Ambitious students - Get fit with Josefine

Please tell us a little about who you are and your passion. 

“I moved to Amsterdam about four years ago. First, I finished my bachelor’s in psychology. Now, I’m doing my pre-master in marketing. I usually spend my spare time working out in the gym. 

My passion for working out started after I finished my Working Holiday visa in Australia and New Zealand. One dance teacher in New Zealand had a really good physique. I was inspired and wanted to achieve visible abs once in my life as well. So, I started to think: What steps can I take to accomplish this? 

I started by doing home workouts back in my home country, Germany. One of my biggest inspirations was Pamela Reif. I watched many of her videos on YouTube and tried to follow all her workouts. She inspired her audience daily with new workout videos; because of her, I also started to upload YouTube videos! 

Since then, working out has always stayed in my life. It’s kind of like my therapy. For some people, talking to someone helps, but going to the gym is my way to forget about everything for a moment.” 

Where has this passion for sports taken you? 

“After I saw results and achieved my first visible abs, I was hooked and never stopped with fitness. After moving to Amsterdam, I continued working out very disciplined and was preparing to compete in a bodybuilding competition for women, but then Covid hit, and the competition got canceled. To keep myself accountable for working out, I started making workout live streams from my studio for other people to follow. I wanted to inspire as many people as possible to work out and stay fit during COVID-19, so I shared the live streams on my Instagram Live for free. There was a small group of people who joined every time, so then I started hosting a weekly Zoom session on Sunday. This way, I developed a bit of a business mindset. 

Renan, a friend from Student Experience, referred me to work at a gym because they were looking for someone to teach group lessons. I always dreamt of working at a gym but never dared to do it, because my study was not related to working at a gym at all. The gym manager quickly trusted my talent and experience, and I realized that I really liked helping people get fit in person. 

Most of my knowledge is experience-based, and I always like to learn new things. I recently completed a certificate in diet and exercise from NASM, and I’ve done a power-lifting course to learn all the basics and techniques.  

I started competitive arm wrestling here in Amsterdam, too, which is extremely fun. After I lost the first competition, I worked very hard to improve. One year later, I won against the girl that beat me. Now, I’m preparing for the Dutch National Championships. 

What I like about doing sports and working out is helping people. My main goal is to help people connect their minds and bodies; that would be my dream path, even after finishing my studies. Whether it’s in a gym, a marketing job, or something psychology-related, it doesn’t matter. As long as I can help people improve their mindset and their bodies.” 

What advice would you give to people who want to pursue a passion while balancing academic commitments? 

“If there’s an idea that you’ve had for a long time, but you haven’t acted on it because of a busy schedule, I would say: just try it out anyway. If there’s a moment when you have a little bit more time, for example, when you don’t have to study a lot, focus on that idea. Just go from scratch; you don’t need to invest much money. 

It’s also a good idea to connect with people around you and talk about your ideas. Especially here at Student Experience, it’s easy to connect with people and network. So, try it out!” 

If you want to get coached by Josefine for fitness or arm-wrestling or follow her journey, check her out on Instagram.