Today we’d like to introduce you to Giulia Conte.
Hi Giulia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Every setback has actually been what has redirected me and propelled me forward.
All I ever wanted as a high school cross country captain was to run D1 in college, I couldn’t get recruited, but I devoted my entire summer between high school and college to training. It was successful, and I had some of my fastest 5k and 5 mile times that summer. I was able to walk onto the team at American University that fall. It was a dream and also a very highly competitive, demanding, and sometimes unhealthy environment.
I ran for 3 seasons then got injured as a sophomore.
I had a total identity crises when I couldn’t run anymore and took a leave of absence from University.
I traveled, received my RYT and starting teaching yoga in 2017. Soon after that I slowly returned to running, now on trails.
I added in strength training and realised how much better my body felt and performed,
So, I kept at it and then pursued certification with the ISSA in 2020.
I worked for a local gym for a while before realising I needed to start my own business to better serve the women I saw needed the most help.
As an ISSA Elite Trainer I have 3 certifications with them : Nutritionist, Personal Trainer and Genetics Based Fitness Coach ( I used to do DNA testing with clients to help them train and supplement a certain way, but I stopped doing that in 2023).
My most recent cert is Pre/Post Natal Strength Training Specialist after I determined I want to work primarily with women.
So you can definitely say my background is layered — I am grateful to have experience not only in the strength world but spanning the endurance, yoga and sports nutrition worlds as well.
My own training right now has seasons–spring and summer is trail running focused, early fall and winter is HYROX. Lifting happens year round with different styles depending on my current training focuses 🙂 I am on a journey of understanding exactly how much I can ask of my body in a given athletic season. I’ll admit its still a work in progress! The balance of periodisation can’t be underestimated as a multi-passionate athlete! The difference now is that I’ve learned how to hear my body, and listen, much more than I used to know how to.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Absolutely not and I think any entrepreneur or athlete would agree! Unpredictability, injuries, understanding what it really takes to run your own business and perform at a high level.
As a business owner, you have to learn how to hold yourself accountable. No one else is going to build your dream for you. So it’s up to you…will you run with your potential and nurture the process, or let yourself off too soon before your vision gains momentum and reciprocation?
As an athlete, the major injury that took me out of college running (ultimately for the better) was a stress reaction (near fracture) in my shin. It was so devastating as at the time my entire identity was build around “runner”. I had to relearn how to fuel myself, how to socialize and care for myself without track sessions, long runs and locker room time to hold me together. But again, thats exactly what brought me deeper into understanding myself through yoga and meditation.
So for me the repeating lesson has been to trust the process. Don’t draw conclusions too early. You don’t know why its happening now. And it might pull you apart for a little while and make you reexamine yourself. But one day later that worst thing might be the thing you give repeated thanks for.
I mentioned my college running experience felt unhealthy at times…and that was largely due to a coaching system that felt very much dogmatic and not attuned to the needs of the women’s team. I can definitely credit that experience for helping me shape my coaching methods today and the awareness-based training philosophy I use with my clients.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I help women all ages to build lean muscle, lose unwanted body fat and reconnect to their confidence and potential. I help women struggling in menopause, moms or expecting moms, and women who know they are capable of more but don’t know where to start.
Some of the biggest challenges the women I work with face are that they find they often can’t stay consistent in their fitness, they feel disconnected from their bodies or don’t know or remember what a good effort feels like OR how to access it. Often they are burned out from restrictive eating approaches, overwhelmed from conflicting advice & where to do to be healthier, stronger and more capable. Or, maybe they are recently postpartum and everything just feels and looks different, and they need a point of reconnecting to themselves and where they are now.
In The Empower 16 Method, my signature 16 week program, women go from the above to building visible lean muscle and feeling athletic, feeling confident in their bodies and capable in everyday life, knowing how to fuel herself without extremes or confusion, and connected to her body and seeing strength in the mirror rather than self criticism.
Within the Empower 16 Method, I never just hand my clients generic plans and say good luck.
I take the time to get to really know them and what they struggle with psychologically to help create the best training plan and nutrition strategy to meet them where they are at. I want to know what they’ve tried and why it hasn’t worked , and why they’re ready for something deeper and lasting now. That how it will actually stick. We focus steadily on body awareness during sessions which is often very different for many women used to group classes, high intensity cardio sessions, or generic strength training.
One of the things that fulfils me the most as a coach is getting the opportunity to witness and celebrate transformation with my clients. Seeing opportunities, experiences and trips become possible when they weren’t before. Seeing them change their family’s history by sometimes being the first one to invest strategically in their health. Seeing their confidence improve and how that just beams out into their entire life and presence.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Any one wanting to learn more can reach out to me on Instagram! My page and bio have a variety of resources and ways to connect further, including a free class walking you through what exactly is the Empower 16 Method and how women have been successful with it. I also offer a free BodyBreakthrough Analysis that will highlight exactly what is missing in your fitness routine and what stands in the way of where you want to be.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.giuliacontefitness.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giulia.conte.fitness/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094461156146
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@giuliacontefitness
