Lorinde Williams rarely misses her twice-weekly weight lifting sessions with her personal trainer. She takes hour-long indoor cycling class one or two days per week, in addition to gardening in her yard and working around her Puyallup home.
Considering that Williams is 71, her activity level is more than impressive – it’s inspiring.
“From the moment I met Lorinde and learned how well she took care of herself, I knew she would be an amazing example for other patients who needed some extra motivation,” says Dr. Jason Brayley, a sports medicine physician with MultiCare Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.
“The outcome of her diligent resistance workouts is incredible,” Brayley adds. “She literally looks decades younger than her age.”
Williams has always been active. She grew up riding horses and started working out regularly in her 30s. But she really ramped up her commitment to her physical health when she began bodybuilding at 59.
“I did it for the challenge,” she says. “I thought I can do this – and then I really started seeing the results.”
She kept up the strict workout regimen – which required working out at the gym five or six days per week – for a year, ultimately competing in three bodybuilding competitions.
These days, Williams has a new motivation: Her baby granddaughter. Williams cares for her three days per week, often carrying the 15-pound baby in a front pack.
“My new goal is seeing my baby go to school,” she says. “I’m such a proud grandma.”
Her competitive days are behind her, but Williams still tracks all of her workouts, meticulously noting the weights she lifts and the number of times. She keeps her personal trainer because he “doesn’t treat me like a cotton ball.”
She struggles with arthritis, but she says the threat of aches and stiffness challenges her to push herself even more.
“Now I notice that if I don’t work out, I feel stiff,” she says.
Exercise is just one part of Williams’ commitment to her health. The Puyallup woman also pays attention to what she eats. She avoids sugar and fried foods, and focuses on eating four or five smaller meals per day, instead of three big ones. And she still indulges now and then.
“I still love my ice cream or a bite of something sweet,” she says.
Her focus on her health has paid off. Williams says she feels strong, healthy and able to do the things she wants and needs to do. Her advice for others: Spend the time to educate yourself about exercise and nutrition, and don’t be intimidated by who you see at the gym.
“You can’t look at someone else and say, ‘I want to look like that,’” she says. “You have to recognize that you’re doing it for yourself, because you want to look and feel better.”
Brayley considers Williams to be an excellent role model for people of any age.
“She’s made a commitment to making exercise a normal part of her life, and the effects really show,” the doctor says. “She has an apparent energy that is far beyond other patients her age, and she is not afraid to let some of the minor aches and pains that happen with aging take hold of her life.”

Article by Kelly Kearsley.