Brazil’s Lula, 80, livestreams workouts before election against rival half his age

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is seeking to lunge and leg press his way to a historic fourth term, as the octogenarian politician uses a flurry of workout videos to convince voters he is fighting fit ahead of October’s crunch election.Lula looks set to face off against a senator almost half his age in what will be the leftist’s seventh presidential campaign since he first sought Brazil’s top job in 1989, when he was 44.Determined to show Lula is in fine fettle despite the passing years, allies have busied themselves publishing footage of the Worker’s party (PT) chief working out at the gym or taking a jog.The most recent such video was livestreamed on Monday by Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela “Janja” da Silva, showing Lula performing squats during an early morning fitness session, a white towel draped around his neck, Rocky Balboa-style.“My husband has been here since 6am. He’s already done 45 minutes on the treadmill,” Janja boasts as she ambushes the perspiring president with her phone.Lula’s fans applauded their leader’s muscle-flexing. “Lula’s a gym rat. This man is in great shape to carry on taking care of Brazil until 2030,” one wrote approvingly on X.Other videos have shown Lula jogging through the capital, Brasília, and the presidential palace, pumping iron and using a leg extension machine while offering fitness tips. “We can’t stop the passage of time,” Lula says in one social media video. “[But] we can take care of our health.” During the last election Lula appeared on social media wearing red boxing gloves and taking swipes at a punch bag, alongside the caption: “Lula’s in the ring!”Lula performing squats, as livestreamed by his wife. Photograph: XLula’s quest to portray himself as a Brazilian Mr Motivator has intensified in recent weeks as the identity of his main challenger has become clear. The other key presidential candidate is likely to be Flávio Bolsonaro, the 44-year-old son of the disgraced former far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro.Bolsonaro Jr is seeking to position himself as both a younger alternative to Lula and a more moderate version of his father, who received a 27-year jail sentence last year for illegally trying to seize power after losing the 2022 election.Lula followers have contrasted the incumbent’s apparent physical robustness with the supposed fragility of his rightwing rival, who famously fainted during a 2016 TV debate.Last month Flávio Bolsonaro compared 80-year-old Lula to a clapped-out Chevrolet, to which Lula replied that his rival’s imprisoned father was a Chevrolet in the chop shop.Speaking late last year, Lula’s biographer and friend Fernando Morais rejected comparisons between the leftist legend and Joe Biden, who abandoned his 2024 re-election bid because of concerns over his physical and mental state.“[Lula is] someone who has astounding physical energy, not to mention the energy of his soul,” Morais claimed.