PETALING JAYA, Nov 26 — One New York burglar had no idea what was waiting for him when he decided to break into Willie Murphy’s home.

Murphy was getting ready to turn in on November 21 when a man began pounding on her front door and begging her to call an ambulance for him, US TV station WHAM reported.

When the 82-year-old responded by calling the police and refusing to open up, the man broke into her home, perhaps expecting an easy target due to her age and petite stature.

What he didn’t know was that Murphy is a seasoned bodybuilder who works out at the gym almost every day.

Without wasting a second, she picked up a table in her house and began hitting the intruder with such force that the table eventually broke.

“It’s kind of semi-dark and I’m alone, and I’m old. But guess what, I’m tough.

“He picked the wrong house to break into,” Murphy said in an interview with WHAM.

She recalled using the metal legs of the table to further subdue the burglar before sprinting to the kitchen to grab some baby shampoo, which she squirted into his eyes.

For good measure, she continued to whack him with a broom until the police arrived at the scene.

Murphy can reportedly deadlift 225 pounds (102 kilogrammes) and was in the middle of dragging the trespasser out of her house when the boys in blue showed up.

She reportedly won first place for her division in the World Natural Powerlifting Federation championships and was even name Lifter of the Year in 2014 after she won gold in the deadlift, power curl and bench press.

“So (the police) come in. He’s laying down already because I had really done a number on that man. I’m serious.

“I think he was happy when he went in the ambulance because I sent him in the ambulance. Yes, I did,” she said.

The officers who responded to Murphy’s call were in awe of her physical strength and commended her on the official Rochester Police Department Twitter account, calling her “tough as nails”.