Move Of The Week: The Plank Row

We are on our third exercise already! How exciting!  It looks like you all are enjoying the  Move Of The Week as much as we are. Anyways, to the point of the matter, the new move for this week is called the Plank Row.  Now, the reason this exercise is so great is because you are exercising and engaging your back muscles, your core and even your legs by holding plank. In addition to this, the move will also work on your core and arm stability because at one point you are only holding yourself up with one arm!

To start, get down on the floor in a plank/ push up position. Your core is tight (belly button is drawn into the spine), shoulders are active and your hips are level.  Now, slowly lift one hand off the ground and bring it to your shoulder to tap it and then slowly bring it back down.  You can also do this from a kneeling position if you are a beginner, progress to being on your toes, and then finally being on your toes, adding a pair of dumbbells to help add resistance is the final progression.  The final product of what this move should look like is in the picture below.

For some, this may be a new move, or for others they are advancing this exercise to make it more challenging.  Either way, you need to start the plank row in your regime at lower repetitions to get a good gage of how you are doing with it based on how your form looks and how your body responds to it. So, starting with about 10 reps total (5 on each side) and progress your reps from there.

Hope that you guys enjoy this exercise as much as we do and good luck with this week’s new move. Let us know what you think about it  and how you did! Have a great weeke eveeryone.

Committed to your health and fitness,

Justin and Angie LaPointe

New Bootcamp Session: Get ready for Summer!

Happy Monday!

I hope that everyone had a fun-filled weekend and got out to enjoy the fresh air.  We just wanted to send out a reminder that our Better Body Bootcamp has a new 4 week session start June 18th! So give us a shout at 503-657-3814 to get started!


Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

A Quick And Easy Healthy Meal!

One of the biggest impacts on our weight is diet and nutrition. Some experts have said that it can be anywhere from 70-80+ percent of losing weight and keeping weight off and exercising is the other 20-30% of it. I think that changing your way of eating, planning your meals, and cooking differently is difficult and will be a challenge when you start. But because nutrition plays such a huge role it needs to be changed if you want your goals to become reality. Because YOU CAN DO IT! And watching your body change for the better and start to transform to where you want it to be…. Well you will see how awesome that is and want to keep going for it.

Now, one of the challenges to changing eating and moving into a better direction is what to cook? What to eat? We went looking for a place that would give you all good ideas of foods that are healthier, quick to make, and simple. The meals only take about 20-30 minutes. They will help you lose weight and keep it off. They are made with foods that will fuel you to exercise with improved stamina and overall improved feeling. What more could you ask for?

So go to the link and check it out. What are you waiting for? J

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/superfast-20-minute-recipes-00412000071183/

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe.

Move Of The Week: The Push-up

This week we are going to focus on the push up. The reason why it is the Move Of The Week is because it is one of the few moments that you can do anywhere, modify to meet the level of every person regardless what level they are at, and lastly, it is one of the most functional movements that you can do. 

The muscles that are being worked when you do a push up are the chest muscles, the triceps (the back of the arm), and the core muscles (which start at the belly button and wrap around to the back) and even your legs work because if you are on your toes then you are having to engage the muscles in your legs to keep them straight! So, what does a proper form push up look like and how is it done? Well, let us scan below to our image:

·         Notice that his shoulders are active to avoid him from sinking and to keep him up, his core is tight which keeps his butt level and his back straight.

·         Note you don’t have to come down to touch the floor like the drawing does but it is an option for people that have a lot of experience with push-ups, are advanced and would like to challenge themselves to make it harder. Then try bringing your chest all the way to the ground and pushing up from there.

·         Also, you can do this move from your knees, work up to your toes, and then work up to chest to ground push-ups.  That is a great progression for beginners.

That is one of the best things with this move, you can do it anywhere, anyone at any level (beginning, intermediate, advanced) can all do it and you can even mix it up by adding unstable surfaces, making incline or decline, adding weight, even moving your arms closer to your chest or further away can make it harder or easier, and the list can go on!

Try to incorporate this move this week in your work outs. Whether you are going to try to work this exercise for the first time or if you are going to try one of the more advanced moves, make sure to keep your form. That is the most important part, as soon as it starts to break, then take a break and rest.

Good luck this week you guys and I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

Committed to your health and fitness,

Justin and Angie LaPointe