Kayla Itsines, 24, is a personal trainer from Adelaide, Australia. She began her career working at a "women's only" facility in the same city back in 2008 after graduating from the Australian Institute of Fitness. However, this became increasingly unsatisfying for her because her clients, who she cared so deeply about, weren't seeing the results they desired. She left, did more of her own research, and began her own company.
She created a specific set of exercises, that with increased difficulty and repetition and the addition of more cardio over time, produced amazing results for her clients, women who desperately just wanted to feel comfortable in their own skin. Once she saw just how successful her 12-week program was, she wanted as many women to feel this way— confident and comfortable in who they are. That is when she decided to create the "Bikini Body Guide," the 12-week program broken up into area-specific daily workouts, in an available at-home booklet (and e-book) that included a meal guide plan as well. The more popular this became, the more popular Itsines's social media accounts grew as well.
Itsines often posts inspiring quotes based around the idea of self-confidence.
Itsines is now up to 3.6 million followers on Instagram. Every day, she posts inspiring quotes, pictures of herself doing her own guides, playful shots of her puppies, and the most popular: transformation pictures/stories. Part of her own BBG is the lack of scales and weight changes, and the importance of difference in pictures. Kayla instructs all of her clients and users of the BBG to take transformation pictures every four weeks. She emphasizes that numbers, whether on the scale or the size of your jeans, is not what matters. It's all about how the person feels about herself, and the confidence she gains through the steps she takes to get healthy.
Just one of many #TransformationPictures or #BBGProgress Kayla posts each day (with the permission of the user).
This guide has absolutely just blown up, not only in Australia but globally. Itsines has thrown meet-ups all over the world, where she holds a clinic in different cities, and they do the guides as a massive group. BBG girls have also created their own community of friends through Instagram posts and social media in general. Itsines has created an army, often dubbed #TheKaylaArmy or #TheKaylaMovement. With that, she has created a more nonjudgmental attitude on social media towards real women's transformation pictures, where even the most vulnerable of people take the leap and post these photos. Women feel comfortable publicly telling their transformation stories because of the kind, encouraging, and positive attitude of clients, fans, users, etc. that Kayla has brought together.
A #BBGMeetUp in Massachusetts.
With all the positivity that Itsines has created through her guides and enormous Instagram presence, it's easy to forget the harsh realities of the standards set (sometimes unintentionally) by the media and world of pop culture. And that's a great thing, because women everywhere shouldn't be judged by how they look or what they wear, but should be looked to for their intelligence, confidence, and overall badass-ness. However, Itsines's use of Instagram is a double-edged sword, because at the end of the day, when people look at her account, they see photos of women "feeling confident," and how do you show that? Through pictures of women in bikinis? Yes, her Instagram captions, and even the whole platform she stands on, is based on "not how you look, but how you feel," But again, this is reinforced through photos.
Kayla Itsines is an incredibly successful personal trainer that has done wonders for women (and a bigger-than-you-think handful of men) around the world: getting people into shape, boosting confidence levels and creating a very unique and one-of-a-kind social media community. However, she has also created a presence so large that the transformation photos, her #BBGCommunity, and the overall global effect has become somewhat intimidating. Whether the effect is positive or negative, that is up to each individual's personal opinion on the matter.
