QVC/PowerFit Reminder

I’m sending out this message on my old blog as a reminder of show times, but also to let you know that if you haven’t moved your subscription over to www.stephaniehuckabee.com, you need to come on over!!  It’s an interactive website that I think you’ll enjoy and I’ve really enjoyed settling into my new “virtual home.”

The show times are as follows:

Sunday, April 19th at 9:30pm EST

Monday, April 20th at 4:30pm EST

My new workouts are currently available via QVC and here is the link to order

 

http://www.qvc.com/qic/qvcapp.aspx/view.2/app.detail/params.item.F07035.desc.Stephanie-Huckabees-PowerFit-Total-Body-5-DVD-Workout

You can also see some of the production pictures on my new conversation/blog area on the new website.

Once again, I want to thank those of you who subscribed to this original blog.   It’s been my experience right here with all of you that helped me realize that maybe I still had something to offer in terms of fitness.

I am so grateful…

Have a great weekend!

Steph

It’s official!! www.stephaniehuckabee.com is up and running!

I’m sending this message out to let you know that my new virtual home is officially www.stephaniehuckabee.com and I hope you’ll join me there!  If you click on the conversations/blog option, you can log in and then sign up to receive updates just as you have with this blog.  I promise it’s just as painless

Part of me wants to get all sappy about the beginning of this little blog and its evolution, but my joy over the new virtual home eclipses any sappiniess I could possibly feel!!  And actually I consider many of you the heart of any of the things I’ve written as I’ve learned from many of you on things from how to hang in there with the challenges of motherhood to learning tips and tricks for nutrition.

Thanks for your awesome questions and comments and I hope that I’ll see you on the new site soon! 

Steph 

Check out the new website!!!

I have to send a HUGE THANK YOU to the crew at American Movie Company…  Thanks to Bill, Nico, Drew, Trevor, the whole crew there  - for your vision and your ability to put my thoughts into web mode.  And Drew – thanks for the rescue from 50 Wall Street when I was in NYC this weekend    I’m looking so forward to this becoming my new virtual “living room” out here on the Internet.  And Andy – special thanks as always for listening to my goals, believing in me and helping me get there!

I hope all of you who have joined me on this blog will continue to let me know how I can help you in your pursuit of a healthy and joyful life.   And just so you know, as we’re ramping up the new website, this blog will actually be continued over there once it’s moved.

Hope you all have a great day!!

Steph

www.stephaniehuckabee.com

(And I’m getting a wonderful lesson in patience today – one of my children has an upper respiratory infection with a complimentary ear infection in both ears… FUN!!!)

New website will be up soon!!!!

I just wanted to let all of you know that the new www.stephaniehuckabee.com website will be up and running in the next few weeks.  I hope to see all of you over there as it’s a true reflection of what I do and believe – and kind of a “virtual living room” where I hope you’ll stop in and say hello, ask questions, or just stop by for some encouragment when you’re having a rough day.  Ultimately I want the new site to reflect what YOU need from me, so don’t be shy about speaking up when we get it running.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Steph 

Production Update for February

After sharing my workouts with some special women a couple of weeks ago, I’ve had the opportunity to discuss a little bit about how and why I designed my new workouts the way I did and I thought I’d share that with you.  I also hope this will address some of the questions I’ve received on this site about what I’ve been up to.

First of all, I’ve been doing resistance training now for over 20 years.  I started in high school and though my weight fluctuated a good bit, I’ve always incorporated some form or fashion of resistance.  I used to think that to do resistance training only meant you could use dumbbells or weight machines from a gym.  So, when I was trying to lose weight after I had Wilson that’s exactly the approach I took.  I wanted to jump back into my heavy weights as fast as I could and force my body back into some sort of pre-pregnancy shape.   And that’s where I went wrong…for weeks I tried to get through workouts that in the past had been pretty doable for me and not only was I physically struggling, I was mentally burnt out.  And as any new mom knows – you barely have enough energy to get through the day – much less a special reserve to give you a pep rally to get through a workout!

That’s when I started experimenting with bands and with exercises that used my own body’s resistance based on planes of gravity.  I had to take a few steps back and just trust that it was okay to try something new, to take the time to intelligently and patiently develop a system that would make me actually look forward to my 5AM workouts.  So, I headed off to Target and bought some bands.  (since then I’ve bought many, many more….they’re so cheap that I can’t resist when I see a new type!)  I took out an old notebook, tried some exercises, created some exercises – and discovered a new approach on how to train. 

Many of you have seen my split workouts posted on this blog, so that’s the approach I took with the bands.  I divided my body up into different parts and then on different days focused on specific muscles.  I wont’ go into more details on that part at this time, but on my new website coming up I’ll have plenty of information on that.  Let me just tell you – I quickly learned that not only did the bands challenge me in a new way that lead to long, lean muscle development and a figure that I haven’t seen since before college, but they left me feeling energized, recharged and IN charge.

I  have to say that I was thrilled when a friend of mine told me that I should check out an episode of Oprah from this past week where Gwyneth Paltrow was talking about her struggles to lose baby weight from her second child.  She told me that my workouts were similar to what they were talking about.  I missed the episode but did go to the website and there she was with her trainer – and it’s all about bands and that type of resistance to keep muscles long, lean and strong. 

I’m also thrilled to announce that the workouts will be released on QVC and I’ll provide air dates shortly.  This makes me so proud as customer service is of huge importance and they have the best track record out there.  Also, I have a new website which will go live in upcoming weeks so be sure to stay tuned so that you can link up with my information there.  It will be much more user friendly and is based on much of the feedback I’ve received from you on this blog.

I hope you have wonderful week and if you want to be sure that you don’t miss any updates, please look to the right and click on the link that asks if you want to be updated to be provided with this information automatically.

Take care!!

Steph

The pictures from last weekend…

I told you that I’d share some pictures from this past weekend, so here are a few that Stephanie Nye shared with me.  A huge thanks to Annette, Danielle, Kim, Sarah, Kara, Jennifer, Stephanie, Kelly, Christine and Andrea!!  I just wish we would have had more time to actually work out together – but the time spent talking was incredible and the more I talk with other women about working out and all the other stuff we covered, the more I realize how we’re all in this together and it’s often through the wisdom of other women that we can find ways to live our lives to the fullest.

    And I also have to say thanks to Andy, Bill, Trevor and Ben as they made the weekend a wonderful experience as well…  This picture is of Trevor who managed to fanagle himself from one end of a shot to the other without making so much as a sound.  It was very easy to even forget that we were shooting as the group was so professional and just let us do our thing.

We did do some cardio as well as some strength training, but most of the pictures came from the last workout in the new series which I hope you’ll enjoy as much as I do…  It’s a workout designed to restore and reward you for taking the time to nurture yourself.   The music is absolutely beautiful and my hope is that it will make each of you feel graceful and powerful all at the same time.

One more thing – I finally reactivated my Facebook stuff  so if  you’re a member there, look me up!  I’m still learning how it all works and I’m amazed at some of the people I’ve run in to….  we’re even talking about my 20 year high school reunion on Facebook..

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and do something good for yourself!!

Stephanie

Thanks to the ladies who came to the shoot this weekend!!

I’ll be posting more details and pictures about what went on and some specific thank yous when I have a little more time, but just wanted to say a huge THANKS to those brave volunteers who showed up to try out my new workouts.  It was so much fun to see you all in action and I especially enjoyed our time just talking about how we handle all that we do in a day as women who also see fitness as an important part of our lives.

Hope you all have a great week and as soon as I get some more pictures in I’ll be posting them.

Steph

Do your workouts wear you out??

 

Cathy recently posted a common question about how to respond when some days you just feel too tired to do what you normally do for your workouts.  I posted my response here as well as this is something I hear quite a bit.  If you have your own advice on how you handle this, please share with the rest of us as we can all benefit from one another’s experiences.

Hope you take some time for you this weekend and celebrate whatever joy is right in front of you!

Steph

 

 

Cathy:
I can totally relate to how you are feeling both from my experience after having my kids and just from talking with a lot of other women. I bet your physician does wish all of his patients were as fit as you are!!

On the aging thing…. I’m 36 years into this life so I can speak from my personal experience of what it was like to go from a 20-something who had all the time in the world to a mom with a full time job, 2 small children and a body that just wouldn’t seem to want to do what it used to for exercise…

I think if you feel that you need to rest – you mention fatique – that you should listen to your body. NOW the trade off on this as I have learned first hand, is that if you take more rest days, nutrition becomes even more important. I went through a phase when I couldn’t do anything that I used to do hardly. I couldn’t even get through some of the workouts that I wrote and led!!

So, I backed down a little bit on my weight training, incorporated more resistance band work and core training, and made sure my nutrition was extra clean. And you know what? I now weigh less than I did when I shot any of my old workouts and I feel much stronger and not so worn out. I also am crazy about splits and rather than trying to do the whole kitchen sink approach by doing all of my muscle groups every workout, I pick apart my body.

I also make sure that I keep up with my supplements and drink plenty of water. I use protein shakes and try to get in more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Now, this is an ever-evolving journey just as I believe fitness should always be. After all, how boring would it be to do the same thing again and again and again? Some days I feel like I can hit the heavy weights full force and others I feel like my body is asking for some gentle core work and stretching. I respect what my body tells me knowing that I’m doing my part on the nutrition end as well.

Keep a log of what you do and how it makes you feel. Figure out which workouts make you feel strong and powerful and those that make you feel uncomfortable or completely exhausted. Working out shouldn’t wear you out!!

I think if you’ll keep a log and then figure out what does YOUR body need, what does it respond to, and change things up accordingly, you’ll see that you can continue to workout as you’re accustomed to doing but that you’ll feel energized. Listen to your body!!

I hope that helps and this is one of those times I wish we could sit down for coffee (with fat free creamer of course!) and really talk in detail. In the mean time, please keep me posted on how you’re doing.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Steph

Don’t forget the planks!!!

I’ve been really focusing on abs lately as I admit that I held off for a while on serious training for that region after my second c-section.  I guess now that Will is 14 months old I can’t use him as my excuse not to train abs hard anymore!

So, I recently started my plank routine full force and I’m noticing that not only are my abdominal muscles coming in with more definition, but I’m feeling much stronger in my back.  Just like many of you, when I’ve done a lot of lifting of kids or moving of stuff, I sometimes feel it in my back.  Since reincorporating planks on a routine basis, this is happening a lot less.

Here is what I’ve been doing as of late and I’m sure over time it will continue to evolve as most of my workouts do

(I usually do these after I’ve done a cardio or power workout, so I’m already warm – but make sure you’re warmed up first!)

Elbow Planks in frontal position – hold for about 20 seconds then release down.  Repeat 3 times.

Side planks on the Right side – elbow support, either on knees, one knee out, or both feet side – stretch top arm up to ceiling – hold steady for about 10 seconds then add movement moving down and up for 8 reps. (Don’t forget that you’re working the side closest to the ground primarily)

Change to the left side.

Do three sets of the Right/Left side planks

Push up plank position – move into push up position – make your body one long plank and hold steady for about 10 seconds.  Add slow alternating leg lifts R/L for 8 reps total.  Release bottom to rest then do this one again.

Wide V plank position – move into push up position but place your feet as wide as you can and hold steady for about 10 seconds.  Add alternating arm lifts R/L for 8 reps total.  Rlease bottom to rest and then do this one again.  (“arm lifts” aren’t a great description – i alternate touching one arm to the same quad – R hand reaches to R quad, left hand to left quad..)  Good gracious I’ll be glad when I have the website up with pictures!!!  This one is hard to explain…

 

Move back into original plank position on elbows – hold steady for 20 seconds then release.

Rest – then add alternating leg lifts R/L for 8 total.  If you do these on your knees, simply extend the leg behind you.

 

I’m trying to get this in three times a week right now and as I mentioned before, I usually do them after cardio or power training when I’m well into my workout and warmed up sufficiently.  Hope you enjoy it!

Happy planking!

Steph

Where is your foundation?

I certainly don’t like seeing the negative news reports about our economy and the sad stories about the financial crisis so many Amercians are facing.  It’s a scary time for our economy and things that were a sure bet just last year now seem up in the air or even gone.  It would be very easy to spend a lot of time worrying about where we’re headed, but instead I’m choosing to remember that especically in uncertain times like these, there is a foundation that cannot be shaken or taken down by a bad day on the stock market.

Isaiah 33:6 says, “He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and widsom and knowlege, the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure.”

If you want a solid investment with a guaranteed return, you better be betting on the Lord for your foundation.  This verse was written thousands of years ago, but it speaks loud and clear to us today.  

Take a few minutes to evaluate where your personal foundation is located.  Is it based on a relationship or ownership that is part of your life here on earth?  Or is it based on your relationship with a living God who will be there no matter what is happening on the 5 o’clock news?  Time and time again God has proven that despite what we as humans manage to get ourselves into, He is the one true way out and the only way to live beyond the limitations of today’s headlines.  I hope you’ll spend some time today thanking Him for giving us a solid foundation of grace that allows us to live hopeful lives during what some would say are hopeless times.  Make a point to notice the joy that is in your life today!

Steph