LL COOL J CURLS :)

Ok SO I promised myself I wasn't going to answer any fitness questions this week or focus on anything but school, but I lied can't do it LOL Well not true my hardest of all my mid terms is done as of tonight so I can breathe a little again. Still have a large paper and Essay Exam due towards the end of the week, but Chemistry is my Nemesis, and that test was taken tonight. I honestly have NO CLUE how I did. I can't say I bombed and can't say I'm confident. Out of 30 questions I felt like 15 I looked at and JUST KNEW, then 5 I really scratched my head and was dumb founded, then 10 I felt so so on. Keep in mind Chemistry is not multiple choice or essays so like any science or math one mistake in your equations and its off. But we will see, I'm trying not to stress, I did everything I could to prepare. But yeah I'm stressed a little LOL. In Biology last semester which I didn't even think was difficult, I enjoy Biology I got an 84 on my first test and the class average was a 56 :/ Then I was so determined not to get in the 80s I studied my butt off and got a 97 on the next exam. That actually wasn't very nice of me cause it messed up the classes grading scale but I was just so damn proud. So in this Physiological Chem Class... the entire class is LOST for the most part. I mean we are understanding somewhat in lecture but applying it on our own is a different story. Out of close to 30 students we are down to probably like 15 - 16 and out of that there are like 4 or 5 of us who can converse and have questions about the lecture, but the majority of the class has set up times for extra help. I mean I'm not saying its the hardest class in the world, haha its only the tip of the iceberg in chemistry word really. But for me its just intense. So its taking a lot of focus. Give me A & P, Biology, Kinesiology all day over this stuff. But it is my necessary evil right now.

But a few things that were blog worthy to me today...

1. I share a lot. I share a lot on here and a lot if you have me on face book. Sometimes I get a negative vibe here or there from people but for the most part the response is SO POSITIVE it motivates me. And that's what I want to share. Often I write a blog and its neither really informative or educational and I find that is when I get the most responses. I want my blog to be a mix of everything, but when I just write, I hope people can take things out of my experiences and don't think I'm just typing to hear myself talk. Sometimes I am :) but my point is, there is usually a method to my madness. And the last email I received and many like this are the ones that keep me sharing: "wow u r amazing steph...i really mean that. thank you for this info. Thanks for being so sharing and giving ...its nice to read about your goals and how you achieved gettin' on stage. It's very inspirational!"

Now don't get me wrong I do not need my back patted every step of the way, that's not why I share either. I just do it... its who I am. And I just want to say I appreciate those who appreciate it and it motivates me as well. ESPECIALLY when replies come from people I respect and even look up to ;) Those who don't appreciate my sharing...Wellll... Don't let the door hit ya where the... ahem, you know the saying :)

Blog worthy event #2 today - So I was doing cardio and watching The View, yeah I know its one of those shows people either love or hate, PERSONALLY FOR ME I LOVE IT!!! I never get to watch it unless on cardio, but I do love it. Maybe its because that is like my DREAM JOB, I know sounds weird but its like a cross between journalism and a coffee date. Can you imagine me around a table able to the shoot the crap and give my opinions freely and GET PAID FOR IT! Oh Lordy that would be a great day!! The View makes me laugh, I know a bunch of yapping yentas is not everyone's idea of funny, but I like it. Well today one of the segments was following Elizabeth Hasselback through her workout. Which props when props are due she is a fit momma, especially after three kids!! The first thing I will say positive about the clip was they (her and her trainer) FOCUSED on STRENGTH TRAINING - RESISTANCE Training. They were doing Push ups, Flys, Lunges, Dead lifts (all different variations) I was impressed to see some real exercise and not just "core work" or cardio being done. It was a good workout!! Most if not ALL of exercises I do with my boot camp, so I was chatting with them about it and they were happy to see that. I'm not a huge mainstream fitness interest, but lets face it the times are changing, slowly but surely people are starting to get with the program. No more just Jane Fonda sweat to you drop stuff. Real workouts. Kelly Ripa's arms, Madonna's arms, I saw a pic of Cameron Diaz pulling a SLED and doing shoulders with a huge ROPE, and running sprints! That's what I'm talkin bout! I know in the fitness world it may be too little too late. But to someone who works with the general public I am glad to see some REAL WORKOUTS being showcased. Maybe they're not "bodybuilding workouts" but their good workouts!

Now I'm not trying to self promote or anything :) But the one thing that struck me odd was her trainer STARTED OFF her routine with High intensity cardio training BEFORE her weightlifting. Now I am not one to puff up my chest against another trainer or say this one knows more than that one yada yada yada. If anyone knows me I follow many trainers/coaches I respect who may all have different methods. I mean this guy owns a nice facility in NY and is training celebrities, who am I to say? Well who am I not to? LOL THERE ARE FEW RULES OUT THERE THAT MOST TRAINERS WILL AGREE ON. Science has proven this, studies, athletes, I thought it was pretty much undisputed. It is never recommended to perform cardio BEFORE resistance training and high intensity cardio at that. Now a warm up or intertwining cardio bursts in a circuit for conditioning are one thing, but he had her do 10 quarter miles sprints. I mean I'm no mathematician but I believe that's 2.5 miles before weight training, SPRINTING. Which again damn props to her she ran her booty off. But so counter productive to do BEFORE you lift. I've always said this, MOST DO. But it hit me stronger because I have a competitor I am working with who's probably gonna glance at this ;) and I will say just switching her cardio to post workouts verses PRE she has seen improvements in her physique and that leads me to another post... a question I get asked often... Is SPIN a good workout, are the STAIRS a good workout, is RUNNING a good workout???

Without making this too long let me explain briefly what I mean by this statement: None of those I would consider my "WORK OUT"? What do I mean by that? Do they burn calories? Yes. Do you sweat? Yes. Are the cardiovascularly healthy? Absolutely. Can you lose weight doing them? "Technically". Well what does that mean? All of those activities SPIN, Kickboxing, Step, Stairs, Elliptical, can be great cardio, in fact I enjoy incorporating them in my personal routines. But that is just it, they are CARDIOVASCULAR WORK. Nothing more, nothing less. Cardio is a TOOL to aid with fat loss, a tool to burn calories, a health benefit for your heart, but has very little to do with the elusive "toneness" most are looking for when they are looking for a workout. For the most part none of that is going to lift your glutes, none of that is going to create a sweep on your outer leg, none of that is going to give you definition in your arms, shoulders, or back. So if you are looking to "tone" or change the shape of your body, cardio is a TOOL not the answer, not the workout.

RESISTANCE TRAINING, WEIGHTS, BODY WEIGHTED EXERCISES. THOSE ARE THE ANSWER!!! Ever seen someone lose weight doing cardio only? They look like a shrunken version of their former self, great to get the weight off but every thing hangs exactly where it did before. Now take someone who is doing resistance training properly ALONG with their weight loss and that is when magic happens ;) So that is why I was pleased to see Elizabeth's workout focus on RESISTANCE TRAINING, and GREAT FORM and INTENSITY. It is something women need to see more of.

And I use the word tone in quotations because it is a misused word. What does tone mean? It means you don't want to get big right? That's usually what it means. Well I have a very interesting piece of information for you, it is VERY VERY VERY difficult for women to get big. But you may think well I don't even want my arms as big as yours LOL and that's fair, everyone's goals are different it wouldn't be the first time I've heard it, it doesn't offend me/. But technically there is no such thing as tone. Now obv this is not going to my fitness gals we are muscle mommas we wanted jacked arms, that's different. But I respect the fact that not everyone does.

It is still important in order to define your goals to figure out what you mean by tone. You can't tone a muscle. You can shape it by essentially BUILDING IT. The tone and shape you see is low enough body fat to uncover the muscle that is worked and built up. It doesn't have to be built up BIG, but it does have to be built up. And without talking circles around this, my point is TONE is definition, definition is muscles being shown. Think of it this way RESISTANCE TRAINING shapes it and builds it (along with offering a myriad of other benefits - increasing bone density, increasing lean body mass which has a profound effect on your metabolism, often burning more calories than cardio alone), but nutrition and cardio are your tools to show it off. Hence the name of my COMPANY - BODY DEFINITION - DEFINE WHO YOU WANT TO BE... obviously it has more meaning than just your body being defined, but I am determined to get rid of the word toned and replace it with defined :)

3. And blog worthy post number 3. Now I started this blog on Tuesday night but am finishing it today on Thursday so bare with the hoping around. But Tuesday the other thing I wanted to Blog about was something I saw at a store that really hit home with me. I was standing in line at a store purchasing supplies for school. In fact it was before my big exam I needed a new calculator and some pens, and who knows what else. I nervous shop whenever I have something coming up LOL true story. So the young girl in front of me with her mother were purchasing school supplies as well. The girl couldn't have been older than 14 maybe 15. Beautiful young girl, tall - taller than her mother, long dark hair, and a typical teenage attitude. She had one hip cocked to the side and her chin slightly twisted. And the cashier just making light conversation says to the girl: "Let me guess this is for you." It was all school supplies: notebooks, pens, etc just like myself. And the girl nodded and didn't really respond. So the mother stepped in and said: "Yes she's going back to school, she was being home schooled." And the girl interrupts rudely and blurts out so proudly "NO, I QUIT." Her and her mother bicker back and forth a little about that comment and finally the cashier says. "You don't want to quit school, especially in this economy, that's the worse thing you could possibly do, if nothing else just try and stick it out it will get better." The cashier was really trying to connect to the girl and it was clearly going in one ear and out the other. So the girl looks up doesn't say a word, shifts back and forth from hip to hip annoyed and says: "So how old do you have to be to get a job here?" And the cashier just sighed and replied, "eighteen." The girl huffed, tossed her hair and walked out the door even before her mother was done paying. And her poor mother just stood there embarrassed and rolled her eyes and said "KIDS!" And I stood there for a minute, it was like a show where they show you a flashback. THAT WAS ME when I was a teenager.

Ask my poor parents. Sophomore year I decided I was too good for high school (seriously I really thought I was) - and it was clear to me that the girl in front of me thought she was too good for high school too. I was making enough money at my job as a jewelry sales girl, are you kidding me I got one large commission check enough to buy my first car and I was sold. Money ruled my world. At 16 I was driven and motivated to finish my high school diploma, while I was making money and start college early. I was in a huge rush to grow up. And then I got pregnant. I got married at 17 and set up house with my baby and husband and just waited for my life to "work out". I was an office manager, an assistant manager at a weight loss center, a stay home Mom, a personal trainer and group exercise instructor without a college education, so I never felt like it held me back... UNTIL the economy turned. I've always been home with my kids at least part time and wanting control of flexible part time work that either challenged me or paid well was not exactly easy to find as it had been in the past. I found a part time job, with a schedule that worked. Ironically it was the same job I worked when I decided to work full time while I home schooled. Same job 10 years later, it didn't sit well with me and after being home for a few years with my kids I was actually INTIMIDATED to even get back into the work field. That’s not a knock at all to my part time job. It was just the least challenging and least money I had ever made. I could have easily moved up within the company, but I felt it just wasn't where I saw myself. And now my lack of education was not only staring me dead in the face, but was directly not allowing me to move forward in a direction I wanted to go in.

ENTER - GOING BACK TO SCHOOL AND GETTING BACK INTO TRAINING. I've ALWAYS KNOWN WHERE I BELONGED AND FITNESS IS IT. However since the economy scare, being a young business owner is a vulnerable place. I am fortunate to have an income from my husband to fall back on but what if that ever went away? What if something ever happened to him? What if HE lost his job? We have never knock on wood once in our 11 years of marriage been without him employed or without health insurance or not been able to scrape by, but the stories in this economy where quite scary. It was a rude awakening, and I think preemptively woke me up to having a better back up plan. It taught me that nothing is certain. So here at 28 standing behind this child with my own school supplies back in college going for a degree I could have done five times over by now, it was a powerful moment. "HOW OLD DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO WORK HERE?" Those words will ring in my ears for a while. Yes you can start here at 16, but do you still want to be stuck here at 30, 40, 50?

There is even more to my story and I wish I had followed that girl outside, trust me her Mom would have let me she looked at me like HELP. But I didn't I guess I'm not to a point in my life where I'm ready to say "I've been there." Someday with time it will come, I still have my own battles. And I know I'm still affected by my choices as a teen everyday because something like that made me freeze in my tracks.

I hear people talk about the shows 16 and pregnant on MTV and it makes my skin crawl, and makes me sad. I've never watched it but here and there for clips at a time. Sounds hypocritical huh? I am not proud of my mistakes but I’ve made the best of what I’ve had. People tell me I’m lucky that my life has “worked out” and I just think, yes I’m blessed, but I still want so much more out of life. I have a beautiful family and marriage. I can honestly say most anything I've ever wanted to do or want to do I am confident that I can and WILL. I am not using my mistakes as a crutch. I'm also not looking to be a star role model here, just want to share because many new clients or followers don't know my story. Many think it is all set up easy for me to be positive, or productive, and I will just say I have NO COMPLAINTS, I am INDEED TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED, but trust me I am FAR FAR FAR FROM PERFECT ;)

SO TO WRAP THIS BLOG UP!!! TALKING MUSCLES AND THE VIEW AND RESISTANCE TRAINING AND LAUGHING PLEASE WATCH THIS CLIP!!!! LL COOL J CURLING THE GIRLS! YES I SAID CURLING THE GIRLS!!! SHERRI DONE LOST HER MIND LOL I LOVE IT!!!!

For the purpose of training we call this pyramid style building of weights in this curl set! HOT AND FUNNY!!!