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Senior Weightlifting
Wonder
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At 72, Ernestine Shepherd runs marathons, competes in – and wins – bodybuilding competitions, and as Barry Simmons reports, defies anyone to tell her she’s getting old. |
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SCRIPT:
(Locator: Baltimore, Maryland)
Ernestine leads class: “Leg goes straight out.
Everybody okay with that?”
Once a week at Union Memorial United Methodist Church
in Baltimore, Maryland…
Ernestine: “Two”
…Ernestine Shepherd leads an exercise class for senior
citizens.
Ernestine: “This is what Michele Obama does to get her
bi’s looking good!”
Ernestine is not just their instructor. She is, at
72-years-old…
Participant: “I just want to thank you.”
….their inspiration.
Ida Massey, Student: “When you look at her and then
you look at yourself, you’re inspired to work a little harder. Sometimes
I wonder how she does it.”
Ernestine, born during the Roosevelt administration,
runs 80 miles a week, lifts weights nearly every day
Trainer: “Look at those guns.”
Ernestine: “Okay let’s have some fun.”
…and in-between, leads classes at her church and gym.
Maggie Johnson, Student: “When I walked in I said,
‘Okay, ‘I want you to do whatever you did to make me look like you.”
She has a bookshelf filled with trophies, but most
surprising is this one from a bodybuilding competition…
Ernestine: “No one was my age, no one was.”
…where she came in first place.
Ernestine: “I was so proud to be up there on that stage."
Some wonder why – at 72 – Ernestine works so hard…
Ernestine: “Give me fifteen.”
Ernestine: “They feel that they can’t come into the
exercise class. ‘I don’t want to come, someone will laugh.’ I reach out
to them to let them know that they too can exercise.”
Ernestine hopes other seniors will discover a love for
fitness…
Ernestine: “Work those tris.”
…they just hope whatever Ernestine is doing…
Ernestine: “Put your arms out there honey.”
… is contagious.
TAG:
Ernestine was recently contacted by the Guinness Book
of World Records. They think she may hold the record for the world’s
oldest performing female bodybuilder.
You can contact
Ernestine Shepherd through her church: Union
Memorial United Methodist Church, 410-945-2723.