91-Year-Old Weightlifter Is Stronger Than You And Every Old Person Ever

Sy Perlis, an American 91-year-old weightlifter, bench pressed 187.5 pounds last Saturday at the National Bench Push-Pull Press and Dead Lift Championships in Phoenix, Arizona. He competed in the 90-and-over group, and broke the world record for the heaviest weight ever benched by a nonagenarian. He beat the previous record, set in 2005, by over 50 pounds.

Perlis started lifting weights when he was 60, three decades ago, but he didn't enter a competition until just five years ago. He won the state title in 2009, then the world title in 2010 and 2011 in the 85-to-89-year-old division in the 181-pound weight category. He had to skip last year, though, because he was diagnosed with a hernia and acute arthritis and had to get a pacemaker implanted.

Basically, the man's a beast. According to Metro, the average guy can only bench between 130 and 160 pounds. (Hit the weights, average guy.) Perlis, however, works out five times a week, sets records, then goes home to his hot young wife Joan, who's 69.

Perlis is active at an age where most people—especially average guys like us—are already dead. But he has no concerns for his health. His doctor told him, "If you can do it, do it." This will likely be good advice until it is not.

[ The Arizona Republic]

h/t to Matthew