While his peers enjoy retirement, Frank Gilfeather is putting down people a quarter his age with heavy uppercuts.

Scottish journalist and amateur boxing champion Frank Gilfeather recently shared a video of himself doing what he does best, training hard in the gym. In the video, the 80-year-old was seen engaged in an intense pad work session with his training partner. What was astonishing was that his speed and intensity were nothing short of those of any young man.

The video was accompanied by a caption that read: "Only boxing could make an 80-year-old coach and a young MMA heavyweight into training partners. That’s the beauty of the fight game. Different generations, different backgrounds, but the same respect for hard work, technique, and self-improvement."

Gilfeather also explained how the session is a two-way process where he helps his partner sharpen his punching and timing, and he puts him through his paces every week. It helps them learn and improve.

Gilfeather was a well-known sports journalist and broadcaster in Scotland who covered sports and news for STV North. But that came much later; before becoming a journalist, he was a Scottish amateur boxing champion who represented Scotland internationally.

And this training video isn't the only one on his page; the 80-year-old frequently posts training videos on social media and has become quite a hit in the fitness community. In many of those videos, he is training his students who are half his age, but he is the one who stands out every time.

But how did an 80-year-old grandpa become a social media star?

From Boxer to TikTok Star

Even after retiring from his professional career, Gilfeather didn't retire from boxing and training. In 2022, Gilfeather's son, Paul, shared a video online of his father hitting a punching bag. The video became an instant hit online.

Seeing the reaction, Paul changed the content of his father's social media page from cooking to boxing. Thus, Gilfeather started sharing short boxing videos and teaching people online. Gradually, he found more success as more of his videos went viral on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

In an interview, Gilfeather said, “TikTok just went like wildfire, and within no time at all, we were up to about 50,000 views on this one video. We went from 200 followers to 10,000 overnight. I think it was because people were buying into the authenticity. And the old school coaching style.”

Soon Gilfeather garnered thousands of followers, including Hollywood stars and athletes like Ice-T, MMA champion Anderson Silva, and Taika Waititi.

The recognition resulted in Gilfeather starting his own boxing brand called Frank's Noble Arts. The brand is focused on selling traditional boxing and training gear. He also provides training seminars for aspiring boxers, as well as celebrities like Tony Parsons and Miles Kane.

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Written by

Ruwa Javed

Edited by

Ashvinkumar Patil