Lisa Krause walks the halls of Louis Dieruff High School in Allentown like any other academic assistant principal might do. Unbeknownst to many of the students, she will soon eat one of her six meals a day that consists of five ounces of lean chicken, 10 spears of grilled asparagus, 100 grams of jasmine rice, and water, or diet tea to wash it all down.

Krause, is a bodybuilder in her fifties and for the past seven months, she has kept to this strict diet as well as a regimen of waking up six days a week at 4:30 a.m. for cardio exercise, followed by an after-school program of two - hour workouts of conditioning and training in her home gym.

On Aug. 28, she earned her pro card winning first place at the North American Bodybuilding Championship in Pittsburgh for the figure class in the category of women who are under 5’4” and 50 years of age or older.

“It was such an accomplishment for me,” said Krause, who taught reading for 17 years at Lehighton Middle School. She grew up in Towamensing Township and graduated from Palmerton High School.

“Achieving a pro card enables me to acquire sponsorship and win money prizes if I place in the top five of competitions. I already have BB Custom Foods in Pittsburgh to sponsor me.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree from Cedar Crest College and a master’s degree from East Stroudsburg University, Krause began prepping for bodybuilding competitions upon the advice from Rich Seymour, a fitness trainer at The Zoo in Lehighton.

“Once I got started, I knew I had the self discipline to keep the routine. I’ve always stayed fit and I’ve done gymnastics and I’ve danced a lot, too. Then after a while, you learn how to live the lifestyle.”

Krause has competed in the bikini, figure, physique, and bodybuilding competitions. In her first amateur event in the bikini class in Pittsburgh in 2014 when she was an assistant principal at Schuylkill Valley, she didn’t win or place.

She has competed in New York, New Jersey, and South Carolina, before finally winning her pro card.

“The judges look for symmetry, striation, and muscular tone,” said Krause. “They even judge your spray tan and your hair.”

Once the judges ask a contestant to move from the end of the lines toward the middle, she becomes a favorite and a dead-center position usually indicates a victory for her.

In Pittsburgh, Krause moved to the center of the line upon request and captured first place while competing against nine women from as far away as Canada, Hawaii, and Germany.

When she’s not prepping for upcoming competition, or performing her duties as Supervisor of Instruction at Dieruff, Krause trains eight students who range in age from their twenties to their fifties in her home gym.

Her husband, Dave “doesn’t get into it” when it comes to her bodybuilding lifestyle, but “he has no problem” with her controlled diets and constant training.

“I have to be” was Krause’s reply to a question about whether or not her fitness training and nutritional menu is obsessive. She does take a break from her routine. She’ll treat herself to filet mignon and extra rice and she’ll also visit each of her grown children who live in New York City, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia.

Lisa will make her professional debut on Saturday, Oct. 26 at the International Body Builders Pro Masters competition in Baltimore, Maryland.