How To Get Started With PWR

Do you want to try my PWR program, but don’t know where to start?

Whether you’re a fitness enthusiast or you’ve never picked up a weight in your life, I’m here to help you get started on my program and step into your POWER.

I designed my PWR program based on my love of weight training. Over the course of my fitness journey, I found myself wanting to increase and sculpt lean muscle and burn body fat — which is exactly what PWR is designed to do!

Diving into a new fitness program can be daunting, so in this article, I break PWR down for you with practical tips to help you get started!

There’s no better time to start than right now 

Like most things in life, the first step of your fitness journey will probably be the hardest.

Deciding weight training is for you and trying something new, giving it your all and forming new habits, can be unnerving. I’ve been there — I get it!

The sooner you start, the sooner your life will change for the BETTER and you will FEEL and SEE the benefits of exercise.

You CAN do it. You’ve GOT this and I’m right behind you.

What is PWR?

PWR is a hypertrophy based 52-week weight-training program (including the four beginner weeks) that is designed to help you MAXIMIZE your time and effort in the gym. The gym-based program is a combination of my favorite proven weight-training techniques and exercises, programmed in a way to help you increase lean muscle, burn fat, improve your overall fitness level.

PWR workouts incorporate a combination of large equipment and machines, free weights, resistance bands and bodyweight exercises.

PWR workout structure

Every PWR session is structured to include 5-6 phases of training, including warm-up, activation, pyramid training, supersets (or trisets), an optional burnout phase from Week 5 onwards and a guided cooldown. In total, a PWR session will take around 40-50 minutes to complete. 

Let’s break it down.

Warm-up
Too many people skip their warm-up! Warming up properly enables you to train better and SAFER. My program offers two warm-up options: pure cardio (five minutes of cardio of your choice), or cardio and movement, which is three minutes cardio followed by two minutes of dynamic stretching and gentle movement. 

Activation
Activation is NOT the warm-up! This phase works to activate the muscles that you are going to be using throughout the session and gets your heart rate pumping! This is achieved through two mini circuits comprised of bodyweight exercises, as well as cardio exercises.

Pyramid training
During the pyramid training phase of the workout you complete three or four sets of each exercise. During this component, you should be increasing your weight from set to set as the reps decrease.

Supersets
During supersets, you complete two circuits that are six minutes each. Each circuit contains two exercises that target particular areas of your body. Here, you aim to complete the circuit as many times as possible within the time allocated! 

Burnout phase
From Week 5 onwards, the burnout phase is introduced to the workouts. After completing supersets, you move into two quick burnout exercises, performed for one minute each. This is designed to help you absolutely burn out the muscle groups you’ve just been working — if you haven’t already!

Cooldown
Five minute guided cooldowns are provided off the back of every single PWR session — these include a combination of static stretches and foam rolling.

What you’ll need

You’ll need access to a gym to complete PWR. Some of the equipment used throughout includes:

• Ab wheel
• Adjustable bench
• Back extension
• Barbell
• Bench
• Balance ball
• Cable/Dual cable
• Chair
• Deadball
• Decline bench
• Dumbbells (2–5kg)
• Fitball
• Kettlebell (4–8kg)
• Lat pulldown
• Leg extension
• Leg press
• Medicine ball
• Plyometric box
• Prone leg curl
• Seated leg curl
• Smith machine
• Squat rack
• Step
• Resistance band
• Weight plate

If you’re not already a member of a gym, make sure you find a gym that’s in a convenient location for you and has reasonable opening times. If a gym is too hard to get to, chances are you won’t make it as often as you’d like!

For those completely new to a gym, I know it can be overwhelming to start going in the first place — let alone getting accustomed to the weights and machines!

Ask for help from gym staff if you need it, or workout with an experienced gym-goer friend who knows all things weight training! And remember to follow my exercise demonstrations in the SWEAT app for guidance!

Setting yourself up for success

You’ve downloaded the SWEAT app,  you’ve signed up for PWR and you’ve got yourself a gym membership. YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!

Plan ahead and schedule time in your diary. The fact is, the more organised you are, the more likely you are to stick with your new fitness journey!

If you’re getting started with weight training, I suggest scheduling your resistance workouts every second day, to allow for adequate recovery time.

It’s the little things 

These tips might sound basic, but I promise you they all make a difference despite how small they seem!

●  Get your workout clothes out and ready the night before. This is especially helpful if you’re going to workout first thing in the morning and you’ll be racing to get out the door.

●  Set an alarm or a reminder. Do whatever you need to do to make sure you get to the gym at the time you’ve set aside. Treat your gym session as an important meeting with YOURSELF.

●  Always have a gym bag packed and ready to go with your headphones, a towel and water bottle. It will prove to be a timesaver when you’re on the run! 

●  Playlists aren’t for everyone, but they make a HUGE difference to me and my mindset while working out. I believe a good playlist can pump you up, motivate you and encourage you to get through your workout. Making a playlist with your favourite tunes, beats and artists makes your workout so much more enjoyable.

The long haul

Starting a new fitness journey isn’t an easy thing. It’s challenging and there will be some really tough times, but I promise YOU it will all be WORTH it.

The tip to forming a new habit is consistency. I know it’s a cliché, but consistency really is key. Get to the gym, smash out your PWR session and give it your all. Try your best every single time.

Some studies suggest it takes around 66 days for something to become a habit — that’s ONLY two months!

After you’ve formed your new habits, implementing fitness into your day-to-day will simply become a way of life.

Before you know it, you’ll be smashing out my newly released PWR 4.0! That means you will have completed a whole 52 weeks of workouts!

The future you will be SO grateful for your efforts today.

You won’t regret starting

Make a start and do it for YOU!

It won’t be long until you start to reap both the non-physical and physical benefits that exercise offers, and your lifestyle and health will improve for the better.

I’m SO proud of you.

Is there anything else you would love to learn about getting started with PWR? Comment below!

Kels xx