An 82-year-old woman has described the moment she made a man regret breaking into her New York home after she fought back.

Willie Murphy says that around 11pm on Thursday, the man, 29, entered her house in Rochester despite her refusing to open the door and let him in when he pleaded with her call an ambulance.

Little did he know that Murphy is an award-winning bodybuilder and she described breaking a table over him, beating him with a broomstick and smothering him in shampoo after he forced entry to her property.

'I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what? I’m tough,' she warned in an interview after the incident.

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Willie Murphy, 82, smashed a table over a 29-year-old man who broke into her Rochester, New York home on Thursday after 11pm. She beat him with a broomstick, jumped on him repeatedly and covered him in shampoo before cops came

She said in an interview after the incident: 'I'm alone and I’m old, but guess what? I’m tough'

Murphy is only 5 feet tall and weighs 105lbs, according to the Today show, but she can deadlift 225 pounds.

She had already called police but picked up the nearest things to her to keep the assailant down until cops arrived to detain the man who tried to persuade her to let him inside because he was sick.

'I hear a loud noise,' she told Fox News. 'I'm thinking, what the heck was that? The young man is in my home. He broke the door. 'I picked up the table, and I went to work on him. The table broke.

'And when he's down. I’m jumping on him. I grabbed the shampoo. Guess what? He’s still on the ground. In his face, all of it, the whole thing. I got the broom. He’s pulling the broom. I’m hitting him with the broom.'

Murphy says the man was trying to make his way out of the property after she fought back and she even tried to help move him along but she struggled with his dead weight.

But soon after police arrived at her home.

'He picked the wrong house to break into,' Murphy said.

Murphy works out at the local Maplewood YMCA and received a hero's welcome when she returned to the gym.

She said even emergency responders wanted to take selfies with her after the incident.

“I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what? I’m tough.”



Willie Murphy is 82. She's a powerlifter. When a 28-yr-old man tried to break into her house - she says she took him DOWN. pic.twitter.com/MFXyrG1um0 — Seth Palmer: WFH Edition (@sethpalmer3) November 22, 2019

Trophy queen: Proving her power, last year Murphy scored first place in the World Natural Powerlifting Federation World Championships for her division

Powerhouse: Murphy can lift almost double her body weight and out of the gym she has no trouble shoveling snow, carrying groceries or bouncing her grandchildren around

Murphy is already somewhat a local celebrity, known for her impressive one-handed pull-ups, fingertip push-ups and racing five-year-old children in running sprints.

In a previous interview with CBS the sprightly octogenarian quipped: 'I'm old - If I can do it, get with it. I'm that new senior and I got it going on.'

Murphy began lifting five-pound weights 2011 after seeing a sign about a local weight-lifting competition at the at the Maplewood Family YMCA.

Gradually, she saw her body transform and today she boasts abs of steel and toned arms to match.

She can lift almost double her body weight and out of the gym she has no trouble shoveling snow, carrying groceries or bouncing her grandchildren around.

Proving her power, in 2014 Murphy scored first place in the World Natural Powerlifting Federation World Championships for her division.

She was also named 2014 Lifter of the Year after taking home gold in the dead-lift, power curl and bench press.

'I wanted to become better, to have a little edge in life,' Murphy previously told the Democrat & Chronicle.

She insists that her strength is completely natural and all down to a tri-weekly workout sessions.

On the diet front, Murphy says she consumes whatever she wants including pizza and rum with cranberry juice.