Elderly woman stepped in to correct young man's pose at gym — he didn't know she's a bodybuilding legend

Folks working out at the gym finish their sets by posing at least once in front of the mirror. Some of them flaunt their muscles and take pictures or videos which end up on social media. It was just another day for gym enthusiast and bodybuilder Sebastian Anderson (@sebastian_andersonn on Instagram) when he set up his camera to take a video in the gym. Being a fitness influencer, Anderson routinely posts his workout videos and pictures from the gym and he was trying to pose a certain way to flaunt his muscles.

But Anderson did not realize that an elderly Asian woman was observing him from a distance. The elderly woman was also working out in the same gym doing some weight training when she spotted Anderson posing to take a picture. She promptly approached him and began instructing him on how to flex his muscles to make his biceps and pecs more visible in the photo. She gently touched Anderson’s shoulders, guiding him to tilt slightly to the right to enhance his pose.

Anderson let the mysterious senior share her tips, following her advice to perfect his pose. The video garnered over 11 million views, sparking a search among netizens to uncover the identity of the gym legend. Some commentators tracked her down to a TikTok account where she posts videos under the username @mamatj__. From her videos, it was evident that she had been a part of the bodybuilding industry for a long time. In most of her clips, she’s seen instructing other bodybuilders on proper posing techniques or guiding them on how to use gym equipment effectively to build their physique.

A popular slideshow on the page, which has gained over 150,000 views, featured Mama TJ's early bodybuilding photos, including one where she proudly wears a medal from the Ms. Olympia contest—the most prestigious competition in women’s bodybuilding. In other photos, she’s seen wearing additional medals, with a trophy on the shelf that she likely won in a past contest. Needless to say, the “gym grandma” won over the internet, and viewers left many wholesome comments under Anderson’s viral video.

@miss.herculean mentioned, "Have a feeling she's an OG in the bodybuilding world." @jaystrife_123 shared, "Everyone in the comments section trying to roast this woman but I swear she used to be a professional bodybuilder in her youth and would have picked up more weights than most of us." @zenith__dragon wrote, "Yo I need to get myself an awesome workout Asian grandma! I don't think they realize how awesome it makes them look. Especially when they know what they're doing." @sirchillyllama added, "I don’t know what we did to deserve Filipinos but my god am I glad we did it." @colebrown77 remarked, "Just cause they can’t lift as much and get as big doesn’t mean they don’t have great knowledge to share."

You can follow Sebastian Anderson (@sebastian_andersonn) on Instagram for more videos on gym and fitness.