A 76-year-old woman who has a passion for working out has become a social media sensation for her incredible level of fitness and for living life free from ailments and medications.
Native New Yorker Lauren Bruzzone, 76, currently lives in Stamford, Connecticut. Technically retired from her career as an attorney for IBM, she now works part-time as a consultant and teaches math at the University of Connecticut. She also works out five to six times a week.
“I enjoy working out and exercising, and I think it’s good for me,” Ms. Bruzzone told The Epoch Times. “I always used to do a little bit of exercise ... going to some ladies’ groups ... then I sort of stumbled into CrossFit because one of my friends told me about it, and when I was doing CrossFit, I met [Wesley James] and the whole thing went to a whole different level.”
Wesley James of Norwalk, Connecticut, 35, is now Ms. Bruzzone’s personal trainer.
Watching Ms. Bruzzone in her CrossFit classes—at a place that Mr. James used to rent, he was amazed by her strength and her interest in being at the gym.
“It’s not often that you walk into a gym, and you see somebody her age doing the type of activity that I witnessed her doing,” he said. “So I watched her for about a year. I noticed that she would stay after her class to work on her pull-ups, and when I decided to offer my help, I told her to give me three weeks. ... I figured I could turn this into a story.”
“It was funny,” Ms. Bruzzone said, “because Wes took it and a couple days later said, ‘You’ve got two million views!’ I freaked out, like a deer in headlights. Now I’m a little calmer.”
Mr. James believes that Ms. Bruzzone breaks the stigma that exercising has “age limits.”
“To be able to push somebody her age the way I push her, to me, it says a lot,” he said. “You know, she gets a lot of compliments in the gym. There’s a lot of people that have come up that are encouraged by her work ethic, and they’re encouraged to push themselves a little harder.”
For the first two years they worked together, Mr. James focussed on building Ms. Bruzzone’s foundation: her form, breathing, and stability. Today, the pair do full-body workouts that last between 90 and 120 minutes, five or six times a week, focusing mainly on calisthenics, balance, jump, and weight training.
For Mr. James, witnessing Ms. Bruzzone do squats on the trap bar has been one of the most amazing things.
“The level of coordination and focus you need for that, especially at 76 years old, that’s probably the most impressive thing,” Mr. James said, adding that Ms. Bruzzone is “part of the 1 percent” in any gym, anywhere.
Additionally, seeing someone her age do handstands and planks, Mr. James said he’s “amazed.”
“It’s very thrilling to see in person,” he said. “The videos don’t do her any justice, because you see 30 seconds to a minute of a video when she’s doing this thing for an hour and a half, two hours ... repetition after repetition.”
When we asked Mr. James if he faces any difficulties in training Ms. Bruzzone, he said: “[The] only challenge that I face is that she picks up on these things so quickly, [so I have to] constantly change little things about the workout to make sure it’s effective enough.”
“I always want to improve,” Ms. Bruzzone said. “[At] my age, I’m not expecting massive improvements, but glacial progress forward is still glacial progress forward. ... it’s never boring with Wes! I’m always doing something new.”
Ms. Bruzzone can deadlift 160 pounds, has no physical ailments, is not on any special diet, and doesn’t even use workout supplements since she doesn’t like protein powder.
She loves working out with Mr. James. She said: “I feel a lot better after a workout,” adding that if things are “going wrong,” after a workout she feels a lot calmer.
Mr. James echoed a similar sentiment, adding that working out brings him “peace.”
“At this point now, Lauren has become my workout partner,” he said. “Oh, she keeps up with me; in her mind, she’s struggling, but to me, I feel like she’s right there behind me.”
December 2023 will mark five years since the pair started working out together.
Ms. Bruzzone has become Mr. James’s longest-standing client, and he is amazed that she keeps coming back.
The pair gets “a lot of love” on social media, and has even captured the attention of news outlets and celebrities, who share Mr. James’s videos on their accounts.
One of the biggest joys for the gym-mad pair is seeing the reach of Ms. Bruzzone’s story and its ability to impact others.
Mr. James encourages anyone who is older and is inspired by Ms. Bruzzone to start out slow.
Ms. Bruzzone agrees.
“Because we are older, it‘ll take us a little bit longer to get where we want to go. But we’ll get there,” she said. “If it feels good, do it again; if you’re out of breath, go home and sit down. Tomorrow morning, go walk around the block again. If you don’t give up, you'll get there.
