Episode 113: Kim Rahir

Kim Rahir

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast, where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sport, industry, or life's mission.

Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Giannari.

Angela Gennari: Hello. Welcome. Welcome to another episode of the pretty powerful podcast. My name is Angela Gennari and today I'm here with Kim right here. Hello Kim.

Kim Rahir: Hi Angela.

Angela Gennari: I'm so excited to talk to you. You have such an interesting story and I think our audience is going to love it.

So Kim is a 61 year old mother of three who by the way does not look a day over 30 who was diagnosed with MS in 2013 and decided to ignore her doctor's advice and muscle her way back to a happy life. [00:01:00] Last year, she became the European champion and masters weightlifting in her age and weight category.

Her journey inspired her to leave her career in journalism in her 50s and become a health coach for middle aged women, with a big focus on reactivating and rebuilding muscle. Today, she helps women tap into an abundant source of vitality. It works by reactivating and maintaining muscle mass. This is so fascinating.

So tell me a little bit about when you started your career, you wanted journalism. Journalism was your, was your path.

Kim Rahir: Yes. Um, and I did that for 20 years and I loved it for most of the time.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Kim Rahir: Um, because you talk to people and you learn things. And because I was working for a newswire, I was not limited to just one subject matter.

So I would learn stuff all over the place. You know, sometimes culture, sometimes society, sometimes about the economy. Um, [00:02:00] and so you learn things, you talk to people and then you can tell a story. Um, And you try, you know, to help people understand today's reality. And I think that's getting harder and harder.

I loved it for most of the time. And then I had several years towards the end where I was getting a little bit disenchanted. Basically because good technology and everything, information has become a commodity. It has, yeah. It's not about making sure that the citizen is well informed and makes, you know, good decisions when it comes to voting and, oh, supporting cause, whatever it is.

It's not about informing someone to, to. to make decisions anymore. It's just selling, you know, hot rolls and the spicier the better. And I, I got a bit disappointed with this. And I, uh, towards the end of my career, I worked a lot with television, which is even worse because they do not [00:03:00] have time to elaborate.

They have to do everything in little bites of, um, of something that's

Angela Gennari: No,

Kim Rahir: no, I mean, I'm not gonna say it's not information, but it doesn't really help. I think people to understand today's reality, which is really super complex. So we always imagine that decisions being like black or white. So one day I said, I'm not going to be a journalist anymore.

I'm going to be a coach, but it was in the making for a

Angela Gennari: few years. Yeah, that makes sense. And it really echoes something that a good friend of mine said, very similar to what you're saying, she was an anchor for a major news network. And, um, you know, she left that job, which is a very, very prestigious career in television, because she said she was very disenchanted with it.

And she said, it just became, you know, journalism was something where there was integrity and journalism. You know, you had news directors who vetted every [00:04:00] story and every source to make sure that the information they were putting out was true and accurate. And, uh, so, so the integrity and journalism was so important for so many years and becoming a news director was one of those things that you, you work up to, and you have to have a certain level of integrity and professionalism to do it.

And she said, you know, over the past, you know, decade or so it has become where a lot of those. News directors either retired or they were terminated and they've brought in these very young tech savvy people to just work on clickbait. So just like what you were saying with the TV news, it's all about these short little snippets that just grab attention and then they move on.

Right. And so it's almost, it's more agenda related than news related. And it's all about getting eyeballs and ears and

Kim Rahir: clicks. And I hope we have time to get into this. It's actually this sort of [00:05:00] basic disposition of the human brain that is sort of exploited for this. Yeah. Is also, is also a problem when it comes to, you know, wanting to be healthy and fit.

Right. In today's world. So,

Angela Gennari: mm-hmm . So that leads me into the next thing. So you had a very shocking diagnosis in 2013. You were diagnosed with multiple SC Sclerosis, and I always struggle with that word, but you were diagnosed with ms. So tell me about that and getting the news and what that meant.

Kim Rahir: Yeah. So it was actually like the second part of a kind of saga.

And when I got that diagnosis, I had thought that I was through with something that I thought was the worst experience of my life because two years, no, no, it's not true. Like five years before that, in 2008. I was hospitalized from one day to the next because I was seeing double and I had some kind of autoimmune affliction that attacked the nerves in my, [00:06:00] first of all, the nerves that I erected my eyes.

And then, um, after three weeks in hospital, I was totally paralyzed from the hip downward. Wow. It was a very scary episode. And especially being in hospital, you know, I feel that you lose your humanity and, um, quite traumatizing. My kids were pretty small at the time. Um, I got out for Christmas. Um, my legs were coming back to me.

I learned how to walk again. Um, they told me, they had, they took a long time in finding out what it was, but then they told me that this was a one off. It's called the syndrome Guillain Barré, named after the French doctors who discovered it. Uh, it was a one off. Um, and I was kind of free to go and live my life.

So I thought, Oh my God, that's what a gift I get to a second shot at life. That's beautiful. Um, that was after like two years of treatment. So I got out of hospital beginning 2009, two years of treatment. [00:07:00] Then they said, you're fine. That all happened in Germany. We then moved to France. And then at the end of 2011, I felt my left hand going numb.

And it's numb to this day. I knew that that was nothing good. Um, they checked it. They said, okay, we have to watch this. This is an attack of your immune system on the white matter in the nerves. If it happens again, that's MS. And I was hoping for a year that it wouldn't happen again. And then of course it did.

Wow. And it relapsed. Very mild, super mild relapse. I was a relapse. So they said, okay, that's it. You're an MS patient. You need lifelong treatment. And that's it.

Both: Wow.

Kim Rahir: I, when the doctor told me about the lifelong treatment, I fought with him for an hour because I didn't want that. I didn't want to. to lose my power again after that hospital experience and overall when I remember those weeks, um, it all felt very dark and like a very low blow, right?

I mean, I had been through this [00:08:00] really horrible thing. I got out sort of, you know, free to start again and then the second blow landed and the only. thing that helped me really get through this was not to think about the future, which is really, I had to focus on the moment, on the moment, on the present day.

I wanted to spend that with my kids. Except for the hand, I didn't have any damage. Um, but of course you never know, you know, instead of your thoughts and ideas for the future, you have a big question mark when you get that diagnosis. So it was also, I was also diagnosed in, in winter. So the darkness is somehow the theme comes back to my mind when I remember those days and

Both: trying

Kim Rahir: not to think about all the possible outcomes, trying not to think, you know, where am I going to be in 10 years and just say, okay, what I can do today, I will do, I will enjoy.

And then we take it one day at a

Angela Gennari: time. [00:09:00] Wow. So what was your family's response? I mean, that has got to be devastating because MS is, you just don't know, right? It impacts everyone differently, doesn't it?

Kim Rahir: Yeah, my, my kids were very, very young, so we didn't really explain anything to them, which is, you know, that they had seen me in hospital before, which is heartbreaking.

Right. So, and for, for this relapse, you get treated for a day and you come back home. So I try to make their day to day like as normal as possible. Um, I don't know, I think my oldest was like 13 at the time or something. Um, and my husband, he tried to put on a brave face, you know, but not to, not to worry me, not to, not to show how worried he was.

Um, and I think that's pretty, that was pretty helpful actually, you know, you might think that, you know, you need to be honest, you need to be open and, and yes, you can share all kinds of thoughts, but if you, if you show this. This [00:10:00] being worried sick, I think that would have weighed on me that, you know, like I'm sort of putting this on him.

And so he tried to be brave and I was, I tried to be brave and I think it was the right thing to do because we could just live every day, you know, as if it was, you know, today is still normal. I can move perfectly. I don't have anything. So let's just. Whatever we can, the most of today.

Angela Gennari: So tell me about what MS is and what it does to your body.

Kim Rahir: Yeah, so it's an autoimmune affliction where your immune system attacks the cells in your own body and it attacks the nerve cells. So that's with MS. There's, you know, various autoimmune conditions where different cells are attacked. But for MS, it's the nerve cells and it can lead to you not being able to move.

It can lead to you being, getting, going [00:11:00] blind. Uh, everybody has a. different outcome. It's really different for every single person. Um, there are various forms and some are very aggressive relapsing. And after treating myself for a while, I realized that I didn't have that because as soon as I started injecting myself three times a week, um, I became very, very attentive to what was going on and I haven't had a relapse.

Wow. And, you know, with what I did then with my training and everything, it got to a point that I'm not even getting treatment anymore now. I stopped my treatment like seven years ago and

Angela Gennari: haven't had anything. So let's go into that part. So how did you figure out what treatment was going to work for you and what made you want to get into weightlifting?

Was it to combat the MS?

Kim Rahir: Um, it was, it was not that direct link. Uh, first of all, I had, I fought with my doctor because I said, listen, my relapse was so mild. [00:12:00] Maybe I'm getting better anyway. Maybe I don't need lifelong treatment because just, you know, it's so scary because when you start treating yourself

Angela Gennari: and

Kim Rahir: you're fine, you'll never know.

Maybe I am fine or maybe I'm only fine because of the treatment. And then I know. so many people for different diseases and conditions that need lifelong treatment. You always want to find out, could I maybe live without it? So I didn't want that, but I had to give in. And the one thing I asked him is whether I could exercise.

And he was very noncommittal. I think he I didn't really know anything about this, but the nurse the next day who showed me how to inject myself, she told me exercise is fine. I just had this urge, this desire to become physically strong

Both: and I

Kim Rahir: cannot, I cannot put my finger on it like precisely, but I think it's got something to do with the first experience where I was in a hospital.

You know, in [00:13:00] hospital you have no power at all.

Both: I mean,

Kim Rahir: even when, even if you can walk, you know, you don't decide. Who's in your room, if someone is in your room, somebody talking in your room, light on in your room, light off in your room, nothing, you don't decide anything. And I couldn't even walk to the toilet or to the shower.

Both: And I

Kim Rahir: think this powerlessness somehow left me with this desire to, to become really strong, to feel in control again. And um, maybe also a desire to be able to trust my body. To be able to rely on my body because autoimmune diseases, if they do feel a bit like a betrayal, what's your body doing? Why is it doing that?

Why is it? Why is it making this stupid mistake of attacking itself? Um, and I think that was a bit what drove me and I. Armed myself with a book, uh, and started lifting in the gym, getting stronger.

Angela Gennari: [00:14:00] Wow. Excuse me. So how long did it take you lifting to be able to get to the point where you knew you could compete?

Kim Rahir: Oh, that's, um, that's an interesting question. So because I, I sort of changed sports, um, on the way. And that's something that's that's not very well known. So I started with what is called power lifting. It's traditional lifts like deadlifts and bench presses and squats and all these things. I from the beginning, I always used what we call compound movements.

So OK, no body building style. 5000 bicep curls just to work on one tiny muscle and and force it into a certain shape. But compound movements are the ones where you use the entire body because that makes you strong.

Angela Gennari: Life,

Kim Rahir: you know? Okay.

Angela Gennari: Does that mean like using your core to help you lift? Like what does that look like?

Compound movements?

Kim Rahir: Yes. It's, for example, let's take a dead lift. It's a, [00:15:00] it's a lift. Mm-hmm . Where you have the barbell on the floor and you have to lift it up from the floor until the, you know, like hip height. Okay. How do you do that? You have to bend the knees. Mm-hmm . Then you have to. Stabilize the trunk.

That's your core movement. You have to squeeze the shoulder blades together to keep your spine straight. Otherwise you put undue pressure on the vertebrae. So you already you're working your core and your back and then you have to push through your legs and your butt to lift that weight up. So you need your entire body to do that movement and

Both: the only

Kim Rahir: muscle you don't need for dead lifting is your is actually your bicep.

Wow. So you get a lot of bang for your buck, as I always say, when you do that, because you're training the entire body was just one movement. When you do traditional bodybuilding, which has like aesthetic goals, you have to train every single muscle group for a very long [00:16:00] time. And I mean, most people don't have time for this.

I did this kind of lifting. for years. And then when we moved to Spain, where we live now, I worked with a personal trainer who one day asked me, would you like to try Olympic weightlifting?

Angela Gennari: Wow.

Kim Rahir: That's totally different ballgame. That's just two movements. The one is the snatch, so you still have the barbell on the floor in front of you, but you have to lift it overhead.

Angela Gennari: Wow. And

Kim Rahir: for the, and for the snatch you do that in one move, and then the second movement is the clean and jerk, but you lift it on the shoulder first, and then. You're lifted overhead. And I remembered the sport from when I was a kid. I used to watch that with my dad and it was mostly done by men that at the time seemed like old and very hairy to me, wearing those weird leotards, but being very strong.

But I was curious and I said, okay. [00:17:00] Let's try and I sucked at it. It was, it's so difficult because, you know, it's not only strength, it's technique too. But I was, but I was hooked because you know, every, every single lift is like a, it's like a challenge. You have to be fully focused and, uh, and you have to overcome outsmart gravity.

So it's not only physical, it's also like physics and you have to practice the technique over and over again. And I'd liked it so much that I left my commercial gym and signed up for a weightlifting club Wow. And, and that's, I, now I can tell you how long it took from there. I, I trained with them for two weeks and they said, Kim, would you like to compete?

Angela Gennari: Wow. That's amazing. And at the time,

Kim Rahir: yeah, well, it's a competitive club and everybody competes. And I said, Hey, do you know how old I am? I was 55 at the time. Uh huh. And they, and they said, we don't care. And today I think, why did I ask this stupid question? What does it matter? [00:18:00] Then I said, okay, why not? And I said, yes.

And then like, I think two or three months later, I had my first meet and competed.

Angela Gennari: Wow. So what was that feeling like? Cause I imagine if you're out there, weightlifting, you're feeling like you're, you are defeating MS by being out there. MS tells you, you'll never be the same again. And you're like, you're right.

I'm better. I can do even more. So what, what is that like for your psyche to be able to go out there and compete at a high level? For something that you didn't know if your body was ever going to cooperate like that again.

Kim Rahir: It's it's the most the most amazing and and the most impactful uh thing that you can do when you go lift and then.

Watch what happens to your mind.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Kim Rahir: Um, and you don't have to do Olympic weightlifting because, you know, that's like a bit of an explosive [00:19:00] sport. You might just want to lift, but just going there, overcoming that resistance, that makes you feel so confident.

Angela Gennari: Well, and what I love about weightlifting, cause I go to the gym a few times a week and I always work on weights.

Like I think weights are, are critical and people are always like, no, you've got to go do cardio, cardio is where it's at. But I really prefer weightlifting. And the reason I prefer weightlifting is because I feel like my muscles. feel like they've done something. I'm not just tired. I'm strong. And I think strong is where I want to be.

I don't want to be, you know, it's great that people can do cardio for long periods of time. I don't find any joy in that. I want to be strong. And so the strength makes me feel like I've done something.

Kim Rahir: Yes, absolutely. Um, and I always used to say, I think it's because when you lift weights, you overcome resistance.

So you actually create, you create neural paths in your brain. And when [00:20:00] you encounter resistance in other parts of your life, your brain remembers, Oh, resistance. We have overcome that before, so we can overcome this one too. And I think that's how it works for, you know, you becoming more resilient and, and improving your mental health.

And now we have. Tons and tons of studies, you know, all symptoms of mental health improve with strength training. Absolutely. And it's not only because you feel good and you think, oh, I've done this, but there's actually physical things going on with neural pathways. And then certain byproducts of, of the physical exertion, they actually help your brain grow new neurons and stuff.

It's, it's absolutely amazing, you know, for your, for your mind and your mental health. It's really something you want to do. You know, let alone like bone, bone density and stuff like this. We all know this, but even, you know, even for your mind, it's the thing to do.

Angela Gennari: Well, and even like for women particularly, you know, I think so many women shy away from doing any sort of weight [00:21:00] training because they think they're going to become bulky and, you know, look like a man.

It's that our bodies aren't like that. It's not, doesn't work that way, but it's so important to do weight training for, like you said, bone density, you know, as our bones start to weaken, as we get older and our muscles start to atrophy a little bit, you, you have to keep that up. And by keeping, you know, strong muscles around those bones that you're protecting yourself, you're, you know, avoiding more injury, you are, you are creating a better lifestyle for yourself.

Kim Rahir: Yes. And, uh, you know, about this. It's going to make you look bulky. No, it won't. But you can even ask another question. If there's something that you can do, an intervention that you can practice for your health, for your longevity and for your happiness, why would you ask first the question, how is this going to make me look?

Why not ask, how is this going to make me feel? Why is that not the first question?

Angela Gennari: Yes,

Kim Rahir: it should be. Um, there's, [00:22:00] there's so much evidence now, I mean, muscle mass and the quality of your muscle is directly related to longevity and to cognitive health, to everything. And I always say, even if you don't want to look into studies and you find all this very sort of confusing or difficult, I think the stronger you are, the better your quality of life is in all aspects.

In all aspects. You just want to do this to have more fun in life.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, absolutely. So when you're, when you're weight training at such a high level, like you are, how does your diet need to support what you're doing physically?

Kim Rahir: It's pretty simple, um, you want to eat tons and tons of protein and then vegetables as much as you can, you know, sort of get in a day and then for the rest, you know, you do whatever you please.

Yeah. It's not complicated. So there's no things like, you know, don't eat after 6 p. m. or [00:23:00] don't eat wheat or whatever it is. If you get the basics, you know. Mostly about what your body needs, which is protein and vegetables. And then the other stuff, you know, it's just a, it's just a side story. It's not important.

Mm hmm.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So I try to keep to a more protein rich diet. Um, but it does require some clean protein and clean protein is. difficult. There's so many processed foods and even, even protein drinks and mixes can be overly processed and not that healthy for you. So you just got to look at the sugar count and, you know, all of the other aspects of it, just to make sure that you're getting good, you know, protein that, that your body will take well.

Kim Rahir: Yes, it's not, it's, it's not easy, actually, you have to be really intentional and then there is also trade offs. I, I, I would have a hard time getting to the number of grams that I want in a day without a protein shake. Right. But then I take. a protein shake that is just [00:24:00] whey because there's so much out there.

Just as you said, you know, there's so many people jump on this wagon and think, Oh, take this shake. And you look at it and there's tons of stuff in it. And just a little bit of protein, all kinds of, uh, supplements. And, and even, even if they put vitamins and stuff, you don't want that. You just want the, you know, the pure protein and then your vitamins you get mostly with your.

With your fruits and vegetables and, um, and make sure everybody, when you go out there and buy a protein shake, make sure it's just protein and nothing, no other stuff in there, you don't need that.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Agreed. So when you start going into the weight training, how do you start building up your muscle mass?

Like, what is the safest way to start doing weight training and bodybuilding?

Kim Rahir: Um, that really totally depends on where you're at. Depends on your status. So with my clients. When they come to me, I first assess them very thoroughly just to find out how strong they are, how mobile they are, how flexible they are, how they [00:25:00] move.

Balance is a big deal also for for women who are not 20 anymore. And then you you need to start from where you are at. So like if you've never done anything in your life, you want to start with body weight exercises. And even those you want to make them very, very. Easy and simple. So I'm going to give you my favorite example is the wall push up where you position yourself in a push up position against the wall and you start just working, you know, the arms, the shoulders, the elbows, the wrists, sort of getting them used to the movement.

And then over time, you can do a lot of those and your, and your body and your muscles know what you're doing. You take it down. But you keep, you always keep the entire body. You don't do knee pushups. You just take it down because you want to benefit from this exercise as a whole body exercise. So over time you will get stronger.

And I've had clients who went from a wall pushup to a full pushup on [00:26:00] the floor in three months. Wow. If you,

Both: if you

Kim Rahir: practice, you know, your body will learn. Your body is a very adaptive machine.

Both: Um,

Kim Rahir: but that's where you want to start. And it's, that's really crucial. Because there are many programs out there and they're all very good, but you can never be sure if they're good for you, where you are at right now.

So ideally you want someone to assess you and give you an idea where you can start. If you're a total beginner, start with body weight exercises. If you're reasonably strong, you want to go into those complex compound movements like Deadlifting, squatting, maybe a bit of bench pressing, but I prefer a push up because it really requires the whole body to cooperate.

And then you take it from there.

Angela Gennari: Very nice. So what obstacles did you have to overcome? I mean, obviously, you know. Besides having MS and that being a massive, you know, thing to overcome, when you're starting out going [00:27:00] into coaching from journalism, tell me about what kind of obstacles you've had to overcome over, over that time period.

Kim Rahir: Yeah. So, I mean, it's a pretty heavy career change, right? Yeah. And, you know, building your own business, um, and then also working online, it's, it's It's an it's a learning curve. I could tell you that. Yeah, so I think looking back the biggest Obstacles are mostly always, I mean, I've always had coaches and mentors because I believe in coaching and mentorship.

But I think the biggest obstacles are often your assumptions or your expectations and you think, okay, this probably works like this and you stick with this idea because it's yours and it's dear to you that, you know, you keep following that path and it for some. things that I had to learn. It took a long time until I realized that, you know, it was just my assumption.

Nobody had ever told me this. Um, nobody [00:28:00] probably had ever done this. Um, so for example, I remember when I was taught how to market on social media, when I put out a post. Yeah. I was quite, I was convinced that, you know, everybody in my, in my friends list, you know, would read it. So

Both: I could,

Kim Rahir: I could never say the same thing again the next day or a week after,

Both: which is,

Kim Rahir: you know, you'd sort of transferring your assumptions from the real world to the, to the social media world, things like this.

Um, also big obstacle actually. is overcoming cultural barriers. When it, you know, I set out, I wanted to like help women, teach women to build muscle and become strong. And when I started that, I mean, now everybody's caught up and when I started, that wasn't a thing really yet. So after [00:29:00] various business coaches and stuff, they told me, no, you have to, you have to go the weight loss route.

Both: You have to,

Kim Rahir: you have to market weight loss and then, you know, that's, that's what, that's what women want. And it's fine. I don't have a, I don't have a problem with that. And that's actually like a side effect of what we do. You know, you're going to lose weight if you become stronger, of course, because your metabolism shoots up and, and you've got to eat, eat better, move more overall.

Um, But I didn't enjoy the idea so much that, that you had to stick with this, you know, image that women want to lose weight and that women want to become sort of smaller and tinier and less and shrink and I don't know what. I, I wanted, you know, to tell women to take their space and to become strong and, and, and assertive.

And, and, and that's something where, you know, you have to Stick with your own [00:30:00] values, but also understand what, you know, what other people sort of hear.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Like

Kim Rahir: seven years ago when I, when I started, you know, when I said, you know, you need to build muscle, everybody would probably still think, Oh my God, she wants me to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Angela Gennari: Right. Exactly. That has changed. So, but I think it has. Well, I think you see so many more female athletes in the news and on TV. And I think that has tremendously helped because strong is the new pretty, you know, they, you, you want to be strong. You don't just want to have, you know, be a size zero. You want to be strong.

And, and I think that that has become more attractive, uh, to people now because they know strong equates to health. And you want it to appear healthy, and I think that's been a big transition that we've come through over the past decade.

Kim Rahir: Yeah, that's, and that's really good. And then with the, with the mental health improvements, with the happiness that you can actually create with the strength and [00:31:00] the quality of life, because you'll be happy because you'll have a great quality of life, you'll be more attractive because it, it's not limited to, you know, the way you do your hair or, you know, the way you dress.

It's also, you know, what you radiate. And when you're a happy person. But then I think you're attractive.

Angela Gennari: I agree. Well, and then there's so many good benefits like endorphins and dopamine and all the things that you, that make you happy and give you that vibrancy come from working out. So you know, when you're building muscle and you're proud of your progress, you know, you can, you can lift 10 more pounds today than you could last week.

That's a huge improvement and it's big ego boost and it just makes you feel proud of what you've accomplished.

Kim Rahir: Yes, absolutely. It's, it's really great. And I also love the simplicity of it. And it's actually doable for anybody because you can, you know, most of my [00:32:00] clients work out at home, many without any equipment.

So anybody can do it. You know, it's not, you don't have to live in a certain place or know certain people or own a certain equipment. Everybody can do it. And it's so simple and so effective. And that's what I love about it.

Angela Gennari: Well, and I think we learned that during COVID because when you couldn't go to the gym and you couldn't go work out with a trainer and you were limited to being inside your house, you saw more and more people posting videos of them working out at home and, and going out for runs and doing body weight exercises where they're, you know, using their own body weight as.

Thanks. Thanks. As the resistance. And so I think people became much more creative when it came to their their personal well being and I think that's that actually gave us a little bit of a boost.

Kim Rahir: Yes. Um, I think so too. It was obvious that, and I mean, even in the workplace, it was obvious also that you could work from home.

Uh, we learned a lot could [00:33:00] work from home, train at home, so

Angela Gennari: mm-hmm . Mm-hmm . Absolutely. And there's no age limit. Right. So, I mean, you started getting into this fitness journey at what age? Well, I was diagnosed

Kim Rahir: with the MS when I was like, when I was 50, so

Angela Gennari: mm-hmm . Yeah.

Kim Rahir: And I started weightlifting Olympic weightlifting when I was 55.

Angela Gennari: Wow, that's amazing. Well, good for you. I think that that's just amazing. And I think that's really inspirational for so many people who feel like, you know, the forces are working against them, age is working against them. And, you know, it's, it's not true at all. You can decide to take your life back and take your body back at any point.

So I think that that's what, you know, in most cases in your, Fortunate enough to have the ability to do that. And now you say you don't, you're not really in treatment for MS because you're treating yourself through exercise and, and, and, uh, you know, just treating yourself [00:34:00] well so that your body's not going back into these relapses.

Kim Rahir: Yeah. So, um, you know, I'm not claiming that you QMS with weight training, but I think strength training has such an Overall positive effect on your, on your mind and body that you would not want to, uh, to miss that you don't want to lack, lack that tool. And I know that for some people it feels like there's really nothing that can be done and it's so hopeless.

Um, and I know how that feels because I was in that situation. But when you sort of dial it back to this moment where you're at now, then, you know, what can I do now? There's always something. Always. It's the smallest of things. And if you start doing that, you are creating momentum.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So what advice would you give to your 18 year old self?[00:35:00]

Kim Rahir: I would tell myself, don't believe everything that you think. Oh, that's good. Because that's our, our mind is. Sitting in a time machine, traveling back and forth, you know, to the future, to the past, imagining situations. You can, I mean, we could perfectly, and I think everybody has done it. You, we, you get worked up about a situation that hasn't happened.

It's just, you imagine something and then. Um, and to stop traveling through time with your mind, come back to the present moment and, and, you know, not buy into lots of stuff that your mind will just throw thoughts at you all the time and try not to buy into everything. Um, you'll be so much more relaxed and happier.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, I agree. So we all give our power away at different times. Can you tell me about a time that you've given your power away and then another time that you've stepped into your power?

Kim Rahir: Uh, that's, that's a good one and [00:36:00] it's giving power away, especially for women is such a big thing. And I, it's something that I find in my work with my clients all the time, um, that sometimes it's not a matter of, of motivation or willingness or ability.

Sometimes it's really literally a matter of power. What comes to my mind is actually. Not a big situation where I gave my power away. It's the small situations on a daily basis. Mm hmm. I think that that drain your power. If you, you know, if you keep, it's not even giving in because most of us, we are like already anticipating everybody else's wishes and then saying, OK, I'm stepping back.

And if you do that in only a small way, maybe you don't feel it that much. But if you do that every day.

Both: Um,

Kim Rahir: and I can say that I, I mean, I'm in December, I'm going to be married [00:37:00] 30 years. And I can tell you that in my marriage, it took me a while to figure out that if I just said, this is what I want. I was going to be heard and understood.

Yeah. Yeah. And, and our way of sort of talking around wishes and thoughts and positions that we and, and not saying, you know, this is what I want. That doesn't mean that it has to be done, but just formulate clearly. This is what I want. What do you want? Um, and if we don't do that, we're giving our power away, you know, like every single day.

Every day. minimizing ourselves. Yes. And I think that often we also lack clarity because we don't really know what we want because it's all so mixed up. We want the harmony. We want the other person to be happy, but we also want to sort of our part of the, uh, of the pie. And we don't know what really is it that we want.

[00:38:00] So if, you know, clarity is a big one and then. Um, really say what you want every day because otherwise in small doses, you're giving your power away daily and then it becomes normal for you and the people around you.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So true. So this has been really enjoyable. I'm loving this conversation and I think I just, I, I love your story, you know, with, uh, what you've overcome and the resilience, how do women find that resilience?

I mean, is that just it? I feel like. We don't find the resilience sometimes until we've gone through adversity, but it exists always. We just have to, it's, it's very challenging though for us to say, um, I'm going to have the grit to get through this. I'm going to have resiliency to get through this. And I wish that we didn't have to go through some challenging times in order to see what we're capable of.

Kim Rahir: Yeah, I've thought about resilience a lot because I've been wondering, you know, [00:39:00] what helped me to just, you know, stand up after this diagnosis and say, okay, I'm going to go to the gym and everybody tells me, oh, you must have been so resilient. And I think, um, many women think it's, it's, um, It's like a character trait, right?

It's like a personality trait, it's like something that you have, you know, you have grit, you don't have grit.

Both: Um,

Kim Rahir: so if you don't have it, what you're going to do? I think it's actually something that you can build yourself. I see resilience like a safety net where you tie little knots in your life of things that will.

Things and people and situations that will catch you if you fall or if one part of your debt sort of breaks and you're not, you don't want to fall through. You need many, many knots. Um, and this idea came to me because I spoke to so many women who told me, Oh, like five years ago, I was in great shape. [00:40:00] I was working out with a personal trainer, I was eating well, I lost weight, I felt fantastic.

And then the personal trainer moved away or they stopped working. And it all fell apart. So how can you have only this one point of support in, in, in your safety net, you know, that then falls away and then you dropped to the ground. You want to build, you know, little points of support, work out with various people, um, you know, your family, your community, your friends, all kinds of things you have to build up this safety net and then you'll be resilient because there'll be people and, and also your habits.

Your habits that you, they will also help you, um, be caught when something breaks in your system and, and, and you need to sort of something to, to push you back up.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of times when we look at other forces outside of us as the main motivating factor, like [00:41:00] a trainer or a job or where I live or where I go to the gym or whatever it is, it's really easy to say, well, that changed.

So therefore I changed. Whereas if you make it part of who you are, then it doesn't matter what the outside is doing. It's who you are. And if, if working out is core to you, right. And not just something you do for someone else or with someone else, then it just, it, it doesn't. You you're not impacted by changes.

And that's why I think we need to start doing is when we step into our power, it's owning the set of circumstances that we're in, you know, owning our beliefs, owning our values, owning our habits, and then making them part of our own core values and our own core personality versus letting that become something that you can attribute to an external source.

Kim Rahir: Yes. Um, I love that. It's really, it's crucial that we realize that we have to shape our environment. It plays such a big role and it [00:42:00] just imagine all these January 1st resolutions that are coming up again where everybody's going to say, Oh yeah, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that. I'm going to be that person thinking they're going to work on, on themselves,

Angela Gennari: right?

Kim Rahir: But if you do not work on your environment at the same time. At least as much as you work on yourself, then you don't stand a chance because life today is set up for us to be, you know, sedentary, unhealthy, I don't know, overweight. It's all sort of conspiring against our health. So be aware that, you know, you have to shape your environment as much as you can.

I mean, and then the wisdom is to know which part is in my sphere of control and which isn't. But already get the clarity for that and whatever you can control, shape it so it

Angela Gennari: suits you. Yes, absolutely. So Kim, I've really enjoyed this conversation. This has been a lot of fun, but I just have one more question for you.

And what is it that you wish more people knew? [00:43:00]

Kim Rahir: I wish that more people knew how simple health and happiness can be if you boil it down to the essentials.

Angela Gennari: Yes, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time today. Uh, where can people find you?

Kim Rahir: The best way is to go to kimrahere. com, which is my website.

And on there, I have a free assessment that you can take a health and strength assessment. So you know where you're at. If you want to start. getting stronger and start a fitness journey. You know, you get like a nice snapshot of your, of your situation, of your skill experience, you know, your quality of life at the moment.

And then from there, um, I will give you some pointers and some tips. Um, so you can start gently, um, like appropriately for you, not get hurt, not get bored. Um, and then you can find me with my name Kimra here on social media, where I also share a bit of my weightlifting [00:44:00] adventures and Always, always advice and thoughts on health and

Angela Gennari: happiness.

Beautiful. Well, thank you again, Kim. I have enjoyed this thoroughly. So um, I, you can also find Kim on prettypowerfulpodcast. com. We look forward to seeing you next time. Have a great day. Bye bye.

Intro: Thank you for joining our guests on the Pretty Powerful Podcast, and we hope you've gained new insight and learned from exceptional women.

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