Health & Wellness
This 78-year-old grandma is a powerlifting champion
Meet Nora Langdon, the 78-year-old grandma who loves weightlifting and just became a powerlifting champion.
Meet Nora Langdon, the 78-year-old grandma who just became a powerlifting champion.
Langdon, a retired realtor and grandmother of one, has a real passion for heavy weights.
Multiple times a week, you can find the Detroit-native at her local gym for several hours at a time doing squats, bench presses and deadlifts.
But it wasn’t always that way for the grandmother.
In 2007, Langdon weighed over 210 pounds and often had trouble catching her breath.
That’s when she decided she had to make a life change.
“I never went to a gym or picked up anything before the age of 65,” she told “Good Morning America.”
On the first day I started [going to the gym], I went home that night and told myself that I’m never going back again because it was too much for me. Then I heard a voice saying, ‘go back.’ So, I went back and here I am today.
Since then, she has hired a trainer and has never looked back.
She started small using a broom as a barbell then eventually moved to heavier weights.
Langdon has set 19 world records for her age group. Currently, she deadlifts close to 400 pounds, squats 380, and bench presses up to 185.
“I’ve beat everyone from 60 years old up to my age. I have no competition,” she explained.
Langdon has since won 20 of her powerlifting meets.
Langdon hopes to encourage others to pick up a dumbbell and give powerlifting a try, no matter their age.
“A lot of older people just stay home, sit down and watch television after retiring,” she said. “But you were born to continue until the Lord takes you away. Your body was made to exercise and you have to keep it moving in order to stay healthy.”
She uploads weightlifting videos to her Instagram account @Jazzienora where she welcomes “positive words only,” and flexes a little bit with the caption “Don’t wish your girlfriend could squat like me” in her bio.
You go girl!
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