The story goes like this. Joan Liew, the first lady of Singapore bodybuilding, was minding her own business in the gym one day when a scrawny guy came up to her and asked: 'Are you a man or a woman?'

Without missing a beat, she retorted: 'What do you think?'

That incident is one of Liew's favourite anecdotes, one which sums up her 20-year career in the sport, which has been littered with medals and snide remarks from strangers.

The 33-year-old, who last week won her fourth heavyweight title at the Asian Bodybuilding Championships in Pattaya, Thailand, also faces questions like 'Are you a lesbian?'.

For the record, she is not.

The former Catholic Junior College student takes it all in her muscle-bound stride. However, the one thing she cannot abide, she reveals, are rude stares.

'What bothers me is that sometimes people stare too much,' she told The Sunday Times. 'Luckily, I've got my shades.'

To say that Liew is a head turner is an understatement of Amazonian proportions. The 1.68m-tall, 65kg fitness instructor is all muscle and no flab, topped off by a shock of flaming-red hair.

Her rippling arms, with biceps the size of grapefruits, are the most eye-catching, along with her shoulders, a rugged wonderland of sculpted deltoids that look strong enough to charge through brick walls.

Sitting across Liew in her office at Fitness Factory - a boutique gym at Boat Quay which she co-owns - it is hard to imagine her as the bony child she once was.

According to the former California Fitness trainer, it was happenstance that led her to the sport.

She was only nine when she accidentally wandered into a condominium gym during a friend's party. She tried out some of the machines and was intrigued by how good she felt after working out.

She got serious about pumping iron as a teenager, after picking up an old copy of Muscle and Fitness magazine.

'The sight of the pictures intrigued me, and straightaway I knew that I wanted to look like that,' she recalled.

Despite her parents' - a housewife mother and self-employed father - objections, Liew, who has an older sister, stood firm.

She loved the sport so much that, after her O-levels at CHIJ Toa Payoh, she picked a junior college based on the quality of its gym.

At Catholic JC, she trained almost daily, and was even tasked to coach obese schoolmates who were preparing for National Service.

The turning point in her fledgling career came after her A-levels, when she mustered enough courage to approach a more experienced bodybuilder for advice.

That person was Augustine Lee, a national champion who initially scoffed at the slender young girl standing before him at the gym.

Said Lee, a former South-east Asia Games gold medallist who is now Liew's business partner: 'I didn't think she could make it. But she put in a lot of effort and never missed training. Eventually, she proved me wrong.'

Due to the lack of testosterone in women, it was hard for Liew to build up muscle mass. Harder still to be accepted as a woman once she had them.

'It's very sad because people always equate women bodybuilders as being ugly and un-womanlike,' she griped.

'My aim from day one was to show people that being a female bodybuilder does not necessarily mean that you will look like a man.'

During competitions, she noted, female participants are not just assessed on their muscle development. Feminine appeal, like make-up and hair, is also part of the judging equation.

Off the bodybuilding stage, she is all-woman. Her regular hairdresser is popular celebrity stylist Shunji Matsuo and her weaknesses include make-up, shoes and handbags.

Like most of her girl friends, she lusts after killer heels and totes from the likes of Christian Louboutin, Marc Jacobs and Balenciaga.

Said Liew: 'Despite how I look, I'm actually very girlish. But, once I'm on stage, I'm a different person, completely focused and serious.'

Her results bear her out.

In 2000, she took the gold medal in the heavyweight category on her competitive debut at the Asian Championships here.

A string of regional titles followed - so did the comparisons to Singapore's former women's world champion Jojo Sinclair.

When asked if she sees herself as the new Sinclair of local bodybuilding, Liew bursts out in laughter.

'Not in a certain way,' she quipped, referring to the life ban that was imposed on Sinclair in 1996 for the use of illegal steroids.

On a serious note, she added: 'Despite all that has happened, we should not forget her achievements.'

Next up for Liew is the World Championships next year, though the businesswoman in her is unsure if she can find the time to whip herself into competitive shape.

Her road to Asian glory saw her train seven days a week, at least a couple of hours a day.

She had her first hamburger in over a year last week, after her win in Thailand. Usually, her diet consists of protein, such as fish and lean white meat, supplemented with plain rice and bread.

Everything is steamed or boiled, never fried.

The sacrifices she goes through for the sport is lost on many.

And being in the gym every day - for training and work - means little time for anything else.

'Social life? I don't have much of one,' she said.

Her mother, for instance, would rather that she used the time to settle down and get married.

When pressed, Liew admits that she has her fair share of local and overseas admirers, some of whom send her poetry and music. But she is very much single and available.

While she is used to male clients who insist on engaging her as a fitness trainer, there are the occasional 'weird requests', such as men asking if they can touch her muscles.

For now, she would rather focus her energies promoting weight training, especially to women.

'Women should take control of their own bodies, keep it healthy with bodybuilding, exercising regularly and a good nutrition plan,' she said.

'When you look good, you feel good, and that is a great boost to a woman's self-confidence.'

This article was first published in The Sunday Times.