Monika Urszula is an 18-year-old growing social media influencer who has gained recognition for her fitness journey over the past six months. Her biggest social media platform is on TikTok, where she has a following of around 3,000 people, which is growing day by day, post by post. The content she creates mainly revolves around working out, healthy dieting/meals, and her progress.

“TikTok is kinda hard because you have to post things that people click on, follow you, and they want to see things that entertain them. So I just started posting random things at first and didn’t put a lot of thought into them. So when I started posting things with more intention, I saw more people following, liking, and commenting on the videos, people started reaching out to me, and that’s when I started seeing a following,” Urszula said.

Through social media, people find connections, whether with other content creators or brands that reach out to them. Brand deals are a popular outlet on TikTok, and they occur when a named brand sponsors an influencer to make content that upsells the product.

“I’m currently an ambassador for a brand called ‘Oath Nutrition’. They have supplements, pre-workout, protein powders and it’s sold at Target. But they send me stuff to review and in return I post about it,” Urszula said.

According to YR Fitness, most people quit their routine after 6 months of working out. For some people, it can be hard to stay consistent because of reasons like not seeing results right away or a lack of motivation. Urszula expresses her attitude toward consistency.

“Consistency has always been very hard for me, but I feel like it kinda just clicked when I started working out more and more. Once you start seeing progress, it’s addicting and you feel like you need to go and you want to go because it’s like giving you happiness,” Urszula said. “I tell myself like 3,2,1 let’s go because it’s only at least an hour out of your day.”

Senior Lucy Genin, who has been consistently working out since the COVID-19 lockdown, has a similar view on the key to staying motivated.

“I would say the progress and how it makes you feel after keeps my drive going. If I don’t go to the gym, then I feel like I’ve disappointed myself in a way,” Genin said.

Since starting in the gym, Urszula has created a weekly workout split specific to her. A workout split is a training program that divides your workouts into different muscle groups on different days of the week.

“So every day after every workout, I do 30 minutes of cardio either on the treadmill or stairmaster, following an ab circuit if it isn’t an abs and cardio day. But Mondays I hit glutes and hamstrings, Tuesdays shoulders and triceps, Wednesdays are usually my rest day, but I’m transitioning into that being a leg day, which is quad, calf, hamstrings, glutes. Thursdays are my back and biceps days, Friday is just cardio and abs, and same with Saturday and Sunday,” Urszula said

Senior Ieva Paskevicius recently started posting TikTok videos on her story of her gym progress, and videos of her with Urszula at the gym as well. She reveals how much Urszula has made an impact on her fitness journey.

“Monika has influenced me in many ways. I started seeing her gym account’s TikTok pop-up on my For You page, and she would post different workout routines, which influenced me to explore different workouts that would help me build my body better. She would also post healthy recipes and meals, which influenced me to make them to grow my protein levels, and make me have a more fit and healthy body and diet,” Paskevicius said.

Junior Alexi Vytartas, one of Urszula’s closest friends, speaks on how she has incorporated tips and lifestyle advice from her videos.

“I always see Monika post a lot of things like healthy foods and workout routines. So most of the food I now eat is influenced by her, and because of her, I eat healthier, and I have found alternatives to junk food. Another thing is that she posts a lot about her ab routine, and I have included her routine into mine,” Vytartas said.

Going into the future, Urszula discusses plans and goals that she hopes to achieve for herself.

“My dreams and goals I feel like I have 2 routes to pursue. I’m really interested in personal training and nutrition, and I would definitely do that as a side thing going forward. But my end goal is to become a dentist, even though it doesn’t really have much to do with my fitness aspects, but I’d love to be a personal trainer because that’s my passion,” Urszula said.

“I think I motivate myself, in terms of I want to become the best version of myself,” Urszula said.