Legendary Status Achieved

We've got greatness among us. 🥇

If you haven't met Kai yet, you'd be forgiven for walking right past her on the gym floor without realizing you're in the presence of a national Strongman champion. She's 22, she weighs 121 pounds, and she has the kind of calm, unassuming energy that makes it genuinely hilarious when you find out what she does on weekends — which is overhead press a metal log with chains hanging from it in front of a crowd of people, and then win.

Kai has been training clients at West Coast Fitness for about 15 months now, and somewhere between sessions she's quietly been racking up titles at a pace that most athletes twice her size and age would find frankly unreasonable. Her trophies aren't on display anywhere yet — they're in a bag while she builds a wall for them in her new home. 🏆

How it started

The whole thing traces back to one of those random gym interactions that almost never leads to anything. About three and a half years ago, Kai was 18 and trap bar deadlifting 200 pounds when two guys she'd never met walked up and suggested she look into powerlifting. She didn't think much of it at the time, but six months later she entered her first meet, won the whole thing, and then — in what might be the most satisfying plot point in this entire story — went back and found those two guys specifically to let them know what they'd started. Whether they've been taking credit ever since is unconfirmed but highly likely. 😏

What followed has been a run that's hard to summarize without it sounding made up. Meet after meet, first place after first place, with exactly one exception — and even at that meet, she still walked away with three firsts and two seconds, which is the kind of "bad day" most competitors would happily trade their entire career for. She's carving out her own lane, because she says nobody is ever her size, so she routinely ends up matched against athletes from entirely different age and weight groups. At her most recent competition, her opponent had 15 years on her and size on her side, and Kai still won, because apparently that's just what Kai does.

The Strongman chapter 

Powerlifting was the foundation, but Strongman is where the story takes a delightful turn. A coach at Kai's powerlifting gym kept inviting her to try it, and she kept saying no — until the second time, when she said no but went to watch, which turned out to be a critical error in judgment. Because Strongman, as a spectator experience, is absolutely unhinged in the best possible way. Atlas stones. Sandbags. Axle bars with wheels on the sides. Every competition has five events, six if there's a tiebreaker, and you don't always know what they'll be ahead of time. You just show up ready for whatever large, weird, heavy object they've decided to feature that day 🪨

The third time her coach asked, Kai finally said yes, competed in Hazel Dell in February, and took first place in her class. By April she won nationals in Woodinville. The journey from "fine, I'll watch" to national champion took about seven months, which is either deeply inspiring or mildly offensive depending on how your own goals have been going lately 😅

She has now qualified to represent the U.S. at the international competition on August 21st in Glasgow, Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Kai at West Coast Fitness

Kai is on the floor at your gym, training clients, building programs, and being genuinely excellent company while she does it. She didn't know West Coast Fitness existed until she came in to interview, but she fell in love with the place immediately — the members, the vibe, the way it feels like a community, not a franchise. She's built real friendships with her clients, some of whom have driven out to her competitions to watch her lift, which actually sounds extremely entertaining.

Her nickname is Kobra Kai, which frankly is incredibly appropriate for someone who wins this consistently..

She's down to train anyone but thinks it would be fun to train people who want to get stronger, who've been curious about powerlifting, or even want to dip their toes into Strongman. If any of that sounds like you, there's a national champion coaching at your neighborhood gym for the same price as any other session, which is probably one of the most ridiculous deals we offer.

What's next

August 21st, Glasgow, the international stage. We'll be following Kai's journey and keeping you posted — you can find competition details at naturalstrongman.org. In the meantime, come introduce yourself. She's friendly, she's easy to find, and she is almost certainly the strongest person in any room she walks into despite giving off absolutely zero indication that this is the case — which, honestly, might be the most fun part of all of this.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for us, David also competed recently at a bodybuilding competition in Vancouver and took home first place in his class and fourth in the open! For months he's been prepping his body to get in competition shape, and his physique shows it.

The prep for this is grueling, so he's happy he can go out on a high note. He says he's done, for now...

With this many GOATs it's starting to look like a petting zoo around here,
Your West Coast Fitness Family

P.S. If you've ever talked yourself out of lifting heavy because you thought you were too small, we'd love to introduce you to Kai. She's 121 pounds, she just won nationals, and she will change your mind about what's possible before you finish your warmup set 💪