Lieke Steeghs — From Consultancy to Coaching Corporate Professionals

In today's PT Spotlight, we sat down with Lieke Steeghs, a Munich-based personal trainer who made a radical career shift from the corporate world to fitness and nutrition consulting. Her background in consultancy and academic research gives her unique insight into the health challenges facing busy professionals.

Why Leave Corporate?

Juice Fitness: I looked at your background - you were at PwC, BearingPoint, even did academic research at TUM. Then you switched to personal training. My first question is: Why?

Lieke: I studied International Business and worked in procurement consulting for several years. I also tried academia for a while, doing research in the area of entrepreneurship and psychology - specifically, why even entrepreneurs procrastinate and what helps them overcome this behavior. Although I loved many aspects of my previous roles, I always felt something was missing for me to truly feel at home in my job.

One thing was always clear:

I have an enormous amount of energy, but it took some thorough reflection to realize that this didn’t align with my previous desk- heavy jobs.

Sport and nutrition have always been my passion. I taught Bodypump classes on the side for years, and that's what kept me fit. Without those fixed training sessions, it would have been much harder to stay active next to such demanding jobs.

I also struggled with weight during my teenage years and didn’t grow up with healthy eating habits. During my university years, I tackled that completely on my own - and it fascinated me. Over the years, I kept building my knowledge around sports and nutrition until last year, when I decided to go all-in and focus entirely on this field.

Two Big Factors

Lieke: There were two major factors for me. One was my own need for movement. The other was wanting to clearly see the positive impact of my work - helping people and seeing results directly, instead of working on academic or corporate projects that materialize over years and where the individual impact is harder to see.

I always had the dream of becoming self-employed in this space, but alongside my previous jobs, it was never really possible time-wise.

Once I decided to go for it, I knew a radical switch would be necessary. So I chose to work part-time at a health center, leverage the synergies in terms of training knowledge and equipment, and steadily build my independent practice on the side.

The Corporate Health Challenge

Juice Fitness: When I look at people in the corporate world - in agencies especially - it's incredibly unhealthy. It's really hard to protect your health in that environment.

Lieke: Exactly. And that's what fascinates me now, and it's precisely my target audience. I want to help ambitious professionals because I know firsthand what the challenges are when you're sitting behind your desk from early morning until late at night, or you're constantly traveling, staying in hotels, eating out all the time.

Bringing Business Skills to Training

Lieke: My business background is incredibly valuable to me. Working at large consultancies really drills you to structure projects well, to be task-driven, and to deliver on client commitments. It also showed me how much time can be wasted when focusing too much on PowerPoint layout. The efficiency and process-optimization mindset from consultancy is essential when you're building your own practice.

I work with a system where I provide a lot of information and resources for my clients - all without slides. I built that out entirely myself, and I think the way I’ve structured it comes largely from my business background. I create comprehensive client pages that go far beyond training plans - they include vision boards, SMART goals, progress dashboards, the whole picture.

A Holistic Approach: Movement, Nutrition, and Mental Health

Lieke:

My programs are built on three components: movement, nutrition, and mental health.

The aim is to improve health in a truly comprehensive way. Alongside dedicated training and nutrition sessions, supporting my clients in developing and maintaining healthy habits is at the core of my program.

I distinguish between two types of habits. One is movement related - we start with small steps like sustainably increasing daily activity. But also things like computer posture. Not sitting like this [hunched]. I give them triggers and assignments to improve posture and reduce back pain. The other is nutrition related - e.g., tracking patterns around stress-related cravings. I provide reflection tools to increase awareness, along with continuous feedback on how to break old habits.

Personalization Over Automation

Juice Fitness: We're building a tool to help trainers be more efficient - reducing the time spent on admin and program creation so they can focus on what they do best. But we're also exploring habit-building features. What kind of habits are most important for your clients?

Lieke: Habits are everything. But they have to be personalized.

You can’t just automate motivation or habit formation with AI.

The human element - the trainer's enthusiasm and ability to adapt to each person’s momentary needs and fluctuating moods - is irreplaceable. Technology can support us, make us more efficient, absolutely. But the core of what we do? That’s still about understanding the person in front of you. That’s why I dedicate a lot of time to the intake of a new client.

At the start of a program, I measure strength endurance, muscle mass, and perform a thorough anamnesis to understand my client’s health status quo - or “fit quo,” as I call it - all in a very methodological way. This forms the basis for unique, personalized recommendations and long-term health improvements.

The Journey Continues

Lieke: Right now, I'm still building my independent business alongside my part- time work. In the past year, I focused on developing my methods with clients from my existing network and refining my approach before promoting more heavily. More outreach is next on my agenda.

I know what it's like to be on the other side - the busy professional who's extremely ambitious at work but whose health is suffering because of it.

That's who I want to reach. Because I’ve been there, and I know there’s a better way.

Want to follow Lieke or learn more about her approach to training corporate professionals? Connect with her on LinkedIn or reach out directly.

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