A Blizzard Baby. Congratulations Julie!

We have another Soul Baby!! We would like to congratulate SB Barre instructor Julie Nicodemus on the arrival of her previous baby girl, Gracelyn Paisley Nicodemus. She arrived Friday, January 22 right before Blizzard Jonas. Everyone is healthy and grateful. 

Congratulations Julie and Josh! We all can't wait to meet her and see you back at the barre!

Sending love from your SoulBody family!

xoxo

We've Got You Covered...Snow Day Workouts

I know I talked about slowing down in my last post, but for those of you who are starting to get a little stir crazy I figured I'd share some ways you can still sweat during winter storm Jonas. You can squeeze in a quick workout between the Netflix, Full House re-runs, cooking, laundry and the online shopping. We know you'll be getting a killer workout from all of the shoveling, but in case that isn't enough you can give one of these a try.

Breathe Deeply and Smile: Snowed in Sprints

Shauna Harrison: Killer Snowed in Workout...Be ready!!

Jason Williams (CharmCity PT): Blizzard 16 Workout

PB Fingers: At Home Workouts

The Fitnessista: Barre/HIIT Combo

Divas Run for Bling: The Snow Day 20 Minute Tabata Workout

The Healthy Helper: 40 Minute Incline Walking Workout

Kelly Runs for Food: Snow Day Circuit

NutButter Runner: At Home Cardio and Abs Circuit and Winter Wonder Ab Blaster

Are you doing any at-home workouts this weekend? Post your favorites!!

Enjoy the snow!!

Emily

Slow Down

As much as I'm dreading all of this snow, I've realized tonight after taking a yoga class that maybe this is a sign. Dani Yarusso, one of my favorite yoga instructors from MPower Yoga Studio, made me realize that maybe this is mother nature's way of telling us that we need to slow down, reset. Take a step back and just think...we live in a society where we constantly go, go, go, and never slow down. Well...with over a foot of snow about to fall, here is your chance. 

When you are snowed in this weekend, use the time to recharge and to reset, your mind and body. Breaking this pattern of rush, rush, rush, can restore our bodies and our minds and can even bring a feeling of calm and healing amidst the stress.

Enjoy the snow and be safe!

Share your snow day workouts and pictures with us. Tag @soulbodybarre on Instagram and Twitter and post in the SoulBody Community Page on Facebook. 

xo

Emily

Find The Time and A New Recipe You'll Love

We are still only two weeks into the new year which means we are still highly focused on those resolutions we set on January 1, 2016. In most of the articles that you read regarding staying healthy in the new year, one of the tips is probably food prep. It not only saves you a ton of time during the week, but it makes you less likely to make bad food choices when you have limited time. Let's face it...we are all busy and have busy lives these days. Between work, school, picking up dry cleaners, running errands, happy hours, birthday parties, weddings, sports practices there is never enough time to work out. Well....there are many busy people like you who still find the time and here are their tips. This article from well+GOOD is just what you need in trying to fit all in.

1. Find a morning fitness crew; Mollie Chen

2. Keep workout clothes at the office; Sheeva Talebian

3. Do business during your workouts (AKA sweat-work); Jen Murphy

4. Find a fitness love affair; Jamie Graber

5. Maximize the weekend; Alice Marshall

6. Marry your fitness buddy; Karen Behnke

7. Buy really rad leggings; Alexa Wolman

8. Do short, really hard workouts; Jodie Patterson

9. Build-in all kinds of accountability- and pre-pay for your workouts; Kerry Held

Now that you have some great tips...here's the perfect dish for any night of the week. I found this recipe on Whole30Recipes Instagram and was created by one of my favorite bloggers, Steph Gaudreau. Definitely check out her website, Stupid Easy Paleo, and social media accounts for more fantastic recipes like this. 

"Cauliflower Fried Rice"

Recipe by: Steph Gaudreau

You can view the full recipe here. This is actually cauliflower and NOT rice making it Paleo and Whole30 approved. Below are pictures of each of my steps. This turned out great and I'll definitely be making this again!!!!

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

                             Step 4                           

Step 5: 

Topped with Chicken, but next time I think I'll try it with shrimp!

What new recipes have you tried this year?

Are you sweating with SoulBody this weekend? If so, tag us!! 

@soulbodybarre on Instagram and Twitter 

and 

post pictures on the Facebook Community Page

See you at the barre!

Next week join me...

Monday, 5pm SB Barre at Merritt Canton

Thursday, 6pm SB Body Barre at Beachfit 

Friday, 5:45am SB Barre at Merritt Fort Ave

Sunday, 11am SB Body Barre at Beachfit 

xo

Emily

Transformation Thursday

Busy week, but I'm back for a quick post and a little #TransformationThursday (if that's even a thing.) I wanted to give you all an update on SB Barre Instructor, Amy Winemiller, and her return to the barre this week. 

If you remember, Amy delivered a healthy baby boy, Austin James, on November 14th. You can check out the full post here.

Here is a picture of Amy with her Barre class at Merritt Downtown Athletic Club at 33 weeks pregnant. 

 

AND....

Here is Amy back at the barre with her first class 8 weeks postpartum. 

For all the mom's out there...barre will definitely help you bounce back and help you shred that baby weight. 

Thank you Amy for sharing. Barre does a body good!!!

Do you have a success story that you'd like to share?

How has barre helped you achieve your health and fitness goals?

Well...that's all I have for your Thursday. Stay warm and check back this weekend for a new recipe for your Sunday food prep.

Emily

We Found the Best Health Books of 2016

I recently stumbled across this article on Well+GOOD and it was too good not to share. I don't know about you, but I LOVE this website. There are so many great articles. Everything from sweat to food to even advice. Because the trend is to set resolutions every year on January 1, I figured this would be the time to share some great health books for you to add to your list of resolutions. Finding the time to actually sit down and read can be a struggle. This year I'm really going to try. So..put down your cell phone, turn off the TV, and spend a few minutes reading a magazine, meditating or reading one of these 10 best health books for 2016. 

> Spark Joy: An Illustrated Master Class on the Art of Organizing and Tidying Up by Maria Kondo

> Big Girl: How I Gave Up Dieting and Got a Life by Kelsey Miller

> Always Hungry? Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose  Weight Permanently by David Ludwig, MD, PhD

> The Nalini Method: 7 Workouts for 7 Moods by Rupa Mehta

> RETOX: Yoga*Food*Attitude Healthy Solutions for Real Life by Lauren Imparato

> Bowl: Vegetarian Recipes for Ramen, Pho, Bibimbap, Dumplings, and  Other One-Dish Meals by Lukas Volger

> Aim True: Love Your Body, Eat Without Fear, Nourish Your Spirit,  Discover True Balance! by Kathryn Budig

> The I Quit Sugar Cookbook: 306 Recipes For a Clean, Healthy Life by Sarah Wilson

> Meditate Your Weight: A 21-Day Retreat to Optimize Your Metabolism and Feel Great by Tiffany Cruikshank

> Eat Complete: The 21 Nutrients That Fuel Brainpower, Boost Weight Loss, and Transform Your Health by Drew Ramsey, MD


I would also recommend The Whole30 and It Starts With Food by Dallas Hartwig and Melissa Hartwig. I recently purchased The Whole30 book and absolutely love it. 

Has anyone ever completed the Whole30 challenge? If so, I would love to get your feedback and some of your favorite recipes that you made during the 30 days. I started my first Whole30 on January 1 and will be posting some of the recipes that I've made (and LOVED) on the blog soon. This nutritional program is designed to help you put an end to unhealthy cravings and habits, restore a healthy metabolism, heal your digestive tract, and balance your immune system - Read more on the goals here. 

Based on the 10 books listed above, I think I'm starting with Aim True by Kathryn Budig. Let me know if you've read or are currently reading any of these. 

Happy reading!!!

Emily

Always Fun...Never Boring

Can you believe tomorrow is Friday which means we will have a FULL week of 2016 in the books? Take a moment to just breathe and remember...things take time so don't give up just yet. How is every one doing on their resolutions? Don't worry...I'll be checking in periodically to make sure we stay on track. Progress is progress not matter how small. Remember, the SB Community is here for you and we will continue to help each and every one of you make this year your healthiest one yet! We are already off to a great start and I'm so excited about growing this community even more this year. 

Because it's the start of a new year and many of you may be new to barre and to the blog, I wanted to do a little #TBT to when we talked about why you should take barre. (full post is here)

The major benefits of barre include:

• Improved posture, muscle definition, weight loss, increased flexibility and reduced stress
• Women (oh and men too) at just about any fitness level can take barre
• The strength training and cardio will allow you to burn fat and build muscle at the same time. In a lot of our choreography we have you working multiple muscle groups at the same time making it not only challenging, but gives you that "two (sometimes three) for one"
• Dramatically increases your core strength leading to a better posture and helps with preventing injuries
• Isometric movements are very effective and can often lead to higher strength gains than dynamic training. (Check out this article for more of the differences between the two)
• The time goes by SUPER fast due the fast pace, variety of exercises and upbeat music
• Most importantly...it's always fun and never boring

A huge shout out to the team at Beachfit Baltimore for crushing it on New Year's Day for another round of Triple Toning. It included 15 minutes of Body Barre (launched the brand new choreo for 2016), 15 minutes of Surfset and 15 minutes of Bootcamp. Antoine rocked is first Body Barre class and LOVED every minute of it!

As always, any feedback on the latest release and how we can continue to improve our program. We are working on some events in the coming months and would love to hear your ideas on ways we can continue to bring this community together to stay motivated in 2016!!!

Who's sweating with SoulBody this weekend?

Emily

Happy New Year

Hello January. I hope that you all had a fabulous New Year and are as excited as we are about 2016. We all know that it's easy to create a list of resolutions, but actually sticking to them is the most challenging part. Although we all want to push forward, it's important to look back and learn from your resolutions you set for 2015. How did you do? What could you have done differently? Did you really give it your all? Were you successful? 

Here are some pretty interesting New Year's Resolution stats:

• 45%: Percentage of people who make New Year's resolutions
• 8%: Percentage of people who are successful in achieving their resolutions
• 49%:Percentage of those who had marginal or infrequent success
• 24%: Percentage of those who didn't succeed, and failed on their resolutions

It's a new year, a clean slate. There is no better time than now to make a difference in your life and those around you to make it a great year.

Remember...

1. Pick one goal that motivates you and something you really want
2. Create an action plan - include the steps you need to take in order to meet each goal
3. Limit your list to a number you can handle
4. Change your current habits
5. Forgive yourself - if you slip...it's not the end of the world just get yourself back on track


Now....time to start making resolutions and keeping them all year long!!

 

Looking for more motivation? Head over to BMOREtoned for the January Fitness Calendar. So many opportunities to get out their and sweat with this amazing community. NO EXCUSES.

Have an amazing rest of your week. 

Emily