Recovery Story – Kathy Roberts

My name is Kathy Roberts and I’m a lifetime drugfree world champion powerlifter/motivational speaker/personal trainer. I hold several different World, National, Regional and State records in various different weight classes. I’ve ranked in the top 20 in the world in Powerlifting. My heaviest lifts are as follows: 400 pound squat, 270 pound benchpress, and a 450 pound deadlift–all lifetime drugfree.I earned my degree in Administration of Justice, cum laude and I’m certified in various different areas. I am an Academic and Presidential Scholar and I received an Outstanding Achievement Honors Award for Academic Work in Sociology, a Division of Liberal Arts.Throughout the years I’ve spent most of my time reaching out to others, sharing my life experience and how to overcome obstacles with those I speak to. I come from a family of 10 and I lost my father at an early age. My mother raised 10 kids by herself. There are many things that we had to do without and there were many struggles throughout my life but one thing that I never did was to make excuses for the things that I didn’t have in life. I believe that where there is a will, there is a way and each and every individual goes through different situations in life. Hopefully for each and every situation it will make one stronger, wiser and give them the substance that they need to get through different situations in their lives, most importantly, being able to reach out to one another with a genuine interest and concern.At an early age I participated in various different sports such as long distance running, tennis, bodybuilding and I’ve been involved in powerlifting for over 12 years. In the sport of powerlifting, I never really worried about my weight class. I’ve competed in five different weight divisions to include the 132’s, 148’s, 165’s, 181’s and 198’s. I’ve always been comfortable with the body weight that I carry. Many others in the sport went to extremes to lose weight to meet a specific weight class. I’ve seen where people would literally pass out while competing because they were dehydrated and totally weakened. To me, this is not worth it.Being comfortable with who you are is more important than anything else. I believe that society puts a lot of pressure on young female athletes as far as their weight and over all body build is concerned. Everyone has a different genetic makeup and we must remember that. Everyone was not meant to be the same build, size, shape, weight, etc. Accepting who you are and not being concerned about what the world thinks is far more important to one’s well being than anything else.As I progressed in the sport of powerlifting and began to lift heavier weight my body began to develop more muscularity. Sure, I had people saying that I may have been too massive, but for the most part, people have learned how to appreciate me. Why? Because of the way that I carry myself, confidently. I am comfortable in my own body and through my actions and body language people have learned to appreciate me and accept me for who I am.My goal as a world champion female athlete is to let other female athletes learn how to appreciate themselves, to love themselves, and strive to make themselves stronger, mentally, physically, and emotionally.

I’ve worked with female athletes around the world in various areas to include self image and how that affected their everyday lives. Unfortunately, many times others around us have their own goals and dreams and they often go to any extreme to try to live those goals and dreams through others. We have to dream our own dreams and live our own lives, making our own dreams a reality. We have to come to the realization that we cannot please everyone all of the time. There is a lot of pressure from the people who are closest to us to “act” a certain way or “look” a certain way. This is not normal. What is normal is being who you are, taking care of yourself and finding happiness from within. Once you find happiness from within, everything else will fall into place.

My website is: http://www.GIFTOFSTRENGTH.com