http://abcnews.go.com/Health/mess-ernestine-shepherd-body-building-grandma-benches-150/story?id=10480184Body Building Grandma Ernestine Shepherd Bench Presses, Runs Marathons At 73
Taut abs and rippling muscles aren't exactly the stuff grandmothers are known for. But then again neither are marathons and cell phones that play the theme to "Rocky."
Body building grandma, 73, runs marathons, benches 150 lbs.At 73, Ernestine Shepherd is in better shape than most people decades her junior. Up at 3 a.m. every morning, she spends her days running, lifting weights and working outother senior citizens at the Union Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore. She also works as a certified personal trainer at her gym.
"I feel better than I did at 40," she said. "I am very, very happy."
In less than 20 years, Shepherd has morphed from a "prissy" woman who never exercised to the Guinness Book of World Records' oldest female bodybuilder.
A die-hard "Rocky" fan -- "Sylvester Stallone is my man," she cooed -- Shepherd is preparing for a body building competition this weekend.
"I feel now that I am a very strong, positive and confident woman," she said. "Years ago I concerned myself about what people said concerning me. But when you get 70-something and you don't have that many years in front of you, you don't concern yourself with that."
