'The real healing happens in your mind'
As one of the world’s most famous trainers and influencers, Kelsey Wells knows a thing or two about fitness. She speaks to Lucy Gornall about accepting her body postpartum, plus how she adapted to a new type of workout after her ski injury.
World-renowned trainer Kelsey is one of those people you can’t help but admire. She’s just so beautifully authentic; what you see is what you get. She’s amassed an impressive three million followers on Instagram, and this isn’t only down to her easy-tofollow strength-based workout routines, but also her honest insight into daily life: the ups and downs, the struggles and the reality of certain situations, which are all too-often brushed under the carpet.
The US fitness idol, based in Utah, is famous for her eight weight-based PWR (power) training programmes, which are on the Sweat app, founded by Kelsey’s friend and worldwide fitness sensation, Kayla Itsines.
Kelsey also founded her Redefine Fitness: Strength and Mindfulness training method, after a skiing injury in January 2022 left her out of action for several months longer than she anticipated. As well as this, her Redefine Fitness podcast is a haven for all things related to health, both mind and body. Explaining the podcast, Kelsey says: ‘It’s the time to reclaim fitness as the powerful tool for your own self-empowerment that it was always supposed to be.’
In saying this, Kelsey’s love of fitness only really took off following the birth of her son Anderson, now nine, with husband Ryan Wells, 33, who she married in 2010. This was the catalyst for Kelsey’s entire career. After working on her fitness post-birth, she experienced first-hand how good it can feel to exercise and eat well. Fast forward several years, and she’s spreading her love of strength-based workouts around the world.
Chatting at a boutique hotel in Shoreditch, she’s all smiles, yet is keen to share the mental and physical battles she’s faced over the years. Self-love and female-empowerment fuel Kelsey’s empathetic and holistic approach to wellness.
‘I’m so into mindfulness and mindful movement,’ she says. And it was her injury that led her to having what she describes as an epiphany. Having to transition from higher-impact exercise to low impact left Kelsey feeling ‘stronger, more energetic and more alive’, as she admits that prior to injury, she was doing too much, and now wants to share her story and give advice to others coming back from injury or childbirth.
LEARNING TO LOVE HER NEW BODY
The first programme Kelsey ever launched was focused on post-partum fitness and health after she struggled to know what to do following the birth of Anderson in 2014. Her PWR-Post Pregnancy is a 24-week programme lo
