The start of a new year is always rife with information on how to overhaul your life; there are workout guides and diet plans and clear-out tips aplenty — almost all of them advising you differently.
For Jess Redden and Rob Kearney, one of Ireland’s most followed couples on social media, it’s less about restarting and more about resetting.
“I like to make micro goals that fit into my everyday life,” says Jess, adding that this is probably something we should be doing year-round as opposed to “just once in January”.
Passing an almost-three-month-old baby boy, Ross, between them, the couple are completely at ease in their light-filled Dublin home, and with the chaos of the festive season long behind them and their older son, Bobby, back at creche, this month is the perfect time to recalibrate.
“I don’t believe in setting out big goals at the start of the year,” says Rob. “Some people like them, some people need them, but I sort of feel as if I’m happy enough with the place that I’m in in terms of building good habits during the year, and it’s just about being consistent with them.” For them, it all boils down to eating well, sleeping well and getting to the gym three times a week — it may not be sexy, but it’s sustainable, and that’s what helps it stick.
Jess Redden and Rob Kearney. Picture: Bríd O’Donovan.
With a combined following of 280,000 on Instagram, Jess Redden and Rob Kearney are influential. With their backgrounds in sport and health, they are, unsurprisingly, often approached for health and wellness advice. The pair are conscious of how important it is not to overstep (Jess has ‘no personal medical advice’ stated clearly in her Instagram bio).
“We’re living in such a different world now than when we grew up. There’s so much misinformation and scaremongering,” Jess says. “You need to be listening to professionals or evidence-based information. Now, anyone can be a ‘professional’ online — we’re getting our information from unreliable resources, and that frustrates me as someone coming from a science background.”
Supplements are another minefield, the pharmacist says.
“People are always telling you, ‘you need this’ or ‘you need that’. In this country, you mainly just need vitamin D. And a lot of the supplements out there are just full of binders and fillers.
“When someone says ‘this is life-changing’, or ‘this is growing my hair’, people buy into that, but in terms of resources I would recommend, the HSE is a good one, or the NHS.”
“Everything is sensationalised,” agrees Rob. “It’s a race to win as many eyeballs as you can, and to do that, you have to sensationalise.”
As someone whose work has always championed realistic, achievable wellness, Jess says it’s important to her to make health feel accessible to her followers.
“I think it’s really important to add quality to our years. When we get older, we’re going to look back and think, why didn’t I make that change?
I think life is just so short, and we don’t know what’s around the corner, so to live your life as healthily as you can is the best thing you can do for yourself, for your kids.
“I’m not going to put up a really strict diet plan for people to follow, because that’s not sustainable, it’s not authentic. I always try to put up realistic goals that are easy for people to follow. Once you’re healthy, I feel you’re truly happy. Dad was sick for a few years, but he was never terminal. It all just happened very quickly. I remember thinking at the time, ‘My God, if he had just gone to the gym a bit more’, that if he had just changed his lifestyle in some way, maybe he would still be with us.
You obviously can’t live in regret, but that experience definitely changed how I view health and its importance. “I think we take our health for granted every day, and it’s not something that’s just given to us.
You have to make the choice to be healthy each day.”
Jess Redden and Rob Kearney. Picture: Bríd O’Donovan.
Wellness isn’t just about the good days, though, and prioritising self-care as parents has definitely been a learning curve for them both.
“You’re probably at your most tired when you become a mum, but that’s when it’s even more important to make time for yourself,” notes Jess.
“Don’t pour from an empty cup. I can only speak from personal experience, but with your first child, there’s that mum guilt that you can’t take any time for yourself.
“I was so burnt out,” she admits, “and it didn’t do good for me or for Bobby. This time, I realised that I can’t get to that point of burnout. I need to get my hour to go to the gym or get my nails done, to do something for me. Mental health is really, really important when you’re looking after little ones and looking after yourself is a big part of that.”
Her one piece of advice for new parents?
“Don’t compare yourself to anyone else, especially in today’s world, where we’re fed the highlight reel every single day. I was looking at people getting out of the house and going shopping and doing this and that, when I couldn’t even get out of my pyjamas the first time. I found it really difficult. This experience is totally different to my last one, but I think I was comparing myself a lot more the last time as well. Comparison is the thief of joy. Take your time, don’t rush, and remember, it’s all a phase.”
As for most parents, finding time to do things together is a challenge, but they’ve gotten better at carving out time for each other.
“We’ve started waking up a little bit earlier in the last few weeks,” Rob tells me. “We make our coffee and watch a bit of a show together in bed for 20, 30 minutes.” They’ve also taken to doing ice baths together. “We have a sauna and an ice bath down the garden. I love it,” he continues, admitting that it was the best thing he bought last year.
“It’s so hard to get in, but you’re electric afterwards. You just feel so good,” adds Jess.
Jess Redden and Rob Kearney at their wedding in Doonbeg, County Clare in 2021
With most things, the pair seem to be on the same page. Food is one topic where the two differ greatly.
“Rob just sees it as fuel,” says Jess.
“That’s probably a conditioning from when I was younger and playing professional sport; a sport where I needed to be heavy to maintain muscle mass, needed to eat loads,” he explains. “It was a little bit of a chore. Nowadays, I don’t eat a huge amount during the day, not necessarily by choice, but because I don’t have a massive appetite.”
For Jess, a self-described ‘foodie’ with one cookbook, The Food Pharmacy, under her belt, it has more to do with enjoyment than simply sustenance.
“When I was younger, I used to cook and bake so much with my mum and granny, and I have so many memories around food. I cook a lot with Bobby now, too. We do pancakes, or we’ll bake cookies. I love shared mealtimes and that he’s able to eat what he’s actually made himself.”
The duo also became ambassadors for popular high street chain M&S earlier this year and really rate their in-store food offering.
“I absolutely love the place,” laughs Jess. “You cannot get a mango that tastes as good as the M&S mango! It’s great this time of year when you’re trying to eat healthy. They have Eat Well stickers on certain food products that have been approved and developed by in-house nutritionists. There’s also the Brain Food range, the Nutrient-Dense range, and the Good Gut range, where everything is rooted in gut health. I’d be a huge advocate for gut health — things like kefir are great.”
While the two are quite different, they’re also very alike in many ways, too.
“I’d say subconsciously, we’ve picked up an awful lot of each other’s habits,” smiles Rob. “I’m more conscious of what’s in things — sugar and additives. Exercise is another one.”
“We’re quite good in the morning with our schedules,” admits Jess. “We have a joint calendar, so Rob books his classes in for the week, and I book mine. I try to do two strength-based sessions and two cardio sessions.”
“You go to bed earlier now, too,” chimes Jess. “Rob used to drag me to bed at 11 o’clock and ask me if I wanted to start a movie. I’d be thinking, ‘Are you well? I’m on my third dream by 11 o’clock!”
The Dundalk man has also taught her to be “more savvy” she says.
“I could be very naive sometimes, and think everybody’s the best in the world, but you have to be a bit more cute!”
Having retired from professional rugby back in November 2021, Rob has had some time to acclimatise to life off-pitch, but like many athletes, he shares that he found the early days challenging.
“I found the first year or two pretty difficult. Moving from being in a gym every day at a certain time with three coaches, lifting with your mates, to then going to your own gym where you’re accountable to yourself was tough.
Rob has had some time to acclimatise to life off-pitch, but it definitely took some time for him to find his groove. Picture: ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
“I’ve gotten that bit of structure back into my life now, which is so much better. [The shift was definitely harder] mentally. Some people — and Jess is one of them — need to get to the gym every day or every other day. I’m not one of those people who need to exercise every single day. So it was more the transition away from doing what I love with a great group of mates and playing for my country that was tough. It was a really great life.
I knew whenever it was time to finish up and retire, I was going to miss it. In saying that, the transition has been very good to me. It’s not been as difficult as I thought it might have been.
A man with many hats, Rob now busies himself with various business ventures, including the Grand Slam Bars group with fellow rugby stars Jamie Heaslip, Dave Kearney, and Sean O’Brien, while also being a rugby pundit and pursuing other interests like racehorse ownership and golf.
Jess, meanwhile, is busy preparing for a new podcast, which will be released in the coming months.
Before I leave, I have to ask — how do they navigate the interest in their personal lives, which no doubt can cross the line at times.
“Being in the public eye has a huge amount of perks and great things come with it, but then there are a lot of downsides too. You have to take the good with the bad sometimes,” acknowledges Rob.
“I’m an open book,” Jess admits, “Rob needed to rein me in a little bit. He is the most private person you’ll ever meet, and I guess I opened him up a little bit, so we’re a good combo. I wouldn’t say I’m any different online than I am offline, but Instagram is the highlight reel you get to choose. People think ‘Oh, it’s great all the time’, and it’s not.”
Looking ahead to the rest of 2026, is there any particular word or phrase that encapsulates what they want the year to look like?
“Presence over perfection,” they say (almost in unison).
Jess Redden and Rob Kearney are ambassadors for M&S, which has a focus on accessible, nutritious food for everyday life.