YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — A kilogram is more than just a unit of measurement. It is also the name of a great-grandmother from York County who is setting powerlifting records into her 70s.

Linda “Kilo” Gram Arvey is one tough grandma. Along with four children, thirteen grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren, the 72-year-old from Etters, York County holds nearly 400 powerlifting records, including 40 world records.

“My son was in it and he had me pick up a bar one day and do a deadlift because I didn’t think I could do it. As soon as I did, I was sold,” Arvey said.

Adding powerlifting to her and her husband Al’s already active lifestyle came at just the right time.

“We were doing CrossFit at one point, but we were trying to keep up with these young kids and your body is saying ‘forget it,'” Arvey said.

“I was 68 when I started lifting,” she said. “At that age you think you’re done competing, right?”

Wrong! She and Al were just getting started,

Discovering a new passion later in life, she said she fell in love with the atmosphere. That is where their powerlifting journey began.

“My son encouraged him to find a (lifting) meet near us. We found one in Allentown,” Arvey said. The adrenaline is flowing and all these people are there and everybody is rooting for everybody else. It’s the best individual team sport there is,” Arvey added.

“It was such a rush when we did that first meet, we didn’t know we would do another one.”

But the couple ended up doing many more until Al ran into a roadblock.

“I overexerted myself trying to qualify and had a heart attack,” Al said.

That happened at a CrossFit meet. A few later, he had a stroke.

“He worked through it. He’s a hero,” Linda said.

While that may have stopped him from competing, it didn’t stop him from being Linda’s biggest cheerleader. Linda spent the past several weeks training to complete a new lift for the first time.

“I’ve never done the strict curl in competition,” said Linda.

Then, the moment of truth. The competition at York Barbell. Linda attempted to set a world record on her first official try.

“It’s only 66 lbs, but for a 72 yr old woman I guess that’s supposed to be pretty good but to me, but that sounds a little low,” Arvey said.

Not only did Linda set the world record, but she also broke it three times that day. By the end of the meet, she walked away with four first-place awards and the best lifter award.

“I just encourage people to go after it. It doesn’t matter what it is, powerlifting, (or) bicycling, being the best mathematician in the world. It doesn’t matter, just go after it”