94-year-old great grandad dubbed ‘Super Mario’ still pumps iron during two-hour workout sessions

1 年前

A great grandad, dubbed ‘Super Mario’, who started going to the gym in his retirement still pumps iron during two hour workout sessions - at the age of 94

Former British Rail engineer, Mario Sanna said he previously kept his body shape by laying tracks and doing manual labour after arriving in Britain from Italy in 1952.

But after stopping work, he spent three decades training at I-Motion Gym, in Rotherham, South Yorks., and even celebrates birthdays there surrounded by his second “family”.

The great grandad of three's normal routine sees him use exercise bikes, rowing machines, leg presses and lift bars weighing 25kg.

And he encouraged other OAPs to hit the gym as well, saying the human body is a “machine” that needs to constantly move or it will “deteriorate”.

Mario said an eye condition had prevented him from driving to the gym as frequently as he’d like but added he was hoping to return more regularly after an operation.

He said: “When I retired from work, I had nothing to do, so I decided to join the gym. It was my intention to be as fit as I possibly could be.

“I use everything the gym supplies – any type of machinery, from spinning classes to lifting weights and going on the walking machine.

“In my opinion, the body needs to be moving. I probably keep moving even when I’m asleep. It’s a machine itself. If you leave it idle, it begins to deteriorate.

“I used to come more often. But I have a friend who picks me up in the morning on Tuesday and Friday now."

Mario, who also has four grandchildren and two children, said he began working for British Rail in 1954 after arriving in the UK from Sardinia two years earlier.

And during these early days, the physical exertion he needed to shift hefty tracks around had been enough to keep him in top shape.