Meet the world’s OLDEST bodybuilder: 90-year-old great-grandfather from California says he can lift up to 250lbs – more than his bodyweight

The world’s oldest bodybuilder is a 90-year-old great-grandfather who has nine children but has been working out for over 70 years and can lift more than his own weight.

Jim Arrington, who turns 91 next month, was given the title at the age of 83 and has held it ever since.

A self-described “gym rat,” he believed that building muscle would keep him fit and keep him doing “everything an able-bodied person can do.”

“Oh, working out has helped me live longer,” he told DailyMail.com.

“I have been able to continue to do things that people my age usually cannot. Masu.

“Older people walk with a walker or something like that, but I can take longer strides because exercise just eliminates inflammation in the joints.”

Arrington goes to the gym three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, for about two hours each day. He sets aside weekends for recovery to encourage muscle repair.

Revealing the weight he lifts at a gym in Los Angeles, the 160-pound phenomenon told DailyMail.com that the maximum weight for leg exercises is 250 pounds, or 1.5 times his body weight.

For the arms, the former salesman said he can curl his biceps up to 100 pounds, and the chest and back exercises can lift as much as 140 pounds.

And he continues to build on his great fitness habits.

Within five months, he was able to improve his ability on the stationary bike from just 5 minutes at level 5 to 10 minutes at level 11.

Setting his training schedule, he said he will focus on his back and chest on Monday, his legs on Wednesday, and his shoulders and arms on Friday.

He works out on machines, but says that as he ages his joints weaken and lifting free weights becomes more dangerous.

“I don’t want to do anything more than what my body and joints can handle, because it makes no sense to wear out my joints,” he said.

“Considering the state of the skeleton, I lift it as much as possible.”

His exercises typically begin with a warm-up of 20 repetitions or 20 lifts of a 40-pound weight, then add another 40 pounds before gradually increasing to maximum weight.

“When I’m at a weight that I can barely get a rep from, I put an elastic leg wrap around my knee and keep doing the rep without stopping.” I hold it at the top for a few breaths, then 20. Do a few more times until you reach a repetition of .

“I’m pretty short of breath and can hardly walk after that.”

He lies on his back instead of the standard stooped position on a leg press-like machine, lifting weights up to 250 pounds.

Arrington has continued his training routine for over 70 years.

His love of bodybuilding began when he was only 15 years old, seeing it as a way to combat his severe asthma.

“I was very sick and had asthma. [at the time] And after 50 yards it started wheezing,” he told DailyMail.com.

“So I saw an ad in a magazine about working out and getting stronger, and it was good for me. I sent these little books and decided to give the exercises a try.” .”

He began working out with a 3-pound ball in 1947 and soon found that his asthma disappeared and he had gained over 10 pounds of muscle.

He then headed off to college and started training with a scout group leader before stepping foot in the gym for the first time.

Decades later, he maintains a regular training regimen and still competes and wins bodybuilding competitions, most recently at the 80-year-old IFBB Professional League Championship in Reno, Nevada. Won in more than one category. He came in third in the 70+ age group.

He first started competing for the Mr. America title in the 1950s, but soon decided he had “no chance” because he “had no genes.”

“I thought the best chance of becoming someone in this field was to wait until everyone grew up and did something else or died,” he said.

He has competed in over 70 competitions, won many honors and is now beginning to win frequently in older categories.

He is currently training for next month’s Promasters World Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he is persuading organizers to add an over-90 category.

But one of the honors he’s most proud of is being “World’s Oldest Bodybuilder,” a title he received from Guinness World Records.

To bolster his rigorous exercise routine, Arrington initially focused on drinking lots of milk and eating beef to build muscle mass.

But later in life, he said, this caused inflammation that led him to switch to a diet containing more vegetables and whole foods.

Arrington said exercise kept him young and fit and enabled him to care for his 84-year-old wife, May, who has dementia.

The couple have been married for over 40 years, and he credits his physical strength with helping her around the house and driving her to an appointment.

The couple have four children and nine great-grandchildren.

Arrington says he shares his story to encourage others, especially older people, to pick up weightlifting again.

“My purpose and goal is to encourage other people to lift weights,” he said.