A 78-year-old grandma from Illinois is making headlines after a video of her deadlifting 225 pounds made rounds online.
Shirley Webb used to need help getting up or climbing up the stairs but training under John Wright of Club Fitness in Wood River helped her to accomplish everyday tasks easily.
The short video, which was posted on Instagram by Wright, shows the elderly deadlifting 225 pounds three times.
Webb says two years prior to training, she had been restricted to just mowing the lawn.
"That's about the only exercise I ever got," Webb shares. At present, she trains twice a week.
Wright says he has never had previous experience of training someone from Webb's age group but he is extremely proud that he was able to help Webb. He adds that Webb was only six months into her training when the grandma was about to lift in the 200-pound range.
"She's gotten to the point where everybody greets her and is just absolutely impressed," Wright says. "She inspires everybody [who] goes to the gym and it's fun to see that."
Webb has set records in her age and weight group for both Illinois and Missouri at 237 pounds and 215 pounds, respectively. In the Missouri competition, she was also asked to bench press and she was able to perform it even if it wasn't included in her training.
By June, Webb is expected to set an American record in deadlifting 260 pounds for her age group, which has no national record to date.
Webb, who will turn 79 in August, expressed that she has no plans of stopping from lifting anytime soon as she feels better when she is training.
Webb is not the only grandma who could deadlift over 200 pounds. Willie Murphy, 77, from New York, also made headlines in 2014 when she deadlifted 215 pounds during the World Natural Powerlifting Federation Championships in Atlanta.
Shirley is 78 years old but she can deadlift 225 pounds three times! (via @jwright0123)
A video posted by Sports Videos (@houseofhighlights) on Mar 28, 2016 at 2:25pm PDT
Photo: Lance Goyke | Flickr
