About Me.
Hello World, my name is Katia and I am a Pilates Instructor and Mental Performance Coach. I grew up as a gymnast so movement was a huge and essential part of my life. It really framed my identity (or what I perceived my identity to be) but after a career ending injury, my world was shattered— my sense of self was lost. Although I continued to exercise and stay active, it just wasn’t the same. I wasn’t pushing myself to the level I knew I could. Essentially, I was doing the bare-minimum and I was not proud of myself. I realized something needed to change. I started reading self-help books, motivational stories, researching performance tips, and eventually I pursued a degree in sport and exercise psychology. It changed my life. It was the missing link, it brought the physical and the mental together. It showed me how increasing mental strength and resilience can bring about behavior change and improve physical performance. That combined with my training as a Pilates instructor and certified personal trainer, I feel like I have all the right tools to create lasting change. So I am currently on a journey to create that lasting change within myself by becoming a triathlete using Pilates as a cross-training method and sport and exercise psychology principles to target mental training.
And I want to help you in your own journey.
It is now my mission to unify physical and mental fitness. To help anyone feel like an athlete— whether you are an athlete who needs to improve performance or someone who wants to feel like an athlete both physically and mentally.
Degrees:
B.S. in Health Science with a minor in Exercise Physiology from the University of Miami
M.S. in Sport and Exercise Psychology from Leeds Beckett University
Certifications:
NASM-CPT®- Certified Personal Trainer
NASM-PES®- Performance Enhancement Specialist
NCPT®- National Pilates Certification Program
Precision Nutrition- Level 1 Certificate in Exercise Nutrition
Polestar Education® - Pilates Comprehensive Certified
American Heart Association- Heartsaver ® CPR AED and First Aid
My Story.
I was born in Argentina and my family and I moved to the United States when I was 8. This is really when my “fitness” journey began.
I was only 5 years old when I first saw the Olympic Games. I was immediately drawn to gymnastics and I very clearly told my parents “I want to do that, that is my sport”. For years I BEGGED my mom to sign me up and eventually when we moved to the US, she caved thinking it would only be a phase. I however fell in love as soon as I stepped into that gym. I spent years practicing and I loved it— I actually loved practicing WAY more than competing. I didn’t care about the medals, I cared about showing up every single day and training. Overcoming fears. Getting better every day. Learning new elements. And to be totally honest, I was the most fearful gymnast you’ve probably ever met. I was scared of EVERYTHING but I loved that I showed up anyway. And although I was very shy and scared of everything, the gym still felt like home. But around the time I was 15, I ended up having a career ending injury.
Took me about two years to recover to a point where I felt comfortable working out again, but it was never the same. I lost that feeling of “athlete” that once described me— that fueled me, that made up who I was. After recovering and starting to get back into things, my family got hit with a number of challenging trials (a brain hemorrhage, ovarian tumor, clinical depression, suicide attempts, an unidentified respiratory illness, a spinal injury, unemployment and the opening up of a family business to top it all off). Fitness and nutrition just didn’t take priority during these years. In the back of my head, I still knew I loved the feeling of being an athlete and I loved to move. So I worked as a Pilates Instructor and taught professional athletes and managed to get my Bachelor’s in Health Science and Exercise Physiology and a Master’s in Sport and Exercise Psychology. But I was still putting forth only a half effort. Between the trials my family was facing and trying to get my degrees while working, I just didn’t have enough in me to also focus on challenging myself in the world of fitness. This unfortunately created a plethora of bad habits when it came to taking care of myself. Getting through my responsibilities and taking care of family ALWAYS took priority.
Anyways, it was during my master’s program that I truly realized how much I missed sport. How much I missed being an athlete. How despite it having been so many years, it still felt like an essential part of who I am— a part I wasn’t being true to. It was this realization that really sparked my interest in the benefits of sport and exercise psychology. How using principles of performance psychology can help increase mental strength, increase your toolbox of mental skills, increase confidence and drive and consistency, and improve mental resilience. And on the other side, how exercise can improve one’s psychological wellbeing. Being a fitness trainer, I had everything I needed at my disposal to train and become physically fit, but mentally, I just wasn’t there.
And here we are now. I am embarking on a journey to unify physical fitness and mental fitness. I am on a journey to once again become an athlete. Despite having an old ankle injury (on both feet), I have started training for a triathlon. Although doctor’s told me I shouldn’t run, I know my ankle well enough to know how much I can push it, and I want to prove what proper physical training accompanied by mental skills training can achieve. Follow my journey or join in. Let’s do this together.