A 73-year-old gym gran has been wowing her 10,000-plus followers with her intense workouts and toned physique.
Madalena Lúcio started working out in January last year in a bid to strengthen her muscles to ward off osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis is found chiefly in women who’ve passed menopause.
Several women in Madalena’s family suffer from the condition, which causes the bones to lose calcium and become more likely to break.
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She quickly got hooked on going to the gym and since starting, she goes almost every day.
Madalena joked: “From Monday to Friday, I’m there. Rain or shine, whatever.
“I love working out. I exercise my arms, legs, and also my tongue because I love gossiping with the friends I’ve made there.”
Before joining the gym, Madalena had never been big on sports, so she was a little apprehensive at the start.
She recalled: “At first, I felt out of place, but my daughter always encouraged me a lot, and I’m quite persistent. I wanted to overcome those barriers.”
Since becoming a gym bunny, Madalena’s gained 21 lb of lean body mass.
And she’s consistently been notching up the load on the machines she uses in a bid to get even stronger.
She’s now chest flying twice the weight she was doing in early February, as reported on What’s The Jam.
In addition to her workout routine, Madalena – who’s from Araxá, Brazil – carefully watches what she drinks and eats.
She takes protein supplements to help build muscle and also practices pilates to keep her flexible.
And she has no plans to slow down, telling local media: “I’m thinking of starting to swim, to run, I want to take dance classes.”
Experts say exercising allows people to practice and regain basic movements that gradually decline with age.
They add that it improves cognitive health and reduces the risk of depression and anxiety.
One of Madalena’s Instagram videos shows her pumping iron at the gym and covering more than five miles on foot.
She wrote: “Don’t forget to send this video to your mum, your grandma who’s at home being sedentary, to motivate her.”
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