About Anna Bogdanova

Anna's story

The road to a strong, well-functioning body

… has been long and at times heavy, quite literally, for Anna Bogdanova, who back in 2008 planted the first small kettlebell seed of what has today become a large training and lifestyle universe.

“For the first 18 years of my life, training was a completely unknown planet to me. ZERO sport or physical activity until I turned 18. I skipped every single PE lesson! My way into fitness only opened when I saw a picture of my own 18-year-old bottom from behind, the result of too many sweets and too much sitting, and felt an urgent need to do lots of glute exercises I had found in a magazine.

After a short phase with step machines and similar equipment, which I was neither good at nor got results from, I (luckily!) came across a fitness magazine and discovered weight training. And there actually was a kind of training I was good at! It didn't exhaust me, and it instantly made me feel strong and invincible.

I dare say that strength training changed my life. Everything became easier. I wanted to move more in my everyday life. I had more energy. Fewer mood swings. I could relax around food (and eat more) without it settling around my belly or on my hips. It became muscle instead!”

Overtraining and stress collapse

“But I also had a period where I trained far too hard. Worked too much. Ate too little. Slept too little. Lived on energy drinks. It ended with a complete stress collapse. I gained weight, couldn't reconnect with my own body, and none of the classic advice for stress worked.

But that was also what made me curious. Why did my body crash when I was doing all the ‘right’ things? In my search for the answer, through several educations and in meeting many clients, I realised what is wrong with the traditional get-fit strategies: They are all about ‘eat less, train more’, the idea that you have to be in an energy deficit to be healthy, slim and beautiful.

That has dramatic consequences for women's health. When you are in a chronic energy deficit, the brain turns down a long list of vital processes: ovulation, immune defence, detoxification, nerve conduction speed, brain capacity, skin quality and, not least, muscle.”

Vital muscles

“Our muscle mass naturally declines with age unless we make sure to hold on to it by training. And without exaggerating, that can be a matter of life and death. When I lost my mother to cancer several years ago, I watched her waste away very quickly to, physically speaking, nothing. She had never trained her muscles, so she had nothing to fight back with, and I will always wonder whether strength training could have given her a stronger starting point.

So I promised myself that I would never stop working to maintain my own muscle mass. Or teaching other women to hold on to theirs. Because muscles are not only the key to shaping the body many of us dream of. Muscles also help balance our hormones, dampen inflammation, prevent osteoporosis and lifestyle diseases and keep us younger far into old age.”

Maximum effect with minimum effort

“I still have no ambition to be a super athlete, but I want to be able to keep up. With my children, with life, with the bus, with the dog. I want to stay youthful in the sense that I am free to move the way I want, also as I get older.

I don't live and breathe for my training. And I don't train all the time, as many people might think, more like 1-2 hours a week. In busy periods only 5 minutes a day! It is like dynamic meditation for me and gives me a much-needed break from everyday life.”

Daily body care

“And that is exactly what I want to pass on to you. You can do more than you think. You are stronger than you think. It is ‘just’ about unlocking the raw strength all women have, and you can do it with micro-training of only 5-15 minutes a day. Without exhaustion, without the burn, without losing energy. Instead you get more of it.

A bit like a daily routine, like brushing your teeth. You don't need to argue with yourself about whether it should be today, tomorrow or next week. You build and feel your muscles. You just do it.”