Welcome to ChristinaChitwood.com! I’m Christina Chitwood, A.K.A. Christina Chitwood-Parkin. I am a mommy to my baby boy, Caleb Joshua Parkin, born March 2018. My British husband of over 10 years, Tom Parkin, and I live in San Diego, California, with our son. Here at ChristinaChitwood.com I help you look like a celebrity without breaking the bank!
Photo of my husband, Tom, our baby boy, Caleb (at 3 months old), and me, Christina Chitwood. Photo taken by Billy Economou of BE Studios.
PROFESSIONAL ICE DANCER
I developed a love of sports and fitness at a very young age, becoming a 3-time NASTAR national ski-racing champion by age 6 and Junior Olympic karate gold medalist at age 15.
I began dancing pretty much as soon as I could walk. I started ballet classes at age 5. I did intensive dance training, primarily ballet, along other dance styles for 15 years.
As a figure skater, I became a quadruple gold USFSA test medalist by age 12 and a quintuple gold test medalist by 16.
I was a 3-time international medalist and 2-time British national medalist in ice dance. I competed and represented Great Britain at the World Figure Skating Championships in 2010 with my ice dance partner, Mark Hanretty. After retiring from competitive ice dance, I also toured the UK as a professional ice dancer in shows, all by the age of 20.
2009 European Figure Skating Championships in Helsinki, Finland
2010 World Figure Skating Championships in Turin, Italy
Performing in Shows
Best-Selling Author
I’m a best-selling author. I co-authored Against the Grain, featuring Brian Tracy, Christina Chitwood, and leading coaches, mentors, and entrepreneurs from around the world. I wrote about “Releasing the Athlete Inside You.” Buy Against the Grain in hardcover or eBook here.
FASHION
One of my favorite things is to share fashion looks, fashion inspiration, and fashion roundups.
I’ve had a lifelong passion for fashion. I chose figure skating as my sport because I loved both the mixture of sport and art, and I would get to wear pretty skating dresses! I’ve always dressed to my own preferences and not just what’s the “latest trend.” If I like the latest trend, of course, I will wear it, but I like to have my own style more. Even as a pre-teen, I had a teenager who was an acquaintance ask if I would go shopping with her since she liked my style so much.
FITNESS
With my love of fitness, I have so much fun putting together activewear outfits for you! I also enjoy creating and putting out dance workouts, Pilates and strength workouts, recovery workouts (rest day), warm ups, and cool-downs here at ChristinaChitwood.com. I also provide fitness tips and tricks, information, and more in my blog posts. I particularly enjoy dance workouts with my love of all styles of dance!
Workouts:
Here are workouts that I’ve created and put out for you!
50+ Workouts: 6-Minute or Less Workouts to Tone Your Body
25+ Fun Dance Workouts That Are 5-Minutes or Less
15 Pilates and Strength Workouts under 6 Minutes to Lengthen, Strengthen, and Tone
How I Exercise:
I follow the workouts I create and put out on my blog. I also do some corrective exercises and stretches to help with previous injuries from when I was an ice dancer.
My Fitness Education:
Before taking my personal training and Pilates completely online here at my blog, I worked as a personal trainer at Fitness First in England as well as at my home gym in England. In San Diego, I worked as a Pilates instructor at The Sporting Club. I also taught Zumba classes in England.
Following my passion for fitness and love of lifelong learning, I’ve completed these fitness certifications and training courses: Stott Pilates Certified Instructor Level 1 in Matwork, Reformer, Cadillac, Stability Chair, and Barrels, NASM Personal Training Certification, Total Barre, Kettlebell Training, Sports Conditioning, Power Plate Core Fundamentals, Power Plate Post Natal Training, Pre- and Post-Natal Fitness, NASM Youth Fitness Course, Zumba Basics 1 and 2, Zumba Gold, Zumba Toning, Aqua Zumba, and Zumbatomic. I do continuing education in fitness each year. I love studying and learning about exercise, biomechanics, and anatomy.
I was a figure skating coach for over 6 years in England and San Diego. I also taught fitness and performance classes for skaters.
HEALTH
I enjoy putting out healthy vegan/dairy-free, gluten-free, and sugar-free (with natural sweeteners such as honey) recipes and nutrition tips. I also put out some vegetarian recipes, although I primarily do the vegan/dairy-free recipes.
I love studying and learning about healthy nutrition.
30-Day Health & Fitness Challenges
30-Day Challenges to Improve Your Life
How I Eat:
I eat a plant-based diet. I am vegan (except whey protein and honey), gluten-free, and sugar-free (I have natural sweeteners such as honey, but no cane sugar.).
BEAUTY
It’s so much fun sharing natural beauty products to help you decide which makeup and skincare products you’d like to use for a healthy lifestyle. I also share beauty tips and tricks, information, and more.
I’ve been a makeup artist for ice skating shows in the past, and I completed a natural makeup and skincare course in England.
I’ve loved makeup since before I was allowed to wear it outside of ballet recitals, ice skating competitions, and performances. I always loved being made up for any kind of competition or performance. I would spend long periods of time just looking at the makeup at makeup counters when I was growing up. I developed an extensive collection of makeup over the years for my own personal use and for performing.
I started using more natural beauty products and learning more about natural makeup and skincare in 2009. Since then, I’ve dramatically changed the beauty products I’ve used and spent a lot of time studying ingredients and learning about natural beauty products. I especially put in a lot of time learning and changing out beauty products before trying to get pregnant with Caleb. I have a lot of fun continuing to find new natural beauty products to use myself and share in my blog posts.
FASHION
Another of my favorite things is to share fashion looks, fashion inspiration, and fashion roundups.
I’ve been interested in fashion for most of my life. I chose ice skating because I loved both the mixture of sport and art, and I would get to wear pretty skating dresses! I’ve always dressed to my own preferences and not just what’s “in style.” If I like what’s in style, of course, I will wear it, but I like to have my own style more. Even as a pre-teen, I had a teenager who was an acquaintance ask if I would go shopping with her since she liked my style so much.
Mom Blogger
My most recent addition to this blog is being a mom blogger. I absolutely adore sharing mom life, baby products, Montessori ideas and products, natural products for the family, and more.
See my baby products posts here.
How to Prepare for a Newborn Baby Hospital Photoshoot
Education
At age 19, I graduated from Sheffield Hallam University in England with a BA (Hons) Degree in Performance and Professional Practice with First Class Honours. I was on the Elite Hallam Athletic Squad at Sheffield Hallam University. I also received the Creative Spark Award for Outstanding Work in the Creative Disciplines from Sheffield Hallam University as well as Outstanding Achievement Award and Most Outstanding Work Award from Rotherham College.
I was homeschooled all the way until college/university. My mom, Deb Chitwood, owned her own Montessori school before I was born and now has the education blog Living Montessori Now.
Blog
I’ve been blogging part-time since July 2010 when I started the blogs Fit Body Full Life and Christina Chitwood Performance, which merged together to form ChristinaChitwood.com in May 2016. Tom I started Fit Body Full Life together. He is a golf coach and DJ and has gotten really busy with those businesses these past couple years. The transition happened naturally. Once I became a full-time blogger, it made sense for me to take over the blog. Tom is still a contributing writer, and you can find any health, fitness, or golf posts Tom writes here at ChristinaChitwood.com. Tom also founded MusicCatRF.com where he creates royalty-free music that’s free for personal or commercial use.
Photo of my husband, Tom, our baby boy, Caleb (at 4 weeks old), and me, Christina Chitwood. Photo taken by Billy Economou of BE Studios.
In addition to this blog, I put out printables with my mom in the Living Montessori Now Shop and free printables posts along with YouTube videos for Living Montessori Now.
I’m so grateful to you for reading and following my blog! I appreciate you so much!
