be a force

These five trainers each built a following by forging their own path in the wellness world. Now they're coleading the Women's Health Flex Challenge, 28 days of workouts you can customize for your unique goals. They're proof that strength comes in many forms— and they're here to help you unlock it within yourself. Let's go!

- by abigail cuffey and amanda lucci

AS THE SHY ONLY CHILD of two actors, the Texas native has always felt most comfortable expressing her creativity at home. She imagined her own worlds, staged plays using her mom's theater models, and set up a camera on a tripod to capture them.

Decades later, Adriene is still making videos in her living room— except now, nearly 13 million YouTube subscribers are watching. She's a hatha yoga teacher with more than 500 hours of training, and her channel, Yoga With Adriene, has been an accessible welcome mat to an at-home yoga practice for more than 12 years. So much has changed for Adriene during that time, but so much has also stayed the same.

“Anyone who's putting themselves in a position where they're guiding other people has to evolve,” Adriene says. In many ways, she has: See her paid online platform, Find What Feels Good, which has introduced new yoga instructors from new locations. “But in the end, it just feels like the right thing to be in my actual home, to keep stripping down all the production, and just really keep Yoga With Adriene the real thing—keep that honest and clear.”

She and her new husband recently moved into what she calls Yoga With Adriene's third home. Back in her single days, filming at a breakneck pace and living and breathing her online community felt natural. These days, she's working toward balancing her Yoga With Adriene identity with Adriene Mishler, who very much wants to practice the yogic philosophies she preaches—“but they're so intertwined that it can get a little confusing,” she admits.