Kayla Itsines, founder of the Sweat app and creator of the popular BBG programs, took her experiences building up strength postbaby to create a program specific to beginners. Fittingly, it’s called “BBG Beginner,” and it includes eight low-intensity, low-impact weeks.
When Kayla was cleared to start working out less than two months after giving birth to her daughter in April 2019, she focused on foundational strength first. She wasn’t able to do virtually any ab exercises, and moves like sit-ups and leg raises were off limits. Instead, she told POPSUGAR, she did a lot of oblique work. “So side plank work and core stability work . . . rotational work and things like that.” She eventually built back up to a beginner level until she was strong enough to do her own BBG workouts again.
“I was an athlete my whole life. It’s like you don’t know what it’s like to be a beginner,” Kayla said. “It was really hard for me to go back into a gym and not be able to lift a simple weight that I used to be able to do, not even be able to pull a bar down. Everything just hurt. I just had to be like, ‘It’s OK, you got this, you can do this.’ I was just chasing that confidence and that feeling of what I felt like after a workout.”
Getting through a sweat session and building strength makes you feel empowered, Kayla explained, and that’s what kept her going through her beginner phase. She also gave us a sample ab workout inspired by the new BBG Beginner program, which you can do anytime, anywhere.
Kayla Itsines’s 7-Minute At-Home Beginner Ab Workout
Equipment: All you need here is a chair (also a workout mat if you have hard flooring).
Directions: Repeat the four-move circuit below as many times as you can in seven minutes. If you want a 15-minute workout, rest for a full minute, then repeat this for another seven-minute round.
- Hover: Hold for 20 seconds.
- Heel slide: 16 reps (eight per side)
- Modified bicycle: 16 reps (eight per side)
- Incline mountain climber: 20 reps (10 per side)
Find more info about Kayla’s new BBG Beginner and Post-Pregnancy workout programs here. And ahead, check out how to do each move in this workout. Kayla takes away the impact but still challenges your core.