In Santa Teresa, a small agricultural village 50 kilometers from Managua, there is a modest gym where two deaf brothers have been lifting weights for nearly half a century. Their names are Carlos Arturo and Walter Pérez Ortega, they are over 60 years old, and they still boast a physique that, as their own students say, "we would all love to have." In recent years, they have become, almost unintentionally, a viral phenomenon on social media.
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| Brothers Walter and Carlos Pérez in their gym (photo: OSWALDO RIVAS / AFP) |
Rocks, pipes, and a muscular neighbor
Carlos Arturo and Walter are two of doña Marina Ortega's four children. Of them, the last three were born deaf or developed deafness in childhood: Carlos Arturo was born deaf, just like one of his sisters, and Walter had been deaf since second grade. In rural Nicaragua during the 1960s and 1970s, there were no schools equipped to accommodate deaf students, so it was their mother who taught them to read, write, and count at home, with the help of a sign language primer.
Their passion for bodybuilding began almost by chance. At age fifteen, Carlos Arturo earned a little money selling newspapers on the streets of Santa Teresa when he noticed a neighbor who had recently arrived in town who lifted weights and worked out with a physique that amazed him.
With no money to buy gym equipment, the brothers started lifting rocks in their backyard. When holding the loose rocks started hurting their hands because of the weight, they learned to tie them to iron rods to improvise their first dumbbells.
At fifteen I would go out to sell the newspaper La Prensa, and I saw Eduardo López, who lifted weights and worked out. That inspired us: we started lifting rocks in the backyard (Walter Pérez).
Their childhood was also marked by bullying: other kids in town made fun of them and even physically assaulted them for not being able to speak like the rest. That body they began developing with rocks and pipes would, over the years, turn that story around.
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| Carlos Arturo (left) and Walter (right) in their youth (photo: Carlos Arturo and Walter Pérez) |
From small town to podiums
In 1988, a professional bodybuilder visited Santa Teresa and was amazed to see the muscle mass the brothers had developed with a poor, humble home gym. So this bodybuilder became their coach and started taking them almost daily to Managua to train in a professional gym, paying for their food and bus fare because the family had no money to afford it. Finally, in 1988 they made their competition debut: Carlos Arturo won the Senior Mr. Nicaragua title, and Walter placed second. This happened so many times over the years that it became almost a family tradition.
One of the biggest technical challenges they had to overcome was learning to mentally time their posing routines, since, unable to hear the music that signaled position changes in competition, they had to memorize the timing beforehand to keep rhythm in front of the judges.
tournament
silver at age 50
Over the course of their 23-year career, between 1988 and 2011, the Pérez brothers earned 16 medals and over twenty trophies, including several Mr. Nicaragua titles and podium finishes at the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championship. Most remarkably, their entire preparation was always natural, relying solely on exercise and nutrition, without any performance-enhancing substances.
"The bodybuilders we admire are Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno" (Walter Pérez).
The "Hercules Brothers" Gym
Despite their athletic achievements, the Pérez brothers remained poor in a country that, according to various international organizations, is among the poorest in Latin America and the Caribbean. Today, they survive thanks to the gym they run, known as "Hermanos Hércules" (Hercules Brothers), in addition to side jobs: Carlos Arturo works occasionally as a barber, and Walter also works as a welder—a trade he learned specifically to manufacture much of their gym equipment with his own hands out of tractor and pickup truck parts, given the impossibility of buying professional equipment.
Everyone who trains at their gym pays a nominal fee, barely enough to cover the building's water and electricity. Local residents have organized on more than one occasion to raise funds and help improve the facilities, including building a bathroom that they lacked for years.
All of us young people are motivated to come here to the gym, because at their age they look magnificent, with a body that I think all of us would love to have (Ana Saborío, gym student).
Viral Phenomenon
The Pérez brothers' rise to fame came through Walter's son, who in 2023 posted a photo on Instagram of his father and uncle taken 45 years earlier when they were young. The image went viral almost immediately, so much so that his son decided to delete the rest of his personal content to dedicate the account entirely to his father and uncle, known in town as the "marble twins" or the "iron brothers."
With the help of friends and family, his son began posting workout routines, natural smoothie recipes, and videos explaining the story of the two deaf brothers, always captioned. Since then, their social media following has kept growing non-stop.
Bodybuilding influencer Gorrino Fuerte, with 2.2 million followers on TikTok and 3.6 million followers on YouTube, has dubbed them "the strongest grandfathers in the world."
From Santa Teresa to the Whole World
In February 2024, the AFP news agency sent a photographer and a crew to Santa Teresa to cover the story of the Pérez brothers. It is rare for local Nicaraguan news to go global, but the story was published in news outlets across Argentina, Brazil, Spain, Honduras, Kuwait, Mexico, and even on Infobae, which has a reach across Latin America.
In this AFP report, Juan Solís, an 82-year-old family friend who has known the brothers since childhood, candidly recalled the pity he felt watching them grow up without knowing what would become of their lives. But he concluded his reflection with a statement that, published in dozens of countries, became the perfect summary of their entire story:
They were in a pitiful state, really, because I used to think: 'What is life going to be like for these kids?' But they have it better than anyone now at this point in life (Juan Solís, family friend).
A Story Worthy of a Movie
The story of Carlos Arturo and Walter Pérez has all the ingredients to inspire a movie: real perseverance without embellishment, two deaf brothers who built their own gym equipment in the midst of poverty, and late but well-deserved recognition.
The Nicaraguan Deaf community rarely makes international news. In Santa Teresa, it has two of its finest ambassadors—though they will likely keep training in their humble gym every morning, right where it all began.
Sources:
- AFP / Infobae (2024, marzo 17). La inspiradora vida de los hermanos Pérez, los fisiculturistas sordos que tienen más de 60 años [The inspiring life of the Pérez brothers, the deaf bodybuilders over 60 years old]. infobae.com
- Romero, K. T. (2018, febrero 18). Carlos Arturo y Walter, los hijos del fisicoculturismo de Carazo [Carlos Arturo and Walter, the sons of bodybuilding in Carazo]. La Prensa Nicaragua. laprensani.com
- Redacción Niú (2024, febrero 15). Walter y Carlos Pérez, los "abuelos" fisicoculturistas que triunfan en TikTok [Walter and Carlos Pérez, the "grandfather" bodybuilders succeeding on TikTok]. Confidencial Digital. confidencial.digital
- AFP / Kuwait Times (2024, marzo 17). Nicaragua's 'Bodybuilding Grandfathers': Local (and TikTok) legends. kuwaittimes.com
- AFP / Estrategia & Negocios (2024, marzo 16). 'Abuelos fisicoculturistas', leyendas de Nicaragua ['Grandfather bodybuilders', legends of Nicaragua]. revistaeyn.com
- AFP / El Sol de México (2024, julio 10). Los Hermanos Hércules: Dos leyendas del fisicoculturismo [The Hercules Brothers: Two bodybuilding legends]. oem.com.mx
- O Globo (2024, marzo 16). Vovôs fisiculturistas: irmãos com mais de 60 anos fazem sucesso nas redes [Grandfather bodybuilders: brothers over 60 years old are a hit on social media]. oglobo.globo.com
- Crónica Balear (2024). Los hermanos Hércules: una historia de superación y éxito en el fisicoculturismo [The Hercules Brothers: a story of resilience and success in bodybuilding]. cronicabalear.es
- Noticias de Bariloche (2024). La inspiradora vida de los hermanos Pérez, los fisiculturistas sordos que tienen más de 60 años [The inspiring life of the Pérez brothers, the deaf bodybuilders over 60 years old]. noticiasdebariloche.com.ar
