Meet the 75-year-old bodybuilding granny

By Jelimo Chelagat When most people think of grandmothers, they envision a frail wrinkled elderly woman. That is picture a far cry from 75-year-old body builder Ernestine Shepherd.

Standing at 5 feet 5 inches, Ernestine weighs 130 pounds boasting of only 9-10 per cent body fat. These statistics could earn bragging rights for any athlete-even those decades her junior.

Interestingly, Earnestine was not always athletic. She spent most of her time as a deskbound secretary in a local school.

So how did Ernestine move from a sedentary 56-year-old to a world-renowned body builder?

It all begun on a shopping excursion with her sister, Velvet, when they were searching for swimsuits.  Realizing they were overweight, the pair resolved to shed the extra pounds together.

Tragedy struck shortly after when she lost her sister to a sudden brain aneurism. Momentarily deterred by grief, she abandoned the workouts. However after encouragement from a friend, she resumed exercise vowing to do it in honor of Velvet.

What started as a bid to get in shape morphed into a passion for bodybuilding. This passion earned Earnestine the Guinness World record for the Worlds Oldest Female Body Builder.

Waking up at 2:30 daily, Earnestine executes a rigorous workout schedule to keep in shape. In addition to bodybuilding, she participates in marathons, works as personal trainer and teaches healthy living in her church.

Watch BBC’s interview on  http://bbc.in/O40dIT Additional reporting by BBC.