{"id":237887,"date":"2025-07-04T16:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T16:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237887\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T16:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T16:51:13","slug":"at-75-years-old-grambo-finds-strength-in-weightlifting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/237887\/","title":{"rendered":"At 75-years old, \u2018Grambo\u2019 finds strength in weightlifting"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"As\"icon<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is an inspiration,\u201d Forza said.<\/p>\n

Schade, who grew up in Kettering and raised her four children in Beavercreek, said while she has always been active, she never focused heavily on fitness. She danced and played field hockey in high school. <\/p>\n

For decades she played tennis for fun as much as fitness. She gardened and kept up the landscaping of her 15-acre home site.<\/p>\n

Then COVID-19 hit. Her husband, Don, retired. Schade visited the chiropractor to adjust the tension she felt throughout her body. When they discussed fitness, she told the doctor she had tried lifting weights before and enjoyed it. The doctor recommended the personal trainers at Forza Fitness.<\/p>\n

Schade liked the idea of personal trainers. \u201cI need someone to motivate me or I won\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she was honest with Forza during her first consultation in late 2020. She didn\u2019t believe in diets or counting steps. She wanted to improve her strength and stamina; she wanted to be challenged. When she had tried personal trainers in the past, she felt coddled. <\/p>\n

Beginning with three days a week, 30-minutes per session, Forza chose dumbbells, kettle weights, push-ups and lunges for Schade in addition to his fitness center\u2019s machines, regularly varying the routines and gradually adding weight.<\/p>\n

\"Marcy\"icon<\/p>\n

Schade noticed right away there was no down time between exercises. And she was delighted. \u201cHe knew I didn\u2019t want to be bored.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was sore after each session. <\/p>\n

\u201cVery sore,\u201d she added emphatically. \u201cI still get sore sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slowly the hand weights increased in size and Schade\u2019s muscles began to firm up. And though she didn\u2019t really watch her food intake closely \u2014 she added more protein in her diet \u2014 the number on the scale decreased.<\/p>\n

\u201cI lost 30 pounds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Other training clients, many much younger, noticed the 5\u20193\u201d grandmother hoisting oversized dumbbells as Forza watched her form carefully. When Forza and fellow \u201cgym rats\u201d learned Schade played video games with her grandsons with the username \u201cGrambo,\u201d the nickname stuck. Grambo was one of them now. <\/p>\n

\"“Team\"icon<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not her age that really gave her street cred, said Forza. \u201cIt\u2019s her mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t care what anyone thought,\u201d Schade said. \u201cI just worked as hard as I could, maybe harder than most, because I liked it. And I was trying to set a good example for my seven granddaughters, And for the boys, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a year, Schade turned much of her attention to Don, ill with a neurological disorder. When he died in 2022, Schade said she used the workouts to help channel her grief.<\/p>\n

Also in the back of her mind: remaining independent as more years passed. Could she carry groceries and crates of water from the car? Or continue to move the 40-lb. bags of water-softener salt from the garage to the utility room.<\/p>\n

The avid reader also remembered the articles she had read about the importance of good muscle tone for stronger bones, good blood pressure, better mental health and cognition, coordination and balance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to live to be 100,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe I can make it to 105.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Schade kept working harder. Several of her granddaughters tried to join her but couldn\u2019t keep the pace as she pushed and pulled weight sleds stacked with hundreds of pounds. And when Forza suggested barbell lifting, Schade said she hesitated only for a moment. \u201cSometimes I think he has more confidence in me than I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her first deadlift: 90 pounds. Once. Then five times. More weight. Last year, she increased to four, 45-minutes training sessions each week. Each day is focused on a different body area so every muscle group has plenty of time to rest. And Schade has added stretching to the end of each workout to minimize soreness.<\/p>\n

With a 300-pound lift checked off her training to-do list in May, Schade said she and Forza will think about a new goal, a new challenge. Meanwhile granddaughter Alana Rauch, records her progress and promotes her milestones on Instagram at @grambo.lifts.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is talking TikTok,\u201d Schade said with a laugh. While Schade has no plans to compete with other seniors, she said she hopes others are inspired to improve their wellness through exercise. And it doesn\u2019t have to be weightlifting.<\/p>\n

The key, she believes, is finding an exercise you enjoy. \u201cFind something you really like.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Schade, that\u2019s weightlifting. \u201cI\u2019m going to go as far as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cShe is an inspiration,\u201d Forza said. Schade, who grew up in Kettering and raised her four children in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4322],"tags":[1630,105,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-237887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fitness","8":"tag-fitness","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114796002581097049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}