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Kathy’s Story

Kathy’s Story
March 19, 2019 Dan Raimondi

Dan asked me if I’d write something to put on his website. He’s such a great guy, how could I say no even though I’m thinking, “I’m no good at this Dan.” But here goes.

As a small child, I was overweight. This weight gain continued into high school. I had tried many times to lose weight but it always seemed by the third or fourth day of dieting I was ready to quit. This pattern continued. I was now up to two hundred pounds and very unhappy with myself. Finally one day I was struck, like a light bulb went on.  I realized losing weight was going to take time. It was not something that would happen overnight, and I knew then that it was something I would work on the rest of my life. Exercise also became very important to me. I started walking outside and used my stationary bike in the winter months. Exercising was the one thing I could do to keep the weight off and I knew it was good for me.

Last summer my daughter and son-in-law, who live in Hawaii, came to Fargo to visit us. They had been lifting weights following a program online. They were questioning their technique, so they looked to see if they could find someone who could assure them they were lifting correctly. They found Dan Raimondi’s name. They said, “Hey Dan is in Fargo and we’ll be there in a couple of weeks.” They were very excited about their appointment with Dan.  They spent several hours with him and then returned to our house. They had so much to share with me about Dan and lifting weights, I was immediately interested. I knew this was something that would be good for me, but never in my wildest dreams did I think I could do it! And yet I was drawn to it. Dan had told my daughter he was going to have an open house and that if I was interested, I should come.

squat

Even though I was interested I kept thinking that I knew nothing about lifting. I didn’t even know what I could expect. My perception of weight lifting was a big muscular male who wanted to get more muscular. I had no idea what a bench press, a squat or a deadlift was. I went to the open house and saw the gym and the equipment. Nothing looked too scary. Dan talked about the benefits of lifting. I have osteoporosis, and I learned how doing exercises like squats, deadlifts, and presses could all help to increase bone mineral density. I was now sold on the program.

I look forward to my class with Dan. I truly appreciate all his knowledge and expertise.  He’s warm and friendly and very encouraging. When I am in doubt whether I can do a lift he says, “You can do this Kathy” or “you’ve got this Kathy.” I always come away feeling so good mentally and physically. I feel more confident. My whole day goes better. The first time I deadlifted 100 pounds I could not believe it. For me that was incredible! (*Dan’s note: Kathy’s most recent deadlift was 115lbs x 5 reps ). 

I am a sixty-eight-year-old grandma with ten grandchildren. I shared earlier as a child that I was very overweight.  I could never do anything on the monkey bars, but that is something I’d like to do- to go to the park with my grandchildren and use the monkey bars like they do, swinging from one bar to the next. Maybe I’ll just do three or four bars but that’s more than when I was younger! You can be sure this summer I’ll be at the park.

Presently I do not have a long-range goal of how much weight I want to lift. I just want to get strong and keep my body healthy. I’m going to fight that aging process! If you’re thinking this might be something for you, come! You’ll be so glad you did!