By: Anuradha
Age would just be a number when you badly want to do something. Despite all the grey hairs and wrinkles, if you have the will and need to do something, you will do that somehow and that is why we thought of sharing this inspirational story of an 82-year-old lady, who is considered as the world’s fittest grandma.
Ernestine Shepherd was born on June 16th, 1936 in Baltimore, Maryland and now she is known all over the world for her fitness. What is amazing is that she didn’t begin to do exercises until she was 56 but now, she is in the top of wold’s fittest grandmas.
she gets up at 2.30 am and does her daily devotionals and meditations. Then she takes her high-protein breakfast and then leaves the house for a run. By 7.30 am she is lifting weights at the gym and then she teaches workout classes until 11.30 am. After that she returns home for lunch and then she leaves back for the gym where she trains people of all ages from around 5.30 am – 7.00 pm.

The Independent reports:
“In addition to her exhausting-sounding fitness routine, Ernie eats five to six small meals a day. These often include oatmeal, a handful of walnuts and crushed pineapple for breakfast, a baked white potato, chicken and asparagus as one of her lunches followed by brown rice, turkey and string beans and then sweet potato, tuna, and spinach.

These meals are also interspersed with 8oz glasses of liquid egg whites. After finishing her meal plans for the day, she tends to turn into bed at 10 pm although “sometimes I’m up until 11” leaving just a mere three and a half hours before she wakes up and kick-starts her day all over again.
“I find that is enough sleep for me. I don’t take naps. I’m so happy to do what I do and I thank God for giving me the energy, strength, and willpower to do this,” she says.”
She was interested in fitness when her sister Velvet suggested it as a way to get into the Guinness book of world records. She wanted to be the oldest bodybuilding woman in the world but unfortunately, Velvet soon afterward from a brain aneurysm. That was truly shocking for Ernestine and she even developed high blood pressure. She didn’t care for her health for a long time but with the encouragement from her family, she decided to make her sister’s last wish come true.
Her motto is ‘never give up’ and she said,
“I’ve had so many things to happen to me and for me. My husband and son back me up 100 percent. Without them, I don’t know what I would do. Everything I have wanted to do, they have been right there.”
Share this inspirational story if you are also awed by her success.