Fit Melbourne grandmother, 64, stuns with six-pack
A 64-year-old Melbourne grandmother has proved it's never too late to get in shape, showing off her incredibly toned physique online.
Personal trainer Lesley Maxwell, began her fitness journey at 49 when she started lifting weights and competing in competitions.
Now, she says she felt less confident with her body and older when she was 30 than she does now.
“My triceps were softer, not near as much lean body tissue. I had asthma. I consistently carried an asthma pump and then in my 40’s I remember I was hospitalised with ammonia and my husband at the time once said I looked frail,” Lesley recently said in a YouTube video.
“I did feel weak all the time and I had low blood sugar levels that left me feeling flat with no energy.
“Sometimes I was bloated depending on what I ate because I didn’t eat properly and I tried so many types of training, including classes, jogging, women’s only gyms. I’ve even tried dieting including vegan, vegetarian, low calorie and I knew there had to be something more out there.”
When she was 49, after being inspired by a documentary about body sculpting, Lesley decided to start competing.
She was so nervous that she didn’t even tell her family or friends in case they thought she had “gone nuts” and was “going through a midlife crisis”.
While she was afraid that she was going to be called “ridiculous” for stepping up on the stage, she ended up winning the competition and it turns out her kids were extremely proud of her.
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Lesley said she went on to develop an “inner strength” and “confidence” in her body that it wouldn’t let her down and was “determined to prove that age isn’t a number”.
She went on to win over 30 competitions, including Miss USA Figure Championship and is also the author of 'Get the Body you Want' and 'Training to Train'.
Lesley has over 30,000 followers on Instagram, where she aims to inspire others to start working out and being healthy regardless of what age they are.
"It’s never too late to start,” she recently wrote.
“Having a lean and strong body is the result of a healthy lifestyle. Training effectively to build lean body tissue (aka muscle) plus eating to repair and rebuild is the key.
“Cutting out sugar and refined foods means there’s more room for good nutritious food. Be selective with your training ...build some muscle as it will be worth more to you than diamonds. Look after your beautiful body ...and it will look after you.”
Lesley likes to consider herself ‘ageless’ and says that she believes “we can create an ageless body by training effectively plus eating clean and nourishing food”.
“It’s mainly about how strong and healthy we feel when we do this and but about being vain. It’s ours for the taking,” she wrote.
She also gave her Melbourne followers some advice recently, due to the gyms being closed at the strict 8pm curfew in place.
“No gym...no problems! Although I’m really missing the gym due to lockdown ... there’s always an alternative. Instead of triceps push down, we can perform triceps dips or pushups. Instead of leg press ...do deadlifts or squats. And for back it’s chin ups for me (if I can use my friends gym) otherwise DB rows.”
Lesley works out online with her 19-year-old granddaughter, Tia Christofi, who has 155,000 followers on Instagram.
Tia uploaded a video of the pair last year trying on different workout gear alongside the caption: “I’m 18 & my grandmother is 63.”
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