DWTS Contestant Olivia Jade Giannulli Just Realized Dancing Is 'Way Harder Than I Ever Thought'

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Olivia Jade Giannulli is learning quickly that dancing is hard. Really hard.

The 21-year-old is cast in the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars, and she's been rehearsing for a few weeks.

"I would not consider myself a dancer by any means, but it's so much more work than you really anticipate with the dedication and the patience you have to have with yourself," Giannulli told PEOPLE at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on Friday.

"The pros make it look so effortless and easy, but once you get in there and they're really teaching you the steps, it's way harder than I ever thought. But what I will say is the pros do such a good job," she added.

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In fact, Giannulli noted that she's "just starting to see a few muscles show up in my back that definitely weren't there before."

The YouTube influencer's DWTS casting comes two and a half years after the college admissions scandal that implicated her parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli, and saw them each spending time behind bars.

"Obviously I'm not proud of the past," Giannulli told PEOPLE (the TV Show!) last week, noting that she's "still young" and "believes in second chances."

"I want to keep evolving as a person, and I think sometimes it takes kind of difficult situations and mistakes and stuff that we're really not proud of to do that," she continued. "Obviously I wish I could go back in time and kind of do a lot of stuff, but I think it's kind of important to me now to just keep learning and see where the world takes me."

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"I think the hardest part is, honestly, when you can't figure out a move or do it incorrectly and then you're like, 'Oh my gosh, am I ever gonna figure this out? Am I ever gonna comprehend what's going on?" Giannulli added of DWTS on Friday. "It can get a little frustrating, but obviously that's what the coaches are for. And they're so great. So it's been a blast."

Season 30 of Dancing with the Stars premieres Monday, Sept. 20, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.