My PWR Program: Your Questions Answered

Hello my babes! First of all: THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH for your kindness and support as I continue to expand my weight training program, PWR! 

With the launch of PWR 4.0, you can now follow my program for a full year, and I am so excited to be able to give you the opportunity to make your next year more PWRful. 

I LOVE to hear all of your feedback! Lots of you have reached out, and there have been a few of the same questions coming through, so I decided to throw together a FAQ blog and answer them for everyone. 

What type of training is PWR?

With PWR, I focus on something called hypertrophy training. Hypertrophy training is a style of resistance training designed to help increase lean muscle and overall strength. 

Hypertrophy increases muscle size by causing small micro-tears in the muscle cell as you hold and move the weight for a period of time. This is known as “time under tension”. 

Over time, as you gradually increase the weight and duration of each exercise, the muscles adapt and increase in size, strength and endurance to make the exercise easier. 

This is why it’s so important to pick a weight that is challenging! As the exercise becomes easier, continue to increase the weight to get the maximum training benefit. 

Each session in my program includes 3-4 phases of training including Activation, Pyramid training, Supersets or Trisets, and an optional Burnout phase beginning from Week 5. 

My program also involves recovery and cardio sessions, however, the focus is primarily on weight lifting.

How does the pyramid section work?

In Pyramid Training, you complete 3 sets or 4 sets of each exercise, depending on which training phase you are in. During this phase, you should be increasing your weight from set to set as the reps decrease. 

How many weeks is the PWR program, and how many sessions per week?

PWR is broken down into four 12-week blocks of weight-training programming, with an additional 4 weeks of Beginner training for anyone new to lifting weights or who is just starting out with weight training. This means that you can follow my PWR program for a full year!

Once you’ve finished, you can always repeat the whole program or the sections you loved!

As I said, there is not too much cardio in this program and the recommended number of resistance sessions in PWR does increase every few weeks. 

The PWR Beginner weeks and Weeks 1-4 include 3 weight-training sessions and 3 cardio sessions. From Week 5, resistance increases to 4 sessions and then in Week 9, resistance increases up to 5 sessions and cardio decreases to 2 sessions.

This is how I personally train and LOVE to train! 

Can I do PWR from home?

No, PWR is a gym-based program involving a lot of equipment as well as machines. 

If you are looking for a home workout program that follows my signature training style, you can try PWR at Home!

How does PWR work? Do I need a timer during the workouts?

PWR is a different style of training to what you might be used to! PWR is a hypertrophy-based weight lifting program, not a cardio-based program.

If you want to try it for yourself, I have created a free PWR Full Body Workout for you to try! 

Each PWR workout has the following structure: 

• Warm up (5 minutes) — Optional
  Choose between 5 minutes of cardio, or 5 minutes of cardio and movement, which includes 3 minutes of cardio followed by guided exercises.
• Activation (9 minutes)
  Activation, or warm up, helps activate the muscles that you are going to be using, as well as incorporating a few cardio exercises to help get your heart rate up! 
• Pyramid Training (15-25 minutes)
  In Pyramid Training, you will perform 3 sets (or 4 sets in the advanced weeks) of 3 different exercises. With each set, the goal is to INCREASE weight as your reps DECREASE while also RESTING between each set. 
• Supersets (12-15 minutes)
  Here you complete 2 circuits lasting 6 minutes each. Each circuit has 2 exercises working a particular area of the body and a short mid-circuit rest. The goal is to complete each circuit as many times as possible until the timer goes off!
  In PWR 4.0 you’ll do two circuits. Each circuit consists of three laps and 2 exercises, which will take around 15 minutes including your rest. 
• Burnout (2-3 minutes) — Optional — Once you have completed the Supersets, you can choose to go straight to a Cool Down or finish off the workout with 2 quick burnout exercises.
  As the name suggests, these exercises are designed to help burnout the muscle group(s) you’ve just been working! Burnouts are only available from Week 5 onwards.
  There are two burnout exercises in PWR 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, and there are three burnout exercises in PWR 4.0! The third burnout in the advanced weeks is a high-intensity exercise to get your heart rate up and finish your workout sweaty!
• Cool Down (5 minutes) — Optional — In Cool Down, you will be taken through a series of stretches to help kickstart the post-workout recovery process.

The SWEAT app does all of the timing for you, so you don’t need an additional timer!

How long does each PWR workout take?

As broken down above, a total PWR session is about 45 minutes of training, however, I would recommend allotting 45-55 minutes for your PWR session so you don't feel rushed moving between machines and equipment. 

Is PWR available in an e-book?

The PWR workout program is not available at this time in an ebook format but is exclusively in the SWEAT app.

Do I need to purchase PWR separately from SWEAT?

No, you do not need to purchase PWR separately, it’s part of your subscription to the SWEAT app! This subscription gives you access to all of my programs, including the challenges and your recovery sessions!

Will a SWEAT subscription give me everything I need to do PWR? 

The detailed instructions and descriptions provided in the app for each exercise you are doing, as well as being able to watch the video tutorials of me performing the exercise, are very important to helping you learn how to weight-train safely and confidently. 

You will need access to a well-equipped gym, and I’ll be your ‘virtual personal trainer’ as you can follow my videos and exercise instructions throughout the program. 

The most absolutely crucial part of this program (and any weight training program!) is that you use proper form!

Ask me your questions and share your PWR progress!

There you go babes! I hope that helps! If you have any other questions, there is a lot of detailed info in the app! Just hit your profile photo in the top right corner of your app screen, select ‘help and support’, then ‘Kelsey Wells’, then ‘PWR’! 

I hope that you join me to make the next year your most PWRful yet! I love to hear your feedback on the program, so leave a comment below. 

Xx

Kels