A woman forced to call a team of plumbers to fix a leak in her home had an unexpectedly wholesome interaction—and gained some new clients.
Powerlifter and bodybuilder Katie Salerni, 27, who posts to TikTok under the name @katyliftz, has been lifting since she was 14 years old, and has the muscles to prove it.
When a sewer pipe recently broke in her home, she called professionals in San Diego to help her out, and told Newsweek they were “some of the nicest, most respectful contractors I’ve ever worked with.”
While they were working, Salerni headed off for a workout, and returned in her gym clothes—”and they were all blown away by my muscles.”
A video shared to her TikTok account has now gone viral as it showed the aftermath of the men noticing her physique and being completely impressed.
TikTok @katyliftz
Posted on August 23, it boasts close to 100,000 likes and over half a million views, and she wrote over the video: “The sewer pipe broke under my house but at least my plumbers were impressed by my arms.”
The clip shows Salerni moving back from the camera and standing in the middle of two of the men, each of them comparing their arm muscles and laughing.
And she has, by far, the biggest arms of the three.
Salerni, who offers one-to-one coaching, revealed in a caption that “two of them signed up” for her lessons, and she told Newsweek: “They ended up becoming clients so they could have ‘arms like mine.'”
Salerni has won national competitions in powerlifting, including earning the American bench record, and is also enlisted in the Navy as a surface warfare officer, along with her fitness coaching business.
“Unfortunately this past year I had some injuries that would not allow me to powerlift anymore, so I switched to bodybuilding and recently won my first show,” she said proudly.
The health and fitness industry in the United States is huge, with a projected market volume of $4 billion by 2029, according to Statista.
A global comparison in 2022 showed that most global revenue is generated in the U.S.
TikTok @katyliftz
As well as earning new clients, she said the plumbing company “went above and beyond with the work they did, and did it so quickly.”
Her viral video also brought new fans to her page, with hundreds commenting loving the interaction between Salerni and the contractors.
“Wow. In awe,” one wrote. “I want to be you and politely respect you with my eyes from afar.”
“My eyes just dropped you look incredible omg,” one wrote, while multiple people complimented her “flex” and one called her “iconic.”
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