September Mom of the Month

Our mom of the month program honors moms for their efforts to lead healthy lifestyles, and gives us a chance to get to know them better at the same time!

September's featured Mom of the Month is Kristi Snow! 

Congrats, Kristi!

Kristi has been a Stroller Strides mom since spring 2011, and has made great strides over the past 15 months in her health and fitness after the birth of her second little one, Nicole.  Kristi also joined our Raleigh Running Mamas 5k training program this past spring and has officially gotten the running bug, rocking her 5k and now training with us again this fall for her first 10k!  Kristi has been working hard this summer on her health and fitness, having just completed our summer Body Back program, building muscle, toning, and focusing on healthy eating.  She is also one of our Meetup/Playgroup organizers, and has put together some excellent crafts and activities for the kiddos.  We are so glad to have Kristi as part of our programs, and we're so proud of all she's accomplished in recent months.  And we love the smiles and fun that Tyler and Nicole bring to class too!  ;) 

Join us in congratulating Kristi and read on to get to know her better!

Hometown: Originally from southern California. Grew up in Charlotte, NC

Current part of the Triangle that you live in: Southwest Raleigh

Education: BS Biomedical Engineering in ‘00, BS Radiologic Science in ‘06

Stroller Strides Member since: Spring 2011

Members of your Family: Justin, hubby; Tyler 3 ½; Nicole 1 ½

Tell us about your children: Tyler loves to play outside and get dirty! He has an imaginary persona and reads his Richard Scarry books daily. We joke he’ll be an engineer like my husband (though we don’t push it) as he’s fascinated with motors and plumbing systems and loved it when we had our hot water heater replaced recently. Nicole is a firecracker! She’s very agile and has been climbing ladders since 12 mos. And she’s not afraid to say what she wants. We joke she’ll be a ninja or a jewel thief.

Current/previous Career: now a PRN MRI technologist. Past life: RTP’er until the tech bubble, then biopharma co.

What was your childhood ambition? Either a model or an astronaut!

What does motherhood mean to you? My kids mean the world to me. Taking care of them and teaching them is the greatest responsibility I could have. I still call my mother to thank her for all that she’s done for me.

What is the furthest you have been from home? I visited Japan for 10 days in 2002 when my former college roommate taught English classes there. It was beautiful! I spent 3 days in Tokyo then the rest of the time in very rural Japan (Ishinomake) where I was likely the only blonde they had seen. The school children would run up to us to practice their English. Unfortunately, the rural area I visited was greatly affected by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

What has Stroller Strides done for you? Stroller Strides has played a big part in helping me redefine myself after becoming a SAHM 1 ½ yrs ago. I’m the fittest I’ve ever been in life! I’ve never considered myself very athletic in the past so I’m very pleased with my accomplishments. Participating in the Running Mamas program this spring really accelerated my fitness and brought my cardio to a whole new level.  Who is this person who wakes up at 6 to go run? ;)

What has your experience with our Body Back program been like? I love the high intensity workouts with the music! They really get me going! The nutrition part was a big surprise for me, which was great so I didn’t get to talk myself out of it. BB finally got me out of drinking soda at lunch. This has also been great for my kids to see me now drink water and they’ve stopped asking for soda. Our kids really have a way of holding the mirror up to us.

What is your favorite exercise? Running. It’s so liberating after being with the kids all day.

What is your proudest moment? Natural breech delivery (Nicole) with no meds (unintentional).

What are three of your favorite things (besides your family!)? Coffee,knitting/crafting, and the beach

Tell us something about yourself that would surprise us or makes you unique. I went to a Montessori preschool and kindergarten as a kid.

If we asked your spouse what they think your best qualities are, what would they say?  Kind-hearted, funny/good sense of humor, and patient.

What advice would you give to moms looking to get back into shape? What’s stopping you (from reaching your goals)? Don’t overthink it and find support in likeminded people. 

Kristi leading a storytime meetup after Stroller Strides

All about Stroller BARRE!

STROLLER BARRE COMES TO 

 FIT4MOM RALEIGH!

Stroller Barre® is a brand new Stroller Strides class format which incorporates movements from pilates, ballet, yoga and barre methods to provide a unique and effective workout for the pre and postnatal mom.

Along with focusing on building your strength and your core, we work on your internal focus and aim to improve muscular imbalances we all have as moms.  And we'll also keep the little ones entertained in the stroller with songs and fun! 

This new workout format of exercises, offered only through Stroller Strides, uses your stroller handle as a point of focus and balance (like a ballet barre in a traditional Barre workout class). Stroller Barre, created by a mom who was formerly a professional ballerina, takes pieces of ballet, yoga, Pilates and other barre methods and fuses them together with our Stroller Strides format (dynamic warm-up, power-walking or jogging to several stations, songs and fun for the kids). The movements are small, concentrated and intentional. Stroller Barre uses tubing, the stroller and the environment to provide an all over toning and fat burning experience, and is the perfect complement to your Stroller Strides workouts and other weekly exercise.
Stroller Barre focuses on strengthening and lengthening muscles, creating an ideal length/tension relationship in the all postural muscles, to give you beautiful, sculpted, lean muscles – without the impact and injuries dancers endure.

The entire body and mind are constantly working throughout the workout to enhance your posture, burn fat and transform your body.


Important benefits of Barre workouts:

(Adapted from Wellbridge.com)

• Hard on muscles, kind on joints. Barre Conditioning’s small, controlled and intentional movements reduce pressure on your joints, tendons, ligaments and spine, eliminating undue stress on the body. The classes also lead to a remarkable improvement in core strength and posture due to its focus on correct form and alignment. While a tight core will give you a taller appearance, it will also keep you safe from injuries.

• Improve muscular imbalances and posture.  As moms we all develop muscular imbalances, due to body changes after pregnancy as well as our day-to-day parenting activities.  Postpartum women tend to have tight and weak pectoral (chest), abdominal and quadriceps muscles. In addition, the back and hamstrings muscles become stretched and weak. This occurs due to hunched posture from breast or bottle feeding, excessive spinal curves while carrying baby in utero and after birth, and repeatedly picking their new (and rapidly growing) baby up. Stroller Barre focuses on strengthening and creating an ideal length/tension relationship in all the postural muscles, creating a leaner-looking mommy.

•  Work muscles to failure. Barre Conditioning’s tiny motions, many reps, intentional squeezes and pulses (otherwise known as isometric moves) are designed to fatigue muscles to failure. Embrace the shaking as it’s totally natural for your muscles to quiver uncontrollably – it means you are exhausting that muscle and forcing it to tone.  

• Increased flexibility. Through focused stretching, an improved range-of-motion is one of the greatest benefits of barre exercise. Sometimes people are flexible but not strong, or strong and not flexible, so whether you can sit comfortably in a pretzel position or you’re stiffer than a board, Barre Conditioning actually teaches your body to be both. Having flexibility and strength allows you to enjoy a longer, active life free of injuries.

• Lost weight and inches. Many of the workouts target the largest muscle groups in the body, like the thighs and glutes. The larger the muscle, the more calories burned! As you build more lean muscle mass and raise your resting metabolic rate, which can help you to produce more energy and expend calories. Perhaps more important than actual weight loss, Barre Conditioning will help by redistributing inches on your body – making you appear (and feel) longer and leaner.

• Greater range of motion and endurance for all other activities and sports.  Barre Conditioning targets the core muscle groups that are neglected in conventional strength training, in a variety of interesting ways. You may notice enhanced knee alignment, improved balance and greater quad and hamstring recruitment. If you’re a golfer or tennis player, you just may experience greater hip openness and movement allowing for a better swing. Runners can attain increased endurance, faster PR times and reduced impact on joints. 

Your First Stroller Barre workout is FREE!