Female bodybuilding pioneer Lisa Lyon dies at 70.
Female bodybuilding pioneer, Lisa Lyon, passed away at the age of 70.
Sources close to Evolutionofbodybuilding.net, confirm that Lisa was battling cancer, and was being treated in a hospice in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles.
Born on 13 May 1953, Lisa passed away at the age of 70.
Lisa studied art at the University of California, and also participated in various activities such as fencing and kendo.
Lacking upper body strength, Lisa started weight training, and from then on, she fell in love with bodybuilding.
Popular with photographers, Lisa was a very popular candidate for artistic photo sessions. Thanks to her studies in art, Lisa was the perfect model.
Lisa is known for putting female bodybuilding on the map, by winning IFBB’s first female international bodybuilding event on 16 June 1979, in Los Angeles.
At the time, Lisa could deadlift 225 pounds, bench press 120 pounds, and squat 265 pounds.
Lisa was not only popular in the bodybuilding world, but she was also featured in Playboy magazine in October 1980.
Marvel Comics writer Frank Miller, modeled the character of Elektra off of Lisa’s physique.
Lyon modeled for Helmut Newton, American fine art photographer Joel-Peter Witkin, and American fine art photographer and boyfriend Robert Mapplethorpe (between 1980 and 1983, Mapplethorpe created over 150 photographs of her, resulting in the 1983 book Lady: Lisa Lyon), and Marcus Leatherdale, who published two pictures of her in his first catalogue book at the Molotov art gallery. Lyon’s work with Mapplethorpe was notable owing to Mapplethorpe’s depiction of her body as simultaneously traditionally feminine and strong in a conventionally masculine sense.
Lisa appeared in many magazines and appeared on numerous television talk shows, promoting bodybuilding for women. She also wrote a book on weight training for women titled Lisa Lyon’s Body Magic, which was published in 1981.
Lisa also ad a short acting career in “Three Crowns of the Sailor” in 1983, the bodybuilding movie “Getting Physical” in 1984, and “Vamp” alongside Grace Jones in 1986.
Lisa was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2000 for being “a one-woman media-relations activist on behalf of the sport and Elevating bodybuilding to the level of fine art”
We at Evolutionofbodybuilding.net send our deepest condolences to Lisa’s family and friends during this difficult time.
