Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw are here to make 2025 your fittest year yet

Welcome to Health of the Nation

Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith are the game-changers who disrupted the fitness industry by building a community with acceptance, body positivity and connection at its heart – oh, and did we mention they’re also the nicest people you’ll ever meet? Joining forces with Body+Soul to launch our Health of the Nation campaign for 2025, they reveal why letting go of perfection and taking small steps are key to making this year your healthiest, happiest and strongest.

You’ve had just about all the pavlova you can handle, survived a week-long stay with the in-laws and even managed to pull together multiple outfits from a suitcase you packed with just five minutes to spare. Sound strangely familiar? With the holidays behind us and the majority of us firmly back at work, now comes the time of sizing up schedules and writing out routines for the rest of the year.

But if the things stopping you from making your health and wellness a priority in 2025 include a lack of time, motivation or feeling self-conscious to hit the gym with its hardcore regulars and high-tech machines that look like something out of a Halloween theme park, you’re definitely not alone. 

As Body+Soul’s 2025 Health of the Nation report – a comprehensive, independent survey of the food, fitness and health habits of more than 3,000 Aussies of all ages – found, motivation and consistency are the biggest hurdles we face when it comes to exercise. And if there are two people who totally get it, it’s Kic co-founders, Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw.

It’s the reason we’ve brought them on board to be the country’s personal fitness champions as we launch the second year of our groundbreaking Health of the Nation campaign (more on that later). But first, a bit of background on why – for these two trailblazers – helping you feel stronger, happier and healthier is a mission that’s deeply personal.

The fitness industry has famously battered self-love and body positivity for decades, but the platform Smith and Henshaw have built is one that champions the very opposite. Founded in 2015, Kic began as an eBook with 37 recipes that did away with calorie counting and focused instead on giving bodies the nourishment they need and deserve.

Kic has grown to become a health and wellness app that counts more than 2.5 million people as part of its global community. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Now in its 10th year, Kic has grown to become a health and wellness app that counts more than 2.5 million people as part of its global community – and has now been downloaded more than 850,000 times. Their guiding ethos? To make healthy living as sustainable as possible.

They’re firmly anti before-and-after photos, and don’t promise quick fixes or other toxic mindsets that continue to hijack the fitness world. Instead, you’ll find guided workouts that range from five minutes to an hour, strength programs that cultivate confidence in the gym, and guided runs to see you build from zero to conquering your first five kays (if you feel that way inclined).

And in a refreshing turn of events, they practise what they preach. Just a few examples? Henshaw – who has a law degree, is a qualified personal trainer and CEO of the business – tackled her first marathon in New York last year, documenting the blood, sweat and tears (literally) involved in her months of training on Instagram. While co-founder Smith, mum to a three-year-old son, Harvey, with a second baby on the way – is famously open about the challenges of running a rapidly growing brand while juggling family and serious sleep deprivation, something that is a hard relate for parents right around the country. 

t’s qualities like consistency, commitment, grit and determination that really count. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

When the calendar is jam-packed like Smith and Henshaw’s, it’s qualities like consistency, commitment, grit and determination that really count. Even if that means starting your health journey with a five-minute walk around the block if that’s all you can squeeze in, or simply eating a healthy breakfast every day rather than skipping it. “Our mission is to change as many people’s relationships as we can with health and wellness, and obviously with themselves because that’s where it’s all rooted,” Henshaw told Body+Soul.

“I hope that by joining Body+Soul for Health of the Nation we’re setting people up to succeed. We’d love to look back in years to come, and people who maybe weren’t exercisers or had a really sh*tty relationship with exercise can now say, ‘I move five days a week. I don’t yo-yo back and forth because this is sustainable for me, and I genuinely feel healthier and have more energy,’ and they’re focusing on how they feel.”

So, if you’re looking to make your health a priority in 2025 but don’t know where – or how – to start, we’ve got your back. From doing away with an all-or-nothing approach to fitness, to focusing on those small and sustainable habits that stack up to create lasting change over time, these surprisingly simple lessons from two inspiring and community-focused female founders are sure to change your view of exercise forever. 

Find your ‘why’ and use it as fuel. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Find your ‘why’ and use it as fuel

There’s no denying summer is a time when we approach our fitness with enthusiasm. Long days, blue skies and inviting waves? It’s enough to see you bound from the office desk to the yoga studio, park or beach with the energy you’d expect of a toddler riding a sugar rush. But as temperatures cool and the summer vacation feels like a distant memory, it’s all too common for motivation to plummet with the mercury.

As Smith explains, having a strong ‘why’ is key if you want to keep showing up for your health with consistency – just don’t base it around aesthetics. “Unfortunately for a lot of people, they automatically think, ‘Because I want to lose weight,’ or, ‘I want to look a certain way,” she says. “It’s very rarely sustainable when you’re just focusing on the way you look, and it can also be really easy to not feel up to it on any given day.” 

Her advice? Focus on things that mean more to you and your health than your appearance. Take our Health of the Nation findings as an example, where the key health motivator for 65 per cent of Aussies was to reduce stress and anxiety. Whatever your ‘why’, attaching it to a picture bigger than how you look will prove to be way more effective. 

Focus on things that mean more to you and your health than your appearance, Smith says. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Realise small habits stack up to long-term gains

If there’s one rule the Kic co-founders want you to unlearn, it’s that ‘getting fit’ demands a complete overhaul of your lifestyle. Lack of motivation might be the biggest hurdle for Aussies looking to hit their fitness goals, but a close second is lack of time due to work and other commitments. It’s a challenge so great, our Health of the Nation report found one in four Aussies don’t exercise every week as a result of time constraints.

We get it; between work deadlines, school drop-offs, grocery runs and generally busy schedules, finding the time to put your health and fitness first can be tough. But to think you need an hour for a workout to be effective isn’t just a disservice to your health, it’s also unrealistic. Starting small with a consistent routine of five to 10-minute workouts will help pave the way for lasting habits that stick. 

“If you’re coming from not exercising at all, it’s completely unsustainable to go to seven days a week. It’s too much on your body because you’re not used to it, but also schedule-wise, it’s just not going to work for you,” says Henshaw.

“Sometimes, I genuinely just have time for five minutes on the mat, and there was a time where I would’ve been like, ‘There’s no point, that’s going to do nothing,’” adds Smith. “Now, I’m like, ‘No, I’m so glad I did that because I feel like I needed it and I’ve given something back to myself!” 

If there’s one rule the Kic co-founders want you to unlearn, it’s that ‘getting fit’ demands a complete overhaul of your lifestyle. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Adopt a beginner’s mindset (and don’t compare yourself)

Whether you’re taking to a new sport, stepping into the gym for the first time or returning to exercise after months off, it’s easy to find yourself feeling a little anxious. In fact, our Health of the Nation report reveals 29 per cent of Gen Z feel so self-conscious they avoid exercise entirely. “It’s hard and can be intimidating,” admits Smith, who herself felt nervous getting back to strength training after her first pregnancy.

“Sometimes you walk in [to a gym] and it looks like everyone else has been there for years and they’re just so seamless. But it was everyone’s first time, once.” Smith used Kic’s strength program and trialled different gym environments until she found a space that felt comfortable. For beginners, though, she offers this guidance: “It doesn’t matter if someone else has been going there for years, you can take up just as much space as they can. And reach out for help if you need it because there’s always a PT around.” 

Don’t follow the crowd, unless of course you want to

It can be easy to get caught up in fitness fads and find yourself trying to work out in a way that doesn’t feel good to you, just because it seems like everyone else is doing it that way. “If you’re seeing your exercise as punishment, that might be due to the ‘why’, but it also might be because you’re forcing yourself into an exercise type that you don’t actually enjoy,” explains Smith. “Or you’re forcing yourself to be part of the 5am club when you’re a night exerciser, so it doesn’t work for you,” adds Henshaw.

As Smith and Henshaw will tell you, personal enjoyment (aka fun) should govern your fitness choices, not popular opinion. “You might need a bit of inspiration, like, ‘Maybe I’ll try dance cardio. Maybe I’ll go to a walking club,’ or whatever it is,” says Smith. “At the end of the day, you’ve just got to try it and listen to what fills you with joy and makes your body feel good, and don’t compare what that is to someone else.” 

Finding the time to put your health and fitness first can be tough, says Henshaw. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Let go of perfection and be kind to yourself

With many buying into the mindset of ‘New Year, new me’, anything that comes to derail a fitness routine can quickly be seen as a failure of your own dedication, rather than an inevitability of life. “The way we’re taught to think about health and wellness is that if you have one bad day, you give up,” muses Henshaw. It’s this mindset that holds us back from our healthiest lives and achieving our biggest dreams.

Just take Henshaw’s run in the 2024 New York Marathon as an example. She knew she needed to train sufficiently for the challenge, but she also knew that as the CEO of Kic, there would be training sessions missed due to travel and meetings. Then, the night before the race – after months of hard work – she almost didn’t make it to the start line thanks to an allergic reaction (courtesy of a drink that unknowingly contained cashews) that kept her awake all night vomiting. As far as marathon prep goes, Henshaw’s was far from ideal.

Reflecting on it now, she sees the power in letting go of perfection. “Missing one session today means nothing. Tomorrow’s a new day. Instead of that mentality of, ‘I’ve missed a session, I’m just going to quit,’ it’s the same as life. Today didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, but that’s OK because I have a new opportunity tomorrow. It’s consistency over time; all that other training that I did is why I got to the finish line.” 

As Smith and Henshaw will tell you, personal enjoyment (aka fun) should govern your fitness choices. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Embrace rest days and always mix it up

Back into exercise with a bang and keen to get to it every day? Good on ya – but remember that rest is equally important. Proper recovery can do wonders for both body and mind, providing a mental break and supporting a more sustainable routine. But there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to rest days.

“Some days if I’m feeling anxious, getting up and doing a HIIT workout is the worst thing I can do for myself because it’ll just keep me in this really high-paced mode,” admits Henshaw. “In that instance, I’ll do yoga to calm my nervous system or go for a walk. It comes back to being intuitive with your body and knowing you don’t need to push yourself every single day.” Virtual music to the ears of stressed wellness-seekers everywhere. 

Set your own markers of success

If there’s one message Henshaw and Smith wish to impart, it’s this: your weight doesn’t and will never define your worth. It’s also why they encourage the Kic community to set their own markers to track progress, boost motivation and celebrate personal achievements. Maybe this involves tracking your reps in the gym and working towards lifting a heavier weight. Or, for those taking up running, you might set a goal for a timed five-kay Park Run or work towards ticking off a certain distance.

For Smith, her progress is measured by daily journaling. “If you’re embarking on a fresh challenge or have picked up some new habits you’d love to sustain, you can journal about how you feel at the start. How do you feel in your body? How do you feel energy-wise? How is your confidence? Continue to check-in with yourself and you’ll likely see ebbs and flows with that.” 

Turns out embracing the power of community can be a game-changer. Image: Corrie Bond for Body+Soul

Lean into the power of community

Real talk: we know how hard it can be to stay motivated when it comes to fitness goals. Turns out embracing the power of community can be a game-changer – helping hold you accountable and giving you that much-needed boost of encouragement when you feel like throwing in the towel. The best part? They’ll also celebrate your personal wins. Just take this example: “We had a run club on Tuesday,” Henshaw recalls, her face beaming with that mega-watt smile.

“And there was a community member who ran over and said, ‘I got a PB!’ She was crying and so happy, it was the first time she’d ever run three kilometres non-stop. You could see the joy in the person who got the PB and then the people who helped her get there; it was the same level of joy. And that’s so special. That’s what community is: it’s belonging, being part of something bigger than just yourself, and helping and supporting each other.”

Just as the Kic community has grown and become a place of mutual support for its members, Body+Soul is here to support you to step into your healthiest year with Health of the Nation 2025. Whatever your goal – whether it’s looking after your body, getting stronger, sleeping better, harnessing more energy or simply reaping the wellness rewards that come with regular movement, we’re here to cut through the clutter with easy, digestible, how-to advice. And if there’s one message Henshaw wants to leave you with, it’s: just start, no matter how small the first step!

“This collaboration couldn’t be more aligned with Kic,” she says. “We’re all about making health and fitness accessible, sustainable and empowering – and Health of the Nation is doing exactly that. Our message to Aussies is simple: focus on fitness for how it makes you feel, not how it makes you look. Let go of any expectations and give it a go. You might surprise yourself with just how strong you are.”

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Your fitness ‘whys’ revealed

In the Body+Soul 2025 Health of the Nation survey, we asked Aussies what their main motivators were to get fit – and this is what you said:

54 per cent of people said improving overall health was their main driver for getting a sweat on – the number-one fitness catalyst across all Aussies surveyed.

​​38 per cent told us that the main reason they wanted to get fit was to boost their energy levels – no surprise in today’s always-on culture. 

37 per cent have got their eyes on the future and told us increasing longevity and healthy ageing was their motivation for getting and maintaining fitness.

37 per cent are moving more for their mind, stating that their main fitness motivation was to dial down stress and manage mental health. We love to see it!

Originally published as Steph Claire Smith and Laura Henshaw are here to make 2025 your fittest year yet