OK, maybe I'm not in the best shape of my life, but does she really have to rub it in?

Bubbly and compact -- and with a set of abs that would make Charles Atlas proud -- Yuriko Ito, a 156-cm bundle of energy, just can't keep a smile off her face.

Don't let her outgoing, pleasant demeanor fool you, however. You may never have heard of her, but make no mistake -- Ito is truly a world-class athlete.

The 31-year-old native of Aichi Prefecture, has been called the "Queen of Sports Aerobics." She recently won her eighth major world title in the relatively obscure sport of competitive aerobics and she has won 20 competitions since 1993, including an aerobics Grand Slam in 1999 when she won the Suzuki World Cup, FIG Sports Aerobics World Championship and World Aerobic Championship all in the same year.

Last weekend, Ito took time out at the AFLAC Cup Japan National Aerobic Championships to enlighten me on the the life of a hardbody.

"I entered a novice event back in 1988," explains Ito of her introduction to the sport. "I just really loved it and wanted to get better from there."

The sport itself grew out of the fitness boom that spawned exercise aerobics back in the late 1970s and '80s. The best way to describe it would be to compare it to figure skating -- without the ice and substitute "The Waltz of the Minstrels" for the latest in techno pop -- combined with a few elements of break dancing, a dash of ballet and a whole lot of gymnastics. Competitors are judged on a routine lasting a minute and 45 seconds that has to include a certain number of listed elements, including such things as jumping jacks, leg kicks and push-ups. Scores, much like in figure skating, are based on technical content (45 percent), artistic content (45 percent) and degree of difficulty (10 percent).

"A few years ago, people used to put a lot of tricks in their performances, but now about half the tricks you can't do anymore (as it was becoming too dangerous)," says Ito, who has never suffered a serious injury during her career.

Ito's background laid the foundation for her success in competitive aerobics. Her training included studying gymnastics, ballet and modern dance at a Japanese sports college after graduation from high school.

Although there is a "pro" tour backed by the International Aerobics Federation, Ito says the meager prize money currently on offer makes the sport more a labor of love than a lucrative undertaking.

"It's hard to make a living just with prize money so we have to rely on the sponsors for support," she says. "Most competitors still have to instruct (aerobics fitness classes) just to get by."

With everything from ballroom dancing to beach volleyball getting the Olympic nod these days, one might think that Ito would like to see her sport added to the Games. But the little fireball has mixed feelings on the topic.

"Right now, (competitive) aerobics is a developing sport, not a complete sport, and each competition may have a few different rules. I'd like aerobics to be an Olympic sport, but on the other hand, I like it the way it is.

"At present, I enjoy the different characteristics of a fitness sport like this," Ito added. "But if it became an Olympic sport, I'm afraid it would lose some of those interesting characteristics (as more rules and regulations were put in place)."

As the music pounded and the bodies bounced at St. Mary's, it was nearly impossible not to be swept up in the high-energy activity that filled the gymnasium. I swear I was ready to get up on stage myself, despite feeling a slight groin strain as I watched another competitor contort herself into a human pretzel. Where is your fluorescent-pink lycra outfit when you really need it?