'I'm proof that age is nothing but a number': 76-year-old bodybuilder says exercise rescued her from depths of depression
- Ernestine Shepherd, 77, is one of the world's oldest bodybuilders
- Only started working out when she was 56 thanks to her sister
- When her sister died, she got depression and high blood pressure
- But thanks to the support of her family, she began training again
- She is now free from all symptoms, including acid reflux and high cholesterol
- Gets up at 2.30am every day, runs 10 miles, and works as a personal trainer
She rises at 2.30am every morning to prepare her morning egg whites.
Just over an hour later, she puts on her head lamp and heads out for her ten-mile run, accompanied by her husband. By 8am she is in the gym, and works out for just under two hours.
This sounds like the mad morning routine concocted by a 22-year-old fitness fanatic, but it is everyday life for Ernestine Shepherd, 77 – one of the world’s oldest female bodybuilders.
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Inspiration: Ernestine Shepherd, 77, from Maryland, U.S. is one of the world's oldest bodybuilders
The man who runs by her side is her husband of more than 55 years, Collin, 83.
She follows a rigorous daily routine, which involves drinking several bottles of egg white per day as part of her 1,700 calories a day diet of eggs, chicken, vegetables and pulses.
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Living by her mantra; ‘Dedication, Determination, Discipline to Get Fit’, she works as a personal trainer at a local gym, inspiring senior citizens – her oldest disciple is 89 – to get healthy and exercise.
Determined, Dedicated, Disciplined: Ernestine gets up at 2.30am every day, prays, prepares her first meal of scrambled egg whites and a handful of walnuts, and then runs 10 miles before she has her second meal and hits the gym
Mrs Shepherd, from Randallstown near Baltimore, Maryland, first got into bodybuilding aged 56, thanks to her sister and best friend Velvet, who thought the pair needed to get healthy.
Back then Mrs Shepherd was a ‘sedentary, well-padded school secretary and slug', she says.
It became their goal to get into the Guinness World Book of Records as the oldest bodybuilding sisters.
But before their dream came true, Velvet passed away after suffering a brain aneurysm in 1992.
Mrs Shepherd was hit hard by her sister’s death, and found herself struggling to keep going.
‘After my sister died, I ended up with high blood pressure, panic attacks, high cholesterol, you name it, I had it,’ Mrs Shepherd recently told TIME magazine.
She describes how the support of her family and her religion helped her get motivated to start running again, and that training took away all the aches and pain and lifted the veil of depression.
‘I take no high blood pressure medication, no panic attack medication, have no acid reflux. By going out running, the depression and anxiety just left me.’
Today, her classes are mostly senior women, but Mrs Shepherd has found she now also has older men joining in her classes.
‘I started my class with ten people. Now some mornings people can't get in the room,' she told Prevention Magazine.
Love and support: Ernestine with her husband of more than 50 years, Collin Shepherd, 83, who runs with her every morning, pictured on the porch of their home in Baltimore, Maryland
‘Not everyone wants to be body builder - just find what you like to do.’
She contacted former Mr Universe Yohnnie Shambourger, and asked him to help her become a professional bodybuilder. And he did.
In March of 2010, Mrs Shepherd was awarded the title of World’s Oldest Performing Female BodyBuilder by Guinness World Records. And although she no longer holds the title, she is may gain it back one day, as she has no plans of stopping.
An age-related problem with her oesophagus means she has to avoid acidic foods and gluten, so her guilty pleasures have nothing to do with food.
‘You know what I like?,’ she told TIME.
‘I like wearing skimpy clothes. Oh, yes I do.’
Winner: Ernestine, pictured with her trainer, former Mr Universe Yohnnie Shambourger, at a bodybuilding show in 2010. She got into bodybuilding thanks to her sister Velvet, and took the dream further after her death
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