Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Phommasak.
Hi Julie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I didn’t start my career in fitness. I began in supply chain as a logistics engineer; long days in a cubicle, micromanaged, and realizing more and more that I was building a life that didn’t fit me. Eventually, I hit a breaking point. I walked away from the salary, the stability, and the predictable path.
I quit without a plan.
Before leaving corporate, I’d been attending NPTI on weekends simply because I loved learning about the body, movement, and strength. After earning my diploma and taking on a few clients, I quickly saw a pattern: we spent more time foam rolling and working on mobility than warming up. My clients needed more than training alone, and I knew I didn’t have all the tools yet.
So I took the rest of my savings and enrolled in massage school. What I thought would be a small add-on became the missing half of my career. Massage therapy connected everything for me — biomechanics, tissue work, pain patterns, mobility, and performance. That’s when it all clicked:
I didn’t want to choose between being a coach or a therapist. I needed both to truly help people move out of pain and into real strength.
My philosophy is shaped by my own athletic background. I spent a year bodybuilding, trained BJJ on and off (I still miss the mats), and explored mountain biking and endurance work. I also spent five years competing in strongman, a sport that taught me grit, discipline, and how to build true functional power.
Today, I coach strongman at Kinitro Fitness, the gym where I built much of my coaching identity and the confidence that shaped my professional career.
I’m also involved in paddling (Dragon boat and outrigger. Racing with Houston teams including Hokulele, Island Warriors, and Lone Star Dragon. Training in these communities sharpened my understanding of athletic performance, teamwork, and the recovery needs of everyday athletes pushing competitive levels.
One thing that has shaped my entire journey is mentorship. In every sport I’ve done, and even in business, I’ve always had coaches guiding me. Those experiences set the standard for how I now coach and support my own clients.
What began as a leap of faith evolved into a fully integrated system combining strength training, sports massage, movement assessments, and injury-prevention strategies. This approach became my Performance Reset Method, designed for active adults who want to train hard without feeling broken.
Today, as the founder of Sekmet Strength & Recovery, I help people move better, recover faster, and perform at a higher level. Blending engineering-style problem-solving with thousands of hours of hands-on experience.
My journey wasn’t traditional, but it led me exactly where I was meant to be.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The biggest struggles came right after I quit my corporate job. I had no plan and no roadmap. I remember waking up some mornings wondering what I was supposed to do next and how I was going to build a completely new life from scratch. That period of uncertainty — figuring out what direction to take — was one of the hardest parts.
Stepping into the fitness world was another challenge. I didn’t grow up around trainers or the industry, so I had to learn everything: how to program, how to cue people, how to coach different body types, and how to actually train clients in real time. I dealt with a bit of imposter syndrome, especially when I was surrounded by people who had been coaching for years.
Massage, surprisingly, came naturally to me. I picked up bodywork quickly and understood the concepts intuitively. The real challenge wasn’t learning massage — it was figuring out how to combine massage and training in a way that made sense for clients. I knew both were important, but creating a system that blended them together took time, experimentation, and a lot of trial and error.
The hardest struggle and honestly, the part I still navigate today is building a business out of all of it. Turning a passion and a skillset into something structured, sustainable, and scalable takes constant effort. Learning how to market, price, systematize, grow, and stay consistent has been one of the toughest parts of this entire journey.
I love what I do, but growing it into what I know it can become is still a process. It’s challenging, but it’s also the part that pushes me to keep evolving.
We’ve been impressed with Sekmet Strength & Recovery, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Q: Tell us more about your business. What should we know?
A: My business is called Sekmet Strength & Recovery, and it’s a hybrid sports-performance and pain-relief practice for active adults. I blend sports massage, strength training, and movement-based assessments to help people move better, recover faster, and perform at a higher level. My clients are people who train hard; lifters, paddlers, runners, competitive athletes, and everyday active adults who want real solutions, not temporary fixes.
Q: What exactly do you do, and what do you specialize in?
A: I specialize in combining hands-on sports massage with strength and mobility training. My approach starts with watching how someone moves from the moment they warm up to how they stabilize, compensate, load patterns, and respond under fatigue. That tells me where the real issues are. From there, I use a mix of bodywork and corrective strength work to address pain, movement limitations, and performance breakdowns.
Most places treat training and massage as separate services. I bridge them so clients get both recovery and strength in the same space.
Q: What sets you apart from others in your field?
A: A few things.
First: I don’t do spa-style massage. My sessions are clinical, intentional, and performance-driven. They’re for people who want to fix the root of the problem, not just relax for 60 minutes.
Second: I assess movement in real time. I don’t rely only on static tests. I watch people move, lift, hinge, squat, stabilize, rotate, and breathe. That allows me to pinpoint issues that traditional massage or traditional training often miss.
Third: I live this lifestyle. I’m a strongman coach and compete in multiple sports myself, so I understand what active adults and athletes need from both sides — training and recovery.
Q: What are you most proud of, brand-wise?
A: I’m most proud that Sekmet Strength & Recovery delivers real results while staying true to who I am. Clients come to me when they’ve tried everything else and still don’t feel better and I’m able to help them reconnect with their bodies and finally move with confidence again. But beyond the results, I’m proud that my brand reflects genuine care. I’m not a spa therapist or a cookie-cutter trainer; I’m someone who truly wants people to feel strong, capable, and supported.
Q: What do you want readers to know about your services?
A: That everything I do is personalized. I don’t run people through templated programs or generic massages. Every session begins with movement observation, and every plan is built around that person’s specific needs. Whether someone wants pain relief, better mobility, a stronger lift, or improved performance in their sport, I tailor the session to what their body needs that day.
My goal is simple:
help people train hard, stay strong, and feel capable in the bodies they live in.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
What makes me happiest is my freedom, my autonomy. I built a career that lets me show up as myself, make my own decisions, and create a life on my terms. That freedom gives me the space to genuinely help people, and that’s where I feel the most fulfilled. I love teaching, guiding, and watching people understand their bodies in a new way. Being able to share what I’ve learned, help someone move better, or see their confidence shift, that’s what brings me joy. My autonomy allows me to do meaningful work, and that’s the part that makes me happiest.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Sekmetstrengthrecovery.com
- Instagram: @sekmetstrengthrecovery
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Ai9M6Qn5V/
- Other: https://Sekmetstrengthrecovery.as.me
Image Credits
Kinitro Fitness
Lone Star Dragons
