Heidi Somers understands that when it comes to health and fitness, everyone has to start somewhere. While the fitness pro boasts millions of followers on social media today thanks to her hyperactive attitude and accessible workouts, ‘Buffbunny’ was once rock bottom with her own health and happiness.
Fortunately, as a driven entrepreneur, Somers has been able to use her personal journey as fuel for others to start their own path to fitness. M&F caught up with the influencer and trainer to find out how she grew into a strong and powerful woman and why, ten years after her own shine, Somers is always striving to better herself, her community and her brand.
Fitness from experience
Anyone with a cursory knowledge of Somers’ history will know that she was unhappy as a freshman in college. Overweight and mentally twisted, she would eventually need a fresh start, moving from her hometown of North Pole, Alaska, to attend medical school in San Antonio, Texas, in order to give her the necessary motivation to turn her life around. Leaving family and friends behind, Somers found herself with an open road to navigate her future, her path, and began the path to weight loss. Her fans will tell you that Somers soon fell in love with CrossFit and even found success in the bodybuilding scene, placing in the top 5 at her first NCP run competition in 2014 and winning the NPC Alaska Crystal Cup in 2015. These days, Somers she can squat almost twice her body weight and shares her experience and knowledge with her millions of avid followers. But what fewer people may know about her story is how difficult it was to get started in those early days of the gym.
“I had a lot of men giving me advice. I’ll take men’s advice all the time, but I think in that sense of being very vulnerable and very new to fitness and nutrition, I felt like I had a bit of a hard time taking men’s advice at the time,” Somers recalls. “When I started learning a little more about nutrition and fitness, I got into great, amazing shape and that’s when I started doing social media. I want to give women the advice I wish I had when I started, just like the sense of community and also how these things really worked for me.”
Confidence through self-empowerment
As the beauty’s relationship with her body and her social media audience grew, Somers not only developed her voice to motivate the masses, but also worked on her ability to listen intently. “At the end of the day, women just want to feel seen and heard,” says Electric pocket motor 4′ 11″.. Listening to these wants and needs is what started the Buffbunny clothing line, after many women felt that workout clothes weren’t made with them in mind. “I love chatting with people, like next to someone on a plane or in an Uber. I think you can learn things from all different types of people just by absorbing that information, just being a sponge and taking the information you’ve learned and applying it to your products.”
Somers is still a huge CrossFit fan and likes to start her workouts with 15 minutes of high-intensity indoor training. But he also understands that for those just starting out, there are serious mental hurdles that go hand in hand with the physical trials. “I remember, I just felt very isolated and alone,” the personal trainer recalls. “All I could hear was weights banging and people grunting, and it made me feel very overwhelmed. So some tips that really helped me in the beginning is to definitely buy some noise canceling headphones so you can really focus. And then: group lessons. I think for me it was less about wanting to do the group classes and more so that it made me feel less alone, doing classes where people are cheering you on.”
In addition to her clothing line, Somers is also developing a women’s focus Gymnastics fields, and continues to speak and listen to her followers as she continues her own personal and professional journey. “I think it’s really important to find your people when you start fitness,” says the fitness icon with foresight.
Heidi Somers upper body with dumbbell circuit
Standing Shoulder DB Press:
4 sets of 10 reps
Rest: 75 seconds between sets
Standing DB Row:
4 sets of 12 reps
Rest: 75 seconds between sets
DB worldwide:
4 sets, 15 reps
Rest 60 seconds between sets
DB Overhead Triceps Extension:
3 sets, 12 reps
Rest: 60 seconds between sets
Tricep rollover:
3 sets, 15 reps
Rest: 60 seconds between sets
Bicep Curl:
3 sets, 10 reps
Rest: 60 seconds between sets
Dumbbell 21’s:
3 sets, 7 reps each
(Full, Half, ¼)
