IRON WOMAN, BACK FROM THE BRINK; `I HAD NEVER TOUCHED A BARBELL OR A DUMBBELL IN MY LIFE. BUT I PICKED UP THE WEIGHT, AND I FELT A DIRECT CONNECTION WITH IT'.

Byline: Jenifer Hanrahan Daily News Staff Writer

Inch by grueling inch, Elena Perez hauled her lithe body up toward the bar.

``Give it what you got!'' urged Ellen Morrow, holding Elena's ankles steady from below.

Elena, 15, gripped the bar tighter. With trembling arms, she was one pull-up away from beating the class record of 26.

``You can do it,'' Morrow cheered. ``Stay strong!''

Morrow, 51, knows what it takes to keep pulling. Twenty years ago, while seven months pregnant, she got in a near-fatal car wreck. She underwent six surgeries and dropped to 88 pounds.

To regain her strength, this surgeon's wife and mother of three from Tarzana started pumping iron. She went on to win several body-building titles, including Ms. Venice Beach.

Nowadays she volunteers 10 hours a week training high school students enrolled in the Los Angeles Police Department magnet program at James Monroe High School in North Hills.

Weight training, Morrow says, builds not only muscles but confidence.

For young women going through the awkward teen-age years, that difficult stage when girls start to believe being pretty rather than tough is of utmost importance, weight lifting can make them stronger - physically and mentally.

With a final burst of strength - and a bit of a boost from Morrow - Elena's chin cleared the bar.

Her classmates cheered. Elena wiped her hands, adjusted her sweatshirt and beamed.

``Mrs. Morrow gives us support and confidence,'' said Elena, a 10th-grader. ``She makes it seem like it's not so far away. I feel like, if she can do it, we can do it.''

From tragedy to toned

Morrow never counted herself among the athletic. Except for the occasional tennis game or bike ride, she rarely worked out.

Then catastrophe hit. She shattered most of the bones in her face in a car wreck.

She underwent an emergency craniotomy to remove a life-threatening blood clot in her brain.

To help her battle the pain, she thought about her baby. Hearing the tiny heartbeat, she found solace.

``All my energy went into the baby,'' Morrow said. ``I didn't think about me. I didn't have to think about my injuries.''

Three weeks later, she delivered her third daughter, a month premature but healthy. After the labor, she cried as the gravity of her injuries sunk in.

``I thought I would never look human again,'' she said. ``After she was born, I was alone in that bed. Alone with my injuries.''

Morrow underwent five surgeries to repair the bones in her face. The ordeal left her frail and weak.

``I knew I needed to get my strength back,'' she said. ``I was so desperate. I needed it so badly.''

The first time she stepped into a weight room, she felt out of place, a carpool mom among all those buffed bods.

``I had never touched a barbell or a dumbbell in my life,'' Morrow said. ``But I picked up the weight, and I felt a direct connection with it.''

Painful start

The first few times she lifted, Morrow strained her muscles so badly she could hardly lift a hairbrush. In time, she learned the correct techniques from experienced weight lifters at her gym. Her waist stayed thin, but her shoulders got wider. Her arms were lean, but her triceps and biceps were defined.

``I kept getting stronger and stronger,'' she said.

A few years later, she entered her first bodybuilding competition - in Fresno, so no one she knew would see her.

``I was a carpool mother, and here I was on stage greased and flexing,'' Morrow said. ``But people were applauding. I thought, (my kids and husband) don't applaud when I cook dinner. They don't applaud when I clean the toilet.''

She came in second in her division and won ``Most Symmetrical'' - a title that made her laugh considering the trauma her body had gone through.

She went on to win Ms. Venice Beach, Ms. Southern California, and Ms. Western States titles.

Morrow no longer competes, but at 5 feet 3 and 120 pounds, she continues to work out five or six days a week. She alternates between weight lifting and aerobic activity such as hiking, running up and down bleacher steps or using a stationary bike.

She also wrote and self-published a book called ``The Desperate Woman's Guide to Fitness: The Secret to Aging Like Fine Wine Instead of Going Flat Like Stale Beer.''

Interspersed throughout the book are humorous tips on getting motivated, like this suggested mantra: ``I'm going to be the strongest woman in the retirement home.''

She also gets a workout with the kids in the physical training class at the magnet school. Rudy Enriquez, 16, did 25 pull-ups - one shy of the record - with Morrow's encouragement.

``She inspires us,'' Rudy said. ``She always says, `One more! One more!' ''

The motivator

Dennis King, an LAPD reserve officer who teaches the physical training class, said Morrow struck up an almost instant rapport with the girls when she started helping out at the school a year ago. This year, Morrow helps out with co-ed classes as well.

``Before Ellen came, I was having a problem motivating the students, especially the girls,'' King said. ``But she relates so well to them, now the girls are working out on equal footing with the boys.''

Wires still hold together Morrow's eye sockets. A piece of a hip bone replaced her shattered nose, and she can still feel the dent in her skull.

Her red lipstick, curled eyelashes and good looks can almost conceal the face of a fighter.

But not quite.

``I didn't have a choice,'' Morrow said. ``Either you go under or keep fighting.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) ABOVE the BAR

Her triumph over injury helps others build strength of will and body

(2) Ellen Morrow, oiled and buffed.

(3) Morrow helps out a student by spotting while he lifts a barbell at James Monroe High School in North Hills.

Tina Gerson/Daily News