Kayla Itsines has become a worldwide fitness sensation since launching her Bikini Body Guides in 2013. The 26-year-old now has her own fitness app, over eight million Instagram followers, and has just released her second book – The Bikini Body Motivation & Habits Guide – and she's only just getting started.
HELLO! caught up with the Australian entrepreneur during her recent visit to London to discover her tips for achieving your fitness goals and the one celebrity she'd most love to train – none other than Meghan Markle!
Tell us about your new book:
"The new book is about motivation and habits. Teaching women how to get out of their bad habits, how to develop new habits, how to be able to keep those habits throughout the year and to set goals you can keep throughout the year."
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Kayla Itsines has become a global fitness sensation
What are your tips for anyone hoping to get fit this year?
"When your main goal is to get fitter, write down micro goals of how to actually achieve that. Such as 'saving money for a gym membership', 'booking in some time to work out' - having a plan for your goals as well."
What are your favourite moves within your Bikini Body Guide for toning?
"I love things like ab bikes, burpees that work your whole body, lunges, tricep dips and I love walking. Basic exercises that you do high reps of to make them a little bit harder."
The 26-year-old advocates a healthy, balanced diet
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How important is diet?
"I think it's important, but it's important to have a balanced diet. It's not necessarily about restricting certain ingredients or cutting things out, it's more important to have a healthy balanced diet, and a healthy balanced mind as well."
How do you maintain your health and fitness routine while travelling?
"I go to bed really early. I normally wake up at 6-6.30am in Adelaide and go to sleep about 10.30 at night. Here (in London), I've been waking at about 3am and falling asleep at 7pm, but I've been still getting my eight hours, so that's good. I'm just making sure that I'm getting enough sleep really and then everything else falls into place.
"I take things with me now, I have green powder that I take with me, I have a tea that I love drinking. I take the essentials with me so I don't really get too far out of my routine. In terms of breakfast I have things like toast, eggs and some mushrooms or tomato, that's probably found all over the world. For lunch I just make sure it's something sustainable, like wraps. Because I eat a healthy, balanced diet it's not that hard to find something else anywhere else in the world. So I don't really go too far out of balance. I do always have carbs, protein and fats, and I stick to that for each of my meals."
Kayla's new book, The Bikini Body Motivation & Habits Guide, is out now
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What do you think is the secret to your success?
"Part of it is the community, building an amazing community of women that are there to support each other is important. The fact that it's 28 minutes is something that is maintainable for women to do, and the fact that I'm showcasing the success of other women. Rather than showcasing what I do, it's more like, 'look at this girl, look at what she's done'. I think that's what's made it really relatable for women and really inspiring as well."
Is there a particular achievement you're most proud of?
"I think my bootcamps were something that I'll never ever get over. The first bootcamp we did was in London, and we had 2,000 girls there, which was an incredible experience to bring so many girls together from all over London to work out. To bring them together through health and fitness was really cool."
Have you worked with any celebrities?
"Yes I've worked with a lot of celebrities, but again, they're just normal women. They have the same insecurities that we have, they say the same things, they feel the same way. In fact some of them need a little more time than the average person because of the travel, and the media, but they make it work, and they're awesome."
Kayla now has over eight million Instagram followers
Who would you love to train?
"Erm, Ellen DeGeneres! There's so many people, they're amazing. Any powerful women around the world… Meghan Markle!"
What do you have lined up for 2018?
"More of me around the world, I'd love to do some more travel and get some more programs for the girls or do a little bit more community stuff. We do have things planned, but I can't say too much yet!"
The Bikini Body Motivation and Habits Guide by Kayla Itsines is out now, published by Bluebird (£16.99).
