Like many in the US who are grappling with pressure to look better, Jim Arrington is unimpressed with his physique – but he says that self-perception has motivated him to keep winning bodybuilding competitions at age 90.
The nonagenarian great-grandfather spoke about how he has achieved a level of physical fitness which is superior to that of many people more than half his age in an interview published on Wednesday by Guinness World Records, which first recognized him as the planet’s oldest bodybuilder in 2015.
Arrington, who lives in the Los Angeles area, used part of the interview to explain his “very low opinion” of his physical shape, chiseled as it is.
“I see all these fantastic physiques, and I knew the only way I could make it is if I outlast everybody,” Arrington told Guinness, which is renowned for its database of more than 40,000 world records. “And that’s exactly what I did.”
More than seven decades into his bodybuilding career, Arrington goes to a gym three times a week to lift weights for two hours each session, telling himself to “get the burn” because “they say no pain, no gain”.
A trainer at the place where Arrington works out told Guinness that they “see Jim almost every day” and that he “does more than a good 60% of my clients or anybody that comes into this gym”.
The hard work enabled Arrington to disrobe completely and pose in the nude for pictures published by Men’s Health last year. About a month after that caused a stir among some circles, Guinness said, he competed in an International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness competition in Reno, Nevada, scoring a third place finish in the men’s over-70 division.
He was also the sole entrant and therefore won the over-80 category, the competition’s results show.
Routinely pumping iron at the gym is only part of Arrington’s success, however, according to Guinness. He has also adapted his diet as he’s aged.
Arrington recounted how he once would primarily drink “lots of milk” and eat “lots of beef” because they were two things to which he wasn’t allergic. Milk and meat are also classic sources of protein, which helps build muscle.
But that diet started causing Arrington inflammation as he aged, so he told Guinness that he changed his approach “entirely”. Now he said he mainly eats mushrooms, foods prepared with olive oil and generally healthy produce.
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“I figured if I did that, I could continue training,” Arrington said.
He re-established his record as the world’s oldest bodybuilder when he competed in Reno last year.
His sculpted body wasn’t always a given, he added. Born prematurely by about six weeks while weighing 5.5lbs (2.5kg), Arrington said he spent his childhood struggling with asthma and other frequent illnesses.
Arrington recalled that he eventually grew tired of his frailty and began lifting weights in 1947, when he was 15. He has since been a regular participant in bodybuilding shows, including about 20 at the famed Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California.
“I decided I couldn’t do that any more,” Arrington said of being sickly. “Because I wanted to be a superhero.”