Health Update: Pull-up Grandma: Ageing well and fitness over 80 – What Experts Say

Dr Charlotte Lim, 80, will always remember the moment she successfully did her first unassisted chin-up.

Four years ago, while waiting for the bus to arrive at her condominium, Dr Lim thought she might as well attempt to do a chin-up once more before she left the house.

With one last burst of energy, she gripped the bar she had been struggling with and pulled herself up. Before she knew it, she had raised her chin over the bar and conquered her first-ever chin-up at 76. She immediately looked for her daughter in the gym to celebrate, happily crying out, “I just did my first chin-up!”

While Dr Lim unintentionally set a record for herself that day in under 15 minutes, it had taken four long years to get there. But her journey is far from over.

In many ways, this moment feels like a full circle for Dr Lim.

Decades ago, she was featured in Her World’s print pages in her twenties, then a teacher at Monk’s Hill Integrated School, where she spoke about her passion for fabric printing. She laughs now at how shy she felt about that feature at the time.

Today, the spotlight feels different. Her daughter, she shares, is especially proud to see her featured again—this time for her strength and achievements in her 80s.

Starting small but sticking it out

When Dr Lim first stepped into the gym, she didn’t have big plans. Her only goal? Being fit and following the instructions her daughter, fitness coach Yan Lin, gave her.

“I retired at 57 so I was floundering around for a few years,” she admitted.

After retiring from her job in human resources, Dr Lim exercised on her own — running on the treadmill and lifting light weights — but never followed a strict regimen.

It wasn’t until Coach Yan Lin took her mother under her wing and trained her at FitRX, their personal gym, that she began following a more structured exercise routine.

Each session, Coach Yan Lin would assign Dr Lim a set number for each exercise, typically in terms of hundreds. Dr Lim recounted the time she had to complete 100 jumping jacks for the day. When she got to 55, Dr Lim felt she couldn’t continue. She was close to giving up.

But encouragement from her daughter kept her going. “She kept urging me, ‘100 jumping jacks’,” Dr Lim said.

Even with her daughter’s extrinsic motivation, Dr Lim doesn’t deny that the initial struggle to get through each workout in the early days continued.

“The early training sessions were so tiring and challenging. Half the time I didn’t want to go but I know that my daughter’s eyes will be upon me and I’ll have to report back to her in the evening about what I’ve done and achieved,” said Dr Lim.

Dr Lim continues to apply this mindset to her training sessions today. While younger gym-goers might take 50 minutes to an hour for a complete session, Dr Lim says the same routine sometimes takes her twice the duration.

Despite this, she always sees them through till the end, finding joy through grit.

“There’s a value in me, which is that when I start something, I must finish it,” Dr Lim said. “So I will finish it in two, two and a half hours, whatever the challenges are, and that gives me a sense of achievement.”

Progressing slowly but surely

Dr Lim’s hard work has certainly paid off.

While she initially struggled with strength training, she could see tangible results in her strength, stamina, and overall energy levels. After just a year of training, she could do unassisted sit-ups. And soon after her first chin-up four years ago, pull-ups came naturally.

“I took a long time to finish many of the exercises but I found that I got stronger and I was using less energy and time,” Dr Lim reflected.

Each time she achieved a target, whether in time or weight, she celebrated with a simple smoothie.

Today, Dr Lim, who stands at 158cm and weighs around 49kg, is able to squat 50kg, more than her own bodyweight — something that is surprising, even to her.

Adding on to her list of achievements, Dr Lim shared that she had previously held a record for doing a dead hang for 163 seconds. However, more recently, during the interview, she candidly shared that she can do a dead hang for as long as four minutes.

Her secret? Consistency. After attending formal classes thrice and working out six days weekly, she squeezes in some cardio by running around her condominium on active rest days.

She shares her fitness journey with over 22,000 followers on @pullup_grandma (and counting), where she hopes her story can inspire others to take charge of their wellbeing and cultivate a healthier lifestyle over time.

“When you set your mind to be healthy and to be independent, it requires you to work hard at it. You have to work hard at it and persevere,” she said.

“When you persevere a month, two months, or six months down the road, you see some changes and transformation in your own health.” 

From looking good to living well

For decades, women have been sold the idea that ageing well is rooted in appearance — think anti-wrinkle creams, botox, and facelifts. But for Dr Lim, wellness has taken on a whole new meaning. 

She’s focused on functional longevity; optimising the body and mind to be strong and mobile, which ensures she can stay independent for the golden years ahead.

“Ageing well means to be independent, being able to travel on my own,” said Dr Lim, who returned from a solo trip to Perth just three weeks ago. “It’s a holistic approach in terms of my thinking, spirit, soul and body, all in one piece.”

That independence shows up in small, everyday moments, too, like when she goes to the market. She laughs as she recalls one of her favourite fruit sellers in Chinatown, Mr Lin: “Whenever I buy too much, he’ll say, ‘It’s too heavy for you. You can’t carry’.” She would jokingly reply, “Look, I can carry 10kg in each hand if I want to.”

Underpinning this independence is a rigorous, data-driven approach to health. Dr Lim closely tracks her biomarkers, undergoing regular blood tests, lung function assessments, and VO₂ max testing to understand exactly how her body is performing.

The results, she added, are “astonishing”. While she is chronologically 80, her biomarkers suggest her body is 22 years younger.

Her daily habits reflect this same philosophy. She avoids what she calls SOAP foods: sugar, oil, additives and processed items.

Ageing, redefined

It’s no surprise that Dr Lim rejects the idea that ageing means automatically slowing down.

As Singapore begins to ride the silver wave, where 1 in 4 residents are projected to be 65 years or older by 2030, Dr Lim hopes more people would stop relying on others and take ownership of their own health.

“I wish they’ll think this way: the Ministry of Health will not need to provide a sick bed for me as I age,” she said. “Just tell yourself, I don’t need one. I should be fit and healthy until my last days.”

For her, staying healthy also means minimising dependency on medication. “Be elated if you can get out of having to take medication. That would be a triumph,” she added.

Dr Lim also challenges the notion that ageing brings weakness and sickness. She believes that if she can improve her health, everyone else can too.

“Look at me, I’m testimony right? I’m a template for healthy living — no cholesterol, no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no sarcopenia, no osteoporosis,” she explained. “I’m fit and healthy by the grace of God and hard work.”

Never too late to start

If there’s one thing to take away from Dr Lim’s story, she says it’s that it’s never too late to start.

Plenty of people around her, including neighbours and friends, think they can’t start their fitness journey because they’re already in their 70s.

But she says we need to rid this traditional thinking.

Just recently, she saw a video clip of an 82-year-old American woman starting her first exercise. Within a year, the lady was able to do a deadlift. “It’s an attitude thing,” Dr Lim mused. “Wash our minds a little bit and look at what the young people are encouraging us to do and learn from the youth.”

What does it really mean to feel well? Is it lifting heavier, running faster or finally learning to listen to your body? Body Talk is Her World Singapore’s wellness column exploring how women here move, train and care for themselves beyond aesthetics. From strength and stamina to rest, recovery and emotional resilience, each story looks at the physical, mental and emotional sides of wellness and how they show up in real life.