Lula is set to face a senator nearly half his age in what will be his seventh presidential campaign since first running for Brazil’s highest office in 1989, when he was 44. Determined to show that Lula remains in good shape despite his years, his allies have been releasing footage of the Workers’ Party (PT) leader working out in the gym or running.
The latest such video was broadcast live on Monday by Brazil’s first lady, Rosângela “Janja” da Silva, showing Lula doing squats during his morning workout, with a white towel around his neck, Rocky Balboa-style.
“My husband has been here since 6 a.m. He’s already done 45 minutes on the treadmill,” Janja boasted as she filmed the sweaty president with her phone. Lula’s supporters reacted enthusiastically to his displays of strength.
“Lula is a real gym lover. This man is in great shape to continue taking care of Brazil until 2030,” one user wrote on X.
Other clips show Lula running through the capital Brasília and the presidential palace, lifting weights and using a leg extension machine, while sharing fitness tips along the way.
“We can’t stop time from passing, but we can take care of our health,” Lula says in one video on social media.
During the last election, Lula appeared on social media wearing red boxing gloves, punching a bag, with the message: “Lula is in the ring!” His attempt to present himself as Brazil’s Mr. Motivator has intensified in recent weeks, as the identity of his main opponent 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 trying to present himself as a younger alternative to Lula, but also as a more moderate version of his father, who was sentenced last year to 27 years in prison for an illegal attempt to seize power after losing the 2022 election.
Lula’s supporters compare his apparent physical fitness with the alleged fragility of his right-wing rival, who, it is recalled, fainted during a TV debate in 2016.
Last month, he compared the 80-year-old Lula to a “worn-out Chevrolet,” to which Lula retorted that his rival’s father, now in prison, is actually a Chevrolet in the junkyard.
Speaking late last year, Lula’s biographer and friend Fernando Morais dismissed comparisons between this left-wing political veteran and Joe Biden, who withdrew from the 2024 re-election race due to concerns about his physical and mental condition.
“Lula is someone who has astonishing physical energy, not to mention the energy of his soul,” Morais said.