Meet Julie Bernhard of BernhardBody

Post college, I moved back to my hometown of Dallas and began working as a Personal Trainer at the premier fitness studio, Equinox. I later climbed the ranks into their top tier Coaching program, earning my spot as one of the top 100 trainers of the 2400+ trainer company. I was also one of four Nike Trainers/Ambassadors in the Dallas area, leading boot camps and working for my dream brand.

I am an ACE-certified personal trainer, Pure Barre instructor, Pre-post natal certified/specialist, Precision Nutrition Level 2 Certified Coach, and most recently, Owner/founder of BernhardBody, residing in Edmond, Oklahoma with my handsome husband and teddy bear pup.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I have been so fortunate in meeting some truly inspiring and professional trainers who believed in me and gave me the tools I needed to succeed. However, I think the road is what you make of it. Financially and emotionally, being in the fitness industry can be both unstable and difficult, specifically at the beginning. I was so scared to approach clients on my Equinox floor shifts, afraid that they would think I was ‘salesy’, but when you are passionate about helping others, give 100% to your line of work and love what you do, it genuinely shows. At the end of the day, it is never about me selling myself to a client, but about helping people prioritize their health, and feeling honored if they choose me to be in that journey alongside them.

Putting in split shifts of 4:30am-11am + 3:30pm-8pm in my first years out of college definitely took a toll on my own health. I found myself gaining weight due to stress, inconsistent workouts and lack of sleep, and became frustrated with myself for never practicing what I was preaching to my clients. I think one of the biggest misconceptions in the fitness industry is people say, ‘you must be in amazing shape training eight sessions a day’, but those 8 hours are not dedicated to me. Those hours are about my clients and for my clients, and I am never working out with my clients. Like at any other job, sometimes when I was done with work I wanted to leave my work behind, and unfortunately that meant not wanting to think about my own workouts or nutrition most of the time. My husband, who never misses a day of working out, actually re-inspired me at the time to prioritize my own workouts, and to this day, I choose sleep, cooking in, and scheduling my own workouts into my calendar and coach myself as I would coach my clients.

Being a woman in a predominately male industry has its challenges, but we are in a really cool generation where young women care more about being strong than ‘skinny’, and we focus more on incorporating healthy fats than ‘low fat’ from previous generations. I believe that the wellness industry evolves daily, but it brings me so much joy to see people shift their definition of ‘success’ from ‘my arms are skinnier’ to ‘I can do 20 push ups on my toes’.

Please tell us about BernhardBody.
My goal is to help others find their motivation and joy in working out while also striving to better our relationship with food. I love learning about people and their stories more than anything and value the relationships I have built with my clients so much.

Through my business, BernhardBody, I provide customized written training regimens, train via Skype, and do 1-1 behavior change nutrition consultations. This online business I have created has allowed me to expand to helping clients from all over the world.

I specialize in weight loss, prenatal, and behavior change, but I truly love training anyone from a youth athlete to a postpartum mom to a seventy-year-old man with two replaced hips. It keeps it fun and challenges me daily to have clients from all stages of life and fitness levels, and their stories are empowering. It is always an honor no matter how little or how much money someone has that they choose to spend their money in investing in their health, and trusting me to be their coach. Health and happiness are the two most important things in the world to me, and to be a part of positively impacting someone’s life for the better is a privilege I never take for granted.

What sets me apart is my customization and communication to my clients. My clients hardly go a week if not 4-5 days without a check-in from me, and every program I design is never from a template. It is always customized to their needs, schedule, goals, and what brings them joy. I set up hour phone calls with each client and learn about more than their number on a scale or their injuries. We talk about fears, motivations, lifestyle, struggles, and family, and cultivate relationships that allow for constant communication, trust, and ultimately long-term sustainable success.

I am so grateful daily for the opportunity to coach in the field that I love. My clients inspire me daily.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Honestly, I wouldn’t do a single thing differently. Every internship, fieldwork, workshop, co-worker, and client I have experienced, I have learned from and grown from and become a better person and coach because of it. Whether it was learning work ethic during the 3:30am wake-up calls for over a year, or learning to be humbled in internships where my main job was cleaning toilets and Dynamax balls, or taking a huge leap outside my comfort zone in starting my own business, it all led me to meeting the most amazing people, and has given me the opportunity to work without ever feeling like I’m working.