Celebrity

Jillian Michaels Is Coming to a City Near You

April 4, 2013 at 3:08 pm
By Marianne Magno

 

Have you ever wished you could meet tough trainer Jillian Michaels? Well here’s your chance! Our April cover girl is kicking off her first live tour, “Maximize Your Life,” today. She’ll be in Winnipeg, MB, today and traveling throughout North America until late May with her motivational tips to help you reach your goals–whether it’s to get a better body, eat healthier or feel more confident.

But who better to explain what’s in store for attendees than Jillian herself? Watch her video below and read on to get tour dates and locations.

 

Find out when she’ll be at a venue near you and how to get tickets: Read more

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Dancing with the Stars Week 3: Will Jacoby Be Crowned Prom King?

April 2, 2013 at 4:05 pm
By FITNESS Editors

Jacoby Jones admitted getting kicked out of his actual high school prom last night on Dancing with the Stars, and hopefully he won’t get kicked out of a second one tonight! Read on as Karina Smirnoff gives us the scoop on how they prepared for their dance and how the team is doing so far.

Written by Karina Smirnoff

What a week it has been! Unlike previous weeks Jacoby and I stayed in LA, which I think was beneficial since he had to learn both the rumba and the group dance. I was so excited to have rumba and knew that Jacoby would be able to pull off the moves; however I was really impressed by his depth of character and his gracefulness. On our first day of rehearsal for the week, I couldn’t believe how well he picked up the movement. We worked hard on the fluidity and rhythm of our hips and on his extensions. We were also really looking forward to going to the DWTS Prom and couldn’t wait to share our work with all of you! It’s funny, normally I get really nervous before I perform and last night I was extremely calm. I think it’s because I trusted that Jacoby would be there to catch me, turn me and move with me. It was certainly a special moment for us.

On top of how well Jacoby danced, I was honored to be able to pay tribute to his high school destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and to all the victims of these tragic natural disasters. I always say that when you dance for something bigger than yourself the connection the audience feels is that much greater. It is definitely a dance I will never forget and we hope it touched all of you. Read more

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Miranda Lambert Dishes on “The Voice” and Her Animal-Loving Activism

April 2, 2013 at 11:23 am
By Samantha Shelton

While we love watching country crooner Blake Shelton on The Voice, it’s his spitfire wife, Miranda Lambert, that we are dying to know better. A well-known animal activist, she made our hearts swell as we learned about her involvement with Pedigree’s Pet Feeding Project, which provides dog food to animal shelters across the country at no cost. With Nashville and Chicago already being served, Pedigree turned to their Facebook fans to help determine which city would be next. People all over the U.S. nominated hometowns, and then voted, to select the top five finalists:

• Metro Detroit/Metro Flint, Michigan
• Erie, Pennsylvania
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Jacksonville, Florida
• Wausau, Wisconsin

Now it’s your turn to vote again, until April 12th, to help Pedigree narrow it down to the two winning cities, which will be announced in mid-2013. While we wait, we talked to Lambert about her soon-to-be-released sophomore album with band Pistol Annies, why she thinks this cause is so important and what it’s like to have her hubby swirlin’ around in a big red chair every week.

I hear you have a new album coming out with Pistol Annies?

Yep! I’m very excited about that. In the video for “Taking Pills” [from first album Hell on Heels], two of my rescue muts have cameos throughout the song. They’re like mini Annies, too.

Editor’s note: Their new album, Annie Up, hits shelves May 7!

What about a personal album? Can we expect one anytime soon?

Hopefully I’ll have one out in early 2014.

Your other half, Blake Shelton, is a judge again on The Voice. What is that experience like? Do you get to go to the set a lot and hang out?

I go to the set on the live shows. The reality stuff and the auditions are long, long days and frankly, it’s boring for me to just sit there and wait for them to get done. But I love the live shows; the energy of it.  The Voice is very family-friendly. You see all of the judges and Carson [Daly]‘s kids running around – families, moms, wives, husbands. Everyone who works there is so nice. So it’s really welcoming, and I love to go there because they make you feel really at home.

Do you think you would be a guest mentor again?

I would love to be a mentor. The first year I performed with Dia [Frampton], and then the second year I was a mentor. I just watched as a fan the third season, and it was really fun to do that, so maybe it will be time for me to do something again. I tapped Blake on the shoulder and was like, “I know people…can I get back on The Voice somehow?” We’ll see.

Read more

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Who Inspires You to “Run the World”?

March 29, 2013 at 11:10 am
By Christie Griffin

To celebrate 10 incredible years of the More® Magazine/Fitness® Magazine Women’s Half-Marathon, we’re honoring Women who Run the World—fearless game-changers who’ve paved the way for women over the last decade. These leaders will no doubt inspire you to run faster, train harder and work smarter.

From a U.S. Congressman to the CEO of Girl Scouts USA to a co-host from “The View,” these women are changing the face of business, education, women’s health, sports, and more. We’re thrilled to welcome these leaders to the biggest women’s-only half-marathon in the country!

As you train for your 13.1 mile journey, we want to know: Who inspires you to “run the world”? Let us know in the comments below, on our Facebook, or through Twitter. (Please us the hashtag #womenruntheworld.)

View the 10 honorees’ pics and mini-bios here.

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Dancing with the Stars Week 2: Jazz Hands with a Side of Harlem Shake

March 26, 2013 at 3:18 pm
By FITNESS Editors

This week on Dancing with the Stars the contestants stepped up their fancy feet to perform a jazz routine. Below, our guest blogger and dancing pro Karina Smirnoff dishes on the week of training leading up to last night’s performances, plus a hilarious Harlem Shake video you need to watch to bust your midday slump.

Written by Karina Smirnoff

There is never a dull moment with Jacoby Jones! This week we traveled to Houston, TX to train. It’s been really cool to experience the various places around the country that mean so much to him. I love learning more about where he’s come from and what he’s gone through, it all helps when putting together the vision for each of the dances.

This week, we had Jazz, which is one of the new styles DWTS has added this season. I was really excited about incorporating the roots of jazz into this piece. However, I also realized that this week we needed to put more time into rehearsals, since Jacoby’s recovery from knee surgery had kept us back a bit leading up to the premiere. Jacoby and I are both competitors and want to improve from week to week. We also wanted the judges to see us improve in areas they had previously critiqued. Read more

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Music Monday: The Choice From “The Voice” – Hits From Adam, Shakira, Blake and Usher!

March 25, 2013 at 10:02 am
By Samantha Shelton

Today marks the launch of a new season on The Voice, with newbie judges Shakira and Usher heating up the oversized spinning seats. Veterans (and major #bromance boys) Adam Levine and Blake Shelton return to the show better than ever – Shelton releases his latest album, Based On A True Story, tomorrow, with tons of tunes destined to be summer hits. Meanwhile, Levine is touring the world and making ladies swoon with the rest of his Maroon 5 bandmates. And as someone who has seen the Overexposed tour live (with @FITNESSkarla, no less!), I can definitely say the tunes are hot, hot, hot!

Try these tunes during your next workout and don’t be surprised if you find yourself wondering about your own future singing career – these artists always make us want to try!*

*For the sake of everyone’s ears, we’ll stick to singing in the shower and car.

Now you tell us: Will you watch season 4 of The Voice? Which judge is your fave?

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Kicking Off Dancing With the Stars Season 16 with Karina Smirnoff

March 19, 2013 at 1:39 pm
By FITNESS Editors

Last night, a new batch of stars put on their dancing shoes to do the Cha Cha and Foxtrot on Dancing With the Stars, Season 16. We can’t get enough of the glittery costumes and fancy footwork, so we’re even more excited to have pro Karina Smirnoff recap each episode here on The Fit Stop every Tuesday! Check out her thoughts on last night’s show and get behind-the-scenes info and her fitness tips below.

Written by Karina Smirnoff

Hey guys! Thank you for tuning in last night and for reading my new Fitness blog! I can’t wait to share all the behind the scenes fun as well as give you some of my favorite health/fitness and nutrition tips!

I am extremely excited to have such an  athletic, charming and hardworking partner in Jacoby. I can’t wait to dance more with him this season! As most of you know, training and rehearsing for a dance is extremely challenging both physically and mentally. This coupled with the fact we only had a solid week to prep made us have to fast track what is normally 3+ weeks to rehearse. Jacoby had to get knee surgery after winning the Super Bowl and his team of doctors had to clear him to dance. You can imagine my anticipation when we finally got the good news! PHEW! Even though time wasn’t on our side, we dug in and gave it our all.

I was thrilled to see how well Jacoby moved his body and especially those hips! Wow those hips can move! I had been doing a lot of visual “training”, where he watched me marking the dance and showing him what was to be expected. I think that really helped because once we finally started dancing Jacoby’s Cha Cha was pretty impressive. I have to admit, I got excited!

Rehearsals and training for this show and/or any competitive dance is a lot like training for a marathon, you need a good amount of stamina and you have to be focused, so this week in rehearsals I wanted to not only focus on stamina, but also his movement, lines and getting his footwork right. Even though we didn’t have the same amount of time as everyone, I knew we had to stay on track and focus, which helped us to get quite a bit accomplished. Read more

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Ice Skating Legend Kristi Yamaguchi Dishes on the Winter Olympics & Dancing with the Stars

March 15, 2013 at 9:31 am
By Samantha Shelton

 

Anyone who knows anything about ice skating knows about Kristi Yamaguchi and her gold-medal victory at the 1992 Olympics. Since then, the figure skater has been actively involved in the sport, created a foundation that supports children’s education and inspiration, and won the sixth season of Dancing with the Stars. Yep, it’s safe to call her a rock star.

These days, Yamaguchi’s joined Team Kellogg’s, where she’ll be mentoring athletes hoping to make the journey to Sochi in 2014. While some may think it’s a bit early to be chatting about the Winter Games, we think the timing couldn’t be more perfect. Catch up on what else Yamaguchi is up to, then get a head start on meeting the athletes she’s hoping to coach all the way to the Olympic podium. While all your friends are in the dark, you’ll be the fountain of knowledge they turn to. Look at you, smarty pants.

Tell me a bit about Team Kellogg’s. Whose faces can we expect to see?

I’m the co-captain of the team, along with Jim Craig, the goalie from the 1980 Miracle team. The other athletes are all Olympic hopefuls, who will probably be competing and representing Team USA in the Sochi Games next winter.

So exciting!

It really is. Team Kellogg’s is all about following these athletes as they start their journey for getting ready for Sochi. I mean, of course they’ve been getting ready for years, but now fans can follow along. Kellogg’s Facebook page will have video clips of their stories, training tips and nutrition advice straight from the pros.

That will definitely be fun. Any other fun features?

You can find out how these athletes got their start – who was the coach who first got them going, which people gave them inspiration and, of course, what breakfast does to fuel their start.

So are you and Jim mentors, then, as accomplished athletes yourself?

Yeah, in a sense. Jim and I have been there, we’ve experienced the Olympics and know what they’re going through. We hope to encourage them to keep dreaming big, and we want to be there to give whatever advice we can to help prepare them for what lies ahead.

Read more

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Harley Pasternak on Losing Weight Fast (As in This Week)

March 12, 2013 at 9:00 am
By Colleen Moody

Megan Fox. Jennifer Hudson. Amanda Seyfried. Katy Perry. Those are just a few of the celebs trainer Harley Pasternak has whipped into A-list shape. Here at FITNESS, we’ve been getting a lot of Harley time lately (lucky us!). Not only is he the newest member of our advisory board, he recently treated us to an exclusive staff workout to talk about his latest collaboration with New Balance with the New Balance 5 Factor997 for cross-training and his latest book The Body Reset Diet, which helps you lose weight fast (we’re talking five days fast) in a healthy, non-cleansing or detoxing way. See what Harley had to say about his new program below (spoiler–it involves quitting the gym!) and find out why if you don’t already have one, you should go get yourself a blender ASAP!

What prompted you to create this new plan for The Body Reset Diet?

I finally understood the sense of urgency women have in wanting to see a difference in the way they look and feel. They don’t want it to take weeks, they want to see a change this week. It made me realize that I need to offer them a healthy option to quickly drop weight and transform their body. I wanted to talk them out of doing cleanses and using diuretics and show them that there is a healthy way you can lose weight and feel great.

In the book, you map out a three-phase plan to slim down that incorporates smoothies in each phase. What are some common myths you’ve heard in the past from your clients about smoothies?

People definitely don’t know the difference between blending and juicing. They think blending is for body builders and they are all just forms of protein shakes packed with calories that bulk you up. But that’s wrong. Believe it or not, a fresh cold pressed apple juice can have twice the calories of an entire blended meal and four times the sugar! Read more

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Cheryl Burke’s Snacking Secrets: Being Curvy Is In!

March 8, 2013 at 11:09 am
By Lauren Cardarelli

Last week, the Season 16 Dancing With The Stars cast was revealed and to our excitement, two-time champ Cheryl Burke will be back March 18 for another year of gracefully stiff competition—this time with comedian D. L. Hughley. We cha-chatted with Cheryl before the big announcement about leading a FITNESS-approved lifestyle. Read on to find out how she stays fueled and fit every quickstep of the way—plus why she’s thanking all the haters out there.

You’re a force to be reckoned with as DWTS’ only professional to appear in the finals four times…plus you’ve taken home the Mirror Ball trophy twice, back-to-back! Spill your tactics.

During the show, it’s all about showcasing my partner. I feel like sometimes people think their partner’s going to be a professional dancer at the end of the day and for me, it’s just about making my partner look comfortable and not awkward and really developing a great chemistry with whoever I dance with. Dancing is a hard sport to do, especially when you have no experience coming into a show like ours. It’s just important that I showcase my partner and not showcase myself. I feel like the people at home want to see the progress of these celebrities and how they progress each and every week.

So how will you bring that experience to Season 16?

Every celebrity I dance with always brings something new to the table. Everyone has their own personality and their own way of learning so I feel like every season is a challenge for me regardless. It’s even more challenging now that I’ve done it for so long because I put pressure on myself to make sure that every season that I do is better than the last one I did. Read more

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