“Health is wealth”: Meet the 82-year-old fitness fan who can’t stop breaking records!

At 82 years old, Annie Judis (USA) is showing that age is no barrier to breaking Guinness World Records titles!

Also known by her former name Jean Bell, Annie has lived a talent-filled life in the spotlight. After attending Texas Southern University to study business administration, she spent her time competing in beauty pageants, with aspirations of becoming an actress.

She appeared in Playboy magazine many times and was the first black woman to appear on the cover in January 1970. After her modelling years concluded, she enjoyed a brief acting career, appearing in films and TV shows.

Jean later had a relationship with actor Richard Burton, before marrying businessman Gary Karl Judis, in November 1986, following eight years of courtship. The couple went on to build a family together.

Now, Annie puts her health first and explained that she needed something to focus on: “I needed to keep moving my body and to stay healthy. I always believe that health is wealth, and that’s so important to me.”

With almost 200,000 followers on Instagram, Annie shares her workouts and GWR attempts with the world, always encouraging the public to keep fit, no matter what age they are.

She said: “I didn’t realize how fit and active I really was until I started posting on Instagram. Everybody was telling me that I looked great, and they even asked me for my birth certificate!”

We caught up with Annie to learn more about her journey.

In the video, she explained: “I normally don’t remember my dreams, but there was one night I had a dream that I would make it into Guinness World Records. I woke up still remembering the dream, and I called my girlfriend Janice. I said ‘Janice, I want to get into Guinness World Records!’”

So, after recruiting Janice to help make her dream a reality, Annie sent in her application and got to work.

She later reflected: “I never stopped dreaming. My journey was to keep moving my body and I tried different things.”

Over her record-breaking career, Annie has held 14 Guinness World Records titles, including some seriously impressive fitness feats.

She gained her very first title at 75 years and 92 days old, becoming the oldest competitive rope skipper (female) and she is determined to continue pushing her limits! She competed in the Prickly Pear Open 2026 in Tucson, Arizona, USA, on 11 March to reclaim her title.

Read about more incredible fitness feats like this one in our Sports and Fitness section!

Annie loves to incorporate humour into her record-breaking attempts, including one competition, where she dressed as an elderly woman with a grey wig and walker. As she slowly made her way to the middle of the basketball court, she remembers thinking: “What on Earth are you doing on the basketball court pushing a walker?”

Once she reached the middle, she made a quick change into her gym clothes and grabbed her jump rope.

Annie recalled: “You should’ve seen the look on the kids’ faces when they saw me look so young!”

Annie’s eagerness to add more record titles to her collection is clear, as she is also the oldest person to complete a farmer’s walk over 20 m (female). To prepare, Annie practised walking the route around her garden while carrying weights to ensure that she wouldn’t injure herself. At 81 years and 46 days old, on 8 January 2025, she achieved the title.

Annie was also the former holder of the oldest person to perform an abdominal plank (female) which she achieved at 80 years and 244 days old. For this record, she had to hold a plank for at least three minutes to qualify but managed to hold it for over four minutes.

She told us: “I used to compete with my husband at the gym, and we loved competing against each other. One time I planked for seven minutes, and he only did six minutes!”

During the attempt, Annie was thinking about her late husband, who she imagined encouraging her from the sidelines: “As I was planking, I was thinking he was next to me and was telling me, ‘Keep going, keep going!’”

Another one of Annie’s former titles came on 11 November 2024, when she celebrated her 81st birthday by becoming the oldest person to hold the dead hang position (female).

With the support of her trainer, she successfully held the position for two minutes and one second. After securing the record, her trainer Anthony Gallo explained: “Annie motivates me. I’m 46 and I can’t do it.”

For Annie, age is clearly no barrier to staying active. She said: “I think age is just a number. You’d be surprised at what people can do in their 60s, 70s, and 80s. I feel like I’m much stronger now that I’m older. I feel like I have more energy all of a sudden.”

Her message to anyone looking to stay active is simple: “You’ve got to keep moving your body, because if you don’t move your body, then you will lose it!”

We can’t wait to see what she gets up to next.