Tip of the Week
 By Stephanie Mansour

Stephanie Mansour from Step It Up with Steph has some great tips for living a more happy, healthy, and fit lifestyle. Stephanie has been featured on local television stations across the country for her realistic and holistic approach to health & fitness. Check back each week for a new fun, and easy way to live better, eat healthier, and experience something new!

Improve Your Upward Facing Dog
In upward facing dog, do your shouldres feel hunched up to your ears? Does your low back hurt? Here are some tips to improve your next upward facing dog:

• Lying on your stomach, place your hands next to your chest. Engage your abs: read more...

Show Yourself Some Love This Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day usually emphasizes what we can do for a significant other, butthis year think about what you can do for yourself to show yourself some love!:

• Book a massage or something nice for yourself that shows yourself that you are important. By signaling to yourself that you are worthy of a nice gift and you deserve something good for yourself, you’re proving that you value yourself: read more...

Spice Up Your Accessories
Did you know that Yoga Accessories can customize your yoga and Pilates props and accessories? Here are a few ways you can customize and personalize them:

• First, instead of committing to totally transforming your life, think about one or two major focuses you’d like to have in the New Year: read more...

Weekend Fitness Trip Ideas
In the colder and darker winter months, it’s easy to sit back on the couch and fall out of a fitness routine, especially after your New Year’s resolution loses its luster. How about a Weekend Fitness Trip? Here are a few ideas:

• Try out a ski trip! Skiing uses your leg muscles, core, and arms. It is a full body workout and exhilerating! Look into a ski lodge or even just a day trip to a mountain near you: read more...

How To Stretch Your Feet
Our feet take a major beating throughout the day – whether we are sitting stationary and getting foot cramps, or if we’re walking and moving all day and our feet just hurt – we need to stretch them out. Here are some stretches:

• Broken Toe pose in yoga is a great way to stretch the bottom of the feet. Kneeling upright, tuck your toes under and sit back on your heels: read more...

How to Ween Yourself from Caffeine
If you find yourself reaching for coffee or soda in the morning and afternoon to stay awake, here are some tips for weening yourself off of a caffeine addiction:

• Immediately after getting out of bed, drink a full glass of water. Many people are dehydrated, especially in the morning: read more...

How to Plan Your New Year’s Resolution
With all the talk of resolutions, how do you ensure that you can actually keep the one you make? Here’s how to plan your resolution in order for them to be successful:

• First, set a realistic, attainable goal. Can you actually, safely, lose 10 lbs in a few weeks? Probably not, so make sure your goals are realistic: read more...

Detox Tips for the New Year
If you’re feeling bloated or like you’ve gained weight from the holidays, here are some tips to help detox in January:

• Do twists everyday – you can twist while lying down and bringing your knees into your chest, then twisting them over to one side: read more...

How to Use Social Media to Meet Your Fitness Goals
Research shows that the average Facebook user spends 55 minutes per day logged in! Imagine if you spent that much time everyday in the gym! Well, here are some ways to make good use of your Facbeook and social media time, and use it to help you meet your fitness goals:

• Post your goals on social media. Once you have your goal out in the open, you will hold yourself more accountable to it: read more...

How to Be Serious But Not Rigid in Yoga Class
Many of us take yoga very seriously and work very hard to focus on what we’re doing and stay present. However, sometimes this seriousness may cause our bodies to be a bit more rigid than they should be. Here are a few tips on how to be serious, but not rigid, in yoga:

• Pay attention to your mouth: Is your jaw tight? Are you biting your teeth together? Remember to relax your face and allow there to be space between your upper and lower teeth: read more...

Heat Up Your Ab Workout
If you’re getting bored of the same old ab routine, try working on a fitness ball. Here are a few exercises to do on the ball:

• Sitting on your bottom on the ball, slowly lean back a few inches. Then engage your abs, exhale, and pull yourself back up using the strength of your abdominals: read more...

Happy Healthy Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving is notorious for treats, including candy, apple cider, and candied desserts. Here are a few ways to have a healthy Thanksgiving:

• Make a healthy deal with your kids: For every piece of candy that they want to eat, they must have a piece of fruit or vegetable beforehand: read more...

How to Make Decisions Faster
Are you notorious for taking a long time to make decisions? Do you ever think about a decision for hours, days, weeks, months, or even years? Here are some tips for making decisions more quickly:

• According to some yoga philosophy, the best decisions can be made within eight seconds: read more...

Get a Leg Workout in Yoga
If you’re looking to Step It Up in your next at-home yoga session, here are some ways to work your legs:

• In a high lunge, hold the lunge and then bend the back knee towards the ground. This will intensify the stretch on the opposite hip flexor and also work that quad: read more...

Fall Back Into Your Yoga Practice
If the new school year or return back to a regular work schedule has you neglecting your yoga practice, here are a few ways to gradually recommit to your practice:

• Instead of trying to get back into your old yoga schedule, try out a few new classes or class times that could work in your schedule: read more...

Yoga At Home Or At Work...For Free?
Nowadays more companies are providing health services for their employees and tenants. Here are a few ways to take advantage of this trend:

• If you work in an office, ask your HR representative about providing a weekly yoga class during lunchtime: read more...

How to Integrate a Yoga Strap Into Your Practice
A strap is a great prop to help you go deeper into yoga poses and even help you in some poses that may seem impossible right now. Here are a few ways that the strap will help you gain flexibility in a safe way:

• While lying on the floor on your back, reach one foot up towards the ceiling. Place the strap around the bottom of your foot, and hold onto the strap with both hands: read more...

How to Use a Pilates Ring
There are a variety of ways to use a Pilates ring during your Pilates workout. Here are just a few:

• To really work the inner thighs, place the ring in between your upper thighs while lying on your back, knees bent: read more...

How to Fit Into a Tight Pair of Pants
If you’re struggling to get into a pair of pants that are just a bit too tight, try this Pilates ab engagement exercise and continue on with your day:

• Literally pull your naval in towards your spine while zipping up a tight pair of pants – try zipping your pants while pulling your lower abs in: read more...

How To Sweat More In Your Practice
Here are some additions for your yoga practice when you’re feeling like really detoxing, working hard, and sweating:

• Instead of standing in Tadasana at the beginning and end of a sun salute, stand in Chair pose. Use your thighs and glutes and feel the burn : read more...

Enhance Your Wheel (Urdhva Dhanaurasana)
Whether you’re new to wheel or have been practicing it for years, here are a few tips to enhance this pose and possibly open up new parts of your body:

• Place a block in between your thighs to ensure that your legs aren’t spreading too wide apart: read more...

How To Use Meditation to Manifest Success
Do you find yourself zoning out during the beginning meditation in yoga, or on your own? Use this time to manifest success into your life by following these simple tips:

• While breathing, think about breathing in energy that makes you feel like you are on top of the world and invincible – not in an aggressive way, but in a successful way: read more...

How To Choose the Right Yoga Mat
Are you tired of slipping on your mat, or are you on the prowl for a new one? Here are some tips for choosing the right yoga mat:

• If you have sweaty palms or are worried about slipping, get a mat with a grippy surface. The heat makes your muscles more flexible: read more...

Take Advantage of the Heat in Your Practice
With the temperatures so high, its easy to feel lethargic and like you dont want to do your regular practice. However, try opening up tight areas by utilizing the heat to go deeper into your postures:

• Twists are a great thing to do when its hot out. Youll be able to more deeply wring out your internal organs and loosen up your spine: read more...

Cooling Yoga Poses for Your Body
Need to blow off some steam, or are you just way too hot?! Here are some yoga moves to help cool your body, mentally and physically, from the inside out:

• Shoulder stand or legs up the wall: This is stimulating for the nervous system: read more...

How to Work Out on Vacation
Many people like to view vacation as a break from working out and eating healthy. But really, that means you want to take a break from feeling good, treating yourself nicely, and doing positive things for yourself. Why would you ever want to do that? Here are some tips for how to work out on vacation:

• Schedule your workouts just like you schedule your sight-seeing: read more...

Monitor Your Water Intake
Here are some tips on when and how much water to drink:

• Do NOT drink water while youre eating this interferes with the digestive system: read more...

Curb Those Carb Cravings
Feel like carbs are the one thing you could never stop eating? Are you full, but french fries always bring back your appetite? Here are some tips on how to curb carb cravings:

• Make sure youre eating protein every 3-4 hours. This keeps your blood sugar levels stable: read more...

Look Good for Bathing Suit Season
When bathing suit season rolls around, many women start to worry about their cellulite. Here are some easy cellulite blasting tips to lift and tighten the skin in your upper thighs and bottom:

• Standing with feet as wide as your hips, engage your abs and point your right toe behind you: read more...

Bounce Into Spring with More Jumps in your Yoga Practice
Spring into new life by adding some jump backs and forward jumps into your yoga practice. Here are some tips for swift, graceful yoga jumps:

• When jumping forward to forward fold from downward facing dog: read more...

Make Your Desk Job More Comfortable
If you spend 40 hours per week at a desk job, your desk chair is very important to your posture and comfort! Here are some easy ways to force yourself to improve your posture and also be more comfortable:

• Swap out your desk chair for a fitness ball. Sitting on an unstable ball will make your core and inner thighs work to stabilize you and also force you to sit up straighter: read more...

Reduce Fat In Your Lunch Sandwich
Do you eat sandwiches everyday for lunch?
Here are some healthy and good-tasting ways to reduce fat in your lunch sandwich:

• Eat an open-faced sandwich with one piece of bread: read more...

Gift Giving To Feed Your Soul
Feeling down and out, or unhappy? Giving a gift to someone is a great way to boost your mood and even your self-esteem. When you do something nice for someone, it fosters a basic humanistic feeling of being able to provide for someone else and make someone else happy. Here are some suggestions for little gifts to give: read more...

Portion Control While Snacking
How often do you take a bag of chips or crackers with you on the couch while youre watching TV or relaxing? Often times, reaching into a bag for more food can turn into autopilot. Instead of realizing an hour later that youve eaten half a bag of a snack, here are some quick tips to ensure portion control: read more...

Using Props To Support Your Yoga Practice
Yoga props, such as blocks and straps, can greatly improve and change your poses. Heres a few ways you can incorporate a block or strap into your next practice:

• Use a block for Extended Side Angle or Triangle pose. Place the block underneath your arm thats reaching towards the ground. read more...

How To Make Drinking Water More Exciting
Its one of the most basics of health: drinking enough water. But many people just dont like the taste or the boringness of water! Heres how you can make water drinking a little more exciting, for you and for your kids:

• To make water more sweet and colorful, cut up some lemons or oranges. Place them into a pitcher of water and keep in the fridge. Or, serve a glass of water to your kids with a slice of fruit on the side. Let your kids squeeze in the piece of fruit into their water. read more...

Boost Confidence with Warrior II
If youre a yogi, youre probably aware that certain positions boost emotions and mental states. Warrior II improves confidence, so next time youre feeling weak, fearful, or anxious, try doing this Warrior II sequence to improve your confidence: read more...

Work Out Without Moving
Generally when we think about a relaxing workout, we think of slow movements or a less intense workout. But what about turning your relaxing workout into a relaxation session? By training your body to relax, you will reduce cortisol levels (cortisol is the stress hormone) which will reduce weight gain! Here are a few quick ways to totally relax: read more...

Benefits of Pilates for Low Back Pain
When you strengthen the front of your body, it makes sense that you take pressure off of the back of your body. For many of us, our backs are either a lot stronger than our cores, or we just don't know how to activate and engage our core during everyday life. Use this quick exercise to learn how to engage your core: read more...

How To Make Working Out FUN
Is one of your excuses for not working out because it's boring? In order for you to enjoy doing something, it needs to be fun! Here are some quick tips to make your workout more fun: read more...

Why Diets Dont Work
Diet books and fad diets have created a multi-billion dollar industry. With people spending so much money on dieting, youd think that our country would be becoming more healthy instead of more obese. However, with obesity: read more...

Change Up Your Yoga Routine
Do you go to the same yoga classes or types of classes every week? Are you set in your yoga ways? This year Im challenging you to Step It Up and try a yoga class thats outside of your comfort zone! read more...

How To Get a Valentine
Love is in the airif youre in a relationship, that is! How can you get a valentine ASAP if youre not in a relationship with a significant other? Well, the title of this tip may be a little misleading... YOU can be your own valentine! Valentines day has been romanticized into being all about loving another person or showing your significant other how much you care about him or her. But what about: read more...

Eating Healthy During Winter Carb Months
With sub-zero temps in many parts of the country, people everywhere are loading up on carbohydrates in colder temperatures, our bodies turn to carbs to fill us up and keep us warm. The light fluffy salads of summer arent even an afterthought! Here are some quick tips to make your carb-eating healthier this winter: read more...

Think About It: WHY Do You Want to Lose Weight or Get In Shape?
Weight. Its one of the biggest complaints in America. Women across the country openly and privately condemn themselves for their weight, wonder how they gained so much weight, and desperately try to lose weight. read more...

How To Set Fool-Proof New Years Resolutions
Did you know that only a very small percentage of people who make New Years Resolutions actually keep them? And did you know that the #1 resolution has to do with weight-loss or fitness commitments? Here is an easy and foolproof system to ensure that you make realistic resolutions, and keep them! read more...

How to NOT Break Your New Year's Resolutions
The most common New Year's Resolution is to lose weight, get in shape, and be more healthy. Do you ever notice how the gym is packed in January, and then progressively gets slower come February and March? Here's how to not break your New Year's Resolution, and how to be in the less than 25% of people who keep their New Year's Resolutions: read more...