Veka Julia

Hi there! I'm Julia – a relatively petite but mostly cheerful person. You can call me Veka!

My background is in educational sciences, physical education instruction, emotional and interaction guidance, and custom tailoring! Learning new things and continuously developing myself is a true passion of mine. I love gaining new perspectives on the world, and the best part of entrepreneurship is being able to make use of all the skills I've gathered – and of course, constantly learning more.

In terms of sports, my roots are in artistic gymnastics and track and field, especially pole vault and sprint training. From a young age, I've had the chance to learn all kinds of knowledge, skills, and techniques – and to observe different coaches, their styles, ways of being, teaching methods, and how they interact. That experience has definitely sparked the paths I've taken in my studies and interests.

Over the past ten years, I've worked in various teaching and physical education roles. Overall wellbeing and sustainable energy in life have become themes that I'm deeply drawn to and passionate about. That's why I'm so happy and excited about the creation of Calisthenics Lab. Its purpose is to offer a training environment that supports overall wellbeing, is suitably challenging, and, above all, warm and uplifting.

At Calisthenics Lab, everyone is welcome – from beginners to advanced athletes. That's one of our core values, and the whole system is built to support it. Together with Benkku and Jari, we have a super team with expertise for a wide range of levels and starting points. If I had to pick a personal motto, it'd probably be: "Even an old dog can learn new tricks" – and I truly believe it! (I also have two dogs and I'm a total animal lover!)

Oh, and on the shop side, you'll also find workout clothes and training accessories I've sewn myself – like straps for the high bar, heat packs for muscles, and wrist support bands. And be sure to check out the parallettes Benkku has built for self-training. Most importantly: you're warmly welcome to train with us 😊 

Benjamin (Benkku)

Benjamin discovered calisthenics in 2018–2019 and was instantly hooked. Childhood dreams of learning cool tricks and strength skills finally started becoming reality under the guidance of Jari Mönkkönen, a 29-time Finnish champion in artistic gymnastics. Since then, Benjamin has competed in street workout freestyle for several years, earning medals of all colors at the Finnish Championships. He's also performed exceptionally well internationally, performing rare and advanced dynamic moves on the world stage.

His journey into the sport began in unique circumstances: as a single father to his then two-year-old son. Fortunately, the Mönkkönen family gym, Games of Skills, offered a space where both father and son could train together under Jari's coaching. Inspired by his experience, Benjamin wants to encourage everyone to pursue their goals — no matter their life situation. Thanks to his story, Calisthenics Lab now also offers joint sessions for adults and kids, and we truly believe everyone can make progress!

Benjamin has been coaching in the sport for 5 years. His strengths as a coach include reliability, consistency, precise technical knowledge, and a safety-first approach to movement. He's great at spotting both strengths and weaknesses in individuals and tailoring exercises to fit each person's needs. Benjamin has helped many private clients break through their limits, build confidence, and find joy in movement through meaningful progress.

Hey, it's Benkku here. Have you ever thought to yourself, that it'd be awesome to know how to do something cool? Or maybe you've wanted to do gymnastics, even as an adult? Same here.

Well actually, I wanted to do gymnastics as a kid too, but I lived in a small town where it wasn't easy to get into gymnastics, so that never really happened. I wanted to learn flips and tricks, so my mom brought home some spring mats from the dumpster area and I started training on those. Time went on, and eventually I was doing flip combos on the grass. I think I was about 15 when I learned to do 10 handstand push-ups and a full-twist backflip on the ground – I still sometimes challenge top gymnasts with those, just for fun.

I also got into other sports like track and field, with hurdles as my main event and high jump as my second. I also tried out some martial arts. But body control stuff was what really fascinated me, and my dad and I would always get excited whenever we saw "street gymnasts" somewhere. Eventually I ended up getting into the sport myself, when I found Jari and Sanna (Mönkkönen)'s old gym, Game of Skills, in January 2019.

I didn't even really know who Jari Mönkkönen was, since I was still on baby bottles when he was on TV.. But Jari spotted me at the gym pretty quickly and suggested coaching me. That was a real stroke of luck! We became good friends, and I started teaching classes at GOS too. I also began assisting Jari, since I'm a trained nurse. We ended up training 20–25 hours a week and hanging out during our free time too.

One of my goals was to compete someday, so we decided to aim for the 2020 Finnish Championships in Street Workout. We exceeded our goals and I won the Freestyle division. Parallel bars were – and still are – totally my thing, especially flips on them, they're just super cool and pretty rare too. The bar, on the other hand, was totally unfamiliar to me at first: loads of basics, frustration, blood and tears, but eventually that became fun too… Though part of the frustration was probably because I only wanted to try the moves no one else was doing except the Russian freestyle kings 😀..

I've now been in the sport for almost 5 years, nearly full-time, and I've also done partner acrobatics in circus and learned a lot about handstands from there. My specialty is definitely in handstands, presses and planche. Freestyle will always be close to my heart – it brings huge feelings of success. Ps. this is a sport you should start exactly when you feel like you're not ready!

I love helping people reach their goals, especially by planning workouts in a structured and smart way. Nothing feels better than hearing something like "Benkku, my shoulders don't hurt anymore!" or seeing that moment when a handstand isn't just luck anymore, but real skill, and the person is using the right muscles to hold it.

I also met my match, Veka, through street workout training, and together we've built Calisthenics Lab! I'm so happy to be doing this with my favorite people. Welcome to our community!