Howdy Friends,

How are you? I've been a little lot MIA from the blog world lately because I've been working on a big huge project! I've poured my heart and soul into this endeavor for the the past few months, and I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to finally share it with the world!

A few months back, I told you guys about the continuing education workshops I was launching. I received such a great response to those, that I decided it was time to pursue my full dream of creating a barre certification!

This whole journey really began over 8 years ago when I first started teaching Pilates at Texas A&M. I had just fractured my sacrum from over training, and needed a lower impact exercise to keep me in shape. I tried Pilates, absolutely loved it, and got certified shortly after that. I continued teaching Pilates throughout college and grad school. Then, in 2011, I discovered barre! To say I was immediately hooked would be an understatement. I took classes all throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex trying to lean as much as I could about this exciting new format. After a couple of months of taking classes, I took my first barre certification and began teaching multiple classes per week.

I had been teaching group fitness classes for 4+ years at this point, but nothing made me as excited to teach as barre! I loved coming up with new choreography, refining my cueing skills, and seeing my students improve. I continued to take barre classes from other instructors, pursued 8 additional Pilates and barre certifications, and refined my craft. I sought to combine the fun factor and cardio elements that I loved from group fitness, the amazing lower body workout from barre, and the killer core strengthening abilities of Pilates to create my own barre format. My goal was to have my students leave class drenched in sweat, smiling, and feeling like they got a total body workout while having the time of their lives!

As I moved from Dallas to Florida State University, I was excited to bring barre to FSU. When I started to look into getting my instructors certified, I was disappointed to find that many of the barre certifications were either too expensive, not the up beat barre class we were looking for, or not offered in our area. I had students that I knew would make amazing barre instructors, but no way to get them certified.

After moving back to Austin, and diving into teaching barre 8+ times a week, I decided it was the perfect time to combine my love of barre and Pilates and my passion for mentoring other instructors into a power packed barre certification. Thus, PulsePointe barre was born!
My goal in creating PulsePointe barre was to offer a high quality, creative, and fun educational experience at an affordable price so everyone can have the opportunity to fall in love with teaching barre like I have!

PulsePointe barre is an innovative and challenging barre experience that seamlessly weaves together traditional muscle-sculpting barre choreography with exhilarating cardio segments to define and challenge the body in a whole new way. PulsePointe takes barre to the next level by matching each segment with upbeat music to motivate and energize your class from start to finish! By utilizing the unique PulsePointe barre class blueprint, you can mix and match the barre segments using your own creativity to deliver a rock solid class every time! 


After months and months of praying, working on educational material, getting approved by ACE & AFAA, developing a website, creating logos, etc. etc., I am beyond excited that it is finally time to start sharing PulsePointe barre with the world!

So what makes PulsePointe barre different from other barre certifications?

• PulsePointe barre strives to offer high quality certifications at an affordable price.
• No licensing fees.
• Every participant who completes the 8 hour primary instructor training course will receive 8 AFAA and .8 ACE CEU's, a comprehensive instructor manual with choreography snapshots, PulsePointe barre Class Blueprints, and a certificate of completion. 
• Learn how to use music to enhance your class, motivate your students, and take the fun factor to the next level!
• High energy cardio segments will take your class to the next level and give your students a cardiovascular and muscular strength & endurance workout all in one! 
• Easy to implement choreography and class blueprints will have you ready to teach challenging, well balanced, and creative classes in no time! We take the guesswork out of class planning while still allowing you to come up with your own choreography. 

For more information on PulsePointe barre, upcoming workshops, and video demonstrations of exercises, please visit our website at www.pulsepointebarre.com! If you think this is something your would like to bring to your facility, we are currently scheduling workshops for late summer and fall of 2015. Feel free to email us at info@pulsepointebarre.com

Throughout this process, I have received so much amazing support from my family, friends, and the online fitness community! I could not have done it without each and every one of you! I am so excited to see where this new journey takes me and to share the barre and Pilates love far and wide!


Linking up for Workout Wednesday and Wild Workout Wednesday!

For my barre lovers out there, what made you first fall in love with barre?

In health,

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Howdy Friends,

As I grow another year older, I think back on all of the wonderful things that have happened in my life, the beautiful memories that are being made right now, and all of the hopes and dreams that I have for the future. As a constant planner, remembering to stay in the present is definitely something I have to work at constantly. So in honor of living in the present, and creating joyful memories, I am going to keep this post short and sweet so I can get a few things done around the house and then play with my tiny human when she wakes up!

Relish The Past:

I have many many happy memories that make me smile, but there are definitely two that stand out.

1) The moment they opened the doors at the back of the church and I saw Eric waiting at the end of the aisle for me on our wedding day is something I will never forget. It literally took my breath away and was the first step towards the rest of my life. I feel so incredibly blessed to be married to such an amazing, loving, and smart man!





2) The first time I ever held Annabelle in my arms had the be one of the most awe inspiring feelings in the world. There are literally no words to describe how much love I felt at that very moment. After I thought my heart couldn't handle much more, seeing E with Belle literally made my heart explode. She has completely changed our lives forever and taught us to love on a whole new level.


Live In The Present:

There are so many amazing things happening in my life right now, I could go on forever; however, I really want to focus on soaking up every moment I can with Annabelle. They really do grow and change so fast, and I can never get this time back. So for right now, it is ALL about her and I love it!



Dream Of The Future:

I have too many dreams for the future of my little family to write down in one post, but I'll just start with a few. I dream of all of the wonderful and exciting moments that are going to happen in Belle's life.... first steps, first words, going to school, her first crush, homecoming, sporting events, prom, family trips, graduating high school, going to college, getting married (officially tearing up as I type now), and one day babies. I am so excited to see her grow through all of these stages, but I hope she grows very very very very slowly. I truly wish there was a pause or rewind button on life so it didn't fly by so fast.

I also dream of continuing to improve as a fitness professional and hopefully positively impacting my students and future fitness professionals. My goal is that each person that walks into my class leaves feeling better than when they came in. Additionally, I feel so blessed to have found a career I am overly passionate about, I hope to be able to help other individuals looking to pursue a career in fitness.

Memories are beautiful, and the future is fun to dream about, but don't forget to enjoy the right here and now every single day!

Share with me your favorite memory, what you are thankful for right now, or something you are dreaming about for the future. 

Wishing you a beautiful Tuesday!

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Howdy,

Wow, are we really already 5 days into the new year? How did that happen? I must say, I have a really good feeling about 2015. With the arrival of Annabelle, 2014 was by far the best year of my life, but I think watching her grow and focusing on nurturing my little family is going to make 2015 just as amazing!

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When I sat down to think about my goals for 2015, many of the things I came up with were hard to measure (the personal trainer and health coach in me wants ever goal to be SMART - Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound). Being the best mom and wife I possibly can, deepening my walk with God, and focusing on creating family memories and traditions were the top three that came to mind.

Most years, I have pretty standard resolutions. I resolve to lose weight, exercise more, eat better, do more yoga, etc., etc. However, this year, I wanted to take a more comprehensive approach to my goals. I decided to focus on three main areas:


MIND
As much as it seems like yesterday, I finished my masters degree almost 4 years ago now. I have always truly enjoyed learning (the test part kind of stressed me out in school but I liked learning new things), especially if it was a topic I was truly passionate about. I am much more likely to get fired up about a book on nutrition or exercise science than the latest best selling fiction novel. Even though I am no longer formally in school, I enjoy expanding my knowledge through self study and certifications. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I began studying for my health coach certification. My goal for the first half of 2015 (I just can't break the SMART goal setting habit) is to finish studying and take the ACE Health Coach exam. Through this exam, I hope to become a better Pilates instructor, personal trainer, blogger, and hopefully, a practicing health coach.



BODY
I have decided to make 2015 the year of strength! I have always made strength training a part of my workout routine, but I never really focused on getting significantly stronger. I always try to challenge myself during workouts and come up with new workout to keep my body guessing, but this year, I am going to plan my workouts around increasing my strength. Because I need to hold myself accountable, I have chosen pull-ups as my measuring stick. I have always had a very strong lower body (bring on the dead lifts, and leg presses any day), but my upper body strength is a different story. It has always been the area I need to work on most. For some reason, pull-ups have always been my arch nemesis. They are just SOOOOO hard for me. So my goal for 2015 is to add one pull-up every two months until I can get 6 in a row. Yikes!! This may not seem like a ton for some people, but for some reasons pull-ups are by far the hardest exercise for me to complete.


My second body related goal for 2015, is to cut WAY back on my sugar intake. Now, if you ask my husband, I don't eat any sugar (coming from the man who just finished off a whole package of Swedish fish in one sitting). However, I know I could do much better in this area. I am definitely a healthy eater, but home girl loves her chocolate! I am really going to focus on cutting back on added sugar and processed food in general. To kick start this goal, I have pledged to go the entire month of January with no sugar. We're five days in and going strong. I usually have Healthy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert every night, and I am definitely missing those bad boys, but I'm surviving. I'm hoping that by going cold turkey for an entire month, I can reset my body to not have so much of a sweet tooth. Don't get me wrong, sweets are totally fine in moderation, but I noticed my chocolate intake was creeping up to a not so great level. :) What better time to reset than the new year (once I consumed my weight in peppermint bark of course)? Wish me luck!




SOUL
This one isn't quite as measurable as the first two, but that's ok. Saying I want to focus on being the best mom and wife I can seems like a given, so I started to think about what exactly that would look like. What exactly can I do to increase Annabelle and Eric's day to day happiness? That's a pretty tough question.


For Annabelle:
I will strive to make her feel loved, cared for, and cherished every single day.
I will help her explore, grow, and learn as she develops throughout the year.
I will try to not be too overprotective and let her experience SOME things on her own (this one will be hard for the mama bear in me).

For Eric:
I will work to increase my patience and remember he can't read my mind.
I will look for things big or small I can do around the house or with Belle to make his life easier.
I will remember to say thank you for all of the things he does without me even asking and sometimes without me even knowing.

For Our Family:
I will look for ways to create memorable moments that we will each cherish.
I will strive to establish our own family traditions that we can enjoy and grow with throughout the years.
I will look for intentional activities we can do as a family.

If I can accomplish these goals, I will be able to call 2015 a complete success. I can't wait to see what this upcoming year has in store for me and my family! I have a great feeling it's going to be a magical year from start to finish!

Do you make New Years resolutions?

If so, do you have any you wouldn't mind sharing?

In health,

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Howdy Friends!

How's your Tuesday going so far?  As always, things are busy around here and the little bambino is the busiest. She is kicking and punching like crazy. If this is a sign of how active she is going to be once she gets here, E and I better get ready for a wild one! I love feeling all of her little movements. It's such a reassuring reminder that things are going well!

As you guys know, I have been participating in @IdeaFit's #springintoaction photo challenge and today's word is #GOAL. I love setting goals and working towards them. It helps keep me focused and on track; especially when it comes for training for races or tackling bigger projects. I set mini goals every day by making a to do list in the morning and checking things off as I tackle them. I wanted to take a second to go back over how to set SMART goals. I've tackled this in a previous post, but it was a few years ago and with time comes new perspective.



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Specific

Setting a specific goal is crucial. Sure, we all want to "lose weight," but technically you could lose one pound and achieve that goal. Setting specific goals gives you direction, and something more concrete to strive for. Try to make sure all of your goals answer these three questions:

1. What specifically are you going to accomplish? (lose 10 lbs, run a 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours, bench press 150lbs)
2. Why is this important? (lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of diabetes, place higher in your next race, bench more than your older brother)
3. How are you going to do this? (work out 5 days a week, follow a structured training plan)

Measurable

Having measurable goals means ensuring that you can check in on your progress from time to time.
The largest fallback of unspecific goals is that they are hard to measure. When you can't track a vague goal, you can't see how close you are to sweet success. This eventually leads to frustration, boredom, and, ultimately, failure. As soon as you've set a specific goal, map out some testing points. If your goal is to run a faster 10K, do a trial run every few weeks. If you want to lose 20 pounds in 6 months, record your body weight at regular intervals to track your progress and adjust your plan as necessary. Being measurable is an extension of being specific. If your goal is not specific, how can you possibly know if you're any closer to attaining it?


Achievable

Now we have specific goals that we can measure, but that still doesn't do us any good if we set goals we can't actually reach. For example, I know I will never run a 1/2 marathon in under 1:30, so making that one of my goals is just setting myself up for failure. Creating attainable but still challenging goals will ensure success and ensure you feel successful as well. Setting too tough of a goal will make you feel like a failure, however setting a really easy goal will leave you feeling empty.


Realistic

This kind of goes along with the achievable principle. Sure, I would love to be a runway model, but the fact that I stopped growing at 5 foot 6 inches, and look more like a linebacker than a ballerina means that it's never going to happen. Even if I could somehow look like a supermodel, do I really want to give up almond butter and wedding cake for the rest of my life? NO, I don't! When you are setting goals, ask yourself these three questions:

1. Am I actually capable of achieving this goal?
2. Do I have the necessary skills to do so?
3. Do I really want to do this? (i.e compete in a fitness competition if it means you can never have cake?)

Timely

Just because something is a New Years Resolution, doesn't mean you have to give yourself all year to accomplish it. By limiting the time you have to accomplish a goal, you have a fixed timetable to work within and the sense of urgency that will keep you on track and drive you to work harder. I think this is one of the most important principles. If you don't give yourself a deadline, you can always "work out later," or "eat better tomorrow." If there is no end date, how do you know if you ever achieved your goal?

Another important aspect in goal setting, is mapping out a plan for how you are going to achieve it. For each of my New Years Resolutions, I am going to write out three steps I am going to take to accomplish my goal.

For example, if one of your goals is to lose 10 lbs by May (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely), your 3 steps could be:

1. Attend a cardio class 3 times a week.
2. Strength train on my own 2 times a week.
4. Pack my lunch the night before so I have a healthy lunch to take with me to work.
Now you have laid out exactly how you are going to achieve your goal. I know it might sound silly to think that hard about a New Years Resolution, but why set one at all if you don't put the necessary thought behind it?

There you have it! Now you have a SMART goal. Since I'm growing a little human inside of me, my fitness goals have been paired down a little bit. That doesn't mean I don't have any goals!!

Pregnancy Fitness Goal For Third Trimester:
Workout on my own at least 5x's a week (so not teaching a class), including walking between 3-5 miles 4x's a week and 1-2 strength workouts a week. Since I lift weights and do strength exercises in all of my classes (10-13 classes a week), I want to focus my personal workouts on keeping up my cardiovascular endurance. I would also like to focus on flexibility exercises for at least 10 minutes twice a week outside of my classes. I stretch at the end of every class, but only for about 5 minutes. I know spending more time on stretching is important as my weight starts to shift more and pull things out of wack.

Nutrition Goals For Third Trimester:
One of my big goals for the third trimester is to increase my greens intake. I usually have at least one green salad every day, but I am aiming to incorporate at least 3-5 additional vegetable servings throughout the day. I am going to incorporate at least one if not two green smoothies every day and more green vegetables at dinner and as snacks. So far, I've beeen doing pretty good about getting enough protein, but I definitely plan on keeping track of this during my third trimester as well.

What are your current fitness and nutrition goals?


In health,

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