Kayla Itsines

Remember when everyone was doing Bikini Body Guide workouts and posting sweaty selfies on Instagram?

In 2009, Kayla Itsines was charging $1 a minute for 30-minute fitness sessions in her parents’ backyard.

She started sharing before-and-after photos on Instagram, and things exploded.

Her DM inbox filled up with women around the world begging for her workouts.

So in 2014, she packaged her exact training method into a PDF: 12 weeks, 28-minute high-intensity sessions, three times a week.

She called it the Bikini Body Guide, priced it at $69.99, and hoped a few people would buy it.

It went viral.

The file was passed around online like wildfire.

She didn’t care, because with every download came a transformation photo.

Her followers were doing her marketing for her, and the demand kept growing.

In 2015, she took BBG on tour, leading bootcamps for up to 30,000 women.

That same year, she launched the Sweat with Kayla app.

It became the top-grossing fitness app on iTunes.

By 2016, it was making more money than any other fitness app in the world.

A year later, the app rebranded to Sweat, added new trainers and programs, and officially became the largest digital fitness platform for women.

Then came the exit.

In 2021, Kayla and her then-partner Tobi Pearce sold Sweat to fitness giant iFIT for a reported $150 million.

She stayed on as head trainer, but behind the scenes, things were falling apart.

Revenue dropped. Engagement slipped. iFIT faced lawsuits, layoffs, and financial chaos.

In 2023, Kayla and Tobi bought the company back.

Now she’s back in charge, alongside CEO Adam Koch (whose wife, by the way, was one of her very first clients).

They’re rebuilding the platform from the ground up.

Investing in better infrastructure, rethinking the code base, and prepping for global expansion in markets like the US and the Middle East.

Today, Sweat features over 60 unique programs, 13,000 workouts, hundreds of recipes, and a global community in 150 countries.

And she’s still evolving… with strength-based workouts, low-impact options, postnatal programs, and a focus on women’s health across every life stage.