‘Lula’s a gym rat’: Brazil president livestreams workouts in campaign for historic fourth term | Brazil
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is trying to move and push for a historic fourth term; The octogenarian politician is using a series of training videos to convince voters he is fighting in good health ahead of tough elections in October.
Lula looks set to face a senator nearly half his age in the leftist’s seventh presidential campaign since he first held a senior post in Brazil in 1989, when he was 44.
Determined to show that Lula is in good shape despite the passing years, allies have been busy publishing images of the Workers’ Party (PT) chief exercising in the gym or jogging.
The latest such video was live-streamed by Brazil’s First Lady Rosângela “Janja” da Silva on Monday, showing Lula doing squats during an early morning fitness session with a white towel wrapped around her neck, Rocky Balboa-style.
“My husband has been here since 6 in the morning. He already spent 45 minutes on the treadmill,” Janja boasts, ambushing the sweating president with her phone.
Lula’s fans applauded their leader’s muscular development. “Lula is a gym rat. This guy is in good enough shape to continue taking care of Brazil until 2030.” someone wrote approvingly. In X.
Other videos showed Lula jogging via the capital Brasília, and presidential palacepumping iron and using a leg extension machine while giving fitness tips. “We cannot stop the passage of time,” Lula says in a 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 hit the punching bagnext to the title: “Lula in the ring!”
Lula’s quest to portray himself as a Brazilian Mr. Motivator has intensified in recent weeks as the identity of his main rival has become clear. The other major presidential candidate is likely to be Flávio Bolsonaro, the 44-year-old son of disgraced former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.
Bolsonaro Jr is trying to position himself as both a younger alternative to Lula and a more moderate version of his father, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison last year for trying to illegally seize power after losing the 2022 election.
Lula’s followers contrast the incumbent president’s apparent physical toughness with the supposed fragility of his right-wing rival. fainted as a celebrity during a TV debate in 2016.
Last month, Flávio Bolsonaro killed 80-year-old Lula. an acclaimed ChevroletLula responded that his rival had a Chevrolet that worked in his imprisoned father’s wood shop.
Speaking late last year, Lula’s biographer and friend Fernando Morais dismissed comparisons between the leftist legend and Joe Biden, who abandoned his 2024 re-election bid over concerns about his physical and mental state.
“[Lula is] Someone with astonishing physical energy, not to mention the energy of his soul,” Morais claimed.
