We've covered tough older women before at MH. We've seen grandmas who can do hanging abs with a twist and octogenarians who can deadlift over 100 kilos, but before now, we've never seen an older woman put all that strength work to good use outside of the gym. Until this 82-year-old powerlifter beat up the 28-year-old man who broke into her home, that is.

Willie Murphy, who trains almost every day at her local YMCA and can deadlift almost 100 kilos, fought off the ill-fated burglar after he attempted to gain access to her home by pretending to be sick and shouting that he needed to come inside. When Murphy refused, calling the emergency services instead, the burglar broke down her door. Big mistake.

This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

“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: Living At Work (@sethpalmer3) November 22, 2019

“I’m alone and I’m old, but guess what – I’m tough,” Murphy told local news station WHAM. Adding: “He picked the wrong house to break into.”

Murphy says she grabbed a metal-legged table, and “went to working” on the burglar. “Guess what – the table broke,” she added.

But Murphy didn't stop there. Once the table had broke she poured shampoo on the burglar's face and hit him again, this time with a broom. Seeing that he'd had enough, Murphy tried to drag the intruder out of the house, but he was too big.

“I’m hitting him, hitting him, hitting him with the broom,” she said. "By the time police and emergency services arrived, I had really did a number on that man … I think he was happy when he went in the ambulance,” Murphy said.

Moral of the story: don't judge a book by its cover, and, in case you weren't already aware, don't mess with 82-year-old powerlifters.

Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.

SIGN UP

Daniel Davies Daniel Davies is a staff writer at Men’s Health UK who has been reporting on sports science, fitness and culture for various publications for the past five years.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io