Meet Isa - The HIIT master of the Swede Wellness team
Hi! My name is Isa Gullbekk, I am part of the Swede Wellness team and I am Sofie’s younger sister! I’m 22 years old and I live in Alingsås, Sweden (which, for those of you who don’t know, is where we were both born and raised). You might have seen some of my posts on Instagram (@swedewellness) or maybe the youtube videos I post for Swede Wellness!
I want to help people with their fitness journey and to reach their personal goals. I've been a sports couch in some shape or form my whole life, and to further my knowledge even more I am finishing my International Personal Trainer certification this spring. From the Swede Wellness team, I’m most definitely the one who enjoys a sweaty, heavy gym workout the most. I’m not as good at the yoga and mindfulness, but I’m definitely working on it. Trying to improve in any way I can and with thoughts constantly going 120mph, I think I really need it. I keep myself busy during the evenings by coaching a local soccer team. My official title is Assistant Coach, but I’ve moved more into the direction of being the Fitness Coach. The girls are playing in the second highest division in Sweden, which amazes me to think about for such a small town. My main focus is to help the girls strengthen their bodies during off season and pre season and then maintaining healthy bodies throughout the season. I’m also working with two of the girls who are unfortunately long-term injured, both of them tore their ACL’s late last season.
So how did I get into fitness and wellness? I grew up playing soccer from the age of five until I was about seventeen or eighteen. In high school I majored in a program which gave me two separate degrees, or diplomas if you will. I am a certified child care taker and a swimming instructor. I took a job at a local rec center where I taught children to swim and I also held water aerobics classes. It was a very rewarding period of my life and I learned a lot about the happiness that community and exercise brings.
After I quit my job at the rec center, I packed my suitcase and took on a new challenge. I moved to Michigan and became an au pair for a family located near Detroit. The experience had its ups and downs, for sure. But the overall experience outside of work was absolutely fantastic! I went to several NHL games (I’m a big hockey fan), I practically lived in DETROIT!!! (also a big Eminem fan), I met some amazing friends and just had a blast. I got to travel around the United States, which was a big deal to me because I love traveling and I had only ever been to Colorado and Arizona before. I went to Denver to see Sofie as much as I could and I got to go visit family in Arizona again which was amazing. I also added the following states to my list of places now visited (outside of an airport):
Ohio (went to Cedar Point, a lot of fun!)
Pennsylvania (technically, I drove through it so it doesn’t really count)
New York (Niagara Falls, stunning!)
New Mexico (stayed a night in Albuquerque during my road trip)
California (San Diego and LA)
Utah (Salt Lake City, I visited East High for any High School Musical fans out there!)
Nevada (again, drove through it and stopped at McDonald’s but still saw Las Vegas from a far!)
Michigan! Had never been before moving there!
Texas (my host mom’s mom lives on a farm outside of San Antonio, I LOVED IT!!)
Canada! Even though it’s a country I had to include it on my list. I’ve always wanted to visit and since I lived near Detroit, my host parent’s took me out to lunch in Canada. So grateful!
Traveling - one of my biggest passions in life! I’ve had a lot of learning experiences on the way, to say the least, but I believe that my travel adventures definitely helped me grow as a person. Having to handle a stressful and uncomfortable situations alone, especially in a nonnative language, has shown me strength I never would’ve known I had, had I not travelled. I also want to add that even though I only lived in a country away from home for a year, it gave me so many amazing insights and memories. Not only was I able to experience another culture, celebrating thanksgiving and Christmas on December 25th for the first time for example. I also had some meaningful and deep conversations with people about politics and religion, both areas I don't feel very connected to. Some of the best and most meaningful conversations were based on these topics and though they can be touchy at times, they definitely weren’t with the people I spoke to. They were all so loving, kind and respectful of my beliefs and my opinion, even though we didn’t always share the same point of view.
In the future I hope to incorporate another one of my hobbies with our retreats, which is photography. It excites me to think about all the joyful moments we will share during the retreats, as we have in the past. Everything from meeting for the first time, to sharing experiences during workshops and moving together at the classes held. I want to capture these moments so we can all look back on the great times we shared and oh my, I CAN’T WAIT! I want the sun, I want the smiles, I want the stories, I want to meet everyone attending, I want it all. I. Want. It. All! Are you thinking about going on a retreat with us in the future? I know the thought right now might be scary, or it seems like it won’t happen for a long time, due to you-know-what, but I am so excited I can barely wait. Of course we need to wait until it can all be handled safely, but still. I need it now, who’s with me?
My goal is to record twelve workout YouTube videos this year, one for each month, to support you with your new normal of exercising from home. If you haven’t already subscribed to our YouTube channel, please do. Click here and it will take you right to it. Same goes for our Instagram, we post a lot of different content on there and as of now, I am providing as much Swedish culture as I can for you to take part of! And a last thank you to my sister, Sofie. For trusting me with the responsibilities I have and for letting me be a part of her dream. I hope to see you ALL at a retreat in the future, combining two of my favorite things; health and traveling.
Take care and stay safe everyone, much love!
