An honest review of PWR by Kelsey Wells.

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.

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.).

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.

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 stretc