Julieta Puente: “I am an influencer of motivation and sport”

As a girl Juliet in Gualeguaychú, Entre Rios, I wanted to reach people's hearts. She dreamed of television floors,  prime time programs, and managed to arrive in Buenos Aires, in behind-the-scenes journalism.  But he wanted something else, something closer to his dreams, to combine communication, sport and good vibes, and in quarantine he reinvented himself. And it was Juli, the instagramer of positivism to full in the “Cardio of happiness”, the exploited alive in IG that changed the routine of thousands of followers. A revolution based in sports that expanded in 2021, with the claw of the recently received fitness teacher Julieta Puente.   Through its three free weekly classes, and the website with training and nutritional plans, the entrepreneur sportsman accompanies the desire to move you have two square meters, or a hundred. Mabel, don't stay outside, and give it all.

Journalist: “Cardio de la Happiness” was fulfilling a dream?

Julieta Puente: Honestly it was what I wanted since I watched Cris Morena's programs, from babe in Entre Rios, but until the quarantine I hadn't found a way to get close to people. I really enjoy the sports work that every  live carries,  and I am very grateful for what happens to people. It's like a dream come true.

Q: More than interviewing celebrities as a journalist?

JP:  One hundred percent. Much more than interviewing Marcelo Tinelli -he worked until 2020 in El Trece. Thanks to the “Cardio of Happiness” I met a lot of stories about real girls, with difficult stories, and I would never have known being notorious.   Once the class ends, I follow the stories, on the networks, to know a little more about them. I like to know the reality of people who follow me.  For example, I found out that she had a follower fighting her with cancer, and that she wasn't missing a single class. Then I connected with her and, with the doctors' permission, we did the class at her house. From there several people with diseases invited me and together we threw good vibes. Even groups were created that rely on the bad ones. This makes me happier than the class itself.  

Q: Are males hooked?

JP: The truth is that most classes are women, but there are some men. And what I see is they're boyfriends, husbands and children. There are many classes that mothers add to boys. And that makes me very good because at first some might underestimate classes, but once they see it, they recommend them. Many times they post the men who at first looked in a rudge and now refun.

Q: How do we reach the more than 500 followers in IG, or 22 thousand connected to  live , of “Cardio de la Happiness”?

JP: I didn't look for it, but it went off little by little. He was born last March, almost a year ago, when they said he had to go into rigorous quarantine; and I ran quite a lot and trained six out of seven days a week.  The world was coming down (pause). Running is my therapy.   We started quarantine in a very big house, from a friend of my boyfriend, and it occurred to me boring to do a live workout. I had seen others, even grosos of  fitness , and they seemed like a tedium to me. So I threw myself without any purpose, not thinking about anything. The first live was followed by 200 people, a lot compared to the others, so after three days I repeated, and we were already over 400.  And we got to the quarantine boom, you couldn't even go to the supermarket, 22,000. When the situation began to normalize, I formed a group with two girls, who are currently accompanying, and we were on average 7,000 connected phones.  

Q: How do you prepare sessions?

JP: I had stages. Before the quarantine I thought about studying for  personal trainer,  but I didn't have the times with my journalist job. Then, when the “Cardio of Happiness” broke out, plus quarantine, it also became complicated. Luckily the school teachers allowed me to study every day for nine months. At first IG classes were put together with a teacher and, when I started with my studies, the routine came out of the teachers I had.  Now that I'm a teacher, as before, I don't improvise anything, and I take several hours to put together a set, or the plans on the web About sixteen hours for forty-five minutes! I'm a very structured person.    I also feel that  training is a health commitment  that people take on the other side; and I pretend that it doesn't just have a good time. I commit to the desire to improve my followers.  

 Let's define influencer 

Q: You had a marked sports universe in childhood...

JP: I did thirteen years of artistic gymnastics, competed quite a lot, and at 17 I came to Buenos Aires to work on TV. I dreamed of being an actress, but I threw more social communication. There I started determined to look for work as a journalist, not knowing anyone. At 19 I got my first job in Viva de Clarín magazine, went to Pronto magazine and ended up covering the back of “Dancing for a dream”, surrounded by celebrities.

Q: And now you're the famous one.

JP: Just the other day I ran into the street with someone I didn't see long ago, and asked how he would define me today. Of course I'm not a journalist now. I'm an  influencer  of motivation and sport. And it happens when they invite me in programs that is very rare because I was used to working behind the sets, without even seeing my strand of hair.  Although my wish was to be in front of the camera. And the most genuine, unexpected way was through something I'm passionate about, sports, and that became the “Cardio of happiness”.  

Q: Why are you passionate about sports?

JP:      Sport saves you  (silence). In my classes I remember a lot of people who train to look good, either go to a gym they don't like, or do a sport they don't like. And what I'm saying is, look for them to like it but not only because of movement but because exercising changes energy.   Very proven. It changes the way we live and helps in difficult times, as happened to me a few years ago with anorexia. I was weighed 38 kilos and they threatened to internate me if I went down 100 grams.   Sport helped me out  , and it's not magic. Because it signals you the way out in a healthy way. And stop thinking about  other magical solutions harmful to health.   

Q: He talked about anoxeria and one tends to consider that he was overcome with the preaching by the acceptance of the Green Tarea.

JP: Nothing.  One might think that it is a thing of the 90s, surpassed by the feminism of the 21st century, and realizes that social pressure is still very strong. On the one hand you have the speech of accepting yourself as one is. But on the other, many of the referents, especially on social networks, use Photoshop and are displayed in an unreal way.   While for these people it can be a game, take out their other roll, you don't end up understanding that they are social communicators. And they're communicating with every photo and you don't know how people hit him. So you have to be very careful with the images you promote, so the moment when I feel most comfortable in front of the camera is when I do cardio because it breathes me,  goat , my shoes. Or when one day I feel swollen and someone asks me if I'm pregnant, and I answer that I ate the whole bakery. They are small messages that seem to help me differentiate myself from other  instagramers  that show a perfect image.

Q: Do you have the social negative charge of the  influencer ?

JP: It is true that it has a negative connotation. We have the case of lots of  influencer  with a lot of followers, some bought, and they have no influence on anyone or do anything.  And you have several who really work and commit to followers. I feel that the influencer should have a great responsibility because he is still a social reference . Before maybe they were the celebrities on television. These days anyone drops a message showing daily on networks. And considering that there are thousands of users who are teenagers and children, the responsibility increases even more.  That's why in my classes I'm thinking second by second that things are okay, and what things I can avoid .

Q: Do you think the phrases?

JP: A few days ago my grandmother asked me who Mabel was and that I didn't know her (laughter). These are phrases that I'm making up at the moment with the best wave, and I don't even think about them. Like “Give it all, Mabel,” “put on fire,” or “lock the thong.” They became memes, heh, tremendous. I recently launched a  tiraband  for exercises on my own brand,  Booty by Mabel Bands  ( www.julipuente.com ), and wanted the logo to be fun. The next day I opened my  instagram  ( @julieta_puente ) and one of the girls tattooed with the brand logo appears, a peach with a thong, on one of the buttocks. Oops, what happened, I said. This also makes you think about the influence you have.

Q: How do you imagine the future of “Cardio of happiness”?

JP: And... it's hard for me to do it in my living room, after a long year, and I want to surround myself with people's  power  . So far, what I could do was travel around the country, and record the class with two local girls. I imagine in the future giving big events, and with the same energy as  live.   It's just that a lot of girls can't afford a gym, or a coach, and they know that three times a week they're with me  online.   But I'd like to see them live, too. And later, conduct a sports program for the whole family with the same wave of Cardio.

 Hit your head, Mabel. 

Q: What do we need to join the “Cardio of Happiness”?

JP:  The only thing you need is the desire to look for a change, to improve. Seek a physical or health change. And you don't need to buy anything.   For example, a girl who did not have anklets put on two plastic containers. There are people who don't have a mat and use blankets. Another one that uses drums instead of weights. It's a lie that you need the best gym, or the best clothes. You can do the  fitness  until barefoot. Many were not encouraged because they saw it intense and, a year later, he is more than satisfied and motivated.

Q: How does motivation enter your classes?

JP: We all have complicated moments in life and I feel that we will always find the strength with sport to get out.  Several girls say that they are in bed, depressed, and then from the Cardio, they are renewed in their inner fortress. I think it must be very motivating, as well as to turn on a live and know that many people do, or feel, the same thing you do.  

Q: Juliet, are we getting married on the beach arriving on a plane?

JP: (Loud) Everyone is asking me that about a note from last December, a paper, I hadn't said it that way. And when I saw the title: “Next year I'm going to get married on a beach in Mar del Plata and I'm going to get to the ceremony on a plane,” I wanted to die. Of course I imagine getting married on the beach because my boyfriend is from Mar del Plata. And with some madness, we both like so much. Facundo is a pilot, so there may be a plane involved. Maybe it's this year, since I heard at home that we were very close...