70-year-old woman with arthritis is a bodybuilding champion

At 33, Rebecca Woody developed rheumatoid arthritis. Doctors said it meant she would no longer be able to take part in her passion – bodybuilding. But that didn’t stop her – she’s now 70 years old but she’s still going strong. Rebecca says that her impressive physique and lifestyle has even improved her sex life with her younger husband who is 14 years her junior. She has won various national weightlifting contests, often winning in the over 35s category as the oldest contestant. Rebecca pictured in her 30s participating in a bodybuilding show (Picture:MDWfeatures / Rebecca Woody) She started out  following the birth of her third child, when she asked the owner of her local gym to help her understand the equipment and to create some meal plans. But at 33, doctors warned Rebecca that she had RA – along-term condition, which causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints. They said it meant she would never be able to participate in bodybuilding competitions and she ought to stop lifting weights. Instead of listening to the advice, Rebecca decided to continue at the gym. She said: ‘Once, I was told by my doctor “I wish you just planted flowers because you will never compete in bodybuilding,” well I did, and I’m still competing, I still have rheumatoid arthritis.’ ‘Basically, I have never stopped lifting weights. I competed in the late eighties and early nineties in powerlifting, which in turned bulked me up. ‘I realised pound by pound that I was strong.’

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