Meet La Abuela Fitness, the 70-Year-Old Lingerie Model Who Proves Age Is Just a Number

Who said getting old is a curse? For Gladys Bravo, better known as “La Abuela Fitness,” reaching 70 has been an adventure. Now, this outstanding exponent of bodybuilding in Chile is a successful lingerie model.

“Modeling lingerie didn’t make me shy,” Bravo said in an interview, “because in my profile, I’ve also uploaded sensual photos, in pajamas with underwear, but subtle things. Since the one I was asked for was also elegant and subtle, I gladly accepted.”

A second chapter in life

Originally from Santiago, Chile, Gladys Bravo began her bodybuilding career at 50 and has shared her transformation with her followers on social media.

“There aren’t many grandmothers my age here in Chile who are into bodybuilding,” Bravo said. “I think that’s what made me transform into an influencer.”

La Abuela Fitness explained that, while many believe that age is a limit, her experience has motivated many women to understand that age is not an impediment to being able to do what you want and what you like.

Bravo started in fitness at 55 when she became unemployed, and the challenge was, she explained, to reinvent herself.

“With my children grown up, I was going to have more time for myself, then I was going to be able to dedicate myself to a discipline,” she explained, assuring that her new-found passion “requires a lot of perseverance.”

“I decided to do it because I wanted to innovate something different,” she added.

A radical transformation

For Bravo, seeing the changes in her body and feeling good about herself was the biggest adventure.

“It started to become my passion, and that’s why I haven’t stopped, nor will I stop until I feel good in my ability to do it, even though I’m close to 70 years old,” she said.

With more than 15 years of dedication, Bravo has been maturing her body and new skills to compete nationally. Today, La Abuela Fitness can lift up to 445 pounds with her legs and 66 in her arms.

Her secret? Doing a lot of repetitions.

“Fitness is not about muscle mass definition,” Bravo explained. “Those who practice fitness must be muscularly defined but not have a large volume of muscle mass.”

Bravo was a national champion in November 2021 and won the South American runner-up in the specialty in December of the same year. 

Setting trends

With more than 50 thousand followers on Instagram, Gladys Bravo has now gone a step further and decided to show off her body as a lingerie model.

Bravo was contacted by the national company Love Lust to be part of a 25-garment catalog for a lingerie campaign. As she assured in an interview, the photo shoot was natural and “spontaneous.”

“I posed as I felt, sometimes in more suggestive and sensual positions, but all with subtlety,” she assured.

This new stage of her life has been, as well explained by La Abuela Fitness in her Instagram account, “the wonderful reward of life.”