My Turn!!!
Name / Forum Name /Email Address / FB Address:
Renee Allen / LovingLife
fieldbrookfitmom @ gmail.com
Renee Southwick Allen on Facebook)
Previous Road Trips:
None, this will be my first!! I can hardly wait!!
Where from/family:
Scotts Valley, California -- right by Santa Cruz, the central California coast!
I have 6 children -- girls 22 and 20, boys 18 and 16, girl 13, and boy 10. My oldest daughter graduated from BYU last spring and is teaching math. My second oldest daughter just left college for 18 months to go on a church mission in Ohio and my oldest son leaves in a few weeks to go on a 2 year mission to Poland. So our house is 1/2 as busy as it used to be with just my youngest 3 children at home. My husband and I have been married for 25 years.
How you were introduced to Cathe:
I used to do FIRM videos religiously in the mid-90's and kept seeing Cathe in the Collage Catalog (I've saved every Collage video catalog since 1996
) and thought she was too advanced or that her step was too complex for my overtaxed brain. But a Video Fitness friend of mine assured me that I, too, could do Cathe workouts. After I had my 5th baby in 1999, she sent me a huge box of her videos that I could try. In it, was Cathe's Pure Strength, MIS/MIC, and Step Max, Step Heat, and Step Jam. She told me that if I tried the step workouts in a certain order (I think it was Step Jam first, Step Heat next), that I would be able to catch on to the choreography. She was right! And I loved Cathe's weight work!!
I pre-ordered Cross Train Xpress and absolutely loved it! I've been pre-ordering ever since!
Favorite DVDs/Videos:
I love SO MANY of them, but I think my favorite step workouts are IMAX2, Step Blast, and Rhythmic Step and my favorite weight workouts are STS Meso 2, Muscle Endurance and Super Sets. My favorite kickboxing is Kick, Punch, and Crunch.
Favorite Step or other moves:
My absolute favorite, makes me smile EVERY SINGLE TIME is the figure 8, rebound back and jack! I also love the kickboxing combo in CTX 10-10-10 and the last hi/lo (which is low impact) combo in Step, Jump and Punch -- such a happy combo! And the last step combo in Low Impact Circuit is super fun, too!
As for weight work, I always love chest work on the step and plie' squats! I also love using the stability ball -- the ball work from the Pyramids is my very favorite!
Other Interests or Activities or Workouts:
I also love to do yoga. I really love yoga and wish I had enough time in the day to do an hour of yoga every day in addition to Cathe, but I rarely do. So I end up doing it as much as I can. When I get sick, yoga takes the place of Cathe until I'm healthy enough for Cathe's workouts again. I do yoga more when I travel, too. I used to take my step and weights with me on trips (I even brought a little TV with me to a hotel once that didn't have a video player in it's workout room and did Cardio Kicks! I did call the hotel in advance to make sure it was okay first, but now I just bring a yoga mat with me and use a treadmill. I've relaxed a bit
)
And I love to write. Can you tell?
I have a blog, --
Food + Fitness (it used to be bradybunchmom.com and can still be accessed that way probably till the end of the year) -- I haven't been as consistent with my blog this past year or so, but I'm trying to get my life in better order so I can!
Fun Stuff:
Hmm, let's see -- I absolutely looooove Sting and actually made a New Year's Resolution this year (one I thought I could keep) to listen to Sting music if I could every day because it brings so much JOY to my soul! Yes, he's THAT good!
I've also been learning how great Lululemon jackets are this past year. I wish I hadn't! They are pricey! I had bought some Lulu pants on ebay several years ago and love them (they never wear out!) -- but last year, my husband and I happened upon a Lulu store in San Jose and my husband insisted I try on one of the jackets. I didn't think I needed one or wanted one, but once I tried it on, I was in HEAVEN! He bought it for me and I love wearing it for yoga (and throughout the day). I've since bought a few more of their jackets. I try to blame it on my husband for giving me a taste of what they like, but I know that I could stay off of ebay or the lulu site if I wanted to!
...and anything else -
Oh, I got to be in two workout videos about 8 years ago with Debbie Siebers. I did her Slim Series after having my 6th baby to get the baby weight off (nothing else would work! I'm thinking the muscle endurance workouts didn't make me as hungry as the kind of weight work that I was doing with Cathe at the time). Anyway, after losing that 25 pounds, a friend told me that Beachbody was doing a contest with people who had lost weight with Debbie's workouts. I kind of glanced through the email and decided to apply. I sent in before and after pictures plus videos of myself doing 10 minutes of one of her workouts (they had to see what you really could do a squat
) and another video of me saying what her workouts did for me. Long story made short, I was selected somehow out of many, many and got a call that I'd be in 2 of her new videos! I was so stunned because I thought the prize was a trip down to L.A. to go take a class with Debbie. I didn't know I was applying to actually be a cast member! It was an experience I will treasure forever! I'll post a few pics from that trip below since I don't have any Cathe trip pics to post yet! I later got flown down to participate in an infomercial and to go on QVC with Debbie. That was really fun, too!
