I’m a 76-year-old bodybuilder – my secret to success is easy… it’s all to do with my bed time
A BODYBUILDER intent on reminding women that age is just a number has revealed the key to her physical success at 76.
Josefina Monasterio says that an early bed time is crucial to her abs of steel as she continues to wow the world with her weightlifting powers.
The ageless superwoman took up weight lifting, which she labels a “passion”, at the age of 59.
Born in Venezuela, she moved to Florida in 1975 and told of how she would have “lost twelve years of fun and success” had she not taken up the “extreme hobby”.
Since then, she has been busy breaking both records and age stereotypes.
And, the answer to the Latina powerhouse’s success is apparently her hours spent snoozing.
Aside from a strict workout regime to keep her impressive regime, Josefina says she spends her afternoons relaxing, reading, food, cleaning and goal-setting before an early bed time.
“I keep my life simple. I don´t drink or smoke, I don´t stress, I eat a balanced diet and by 8 p.m. lights are out,” she told NBC.
Her routine clearly includes nurturing her mind as well as her body and the bodybuilder even gets up at 3am to read the Bible and pray.
At 4.30am, she’s out the door and running three miles, jogging another three and finally walking three more.
“The ageing process can be slowed down by taking care of mind, body and spirit,” she said.
After a few hours of working on her newest inspirational book, the Venezuelan-American starts pumping iron at the gym.
Two hours of weights later and she’s ready to spend her afternoons staying mindful, relaxed and readying herself for bed.
The educator-turned-competitive athlete reached the NPC Southern States Hall of Fame in 2005 and then again for three years straight in 2015.
The Florida resident still competes professionally every year at least four to five times and also writes self-help books like Vibrant At Any Age.
Coming from a life of poverty, Monasterio had a dream to share her purpose of “inspiring, encouraging, and empowering others,” she explains on her site.
She wants others to know that “they, too, can feel happy healthy and terrific regardless of how many birthdays they have had.”
As Monasterio put it, she wants others to see that “your chronological age has nothing to do with your biological age.”
Explaining her decision to take up extreme sport so late on in life, she said: “I’m here to tell you that it’s never too late to get in shape. You start getting in shape now”.
“I had no clue what bodybuilding was all about and I discovered that, through discipline [and] commitment, doing the thing that you want to do — age is a number,” she said on Steve Harvey’s TV show.
The determined pensioner regularly posts videos to her social media accounts with inspirational quotes to inspire her many thousands of followers.
Recently she wrote: “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”