Meet the £28m Australian fitness star Kayla Itsines who sells out arenas faster than Beyonce
The popular fitness trainer talks to Fabulous Daily and offers her 21-minute workouts that can transform your figure
SHE’S worth £28million, sells out arenas quicker than Beyonce and was named in Time magazine’s Top 30 Most Influential People on the Internet in 2016.
Meet Kayla Itsines, the world’s most powerful woman in fitness.
In just three years the personal trainer has revolutionised the way women exercise — all via Instagram.
Kayla, who was born in Adelaide, South Australia, has a social media following of more than 6million, launched a worldwide best-selling fitness app, Sweat with Kayla, and this month released her first healthy living book.
She founded her Bikini Body Guide together with her partner Tobi Pearce, 24 and they have since transformed the bodies and lives of 25million women.
It’s a fact Kayla describes as “crazy”.
Despite her huge success, Kayla still doesn’t consider herself a celebrity.
She says: “I’ve never really felt like I’m famous.
“I remember being in the fruit markets in Adelaide when a girl asked me if she could have a picture with me. I started shaking.
“I was so nervous, thinking, ‘Why does someone want a picture with me?’”
Kayla’s plan, which promises to “reinvent your entire shape”, avoids calorie-counting and gyms and doesn’t ban any food — even chocolate.
She says: “I don’t want women to cut out foods they love or feel guilty for eating a chocolate bar.
“It’s all about educating women to know you can eat good food and get in shape.
"Of course I eat chocolate and have days where I don’t work-out, it’s all about balance.
"My book has a naughty made nice section where I teach you how to make treats healthier.”
Exercise is key to Kayla’s plan and she says she loves the positive effect it has on women.
Kayla explains: “After a workout when they are sweating and exhausted they have the biggest smile on their face.
"Exercise can be very empowering for women of any age, shape or size.”
On how she came to be a fitness guru, Kayla recalls: “I took a side course in personal training and loved it, so deferred my uni degree.
“I set up my own studio and trained women from there.”
But it was only after Kayla joined Instagram in 2014 that her life began to change.
She says: “I started uploading pictures to show clients how to work-out and to share their incredible transformations.
“At first I got a few followers but then it grew and grew. I don’t know how it happened so quickly.
“I don’t remember any one specific moment where I realised how big it had become — I don’t even know how I got here.”
The Bikini Body 28-Day Healthy Eating & Lifestyle Guide by Kayla Itsines (£18.99, Bluebird) is out now.
Kayla has been overwhelmed by her growing following online with 13 million now part of her fitness community.
Despite her huge commercial success, Kayla has very different ideas of where her biggest success stories lie.
She says: “My biggest achievement so far is successfully transforming women’s lives.
“When I meet the women who have completed my programme and they tell me their stories I am so proud of what I have achieved.
“I still get the same buzz when I see their transformations.
“I was at a book signing recently when a girls asked me to sign a photo she had taken of herself just before she started the plan.
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“I couldn’t believe how completely different she looked, I was so shocked I got goosebumps.
“It’s that feeling I get when I see how happy and confident someone is that makes me feel good.”
Famed for her enviable six pack, Kayla’s social media feed is also full of motivational messages, something she says is a key part in the message she want to put out.
She says: “Fitness is something that changed you physically – but it also makes you feel good, feel confident, feel happier.
“You could have the best body in the world but if you don’t feel good about yourself then it’s no use.
“I think women are really starting to realise this.”
Kayla, who grew up with Greek dad Jim and mum Anna, both teachers, and 21-year-old sister Leah, places a lot of emphasis on the importance of a good support network of friends and family.
As a kid her dad was keen his daughters were fit and healthy girls, jokingly making her and her sister perform a set of push or sit-ups before letting them play.
She says: “I’ve been very lucky, I have an amazing family and really close friends.
“It’s so important for women to support each other and good friends do this.
“On social media we are like one big family, we empower each to be confident and strong – physically and emotionally.
“When Instagram became huge there was a lot of bullying between women.
“If people have negative comments on my posts it’s usually because they are uneducated and I never respond.
“I know I have a lot of responsibility with the amount of followers I have but I always make sure I am positive and honest in everything I put online.
“Social media can be a massive force for good, it inspires people and I think it’s one of the reasons fitness and health has become such a big trend.
“It has changed my whole life. I’ve been able to travel the world and meet so many amazing new people.”
Kayla believes every woman is different and, although she describes alcohol as “poison”, says she never tells anyone else what to do.
She says: “I don’t drink, it just doesn’t interest me.
“I’ve seen a lot of people struggle with alcohol problems and I feel like I couldn’t tell women to be healthy and then go out and drink all the time.
“I have no problem with other people drinking, though.
“I’d be lost without exercise, I can’t imagine not being able to get my happy endorphins and confidence from my workouts.
“I get my motivation from knowing the benefits of what I’m doing.
Kayla shows Fabulous Daily’s JENNY FRANCIS how simple exercises can be done anywhere, any time.
Perform this circuit for seven minutes completing it as many times as you can in this time.
After the first seven minutes, break for 30 seconds, then repeat, break for 60 seconds, then repeat.
Jump Squat: 15 reps
Burpee: 10 reps
Lay down push-up: 10 reps
Straight leg raises: 15 reps
