He’s 100 years old and still in the gym six days a week.
While most would feel lucky just to get to this age, Andrew Bostinto is defying what is thought to be the capabilities of a centenarian as he continues to lift weights and train for his latest bodybuilding competition next month.
Now pushing closer to 101, the former Mr America has dedicated a lifetime to fitness. But, he insists, it is not the exercise that has kept him strong and sharp.
Instead, he said, it’s all his mindset.
He told Daily Mail: ‘I don’t think of myself as old, and that’s what keeps me going.
‘People who say they’re old, to say that, you give up on life. It’s like you give up on yourself, and you start to decline. But for me, who I am today is the same as when I was younger.’
Bostinto visits the gym about five to six days every week, and does seven exercises per session, including chin-ups, dips, knee-ups and ab work.
Training since he was 12 years old, Bostinto began bodybuilding in the late 1930s and, after a 30-year career in the army, went on to win his first Mr America title in 1977.
Now, he continues to compete in bodybuilding competitions, in the Masters 100 category, organized by the association he co-founded, the National Gym Association.
Andrew Bostinto, 100, is pictured above on May 10 this year on stage for the National Gym Association’s Gator Classic, a natural bodybuilding and physique competition, in Florida
Bostinto recognizes his age and the challenges it brings with it as he has suffered several health scares.
He has had a pacemaker fitted to his heart to control its rhythm, a titanium knee implanted in 2017 and he suffered a mini-stroke two years later.
Bostinto was awarded the Bronze Star for his service in World War II in May this year. He is shown above at the award ceremony
He also struggles with his balance, he said, and has difficulties with his right arm and one of his legs, which was first injured in World War II.
Now, he focuses more on maintaining form and muscle mass rather than lifting heavier weights.
And while he may no longer be squatting 735lbs, scientists say any form of weight lifting to maintain muscle reduces the risk of illness, improves physical fitness, slashes inflammation and boosts blood flow to the brain, which can all aide life expectancy and help to prevent dementia.
No matter his age, though, Bostinto is determined to keep exercising, and said he will continue to go to the gym until he stops breathing.
To help him in the gym, he follows a protein-heavy diet consisting of scrambled eggs, yogurt and spaghetti and meatballs.
And, just like in his younger years, he still steers clear of alcohol, cigarettes and any performance-enhancing drugs.
But, to continue to visit the gym also requires motivation, and that’s something Bostinto said he has a lot of.
Andrew Bostinto, who is known to friends as Andy, is pictured above aged 17 years in a 1942 issue of Strength and Muscle Magazine
Bostinto is pictured above training in the gym. He has another show in November this year
He told Daily Mail: ‘I never thought about living longer when I was younger. You’re young, you work out, you’re doing good, all of a sudden the photographers are taking pictures of me, I didn’t know all this was happening’.
‘But, one step at a time, you build up to it.’
Bostinto is pictured after joining the army. He was in the I Company, 26th Yankee Division, 101st Regiment and served in World War II
Bostinto was born on January 11, 1925, in New York City and as he grew up he always had an interest in fitness.
At the age of 12, he started to train with weights and tried gymnastics.
At 17 years old, he was invited to be photographed for a bodybuilding magazine.
It was around this time, however, that Bostinto joined the army as a machinist.
He spent three decades in the forces, where he began to get a reputation for bodybuilding and, eventually, went on to become a personal trainer.
In 1977, at 52 years old, he won a Mr America title in the over-50s category at a competition in Madison Square Garden, New York.
Two years later, he founded the National Gym Association, a non-profit that provides professional training certification and discourages the use of drugs to achieve fitness goals.
In 1991, at 66, he married his wife Francine, who is also an avid weightlifter.
The pair bonded over their love for the sport, and continue to train together regularly. Bostinto told this website that she helps to challenge him and keep him strong.
Andrew Bostinto is shown above in 1977 after winning the title Mr America in Madison Square Garden, New York
In this image, Bostinto is shown preparing to squat 735lbs while he had a bodyweight of 159lbs
Despite his history, however, Bostinto has not been officially recognized as the oldest bodybuilder in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, according to a post from the National Gym Association.
He was not given the title because he does not have a ‘Professional card’ with the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB).
The title currently belongs to Jim Arrington, now 93 years old, a great-grandfather-of-nine, who received the honor a decade ago. He has been lifting for more than eight decades.
In advice to others who wish to healthily make it to a century, Bostinto said it is important to lock in the ‘right mindset’ of living their own lives for themselves, to learn more about their bodies and to take care of them by avoiding injuries and overeating.
This article was originally published by a www.dailymail.co.uk . Read the Original article here. .