles again in a bodybuilding competition.

She considered her age (42), that she’s a grandmother to girls 2 years old and 5 months old, and her three sons — ages 21,19 and 16 — are mature.

She also decided that her return to the sport would be in Anchorage at the 2008 Natural Physique Committee Last Frontier Fitness, Figure and Bodybuilding State Championships.

It didn’t matter to her that the state event was only her second competition. The other was the 1995 Northern Alaska Bodybuilding Championships at the Alaskaland Civic Center (now the Alaska Centennial Center for the Arts in Pioneer Park).

She since kept pumping iron, until it was time to take the stage in the Egan Center for the NPC state event last Saturday night.

“I’ve lifted consistently for the last 20 years,” the dental clinic manager said. “I love weight training and I’ve always wanted to take overall in the state show. The timing in my life was perfect — my kids were pretty much grown and all this time was about me, and I had the support to go ahead and do it.”

Curry not only earned the overall title, she brought home the first-place trophies in the women’s lightweight and masters divisions. She was also one of two Fairbanks women to capture titles, as Sheila Bratten won a division title and claimed the overall honor in the figure competition.

“All my dreams came true,” Curry, 4-foot-11 and 101 pounds, said. “I really wanted to have this (overall) title since I was a teenager. Every rep, every drop of sweat and every minute was worth it.”

A few people helped her dream come true.

Trainers and co-owners Mike Groves and Theresa Knoll of Jungle Gym worked with her on developing her legs and a nutritional plan. Curry consumed six meals a day with the proper amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fats and she drank lots of water.

“I drank up to a gallon and a half a day,” she said.

She absorbed information from outside of Alaska, too.

Scott Abel provided her metabolic training information online and during a three-day camp in Edmonton, Alberta in February. Russ Testo of Troy, N.Y., who is renowned for his bodybuilding poses, developed Curry’s posing routine online, sent her an instructional DVD and burned a CD of the music for the routine.

Curry also did cardiovascular training twice a day to go with her strength training, which involved working on one or two muscle groups each day.

“The whole thing gave me all the support in the world to do this and every day was a challenge to get through it; but I made it easily with the knowledge, encouragement and support,” Curry said.

“Every day, I would see changes in my body and it motivated me and increased my enthusiasm to take it to the finish line.”

Her finish line was on the Egan Center stage, where she posed her way to three championship trophies, starting by winning the lightweight division for entrants who weigh up 125 pounds.

“I focused on my stronger body parts, which were my shoulders and my back, and I tried to make my legs pop,” said Curry, who earned the overall title against five other competitors.

Their results in Anchorage qualified Curry and Bratten for the Emerald Cup on April 18 in Bellevue, Wash., and the NPC USA National Championships in Las Vegas on July 25-26.

Curry plans to enter the tough open class at the Emerald Cup.

“I wanted to go ahead and compete against younger women,” she said. “I wanted to show that someone 42 can still have a good physique.”

Curry said that muscle maturity can benefit an older competitor.

“After years and years of training, your muscles are more developed from the time you put into them,” said Curry, “and it adds more thickness and fullness.”

Bratten is a Emerald Cup veteran, as she won the over-40 and overall titles in 2006 and placed fifth last year in the open B class.

Last weekend, though, marked the first overall state title for the 42-year-old certified aquatics fitness instructor. She also earned the honor in the 5-foot-4 and under division.

“I’m honored,” Bratten said Wednesday. “There was only one other girl in my class, a fitness model who came from Las Vegas to compete. I was pretty honored to have taken the (overall) title.”

Bratten captured the masters division at the 2006 state competition and took first last year in her height class.

The 5-2, 116-pound professional competitor hasn’t decided which class she’ll enter at the Emerald Cup.

“I did open last year and I wanted to see how I stood against the younger groups of girls,” she said. “My goal is to compete against other girls and see where I need to be for the nationals. There will be more people to compete against in July.”