Ammon News - Cheng Chen Chin-Mei beamed broadly as she hoisted a 35-kg (77-pound) weightlifting bar to her waist, dropped it and waved confidently to the enthusiastic crowd in a competition in Taipei.

Cheng Chen, 90, has been pumping iron since last year, encouraged by her granddaughter to take up the sport after she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. She credits the regimen with helping to fix her posture.

Three generations of her family were among a couple of hundred people watching Cheng Chen and 44 others aged 70 or over in a weightlifting competition on Saturday.

In the three-round competition, Cheng Chen lifted as much as 45 kg (99 pounds) using a hexagonal-shaped bar that is said to allow the lifter more stability and options for gripping.

"I want to tell all the old people to join the workout," Cheng Chen told Reuters after the competition. "You don't need to work extremely hard, but this is to stay healthy."

Reuters