February Member of the Month

Meet April

Salutations everyone!

My name is April Rebecca West and I have been a member of the Stroller Strong Moms in Columbus, GA for almost 5 months. It has not been long as most, but I am so grateful that Nicky Neveau and Jamie Franco led me to the program and this great group of girls because this program is AWESOME and it truly WORKS! 

A little bit about me: I was born and raised in Rainbow City, Alabama. Growing up I took 10 years of dance, played soft ball, and was trying out for my high-school track team when a hit-and-run accident derailed all of that. I was told that I was lucky to keep my leg, but having a surgically-emplaced steel rod in my leg crushed my dreams of ever making the track team. Being on crutches for two years also slowed me down a bit but, I survived, and eventually lost my nickname of "CRUTCH". During college I tried to stay active but..... I remained more of a casual walker. After finishing my degree in Elementary Education, I began teaching Kindergarten and tried to keep up with their high-intensity levels. Kindergarten proved to be my favorite age group to teach because they are so wild and active but you can literally witness all of their accomplishments from the beginning of the school year until the end. While teaching school and trying to keep up with my husbands active life-style in the military, I tried to get back to challenging myself physically. I began with aerobics, yoga, cross-training, swimming and doing a lot of run/walk races. Over the last couple of years I have ran 5K's and 10K's wherever we are stationed and hope to complete many more when we get to Washington state (we are about to PCS to Ft. Lewis, WA).

 

Larry and I also have a sweet little girl named Lily who is 14 months old; she has also loved attending SSM and has had a wonderful time with the other SSM babies! Hopefully, our love of the outdoors and physical fitness will inspire Lily. 

 

Our upcoming PCS will be bittersweet for me because this means that I will be leaving a great group of girls who have motivated me to push myself and to try to get better every time I am around them. This move wasn't surprising as we knew our time in Columbus was short; my husband was only here to attend a course at Ft. Benning from August thru January. But, I never anticipated finding a program like Stroller Strong Moms or meeting such friendly people. Thank you all, Lily and I will miss all of you.  

 

Keep on S.L.A.M.ing!!!

 

All Smiles,

 

April R. West

Your Body is a Finely Tuned Vehicle...

Give it Good Fuel, and It Will Take You Places. 

SSM December/January News

December/January News 

Hey out there! What a busy couple of months for Stroller Strong Moms!!! We wrapped up December with two awesome MNOs. The columbus moms had a tacky sweater and ornament exchange party which included a fashion show runway and some 80s dancing to some favorites including 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'. The Savannah moms went on a Savannah Slow Ride bike ride through downtown Savannah with stops at local bars along the way. One stop included a group karaoke song/dance to, coincidentally, 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'!! Fun times!!! 

Some awesome things are happening for both SSM of Columbus and SSM of Savannah in the month of January!!!! 

Let's start with Columbus! 

PLAYGROUP
We added Playgroup! The playgroup captain is Carly Mueller and make sure to friend her on Facebook so she can add you to the group playgroup page on Facebook. This is where you can find all the info you need on future playgroups for our awesome Stroller Strong Kids! If you are interested in hosting a playgroup, please contact Carly. 

WE ADDED CLASSES!!!!
Effective yesterday, we added 5 days a week at Lake Bottom Park (plus 2 saturdays a month) and 3 days a week at Britt David Park (M,W,F)!!!!! We are SO excited about this because it means Stroller Strong Moms is growing!!!!! In order to accommodate all of our moms and keep classes smaller, we are offering two park options for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. We encourage those who live on the north end of town to attend Britt David on those days! 

GROUP VALENTINE'S DAY CLASS

On Thursday, February 14th, we will have a group class at Lake Bottom Park with all of the instructors!!! It is going to be an awesome time with fun activities afterwards for the kids! Don't forget to wear pink or red! More info to follow! 

GET FIT FOR 2013 
We started our challenge for the second year in a row and it is off to a great start!!! THIRTY-FIVE Moms are participating in GFF2013 and they are all working super hard to reach their goals and improve their fitness!! 

Moms pushing to their limits on the shuttle run test during GFF2013 in Columbus

Let's talk about Savannah! 

PLAYGROUP

We added playgroup in Savannah too! The playgroup captain for Savannah is Kim Watson. Friend her on Facebook and she will add you to the playgroup page where you will find all the info on upcoming playgroups for Stroller Strong Kids. If you are interested in hosting playgroup, please contact Kim. 

VALENTINE'S DAY CLASS

Savannah will also have a fun Valentine's Day Class with awesome Valentine's stations and some treats after class. Wear all the red and pink you can find! More info to follow. 

GET FIT FOR 2013 

This is the first year of GFF2013 in Savannah and it's going awesome! We have 15 moms participating in this great program. Moms are working toward improving their fitness and reaching their health and fitness goals! 

Moms moving those feet a mile a minute during the step up test of GFF2013 in Savannah

KEEP 'SLAM'ING EVERYBODY!!!!!

 

bLean Group Weight Loss Program for GFF2013 Participants

Get Fit for 2013 Participants...please check out this weight loss program from bFit Studio. This is a great deal that they are offering to SSMs who are doing the Get Fit Challenge. Please let one of the instructors know if you would like to participate.

December/January Member of the Month!

Meet Lindsey...

Hey there!

My name is Lindsey and I have been a member of the Savannah Stroller Strong Mom’s since it started in September 2012. 

I married my husband, Stephen, in 2008 and quickly realized that to fit in with his family I had to become more athletic.  He comes from a family of runners and tennis players.  I ran my first half marathon in 2009 and have since run three more as well as adding duathlons to my training.  We welcomed our baby girl, Norah, in July of 2012.  We moved to Savannah from Orlando at the beginning of September with our then 8-week old due to a new employment opportunity for my husband.  I am originally from the Atlanta area, so being closer to family with a new baby made the decision to move a very easy one.  I won’t lie, I was nervous about coming to a new town and trying to meet new people.  I was also trying to figure out how to shed some of the baby weight that I gained and get back into running and getting fit. 

I came across the SSM website while searching for mommy and me type classes in the Savannah area.  I read all about Alexa and what the class was about.  It sounded intriguing and I figured that it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.  When I started the classes, Norah wasn’t quite big enough for a jogging stroller but we made it work and now coming to class has become part of our daily routine.  The stress of meeting new people has long been gone.  The ladies that show up for SSM classes are a fabulous group of women that are incredibly motivating and make coming to class really enjoyable…even if we are all complaining about how sore we are from a previous day’s workout! 

I have made it a goal to come everyday that I possibly can.  I know that I am getting stronger and I hope to show my daughter that an active lifestyle is a fun and important part of our lives.  We have now done our first family 5K (with hubby pushing jogger) and I look forward to many more.  It was great to share this race with many of the other SSM moms.  Thanks Alexa for pushing us hard every workout and being a great instructor, and for all of the moms that are right there with me as we get our sweat on! 

Get Fit for 2013

It's that time of year again for another Get Fit Challenge! The following are the details about Get Fit for 2013.

Get Fit For 2013 is a 10 week program that will start January 14th and it will end on March 25th for  SSM Columbus. The Savannah start has been changed to January 16th. 

It will include both a fitness assessment (during class time) and body composition assessment (by appointment in the first and last week of the challenge) at the start and end of the program. The fitness assessment will include:

-Shuttle run for time

-Step ups, count steps

-1/2 mile run, for time
-Push ups, count reps

-Plank hold, for time

The body composition assessment will be calculated using a bio-impedence scale which gives a readout of the following:

weight

bmi

fat free mass

body fat

hydration %

You will receive points in five ways:

-Class attendance

-Improvement in fitness assessment

-Improvement in body composition assessment

-MVP of the week (a hard working mom will be chosen every week as the MVP)

-Whether you reached the fitness goal you set for yourself on January 14th

Points will be tallied throughout the program and participants with the most points at the end of the 10 weeks will receive gift card prizes.

You will take a before/after picture at class at the start and end of the program so you can see how much the hard work payed off!

There is a $15 registration fee. Payment can be made on the prices page of SSM website or at class. You have to be a member of SSM in order to participate in the GFF2013. To be a member of SSM, you must purchase a 1 month unlimited membership, 10 class pass, or 5 class pass. 

'Get Fit for 2013' will happen during regular class days and times. The fitness testing will take place on January 14th (16th for Savannah) and March 25th during class time. The body composition testing will occur by appointment during the first and last week of the challenge. More detailed info on the body composition testing is to follow.

Moms will also have the option to pair the Get Fit for 2013 Challenge with a weight loss program that will be put on by the weight loss center where the initial weigh-ins occur. The weight loss programs are an extra cost, but discounted for SSMs. The Columbus weight loss program is called bLean and is a 6 week program for $99. Click this link for more info.  www.bfitcolumbus.com. The Savannah weight loss program can be found at http://www.goodbodydoctor.com/ and it is $49 per month for Stroller Strong Moms! Please let an instructor know if you are interested in more information about the weight loss program. 

You do not have to participate in the 'Get Fit For 2013' as a member of Stroller Strong Moms. It is your choice. Any questions, concerns, comments can be sent to info@strollerstrongmoms.com

Last year's Get Fit Challenge was a GREAT success. Moms lost noticeable amounts of body fat and improved tremendously in their fitness assessments. The results were extremely impressive!! The above photo shows last year's top finishers. Moms lost as much as 15 pounds over the 10 weeks and many dropped body fat percentages by over 5% (which is SUPER impressive). 

Looking forward to this GFF2013!!!

SSM November News

November News 

Hey Stroller Strong Moms! What a great month of October. The month concluded with a couple awesome Halloween classes in Columbus and Savannah!!! There were so many awesome mom costumes and cute little baby costumes!!! Below are a couple photos, but to see the awesome pics from the Halloween class in Columbus (thanks Joe Paull and the Ledger Enquirer!!), click here. To see more pics from the Savannah Halloween class, click here.  

Stroller Strong Moms in Columbus completed a circuit workout in the huge field at Britt David Park

Stroller Strong Moms of Savannah completed Halloween-themed stations throughout Forsyth Park 

Columbus Instructors in a Waldo sandwich: Kim, Julie (Betty), Jill (Wilma), and Rebecca

Savannah instructor Alexa as Mango from SNL 

CONGRATS TO THE GIRLS ONLY 5K PARTICIPANTS!!! 

October's Mom's Night Out in Columbus was Big Dog's Girls Only 5K! The ladies really came together and there were a bunch of first time 5Kers in the group who did awesome!!! Look at all that pink SLAM!! 

CONGRATS HALF MARATHONERS! 
Stroller Strong Moms have been preparing for months with group long runs and interval training for the November half marathons. I don't think there was a weekend that went by in Columbus where moms weren't getting together to do a long run. I loved seeing moms work together toward their goal. Stroller Strong Moms participated in two different Half Marathons over the first two weekends in November, the Savannah Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon and the Soldier's Half Marathon in Fort Benning. Everyone did awesome! What an accomplishment!!!! 

Rock'n'Roll Half Marathoners! (Not picured: Kim Watson and Tanya Webb) 

Soldier's Half Marathoners and SSM Fan Club!!! Not pictured: Carly Mueller (where were u Carly?!) and Katherine Rudder (who ran the full!)

So much great stuff has been going on for Stroller Strong Moms. I am so proud of how SSMs came together at the half marathons and I am so excited for future races we have coming up in both Columbus and Savannah! 

WELCOME NEWCOMERS!!!! 

Lets welcome October Newcomers to Stroller Strong Moms. Savannah newcomers include Kim Watson, Candace Russell and Rachel Lane. Columbus newcomers include Kristin Salmi, Ashley Bunnell, Aida Joslin, April West, Melissa Barrington and Annie Chittick. 

And I leave you with another awesome quote. It can't be more true that you get out of something what you put into it. If you attend class frequently and work your butt off, you will get results. Your fitness level with skyrocket and you will notice positive changes to your body and your energy levels.   We have had the joy of watching the transformation take place in so many moms and it's awesome!!! Keep up the good work ladies and keep SLAMing!!! 

~Alexa