Method to Her Muscles : Athletes: When she’s not reading meters, bodybuilder Teri Vagi pumps iron with an eye toward national titles.

Members of the women’s health club in Teri Vagi’s hometown in Virginia frowned on her weight-lifting. It built up too much muscle. It wasn’t feminine, and it certainly wasn’t in vogue.

Four years and countless arm curls later, her mother back home still thinks it’s “absolutely crazy,” the 118-pound prize-winning bodybuilder said. “She saw the pictures and said, ‘Eww.’ ”

But in Ventura, where Vagi competed Saturday to qualify for the Ms. USA and Ms. America competition, Vagi says she is considered buff, not boyish.

“A lot of people think women bodybuilders are the ones that are out to here,” she said, gesturing with her arms. “When you’re in normal clothes, you don’t have to be viewed as a bodybuilder. It’s kind of nice to be both. You’re not in the stereotype of this he-woman.”

Vagi was the overall winner of the Ms. Pacific Coast contest. Other overall winners were Paul Teran, Mr. Pacific Coast; Danny Hester, Mr. Ventura County; and Annthea Boas, Ms. Ventura County.

Vagi was among 14 women who donned tiny bikinis and struck muscular poses in hopes of becoming either Ms. Ventura County or Ms. Pacific Coast. About 30 men vied for the masculine equivalents of those titles.

A meter reader for an electric company and the mother of two, Vagi, 33, has won titles such as Ms. Modesto and Ms. Ventura County and has placed third in the Ms. California competition. Saturday, she was the only Ventura County resident--male or female--to enter the more advanced Pacific Coast competition, the steppingstone to the prestigious national awards. She faced five competitors.

The contestants were judged on their form Saturday afternoon and later in the evening posed to pop music tunes at Buena High School.

Seven judges, many of whom are bodybuilders from the Los Angeles area, looked for symmetry, muscle tone, balance and presentation in the athletes, said Dan Mackey, owner of The Gym and chief sponsor of the annual event.

For women bodybuilders, it is often difficult to know whether judges prefer muscularity or femininity, Vagi said.

“I’m very athletic, so I prefer a slim, muscular look, yet with femininity,” she said. “I enjoy it because it’s competitive in a way, but it’s also very individualistic. It’s what you and your body can do.”

“You’re looking for balance in a woman,” said Jack O’Bleness, chairman of Amateur Athletes of the United States, the organization that governs the contests.

Vagi gets her exercise by reading meters and working out in the gym five days a week. Although she takes two days a week off from lifting, she tries to soak up ultraviolet rays every day--often spending hours on a tanning bed.

“It’s a very taxing sport because it has to be done year-round,” Mackey said. “Nutrition is of vital importance and has to be done all year.”

Backstage at the competition in the “pump room,” which reeked of tanning oil, the contestants lifted weights and flexed and posed before mirrors.

Under the stage lights, the athletes’ brown skin glistened. Mackey asked the contestants to strike poses to show off their front double biceps, side triceps or abdominal muscles. Some of them smiled, others snarled, including some of the women.

Some men in the audience yelled to the athletes from their seats. “Abs, abs. Flex your abs,” one man yelled. “Yeah.”

Vagi said her husband, who is also a bodybuilder, and her children encourage her participation in the sport. Cheering her from the audience Saturday was her 12-year-old daughter. Her children have taken her trophies to school for show-and-tell and bragged about her to other kids, she says.

“My 6-year-old son was, like, ‘My mom’s probably stronger than your dad,’ ” she said.