becoming a fitness coach

When I first met Maria, almost twenty-five years ago, I never imagined she would become such a fitness machine and eventually a fitness coach.

We met in Porto, Portugal, in 1994, when I had just moved here from Switzerland. In the being, she was “my friend’s girlfriend”.

Time passed, life happened, I moved from Porto, she closed her company, I closed mine, then a couple of years ago we bumped into each other on Instagram.

Since then it’s almost like my friend became Maria’s husband, with all due respect to my dear friend Wagner! (laughter)

At the time, I was starting Finding the Bliss and she was starting her Health & Wellness blog, Maria Guimarães.

Our common interests in health and wellness topped with the fact that we were both starting a new phase of our lives, naturally drawn us. 

Since then, we have been remotely following and supporting each other on our challenges and experiences in this path of reinventing ourselves in a new professional reality.

Maria is a force of nature, full of life, energy and commitment to her practice and to life. She brought back to life the old me who used to spend about three hours a day in the gym, every day! Boy, did I feel good in my shoes back in those days!

Now, I am counting the days to finish my nutrition courses at WagenigenX and for her to finish her fitness course, so she can become my fitness coach and we can join forces to spread health and wellness with our new projects. 

Enough said. Let’s hear what Maria has to tell us.

From successful entrepreneur to fitness coach

LPM: Maria, your life had a big turnaround. Before we get into that, tell us where are you from and what you were doing before for a living.

MG: I am from Porto, Portugal, and have been living here all my life.
Workwise, previously I was working for a large worldwide brand within the digital content stock photo business.

LPM: How did you get into fitness?

MG: All my life since I remember I have always liked working out, so, exercising has always been pretty familiar to me. Never needed to be motivated to train as I always felt motivated myself to do so.

LPM: When did you realize that fitness was a passion?

MG: In the last 2-3 years, I started to see exercising differently. I felt that normal gym classes were not for me anymore, I needed something different. So I started to become a lot more interested in resistance training, weight lifting, strength training, hypertrophy, development and muscle growth. Just felt in love with the process and obviously with the results too.

LPM: What made you take it to a professional level and become a fitness coach?

MG: I began to realise that a lot of people out there still have a wrong idea and a misconception about weightlifting and strength training, mostly women. My motivation is that by being an example I can help them to change their minds and their bodies too.

LPM: How does it feel to be back to school, learning something new?

MG: It’s a total challenge every single day, not only because I love learning and to challenge myself to learn something new, but also because most of my colleagues (and most teachers) are a lot younger than I am. So definitively, dealing with such different generation gaps means a daily adventure and a challenge itself as I learn from dealing with them as well.

LPM: What are your plans after you finish your course?

MG: Firstly, I’m about to start the trainee stage which will take a while before the end of the course itself. Later on, I plan to work with my own clients.

LPM: What do you have to say to people who are in a phase of transition in their lives?

MG: That just go for it. I have never seen written and heard so many times lately that “you’re never too old and it’s never too late to start something new” and it’s absolutely true.

Whether in your professional life or private life. It’s never late to go after your dreams.

More and more I have been aware of people who have this desire for a change. Not all of them have the courage to do so, though.

LPM: Final question: did you find bliss through fitness?

MG: It’s definitively a lifestyle as it affects your entire life. It affects the way you manage your day, your habits and routines, the way you feed yourself and prepare your food, how you manage your rest time. It’s definitively a mindset too.

There’s a saying that says: we are what we consistently do. Couldn’t agree more. When we consistently take action, what we do becomes part of who we are. It becomes our essence.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Maria’s story is the perfect example of how a routine hobby can open the door to a new chapter in life. Her health hobby first turned into a passion. Then, when she was at a point in her life when she needed a carrier change, becoming a fitness coach just seemed like the obvious next step.

You can follow Maria on Instagram for fitness and healthy lifestyle inspiration.

Check these interviews for more inspiring stories of people who realized that it is “never too late to find your bliss”.

May The Bliss be with you,

Luciana

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