91-year-old becomes social media star thanks to her fitness routine
If you're looking for inspiration to get healthy and stay active in the new year, look no further than Edna Giordano.
Giordano, who lives in British Columbia, Canada, has become a viral sensation for the fitness level she maintains at age 91.
The mom of five, grandmother of 21 and great-grandmother of four lives on her own, still drives and goes to the gym nearly every day.
"I've always had a busy lifestyle because, let's face it, with that many children, you have to be busy. So, I never really thought about it, that's just the way I live," Giordano told "Good Morning America." "My body feels better when I'm moving."
Giordano said she only really began to focus on her fitness in her 60s, when she was forced to retire from her job at a local hospital due to her age.
To keep herself busy, Giordano began gardening, and to this day, helps maintain her apartment community's landscaping.
She said she also started going to the gym in her 60s, which she still does every other day.
"I have to keep my feet to the fire because it's cold in the morning, and when it's snowy or icy out there, I don't really get enthusiastic about going outside," she said. "But I make myself do it and I make myself mark it on the calendar that I did it so I cannot [take] any shortcuts."
Giordano said she focuses on walking at the gym for her cardiovascular health and also includes lots of stretching and weight lifting in her routine to maintain her bone strength.
"When I go to the gym, I don't try to break any records or compete with anyone else," Giordano said. "I only push myself to do better all the time, and I only compete with myself."
When it comes to her age, Giordano said most people -- at the gym and elsewhere -- do not realize she is 91 years old.
She said she prefers it that way, because when people do realize she's in her 90s, they often demand to help her.
"They want to help me when I don't really want help," said Giordano, who will turn 92 in February. "It's funny to say that, but I'm so independent that I'm usually doing everything for myself, and I like to be independent."
Though she is not on social media herself, Giordano has developed a following on Instagram thanks to her daughter Dalyce Radke, a certified personal trainer and online fitness coach who has more than 520,000 followers on the platform.
Radke, 60, said the first video she ever posted showing her mom's level of fitness left her followers "amazed."
"They never, I think, could imagine that someone even into their 70s could do what she does," Radke told "GMA." "And if I didn't grow up with my mom and have a mom who at 91 does what she does, I would think the same way."
Radke said that as a personal trainer herself, she notices that it is the little things her mom has done and continues to do consistently every day that allow her to live so well in her 90s.
In addition to not over-indulging when it comes to food, Radke said her mom always takes the stairs, is active throughout the day, works to keep her mind sharp and does activities she enjoys that help her mobility and fitness, like gardening.
"That's my message, that you don't need to be in a gym to be fit," Radke said. "You don't have to do all the extreme workouts. Just stick with the basics."
Radke said that watching her mom age so well has taught her that "age is just a number."
Giordano said she has the same mindset, noting that she rarely thinks about her own age and is surprised when other people point it out.
"I don't think it's amazing, and that's why I'm rather astonished when people point that out to me. I just think this is normal," Giordano said. "The best present you can give to yourself is your health and the fact that you can move ... you can do all the things that you want to do."
