An artist at heart with a passion for movement and nourishment, Mariana Abadie’s path to fitness was anything but conventional. Born in Argentina to Italian ancestors, Mariana moved to the United States in 1989, bringing with her a lifelong curiosity about the body, creativity and self-expression. Today, she channels that curiosity as a personal trainer at the Lenexa Rec Center, where she has been a familiar and trusted presence since the facility opened in 2017.
Mariana’s commitment to her clients runs deep. In fact, her very first paid client is someone she still trains today.
“She comes twice a week, so I see her every week,” Mariana said.
Early in her own fitness journey, Mariana grappled with many of the same pressures her clients face — especially women.
“For women, we’ve had in our minds that we have to diet, we have to be thin, we have to look a certain way,” she said. “I didn’t know any better when I was younger, so I did it too. At some point, my interest became nutrition.”
That interest led Mariana to independently study nutritional science before earning her certification as a Precision Nutrition coach. Her motivation, she says, was deeply personal.
“For me, I wanted to help people be able to feel good as they get older,” Mariana said. “I was getting older and I was noticing that, you know, you can be 40, 45, whatever, and still feel like you're in your twenties or better. I'm 57 now and I tell people I can do things that I couldn't do in my twenties.”
Yet many women, she believes, still hesitate to embrace strength.
“Most women are in denial,” Mariana said. “It's like they don't want to gain the weight. They don't to be stronger. They don't want to see muscle.”
Mariana is determined to change that mindset — by leading through example.
“I don't have those icky weird pain issues that people have,” she said. “I'm like, ‘Am I some weird superhuman?’ No. I've just been eating decently, making sure that I have enough nutrients and calories and everything I need for my body to make it stronger and repair and feel better and not lose muscle and bone and, you know, doing some, at least consistent strength training. It doesn't have to be perfect, it doesn't have to be every day, it does not have to feel like you're miserable. No, you just must be consistent with some strength training where you work your muscles and you feel stronger and you maintain your muscles, your bones for as long as you can.”
Her philosophy has translated into real-life victories for her clients — moments that go far beyond the gym floor. One client, for instance, was able to pick up her grandchild for the first time. Mariana focuses on habit-based coaching and tailors every program to the individual, understanding that progress looks different for everyone.
“It's rewarding for me seeing those stories of these people improving their lives, like the one that picked up a baby or the one they can now say, I just grab all my groceries in one trip now, or I can unload the washer and carry the laundry upstairs and I don't have to be panting or it's not hard anymore.”
At the core of Mariana’s approach is care — real, personal investment in each client.
“What I like about in general training is you can improve people's life so much if you really care,” she said. That’s why I don't want to get overwhelmed with clients and not have the time for them because those little things I think matter a lot more than telling them to sit in the machine and do the work. I'm not a rep counter. You know they can do that on their own. I can write a program. I can tell them, go do it. You know the machines usually show them what to do. I think what you have to do is get to know them and know what can make a difference in their life and find that little thing that that they're needing to make their life better; whether it's valid reasons such as, 'my knee hurts' or 'I’m afraid of doing this or that', you know that with some small tweaks and consistency they can improve. And it is truly glorious when you see them standing and doing it and you're like let's focus on using our muscles now instead of holding onto things.'”
Her own dedication to learning never stops.
“I read books about strength training,” she said. I don't lift to compete or to show that I could lift more than someone else. I do it because I feel good. Because that's one of the things that when I have older clients that they think they cannot lift anything and they're afraid of a heavy dumbbell and I show them how to do it and they don't even know how much they're lifting.”
That realization — of newfound strength — can be transformative.
“Once you learn you can do something that you thought you couldn't do, what else can you do that you also thought you could not do — it's empowering,” Mariana said.
Bilingual and culturally curious, Mariana loves to travel and immerse herself in new experiences. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, reading, and — of course — working out, which she prefers to call “playing.” She lives in Overland Park with her two daughters, Mia and Amy.