It is the small things that often prove to Ginny MacColl that she is on the right track in her fitness regimen. Like being able to open a stubborn jar lid with ease. Or flinging a door open with unexpected force.

“At 73, I’m stronger than I’ve ever been,” she says from her home in Southport, in the US state of North Carolina. “And those everyday wins – those are the moments I know it’s working.”

American actress and dancer MacColl is the oldest woman ever to compete on the long-running US sports entertainment reality show American Ninja Warrior and the oldest person to ever complete an obstacle on the show.

On Instagram (@ginnymaccoll), she posts videos of herself doing push-ups, pull-ups, swimming laps and navigating obstacle courses that would challenge someone half her age. Her warm, relatable nature has endeared her to more than 137,000 followers.

“I want women to see what I didn’t know for so long,” she says. “We’re not too old. We can build muscle. We can be strong.”

Although she has been active most of her life, she did not enter a gym, or do a pull-up, until she turned 63.