Calling all fitness fanatics! We had the chance to interview Kelsey Wells, Global Fitness Influencer, Trainer and Creator of the Sweat PWR Programme. She’s become one of the most sought after personal trainers to provide health, fitness and motivational advice for women around the world, including her over 1.7 million instagram followers. Read about how she keeps her balance, where you’ll find her at FitnessFest by AIA, her quick and easy recipe for Oatmeal Cookie Batter Protein Shake and more! Be sure to follow her on Instagram: @kelseywells
Urban Journey: Tell us about your journey and how you have come to where you are today?
Kelsey Wells: My fitness journey started a few months after giving birth to my son. Pregnancy was tough on me – mentally and physically – and I didn’t have a positive relationship with my body in terms of how I viewed and cared for myself. I also struggled with postpartum anxiety. Desperate to try and ease my anxiety, my doctor suggested that I incorporate fitness into my weekly routine. As I started to incorporate being active into my day, I started to see a positive shift in my mental wellbeing. This is really where my transformation and fitness journey began. Fitness helped me to cope with postnatal anxiety and develop that positive relationship towards my body that I had always longed for. This led me to fall in love with fitness and women empowerment – now I honestly cannot imagine doing anything else. Now, being a Sweat trainer is the ultimate job and allows me to help women around the world empower themselves through fitness like I did.
UJ: Can you share some of your top healthy eating tips?
KW: When it comes to healthy eating, my top three tips would be:
● Balance
● Consistency
● Everything in moderation
I am not a believer in restrictive diets as this puts too much pressure on ourselves. Aim to have a healthy and balanced diet but know that it’s okay to slip up every now and then and not to be too hard yourself when you do.
UJ: What’s the day in the life for you like? How do you keep up a healthy and well-balanced life?
KW: My days are always busy, usually my son Anderson will wake me up pretty early, then it’s time to get him ready for his day. If I have the time I will squeeze in some mindful meditation for about 5 minutes to get myself in the right mindset to achieve what I need to throughout the day. Then it’s breakfast time – I make sure I fuel my body with nutrient rich food that will give me the energy I need to power through my day. Usually my breakfast will consist of scrambled egg whites and vegetables on a piece of toast. Then it’s time to hit the gym where I will film my workout content and complete one of my PWR weight training sessions. My afternoons are spent writing social posts, responding to emails and having meetings with my team at Sweat. Then it’s time for dinner which is one of my favourite parts of my day as I get to spend quality time with my boys. In my household, we like to make quick and easy one pot meals or fry some sort of protein on the grill, always served with a side of vegetables!
UJ: What is your typical workout routine? How often do you work out?
KW: I follow my own PWR program in the Sweat app! PWR (short for Power) is a hypertrophy based weight-training program that is designed to help women empower themselves through fitness by building strength and confidence from the inside out! When I was designing the program, I really wanted to make it an effective program that delivers maximum results in a short amount of time. So I have incorporated proven, effective weight training exercises and techniques and blended them in a unique way that delivers results. PWR sessions take about 40-50 minutes to complete and consists of 5-6 different phases.
I workout about 5-6 days a week – I follow (and repeat) weeks 9-36 of PWR, which consist of 4-6 lifting sessions and two cardio sessions. The muscle group splits in PWR shift and build as the weeks progress, but these are the days I would typically do them on depending on my travel schedule! If I have time, I will also add in my two cardio sessions where I can.
Monday – Legs
Tuesday – Shoulders and Abs
Wednesday – Back and Biceps
Thursday – Glutes and Hamstrings
Friday – Chest and Triceps
Saturday – Abs workout
Sunday – Rest day
UJ: What would you recommend to those who are just getting into their routines? How can people slowly start making working out a part of life?
KW: My goals in the beginning of my fitness journey were very simple. I took it one day, one workout at a time and slowly started to incorporate working out into my weekly routine. It’s important to be realistic and set small goals that are achievable. When you start to feel discouraged or when life throws you off, simply stop, breathe, and remind yourself to believe in yourself. Of course life doesn’t always go as planned. Of course you will have “off” days and things will pop up which mean you might not fit your workout in. But instead of getting down on yourself because of it, keep your head up and stay positive.
UJ: Any tips on how to maintain a healthy eating and workout routine while traveling?
KW: As a Sweat trainer I am constantly travelling all over the world, so it’s important for me to look after myself and my health during and especially while I am actually travelling. When I am on a plane the most important thing I do is stay hydrated. Sounds simple, but it really is so important for your body and will help you feel a million times better when you step off the plane. When I land, I almost always will try and fit in a light cardio session, whether that’s at my hotel gym or walk or jog around the area I am staying in. This helps me adjust my body.
UJ: What is the secret to your success?
KW: When it comes to being successful, it’s so important to do what you are passionate about. With passion comes a natural drive and a desire to work hard. I never could have imagined my PWR programs would be what they are now. I am so blessed to be able to do something that I love everyday and share this passion with women all around the world.
UJ: How important is diet and what do you eat?
KW: I believe in caring for and nourishing my body and one of the best ways to do that is through the food that I consume. In every meal I aim to eat whole, rich and nutritious foods to support my energy levels and active lifestyle. Foods like fruit, vegetables, whole grains and sources of protein. At the end of the day, I aim to have a healthy and balanced diet but know that it’s okay to slip up every now and then and not to be too hard on myself when I do. Everything in moderation.
UJ: Do you have any quick, easy and healthy recipes you can share with our readers?
KW: If I am short on time one of my favourites go to snacks are protein shakes. One of my absolute favourites that I make all the time is an almond oatmeal cookie batter protein shake – so delicious! All you need is milk, vanilla protein, instant oatmeal, vanilla almond butter and ice! I share how to make this on a blog post I wrote a little while ago.
UJ: Where will we find you at this year’s Fitness Fest by AIA?
KW: I am so excited to be coming to Singapore for the first time ever and even more excited to be hosting a PWR bootcamp on the main stage at Fitness Fest! I will be running a 45 minute bootcamp from 12:00pm – 12:45pm – it will be a full body workout that will get your heart rate up and get your glutes burning but will ultimately leave you feeling empowered. Directly after the workout I will be hosting a meet and greet which will give me a chance to meet my incredible Singapore community. I cannot wait – all I will say is, get ready to sweat Singapore!
