An 82-year-old bodybuilder attacked an intruder with a table, squirted shampoo in his face and was found by police beating him with a broom.

Willie Murphy was getting ready for bed in Rochester, New York, when a man banged on her door and claimed he needed an ambulance.

She refused to open up and called the police but he managed to force his way in.

Image: The 82-year-old is at the gym nearly every day. Pic: 13 WHAM

"He picked the wrong house to break into," she said.

"I was whaling on that man. I said to myself, 'If it's my time to go to hell, I'm taking him with me!'"


"I took that table and I went to work on him... and when he's down I'm jumping on him," she told local TV station 13 WHAM.

Ms. Murphy standing shoulder to shoulder with Genesee Section Officers after an intruder attempted to break into her home. Ms. Murphy is tough as nails & fended off the intruder. Ms. Murphy standing with some of the officers that responded to her home. pic.twitter.com/1gr8KfWZ4d — Rochester NY Police (@RochesterNYPD) November 25, 2019

With the intruder on the floor she grabbed a shampoo bottle from the kitchen and poured it "in his face - all of it".

She said: "I really did a number on that man, I'm serious!"

The burglar may have been looking for an easy target but ended up with a trip to hospital.

Police tweeted a picture with Ms Murphy after Thursday's incident, saying she was "tough as nails".

Image: Ms Muphy is an award-winning powerlifter. Pic: 13 WHAM

The octogenarian works out almost every day and says she can do one-handed pull-ups and push-ups.

She also won the World Natural Powerlifting Federation Lifter of the Year award in 2014 and can deadlift more than twice her weight.

Michelle LeBoo - from the YMCA gym that Ms Murphy goes to - said "she really helps dispel the myths of ageing" and called her a "strong beautiful woman" who does things "for the benefit of others".