Oprah Winfrey impressively showed off her deadlifting skills during a workout session at the gym in celebration of her 72nd birthday on Thursday.
The TV personality – who has been open about her weight loss journey with the aid of medications such as Ozempic or Wegovy – jumped to her main Instagram page to upload a clip as she did reps with the weighted barbell.
At one point, the star also humorously admitted that she previously had no idea what deadlifting was.
Winfrey flaunted her slimmer frame wearing a pair of dark navy leggings as well as a long-sleeved blue shirt.
She additionally slipped into a pair of comfy white sneakers and her locks were partially pushed back away from her face with a thick headband.
After doing the deadlift exercise, the former talk show host walked towards someone filming her and joked, ‘I didn’t know what a deadlift was.’
Oprah Winfrey impressively showed off her deadlifting skills during a workout session at the gym in celebration of her 72nd birthday on Thursday
After doing the deadlift exercise, the former talk show host walked towards someone filming her and joked, ‘I didn’t know what a deadlift was’
She added, ‘I remember Adele told me she was deadlifting and I pretended to know what she was talking about.’
Winfrey then included the moment from a past interview she had with the Someone Like You songstress back in 2021.
‘On a deadlift, we’re getting up to like 160, 170…yeah,’ the performer said as Winfrey momentarily looked at Adele with her jaw dropped open.
In the caption of her latest post, the author penned: ‘Life at 72 is looking different than every other decade.
‘Two summers and two new knees ago, I decided to add strength training to my workouts because we all need to maintain muscle as we get older.’
She added, ‘I can’t say I’m ready for the Olympics like Adele but I sure feel stronger. So in honor of another trip around the sun for me, go try something new. You never know where it will lead you.’
During an appearance on the Today show in 2024, Winfrey reflected on how she is at ‘peace’ when it comes to aging.
‘There is a sense of knowing that there isn’t as much time left and I am at peace with that knowing. There’s a sense of urgency for me about living well.’
She added, ‘I remember Adele told me she was deadlifting and I pretended to know what she was talking about’; the pair seen above in 2021
Winfrey flaunted her slimmer frame wearing a pair of dark navy leggings as well as a long-sleeved blue shirt
She added, ‘I can’t say I’m ready for the Olympics like Adele but I sure feel stronger. So in honor of another trip around the sun for me, go try something new. You never know where it will lead you’
She also reflected on undergoing knee surgery, revealing that she had been ‘intimidated by it’ before saying it was ‘the best thing’ she did.
‘I really felt like I’ve had a new opportunity to live inside my body in a way that I hadn’t been able to for years because being overweight, and being overweight causing the knees to be even worse.’
Winfrey recently opened up about also following a healthier lifestyle – such as working out six days a week.
She will focus on various routines such as running on the treadmill, hiking or also weight lifting.
‘I don’t recognize the person who feels sluggish when she doesn’t work out,’ Winfrey told People late last month in December.
In the early 90s, the author had weighed 237lbs at point – which was the heaviest she had been. While her new current weight is not known, she has voiced her goal of reaching 160lbs.
‘I thought it was about discipline and willpower. But I stopped blaming myself,’ she expressed. ‘I feel more alive and more vibrant than I’ve ever been.’
Along with sticking to a fitness regime, Winfrey revealed that she has also stopped drinking alcohol.
During an appearance on the Today show in 2024, Winfrey reflected on how she is at ‘peace’ when it comes to aging; seen earlier this month in NYC
In the early 90s, the author had weighed 237lbs at point – which was the heaviest she had been; seen in 1992 in NYC
During an appearance on Today earlier this month, Winfrey recalled gaining weight back when she attempted to stop taking the GLP-1 medication.
‘I was off of the medications all last year, and I gained 20 pounds because I wanted to test it,’ the star recalled.
‘Because everybody was saying, “you’re going to gain the weight”… I’m going to show them… I’m going to hike.’
Winfrey added, ‘And then I was taking it, then I got off of it, and then I gained three pounds, and I gained five pounds, and I gained 10 pounds, and before you know it, the [food] noise was back.’
She further explained that despite still eating healthy, she continued to gain pounds back when off the medication.
Winfrey recently opened up about also following a healthier lifestyle – such as working out six days a week
She further explained that despite still eating healthy, she continued to gain pounds back when off the medication; seen in 2025 in Sydney
Back in 2023, Winfrey admitted to taking a weight loss drug and told People at the time, ‘I now use it as I feel I need it, as a tool to manage not yo-yoing…’
She added, ‘The fact that there’s a medically approved prescription for managing weight and staying healthier, in my lifetime, feels like relief, like redemption, like a gift, and not something to hide behind and once again be ridiculed for.
‘I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself,’ the star said.
During one of her previous podcast episodes, the star had a discussion about GLP-1 medication with Dr. Ania Jastreboff.
‘One of the things that I realized the very first time I took a GLP-1 was that all these years I thought that thin people had more willpower.’
‘I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself,’ the star said; seen in 2025 in NYC
She then explained that what she had thought was ‘willpower’ was actually the absence of ‘food noise.’
‘And then I realized the very first time I took the GLP-1 that, they’re not even thinking about it. They’re eating when they’re hungry and they’re stopping when they’re full.’
Winfrey also opens up about her struggle with weight in her latest book Enough: Your Health, Your Weight, and What It’s Like to Be Free.
The star co-wrote the book with Dr. Ania Jastreboff – which recently hit shelves on January 13.
