After we spoke to our friend Geney she recommended we do an interview with the Park sisters (Instagram’s @exercisewithextrafries). These young and motivational ladies do everything together. Recently they turned their passion into a full time social media gig, showing us that anyone can follow their dreams.
Joanna and Grace please tell us a little about yourselves and how @Exercisewithextrafries was born?
J&G: We’re sisters, not twins! Joanna is older by 5 years. We started our account 3 years ago. We both love group fitness classes and would always “fight” to post a photo first onto our individual accounts. Our friends were probably tired of seeing the same photo twice, so we decided to do everyone a favor and start 1 account.
How did you both develop an interest in fitness and what drove you to move that passion onto Social Media? What was your “aha!” moment when it comes to fitness and wellness?
J&G: Grace has been interested in fitness longer than Jo has. Grace played field hockey in high school and was more active than Jo. Jo failed P.E. haha. Growing up, fitness was all about being skinny and we participated a lot in fad diets like the Master Cleanse. Of course, this was not very sustainable or healthy. Our “aha!” moment was when we started taking CrossFit and learned to lift and not focus so much on cardio. The group environment also made our workouts more fun.
In what way has social media changed your lives?
J&G: We recently went full-time! Never would have thought we would be working with each other. We’ve also met great friends and reconnected with old friends because of social media.
What’s a surprising fitness struggle you’ve come across?
J&G: How long it takes to recover from injuries.
Grace: I had horrible patellar tendinitis for a while. It was so painful I could barely walk around my office and opted out from going out with friends since I couldn’t be on my feet for too long. Through physical therapy and personal training, I actually worked through it and became stronger than before my injury. But I’ve definitely taken it for granted recently. Whenever I overexert myself, I can feel my knee starting to hurt again.
Joanna: I’ve sprained my left ankle really badly a couple of times. It was always so hard to not workout while my ankle was healing, but I realized after a while that because of my weakened ankle, I was overcompensating on my right side. I had to go to a physical therapist when my right knee started to hurt badly. Now I try to remember to stretch properly before and after workouts to prevent any other injuries.
Who is someone that inspires you?
J&G: Lauren Evarts of The Skinny Confidential. From a quick glimpse, it seems like her Instagram is just pretty pictures, but if you read her blog, listen to her podcast, etc. she’s always pushing boundaries and talking about taboo topics. She’s unfiltered and isn’t afraid to speak her mind. She’s also super sweet. We bumped into her at a workout class, and she’s exactly how she is online.
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be and why?
J&G: We’d love to collaborate with Equinox! We love their gyms and facilities plus they offer a great selection of group fitness classes!
When working with brands, what do you wish they knew about you both before they reached out to you? How important it for you both to be transparent with your followers when it comes to brand sponsorship?
J&G: Well, we have to legally disclose if it’s a brand sponsorship haha. But the brand partnerships we take on are things we use! We’ve turned down opportunities if it’s something that we would never use or support like appetite suppressants.
Is it hard to be a foodie and a fitness enthusiast at the same time? What do you do to stay on course food wise while traveling?
J&G: We’re definitely not strict about food when we’re traveling. We love trying new foods, so we’ll enjoy ourselves on trips. But we always try to add fresh greens and lighter dishes during our meals. Also, after a few heavy meals our bodies start craving things like juice and greens. Our most recent trip to Paris and Barcelona, we made sure to look up healthy restaurants we could enjoy while also indulging.
What do you think gets downplayed a lot in the fitness industry?
J&G: True balance. There’s a lot of people that’ll talk about balance, but their idea of balance is eating a bite of pasta. We’re not hating on them, but that’s not really considered balance. First of all, what normal person has the willpower to just take one bite of pasta? Go enjoy your pasta, but add some greens to your meal, and take the stairs instead of the elevator.
How do you balance the line between discipline and obsession?
J&G: We’ve both crossed over to the obsession line before with our workouts. At one point we were both obsessively tracking our workouts on a fitness tracker and recording every single thing we ate. We would pass on social outings with friends because we didn’t want to eat or drink certain foods. At this point, you’re not a very fun person to hang out with. Thankfully, we’re no longer like that. We’ll still go out, but if we have an early morning workout, we’ll drink less than usual and give ourselves a time we need to go bed by.
Your account is very vibrant, and the photo quality is amazing. Do you have any tips for others looking to grow their Instagram account?
J&G: This is something we also struggle with. It’s much more difficult to grow on Instagram lately. And even though it’s hard, we try not to focus so much on the number and more on the content.
