Cassi Neimann (Photo by Jay Paul)
Cassi Niemann doesn’t walk so much as dart from place to place.
A Richmond-based strength coach and powerlifting aficionada, Niemann is the woman behind Richmond’s Pull for Pride, the local version of a national fundraiser created to support homeless LGBTQIA+ youth. The event differs from traditional powerlifting meets because participants only attempt one type of lift and there aren’t any weight classes or gender categorizations.
The large, festive turnout at Fulton’s Triple Crossing Brewery in June saw lifters and spectators dressed in rainbow muscle shirts, rainbow leggings, rainbow headwear and knee-high rainbow socks — so many socks.
Ten U.S. cities participated in this year’s event, with Richmond’s 65 lifters accounting for almost 15% of competitors. The event raised about $13,000 for local beneficiaries Side by Side and Diversity Richmond.
“I’m passionate about making people feel good about themselves, through the process of being strong,” Niemann says. She’s made it her lifelong mission to democratize strength training in a field consumed by hyper masculinity.
Niemann says the benefits of strength training for women in particular go beyond increased muscle mass and stronger bones.
“Along with any physical changes come massive emotional changes,” she says. “Lifting heavy things off the ground gives you confidence in so many other areas of your life and allows for transformations in body image, relationships, self-worth. When you are doing the hard thing, pushing yourself past your limits, and resisting stereotypes and societal norms, you begin to feel powerful. You literally walk taller, appreciate your body for what it can do and feel more capable of anything.”
In her own life, she’s seen the benefits of strength training as a motivating force. “When you lift a certain amount of weight you previously thought out of your reach, you then ask yourself, what else can I do now?” she says.
Niemann works with a client at the Richmond Balance gym in Shockoe Bottom. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Niemann’s devotion to creating inclusive, affirming spaces in the lifting world doesn’t end with Pull for Pride. She co-founded a monthly “Lift, Lunch and Learn” meet-up group for women and nonbinary people who are interested in learning about strength training. The programs are held at different gyms around the Richmond area and include free lunch, strength coaching and conversation.
In addition to Niemann’s full-time business as a strength coach, which includes a roster of barbell lifting clients and classes, she co-hosts a podcast, “More Female Strength,” that tackles strength training from a queer, female perspective.
With her past experience as an elite youth gymnast, high school sprinter and collegiate rower, people often jump to conclusions about her. Niemann is quick to correct them.
“I’m not wholly passionate about fitness,” she says. “It just seems to be a good route to creating happier, healthier people that feel better about themselves. That makes me sound sort of like a poser, because I’m not a fitness freak, because I’m not posting my meal prep, but I don’t care.”
Niemann is a tenacious archivist of her own life. At home, she breaks out a series of thick photo albums, one for almost every year. The photos include shots of her posing in throwback leotards, smiling with teammates, at Junior Olympics as a gymnast; she competed until she was 15. A frizzy halo of blondish hair marks Niemann as the only white person on a predominantly black track team in a high school where the majority of students were people of color, a marked difference from the nearly all-white Maryland neighborhood she went home to each day.
“Those are the experiences everyone should have,” she says. “[It becomes,] ‘I’m just one person in this big world,’ instead of, ‘There are other people who are not like me.’ ”
The daughter of a teacher and a Maryland politician, Niemann is a Richmond transplant used to making big changes. She moved to Richmond in 2017 when her husband, Andrea, landed an engineering job here.
Before she was a strength coach, Niemann was an architect. She remembers thinking, “I want to do art, but I don’t want to be poor,” and architecture seemed like the logical thing to pursue at her alma mater, Georgia Tech.
She worked as an architect for years until a neck injury planted the seeds for a different career path. To help her recover, she hired a coach who was interested in powerlifting. After about six months of training, she entered her first powerlifting competition and never looked back. He best lifts include a 285-pound squat, a 165-pound bench, a 120-pound press and a 358-pound deadlift. She also competed in two Strongman contests this past year.
Back at home, Niemann perches on her gray sofa and nuzzles her dog, an elderly Pomeranian named Leo. He settles in comfortably on top of her growing belly, a sign of changes to come for Niemann and Andrea this fall as they are expecting their first child. “I’m excited about it not being all about me,” she says.
Niemann always knew she wanted to be a mother, so when it took longer than she expected — almost two years, including rounds of IVF — it was frustrating. Now, three months away from her due date, she feels everything was worth it. “[It’s] my ultimate coaching job coming to fruition,” she says.
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