Wonder women:

Deadlifts, marathons, ocean swims and boxing – Samantha Trenoweth meets four women who prove you are never too old to be fit.

they’re 59-plus and prove you’re never too old to be fit

Ann Gyngell AGE 81 Interior designer, grandmother, weightlifter

“In May 2014, my blood pressure dropped suddenly. I fell to the floor and fractured the number five vertebra in my spine.

After months of physio and water therapy, my doctor suggested I take up weight training. I like a challenge, so I said yes.

“I started with one session per week. After four months,

I worked up to two and now I do three sessions a week, and

I’m totally addicted. Coming to a gym at my age, I have enjoyed being surrounded by young people who acknowledge me, talk to me and give me an enormous amount of encouragement.

“From the word go, I totally trusted Dragon, my personal trainer. He was incredibly careful and I knew he had my back. There was never any moment when I was frightened. I couldn’t do this without Dragon.

“I feel lighter as a result of weight training. I know that I can bend, twist, jump out of the way of people coming towards me in the street with their mobile phones. I sleep better, I have more energy and my posture has improved – my body feels as if there’s more space inside it. It definitely helped my recovery from the injury – I have no residual pain at all – and my heart rate and blood pressure are fantastic. Weight training is good for osteoporosis, it gets the blood to the heart and up into the brain, and it comes highly recommended by me.”

Ann’s personal trainer, Dragon, who works at a gym in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, adds, “It’s remarkable to see a lady, who had a fractured vertebra and who had done no real weight-bearing exercise before, reach a level where she’s executing 60kg deadlifts. It’s never too late to train and get results, and

Ann proves that.”