An honest review of PWR by Kelsey Wells. This program is on the SWEAT app by Kayla Itsines.
Remember when I said I was on a cardio kick and was walking + jogging four times a week? While I did see tons of progress by reducing some stubborn fat, I couldn’t shake the fear of muscle atrophy. I was only walking, jogging, and sprinting and completely stopped weight-lifting. I knew that sooner or later I would start losing muscle that I worked so hard to build.
After I finished Anna Victoria’s FBG 2.0 program in June, I was seriously considering starting BBG again since my knees are in better shape than when I first started the program. However, I heard such positive feedback about the PWR program by Kelsey Wells from prior BBG girls that I thought, “Why not?”
So, I took advantage of the free 7-day offer in iTunes and downloaded the app. I was instantly super excited at seeing all of the moves! I have now finished the original 4-week pre-training, the 12 week program, and am in week 14 (known as PWR 2.0). I thought I’d review the PWR program for you all and give you my honest thoughts.
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WHAT IS THE PWR WORKOUT?
PWR is based on a hypertrophy style of resistance training, which is designed to help increase lean muscle and strength throughout the entire body. The program lives on the Sweat app—yep, the same app that carries Itsines’ workouts—which you can download for $19.99/month or $120/year.
You’ll get a weekly workout plan with 45-minute weight sessions that increase intensity every few weeks. You can follow the recommended schedule, or you can change the calendar around to suit your needs. (Plus, you also get Kayla’s BBG, BBG Stronger, Kelsey’s Post-Pregnancy program, and a Yoga “Body And Mind” program, too.).
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How the Plan Works
Warm Up
This step is so crucial before any workout. You want your muscles warmed up, limber, and at their peak to start working them! I usually do 5 minutes of walking on the treadmill. I want to eventually move onto the stair climber. You also have the option of warming up with “Movement & Cardio” as illustrated in the IG video below.
Activation
This is a second warm-up that targets the muscle group you’ll be working. You’ll do two circuits for 4 minutes each. Each circuit is only two moves, such as banded clams followed by burpees, and single-leg glute bridges followed by box jumps. The movements are preparing the muscles for the next challenging portion.
Pyramid Training
My favorite part: the hypertrophic moves that make your muscles grow and chisel your body! This is the part of the workouts that make me feel like a badass. A pyramid is three exercises, with each exercise having four sets of increasing weights while decreasing reps.
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Week 14’s pyramid consists of Romanian deadlifts, Sumo barbell squats, and barbell hip thrusts.
SuperSets or TriSets
Just when your muscles are quivering and you think you can’t do any more sets, Kelsey gives you a 60 second break (or so) and you start on the next moves. Weeks 1-12 were Supersets, but ever since I’ve graduated to PWR 2.0 at week 13, they are now TriSets.
These are your more traditional moves, like hamstring curls and Bulgarian split squats, with a tough little number sandwiched in, like banded glute kick backs. Oftentimes, I found that these moves were repeats of moves done earlier in the workout, but you get to work at lower weights since your muscles are a little more fatigued. Surprisingly, you feel these more the second time around.
Optional Burnout
If you’re a glutton for punishment, there’s an extra “burnout” section or else you can stick a fork in yourself and be done and move onto the Cool Down. This week’s glutes + hamstrings burnout was 1 full minute of double-pulse (banded) sumo squats followed by 1 full minute of banded glute bridges (feet on bench). Super killer.
Cool Down + Stretching
I absolutely love the stretching portion of the workouts. I always “forget” to stretch if the stretches aren’t right there in front of me. Each workout, whether it is Chest + Triceps, Glutes + Hamstrings, Back + Biceps, Legs, or Shoulders + Abs, has its own stretches that target the muscles worked.
My Thoughts about the PWR Program
The Good
If you’re a person who needs structure, look no further. The workouts are all laid out for you, including the warmup and cooldown. You don’t have to worry about whether or not you’re working all your muscle groups as Kelsey does all the heavy lifting (pun intended) for you.
If you’ve ever gone to a gym feeling lost amidst all the machines, the PWR program will ease that. Every move is perfectly illustrated in professionally videographed GIFs of Kelsey doing the movements. There is no confusion about how to do something, because even if the GIF isn’t clear to you, a simple tap on the movement opens up a written explanation
I truly love this program. I feel like I finally found a program that addresses my love of strength training that challenges me and does not bore me to death. The core workouts (as in, the non-optional workouts) do not repeat (or maybe I’m working so hard I don’t notice) and I feel a satisfactory “ache” the next day that tells me I was active.
I never believed that I could continue to see progress without as much cardio, but I am. Slowly. I am slowly seeing progress in my strength and the sculpting of my body. I really should take a progress pic soon (though I despise taking them!) to see how far I’ve come. Kelsey’s transformation photos are jaw dropping!
The Bad
Up until the PWR program, I worked out at home. Despite completing the four-week pre-training and the first 4 weeks of the program at home, I eventually had to get a gym membership in order to continue to grow. Kelsey is upfront about needing a gym. I’m just hard-headed and wanted to workout from home for as long as possible. However, without a cable machine, it’s nearly impossible to continue to work your muscles as well from home, especially on upper body workouts. For the longest time, I relied on this for cable workouts at-home.
There are things I would change…maybe. Kelsey includes an optional Glute + Hamstrings workout and Abs workout on top of the regular 4 strength workouts and 2 cardio (1 LISS one HIIT) workouts. The perfectionist in me really wants to check off all of the workouts available each week, but I have to be realistic. Life sometimes gets in the way, and it’s not always feasible for me to spend 30 minutes doing cardio before/after a 45-minute strength-training session. I wish it would be easier to fit in cardio (while also preserving a rest day), but overall, it’s not enough to make me look for a different program.
I go to Planet Fitness, and depending on the gym, they may not have the machines I need. For example, I have yet to find a gym machine that lets me work my hamstrings doing lying leg curls. I use the seated hamstring curl machine, but one week you needed both. Other Planet Fitness gyms don’t have the dual cable machine needed for upper body workouts, and others don’t have medicine balls or benches in the stretching area for bench jumps.
Would I Recommend PWR?
Absolutely! I am on week 14 and loving it! I know Kelsey is continually adding more workouts, so I don’t see myself stopping this program anytime soon! And, if I somehow make it to the end, I’ll start back up at week 1 and increase the weights. You can’t go wrong!
Update: I am now using the Fit Body app by Anna Victoria. To read my full review, CLICK HERE.
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