Introduction
Just as competitive bodybuilders can come in a multitude of unique shapes and sizes the same is true when comparing the variety of backgrounds and career paths these women choose - both as bodybuilders as well as in their professional lives.
Presented here are three separate stories of three uniquely different competitors who all aspired to reach the highest possible level of physicality - given their individual pre-dispositions for muscular development. Of equal interest within this trio is the path each took in a world of uncertainty as it relates to judging, along with the stark reality of a subjectivity that is at the root of all bodybuilding competitions even to this day.
Over the years bodybuilding competitors have run the gamut of variety in how they approached the competitive stage. Legendary pioneer Lisa Lyon only competed once but brought immeasurable publicity to a new sport - while a precious few others have competed in excess of 50 times.
The following threesome falls somewhere in between these extremes, but all bring an interesting perspective in their desire to be involved in a sport that has long been misunderstood and often harshly criticized.
LISA DANIELS - One of a Kind, In More Ways than One.
Of the trio described here, Lisa Daniels' contest journey in bodybuilding is by far the shortest - but by no means less interesting in total.
Competitively Daniels only competed four times over a period of two years from 1985 to 1986. But in that short time she experienced much in the way of what bodybuilding as a sport could be.
A small town girl in every sense of the term, Daniels was from Johnson, Vermont, population 1,328 in 2008. So one might imagine what the population was 23 years earlier. Even her address was simple. It was ‘General Delivery', Johnson, Vermont.
Graduating from Johnson State College in 1983 with a BA degree in elementary and special education, Daniels put her college education to work becoming a school teacher in Belvidere, Vermont, population 294 (as of the 2000 census). She found herself teaching grades 1 through 6 in a one-room schoolhouse.
Athletically Daniels had always been active. She had a gymnastics background, danced, and was a red belt in tae kwon do.
Around the same time as her teaching career was getting started, she took up weight training to stay in shape. That was in May 1984.
Almost a year later, and with the support of the gyms where she trained (yes, there was more than one), she entered the NPC Vermont State Championships on April 27, 1985.
Distributing a well-balanced 108 pounds on her 5-2 frame, Daniels made a clean sweep of the trophy table. She won the overall title, and added the ‘Best Poser' and ‘Most Promising' honors as well. Later in the year Daniels decided to take her chances at the national level and traveled to Las Vegas for the NPC USA - a city with a decidedly different atmosphere than the quiet hamlets of Vermont. So, she appeared in Glitter City with a few added pounds giving her a less defined look and moving her into the middleweight category. The result was sobering as Daniels found herself in an unheralded 12th-place position and watching middleweight class winner Dona Oliveira take the overall USA title. Daniels' competitive rollercoaster ride was under way.
With the coming of 1986 Daniels made the decision to return to the lightweight division and return to the NPC USA - this time staged in Beaumont, Texas. The loss of weight put a much more detailed look on Daniels' physique, and with that came a much more agreeable placement. She won her class, and she was in good company with MW winner Debbie Sider, HW and overall winner Cathey Palyo, and a LtHW class champion named Laura Creavalle. In winning the NPC USA lightweight division, Daniels became the first competitor from Vermont to win a class title in any division at either the NPC USA or NPC Nationals. She had literally become one of a kind. To this day, a competitor from Vermont has yet to win a USA or National class title since Daniels.
With renewed confidence Daniels decided to take a shot at the big NPC Nationals held in Miami in 1986. Once again, however, the harsh reality of just how competitive the national level can be set in. She finished 10th in a field of 15.
The placing was Daniels' last as a bodybuilder. Nevertheless, Lisa Daniels, in her short stay on the bodybuilding scene, was a state champion and a U.S. champion. Not bad for a small town girl who is still one of a kind.
DEBBIE TYLER - When Eight Really is Enough.
It was 1982 when Debbie Tyler made the decision to enter her first bodybuilding contest, and upon winning the lightweight class at the Ms. Gold Coast contest in her home state of Florida, she was excited about continuing her newfound sport. But what transpired over her competitive career years from 1982 to 1990 - a nine-year journey - included one of the most pointed and dramatic examples of commitment, perseverance, and a willingness to sacrifice. While all the above mentioned ingredients of potential success are integral parts of taking bodybuilding seriously, the extent to which Debbie Tyler focused is far from the beaten track. In fact, there may not be another example of Tyler's exploits anywhere.
Specifically, Debbie Tyler got her competitive feet wet with the Gold Coast event, and also captured a 
middleweight and overall win at the 1983 Ms. Citrus State. The following year she added another MW win at the 1984 Sunshine State. But it would be her entry at the 1983 NPC Florida Championships that would light a competitive fire that would continue to burn bright for the next eight years.
That 1983 Florida saw Tyler finish fourth in the MW class - a placing anyone would consider acceptable in their first attempt at the state level.
A year later Tyler matched her ‘83 fourth-place finish at the 1984 NPC Florida - again as a MW. Undeterred, Tyler returned to the Florida in 1985 as a light-heavyweight. The result was a fourth-place finish. When she maintained her bodyweight and made a conscious effort to add more detail at the 1986 Florida, the result was, well, fourth place.
But even after four consecutive fourth-place finishes, Tyler showed no signs of buckling under. In fact, she was only just getting started. As an added perk during the '86 season, she won the LtHW class at the NPC Southern States.
The 1987 Florida saw Tyler add more muscle weight. She was now a heavyweight with more impressive shapes and more general muscle cultivation. She finished second, and Tyler felt she was now on a roll. And she was - kind of.
In 1988 Tyler was still a heavyweight and this would be her sixth NPC Florida. She slipped to third, and it was back to the drawing board....or gym in this case.
More determined than ever, this Ft. Lauderdale x-ray technician had her entry form turned in early for the 1989 Florida and again, as a heavyweight, she was ready to flex her way to that long-desired Florida state title. And again, she was denied. This time it was a particularly agonizing second-place finish. So close, but yet so far.
But with the new decade came new hope and her continued unwavering desire to capture the Florida crown. 1990 would be Debbie Tyler's year. And indeed it was.
At 36, and putting together a solid combination of all the qualities needed to win, Tyler's 5-5, 137-pound physique took a unanimous decision over runner-up (and future pro) Yvonne Vazquez in the heavyweight class, and followed up with a victorious posedown over LW winner Donna Leotta and MW champion (and future pro) Michelle Andrea.
Eight years - eight consecutive years. And Debbie Tyler had finally won her NPC Florida title.
As she mentioned after the contest, "Actually, I had begun dieting in April for the NPC USA in July (the Florida event took place on June 9th). Getting into the Florida - again -
was a late decision".
Could the phrase ‘Better late than never", ever be more appropriate than on the night of her victory at the NPC Florida?
Her Road to the NPC Florida Victory
1983 - NPC Florida 4th MW
1984 - NPC Florida 4th MW
1985 - NPC Florida 4th LtHW
1986 - NPC Florida 4th LtHW
1987 - NPC Florida 2nd HW
1988 - NPC Florida 3rd HW
1989 - NPC Florida 2nd HW
1990 - NPC Florida 1st HW & Overall
As a final note to during Debbie Tyler's 9-year competitive career, her gradual progression as a bodybuilder was notable in that over nearly a decade of competing, she was an entrant in all four weight classes between 1982 and 1990.
Tyler would also enter the 1990 NPC USA placing ninth in the HW division in one of the strongest HW classes in the history of that category - a class which included eventual overall winner Shelley Beattie; Nikki Fuller - 2nd; Tazzie Colomb - 3rd, and Yolanda Hughes - 4th....all of whom moved on to the pro ranks and became notable stars in the sport.
After a 15th place finish at the 1990 NPC Nationals in Long Beach to end the year, Tyler drifted away from the competitive bodybuilding stage. But she will always have that treasured NPC Florida overall victory - even if it did take eight years.
Could you visualize yourself generating that same level of commitment?
CARMEN BRADY - In the USA, She's a Ten.
Carmen Virginia Brady makes the perfect anchor for the story of these three diverse personalities. While Lisa Daniels competed just two years, winning a USA weight class title in the process, Debbie Tyler toiled for a decade while chasing the elusive NPC Florida crown before winning on her eighth try. But it is Carmen Brady who has - and still does - continues to write chapters to what has become a very long and interesting bodybuilding career.
For starters, Brady is a three decade competitor having begun her contest exploits in 1981 as a third-place finisher in the tall class of the now-defunct AAU Western America.
From then on, Brady has mixed motherhood (she has two children), a love of surfing (although now that she has moved to Las Vegas from her former digs in Santa Monica her board gets far less use than years ago), an avid love of antiques and art collectibles, and a strong interest in acting (she played the cameo role of Starla in the 2004 cult classic Napoleon Dynamite), to go with her passion for bodybuilding.
Along the way, Brady has done very well considering she has competed in nearly 40 contests over the years. She has been, for example, a HW and overall winner at the 1987 NPC Mid-USA. In 1993 she won the HW and overall crown at the NPC Junior USA, followed in 1994 with another HW and overall victory at the NPC Junior Nationals. To date, she is the only competitor who has won both ‘Junior' titles. More recently (meaning the last decade), Brady has had very good success in the NPC Masters competitions winning the HW and overall NPC Masters title in 1999. In 2001 she won the HW and overall Masters titles at the IFBB North American Championships, and in 2008 she added a fourth-place finish in the Masters +45 HW class.
But the fact is Carmen Brady holds a strong love of being on stage and competing in bodybuilding. If that fact didn't hold truth, she would have vanished from the scene long ago. Indeed, Brady has seen some remarkable bodybuilders come and go - and some, like herself, who still remain. In 1987 she won the HW class of the NPC Orange County Muscle Classic - the longest running event where women have competed on the west coast dating back to 1979. It is a contest that has produced past winners such as Diana Dennis, Yolanda Hughes, Denise Rutkowski, and Iris Kyle.
So what about the rest of the contests she has entered? Well, that's one of the elements that make Carmen
Brady so special.
Beginning in 1988 Brady entered her first NPC USA - then as a middleweight - and finished fifth. A good start to be sure. But it would be the highest finish she would experience through the 90's and up to her last entry at the USA in 2000. The special aspect about her entries at the NPC USA is that she entered the contest TEN times......and never placed higher than fifth (a placing she reached on two occasions over the years). Her ten entries at the USA is a record - perhaps the type of record few might pay attention to, but significant nonetheless.
After entering her seventh USA in 1996, the question was raised as to why she kept entering, and the answer was straight forward and simplistic. "I just like entering this contest," she stated contentedly. "There's a feeling of great camaraderie I get from the competitors at this contest that I don't always feel at other shows. I just like being here, and I truly love to be on stage, and I feel at home at the USA. I love the discipline needed to put myself in top shape, and it drives me to try it again and again. The placings don't really matter."
Heady stuff, especially considering the following contest record for her NPC USA entries:
1988 - NPC USA 5th MW
1989 - NPC USA 7th HW
1990 - NPC USA 11th HW
1991 - NPC USA DNP
1994 - NPC USA 6th HW
1995 - NPC USA 7th HW
1996 - NPC USA 6th HW
1997 - NPC USA 6th HW
1999 - NPC USA 5th HW
2000 - NPC USA 14th HW
Special ? You bet. And a quick look at the above list shows that she entered the USA in the 80's, 90's and 00's.
In today's competitive atmosphere bodybuilders like Brady may be riding off into the sunset. But years from now, bodybuilders like her will stand as the real pioneers of female bodybuilding's early days.
The question now remains. Will Carmen Brady enter a contest in 2010 and become a four decade competitor? [ed. note: Carmen won the 55+ Class at the 2010 NPC Masters Nationals. Photo at left]
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