Denver lesbians changing the world of fitness two feet at a time

This time each year people obsess over New Year’s resolutions. Often times it revolves around fitness – a hope to get into better shape after adding on the holiday pounds brought by big family dinners, pumpkin pie and other seasonal goodies. In the cold Colorado winter, when we tend to hibernate indoors, we all have the same goal once the New Year rolls past and the spring season bops its head around the corner, reminding us of beach vacations and sexy outfits we hope – pray – we can fit into again. We’ll soon be asking the same question we do every year: “How do I get in the best shape of my life?”

Almost without fail, each new year brings a new fitness craze, but this year trainers and health professionals around the world, and in Colorado, are taking fitness and health to a new level and doing it barefoot.

Two fitness gurus who are making exercise hip, internationally, live right here in Colorado. And they just happen to be a successful lesbian couple that couldn’t be more passionate and excited about teaching the community how to get back on track.

The willPower method, of willPower Productions, was created and is led by New York City trained fitness professional Stacey Lei Krauss. But don’t ignore her partner in business and love, willPower marketing manager Jennifer Schumacher, who once worked for Nike, played pro football and is a lifelong fitness enthusiast.

The two women and their method of barefoot workout is turning heads and making people believe in the power of fitness again.

Krauss developed the program accidentally.

“Teaching in New York City, I showed up by accident without shoes, I just had flip-flops on. Then half the room took their shoes off too and I started to really realize how people were landing on their feet, and it really began from there,” Krauss said, “And our motto began: ‘what would you do, if you had to?’”

The basic theory behind the willPower Method is group workout systems with highly trained professionals who help you rebuild the core (according to Krauss, your shins and feet ) by working out barefoot and gaining a sense of balance and grace. It is a revolutionary method, especially after years of podiatrists who have sold the public on the necessity of proper foot support and using the correct shoes.

But the willPower method is changing that old-school thought, and with it everything you thought you knew about proper support and fitness.

“Our feet are really the base of our kinetic chain,” Krauss said. “Finally, the industry got smarter, so we [now] focus on harnessing that strength [of the feet] and teach people to rely on their most basic support; their feet. And we’ve done it now for thousands of people.”

Krauss has been met with some resistance over the theory of her program, as other fitness experts began asking, “What makes you a foot expert? You’re not a podiatrist!” Krauss’ response has always been, “Well, I’ve been teaching people to jump for 12 years and I’ve seen thousands and thousands of feet and taught people how to move.”

And although she takes her job seriously, Krauss relies on the aspect of the enjoyment in fitness: “To me, it’s fun … there really is something so primal about working out barefoot.”

It’s not as easy as it seems, even Krauss and Schumacher admit: “The reason there’s been a debate about barefoot training for so long is because essentially people are walking around with a cast on their feet for the past 20 years,” Krauss explained. “And then when you do have your first barefoot workout, it isn’t easy.”

But when the shoes come off, it’s worth it.

Now Krauss and Schumacher couldn’t be bigger advocates of barefoot training, as even companies like Vibram came out with the five-finger toe shoe, revealing to the athletic world that less really is more.

Physiologically, the more you support you have on your feet – by wearing shoes – the weaker that body part becomes. The gals of willPower are changing the way people define exercise, starting with the primal theory that to gain strength, you must start with your toes.

“Your toes are actually connected to ligaments and muscles all the way up to the knee,” Schumacher said. Krauss added, “When we are barefoot we are stimulating the skin,” and according to the method, that’s when full mobility and strength becomes possible.

“The stronger your ankles and feet become, it really enhances everything we do,” said Schumacher.

The couple vows that health and fitness, in all forms, is something that is necessary for everyday life. They don’t view health and fitness as a part of life or an activity you do once in a while. Rather, Schumacher and Krauss view fitness as a way of life, enhancing all parts of one’s self, including relationships.

They are on a mission to motivate the community, and while they don’t have a willPower studio (yet), Krauss trains teachers around the country the method so that it reaches a larger fitness sphere.

“I think every single person needs to make a plan,” Schumacher said. “Honestly, every single day, no excuses. You need to move every single day. Even if it is something as simple as a plank that you hold for two minutes, just do it, every day.”

According to Krauss, scheduling workout time is key.

“Everyone gets up everyday to brush their teeth. It’s part of your routine. Working out needs to be as important as brushing your teeth. The same way you brush your teeth because you have germs in your mouth and you don’t want grimy teeth, it should be the same with your body. You know, we only have one vessel.”

Even though the duo approaches fitness very differently within the willPower Method, they have made it into what motivates their individual lives. Schumacher is a more competitive work out fiend while Krauss looks at the creativity of the exercise, trying to develop new creative forms of workout systems. But, in the end, they both agree that health and fitness is the key to lasting health (physical, mental and spiritual) as well as lasting relationships.

“Being in a relationship together and working together, brings its own struggles,” Krauss said. “But exercise and fitness is about engaging your partner in all aspects of life.”

Schumacher echoed, “As women, we tend to bond and create a unit that we have a hard time breaking out of. I really believe it’s so important to remain individuals. After the honeymoon phase is over we often stop engaging our partners. But the point is, we need to take care of our individual selves so that we don’t end up as the other person’s baggage.”

And workouts aren’t always easy, even for these athletic pros. “Don’t get me wrong,” Schumacher said, “there’s been so many times when I didn’t want to go train at work. But afterward, all I could think of was, ‘thank God there’s exercise.’ Literally thank God we know to do this, because it changes you and it changes you in an hour.”

As lesbians in a community where women tend to get stuck in their nesting phase, Schumacher and Krauss encourage women to get out of the rut and challenge each other for lasting relationships and lasting health.

Yes, the two enjoy spending what free time they have (they travel internationally for a large portion of the year) eating at good restaurants – Root Down is one of their favorites – or enjoying a bottle of wine, but they truly believe that the WillPower Method and group fitness programs allow people to become motivated in all areas of their lives and empower people to really start caring about the physical health which allows all individuals to create lasting relationships.

“At the end of the day, we just want people to move,” Schumacher said. And Krauss added with a smile, “You don’t need to be an uber-hippie to be a barefoot enthusiast.” l

To find willPower trainers at a studio in your location, or to learn more about the method, visit http://willpowermethod.com.