The oldest female bodybuilder in the world – Ernestine Shepherd

Ernestine “Ernie” Shepherd of Baltimore, Maryland, at the age of 73, is a certified personal trainer, professional model, and competitive all-natural bodybuilder. In March 2010, on the stage of a television show in Rome, Italy, she was formally awarded the title of oldest female bodybuilder in the world (by Guinness World Records).

Not content to rest on his laurels, a couple of months later and less than two months before his 74th birthday, Ernestine was back in the states and on stage competing in the Capital Tournament of Champions bodybuilding contest. In this Musclemania competition, she ranked first while competing in the Grand Masters division (age 55 and older) and ranked second in the overall women’s lightweight category.

What makes these accomplishments even more impressive is that in the mid-fifties, Ernestine was an out-of-shape, heavily padded school secretary who had never worked a day in her life. A shopping trip with her sister Velvet to buy bathing suits changed all that; Laughing at each other and seeing how sad they were, Ernestine and her sister decided to join a gym and started an exercise routine.

However, people start exercise programs all the time, but they don’t end up as bodybuilding champions and professional models. They don’t build a body with only 9-10% body fat like the 5-foot-5, 130-pound Ernestine Shepherd has done. What made the difference?

First, shortly after they started their exercise program, Ernestine’s sister unexpectedly died of a brain aneurysm. Devastated, Ernestine stopped exercising. After a while, a friend reminded her that her sister would have wanted her to continue what they had started together. As a result, after a time of mourning, with renewed determination and dedication to getting in shape, he returned to the gym.

Here are some of the other factors that appear to have helped Ernestine Shepherd succeed in transforming her body, while many others have failed.

1. She started slowly and gradually became stronger under the tutelage of a personal trainer; therefore, he has had no injuries (and few of the typical aches and pains for people his age) in his 17 years of training.
2. Ernestine made good nutrition a priority. Your bodybuilding protein needs are met, for example, by relying heavily on egg whites (high protein, low calorie). Interestingly, the only nutritional supplement you take is vitamin D.
3. His cardiovascular needs were not neglected. Ernestine has a running / walking program that includes runs of 10 miles and more than 80 miles per week when training to run a marathon. He also enjoys running local 5K (3.1 miles) and 10K (6.2 miles) races and setting personal records at these events in recent years.
4. Ernestine seeks the advice of an expert. When he decided to embark on competitive bodybuilding at age 71, he enlisted the services of an online training program to make sure he was doing it right. Seven months of sports specific training later, in 2008, he competed at age 72 in his first bodybuilding contest and won first place in the Masters division (45 and older) at the Natural East Cost Tournament of Bodybuilding and Figure Champions. .
5. She maintains a positive attitude towards exercise and life in general. From their perspective, daily workouts are not seen as work, but rather as a journey to better health and more energy.

Bodybuilding Champion Ernestine Shepherd shows us that falling apart as we age is really an option, NOT a mandate! She is a role model not only for older women everywhere, but for each of us. We can thank Ernestine for showing us what is possible as we age: a younger existence than we ever dared to believe.