12 Days of Christmas Fitness Challenge

 

 

I apologize for not getting this posted to our blog earlier!

12 Days of Christmas Fitness Challenge
December 1^st: 1 minute plank
December 2^nd: 2 burpees
DECEMBER 3^RD: 3 spiderman push-ups
December 4^th: 4 bodyweight lunges each leg
December 5^th: 5 floor touch jumping jacks
December 6^th: 6 x-x-v crunches (3 moves = 1)
December 7^th: 7 pike to push-ups
December 8^th: 8 figure 8 abs
December 9^th: 9 bodyweight squats
December 10^th: 10 dips (using a bench or chair)
December 11^th:  11 supermans
December 12^th: 12 fire hydrant to donkey kick

Here is the game: December 1^st do 1 minute plank.  December 2^nd do 2 burpees + 1 minute plank.  December 3^rd do 3 spiderman push-ups, 2 burpees and 1 minute plank and so on through December 12^th. 

Remember: you don’t have to do them all at once-split them up throughout your day.  (if you need modifications to these exercises please ask!)

Move Of The Week: The Commando Push up

Good Morning Everyone!

I hope that you all had fun with the squat challenge! It is differently difficult as the week goes on but you can really see how easy it is to slip into your daily routine and hopefully you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Anyways, on to the new MOVE OF THE WEEK! I must admit that I am actually very excited to share this one with you because it is a more difficult move to do but it is great for your upper body, your abs (yay!) and even your legs. This move is called the Commando Push-up. Now, I know what you are thinking... "that move even sounds cool!" And you would be correct! Not only does it sounds cool but it is a very cool exercise to do. Ok, now lets get serious.

So here is how you do it:

You are going to start off in a push up position, bring your chest all the way to the ground (or as low as you can go with good form), lift your hands off the ground briefly to make sure you are all the way on the floor, then put your hands back and press yourself up. Now, back in to the up phase of the push up position bring your right knee to your right elbow, then your left knee to your left elbow. And repeat. (Please review the picture for reference) 

A modification to this for beginners would be to do the push ups from your knees and then come up to a plank and bring your knees to your elbows. 

Enjoy the new move and I hope that you all have a great time trying it out in your workout routine! Talk to you soon and remember you can always contact us if you ever have any questions. 

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Workout Challenge Of The Week: The Squat Pyramid

O.k. you guys, here is the deal, every other week we will have a workout challenge posted for you guys to do during the week. This way you can get some extra calorie burning exercise in! They will be simple challenges that you can incorporate into day, maybe even at work.

So, for this week I want you all to do squats.  This is perfect because you can do them anywhere, even at your desk! But here is the twist, you will need to pick a number (that has to be 15 reps or higher) and then every day you must complete 5 more squats for 7 days straight.  So, you start with 15, then tomorrow 20, then 25, and so on.

If you aren't sure how to do a squat or if your form is correct please refer back to the Move Of The Week: The Squat.


Good luck this week you guys and remember that we are always here to help out. :)
Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Eating Out Can Be Healthy: Just UseThese Little Tips

Hey everybody!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend and has been having a great week since.  With school starting back up and with summer coming to an end, we all will start to become busier and most likely may be going out for those quick “on- the –go” meals.  It is hard to always know what is healthy and what isn’t, even a salad can be over 1000 calories with dressings, cheeses, and other additives.

Looking for healthy choices doesn’t have to be hard and you can find healthier options even at the major chains restaurants.  If you know you will be out or just out and about you can visit this website to find the restaurant that is near you and look it up and they even have healthy meal choices and how to order it! Nothing could be easier to stay on track and be able to go out.

Go and visit: www.healthydiningfinder.comand try it out to see what you think. I find it a very helpful and hopefully you will too.

Remember that other good ideas are to get a take-out box and put half away so you are eating a proper portion too, order water and drink about 16 ounces before your meal (stay away from the pop and alcohol), and either don't eat the bread or chips that come to your table or just pull one serving aside for yourself . 

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Great Total Body exercise and ab toner!

We all are rushing around these days finding time to work out hard to come by or we feel too tried to workout. BUT there really is no excuse for not working out if your workout only take 20 minutes or less. This is done by combining exercises that work large muscle groups. As mentioned earlier, one of the best is the Burpee but surely there are other exercises that can have the same affect? Well, there are. The Inchworm is another great total body exercise that will work all the major muscle groups and help tone and strengthen your core.

The inchworm is done by starting out on your feet standing. Then you bend forward at the hips with your legs straight, as best you can, and place your hands on the floor in front of your feet, engage your core and slowly walk your hands out till you are in a push up or plank position. (Now, if you are wanting to make this move more advanced add a push up, refer to number 4 on the diagram.) Pause for a second in the plank position, make sure the hips and back are in line with with floor and that they are not sinking. Then walk your hands back towards your feet keeping your core engaged still. Then repeat this move 10-15 times.

Try to insert this exercise into your workout routine to add some spice and to make it more challenging. Hope that you all have a wonderful week!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Clean Eating BBQ Garlic & Dill Asparagus

Hey everyone! Here is a fun way of spicing up your vegetables to make them more entertaining to eat that are easy to make! Plus they are a great add in for summer grilling. Just Click on the link and enjoy!

Clean Eating BBQ Garlic & Dill Asparagus


Enjoy your summer eats!


Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Move Of The Week: Weighted Burpees

"What are weighted burpees?" you ask? Well, we are taking the BEST total body exercise and making it into a real burner. Not only making this move harder but it is also making your metabolism get a bigger jump start that will keep it running at a higher rate throughout your day!

The only changes to a burpees to make this move is you are just adding a pair of dumbbells and removing the hop as you come up at the end of your burpee and just doing an overhead should press with the weights. Let's take a look at the image to the right to see how it is done.

Let's take a run through with this new exercise. First, start standing up with weights in hands (beginners use 5-10 and then go up as you feel necessary.) then bend forward with the weights into a crouching position and weights are on the floor. Hope feet out so that you are now in a push up position. Once there more advanced exercisers you can try the push up, then bring your feet back up towards your hand with a hop (beginners can bring their feet up by stepping forward) and bring the weights up to your shoulders as you are standing, ending with a final overhead shoulder press.

Now that you have it down do it again anywhere from 10 to 15 times. It is a great add into any lifting program and for any cardio program it is a good way of mixing it up and making it more fun for you. :)

(*Note that the push up in the first image is an addition to this move and it should only be added once you are comfortable with preforming the rest of this exercise.)


Hope everyone is enjoy this new move and really one of the best total body exercises around! Have a great week, stay motivated, eat well, and work hard! You can do it anything you put your mind too.

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Ask The Professionals!

Hey you guys!

Its that time again where  you can ask the professionals. You can comment on this post and ask about anything that you would like to know about in regards to your health and fitness.  Then on Monday the 23rd we will answer all your questions! Hope that you all have a wonderful, healthy and happy weekend!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Blueberry-Banana Oatmeal Sundaes

So, just because it is the summer time doesn't mean that we can't still have a nice treat to cool off the hot days with. I found this awesome little treat in Clean Eating Magazine and it is a quick and healthy treat that we can all eat!  Go to the link below to get a hold of this amazing little treat!

Blueberry-Banana Oatmeal Sundaes

Happy Summer Eating!
Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Move Of The Week: The Squat!

This week we choose the squat to be our Move Of The Week. Why the Squat you ask?  Well, for starters it is one of the most functionally based movements that anyone can and should do. When you sit back to sit, stand up, pick things up from the floor, etc. are all moves that are done with doing a squat-like movement. In addition to it being functional, it is a great exercise to strengthen, lean, and tone your legs, as well as, tighten and strengthen your core (which are the abs and back muscles.)  

Now, with this move what is important is to get the form right. Start out by practicing this move with a chair behind you. First, your weight is in your heels, your core is tight (belly button pulled in towards the spine), head and chest are up, and slowly you begin to push hips back towards the chair. Once you reach the chair you can lightly tap it (don’t sit down on it unless you need to gain your balance, strength and to keep form) and then stand back up with the weight still in your heels. Then at the top push your hips forward a bit till you are straight.  With or without a bar on your back (beginners should not have a bar or weight at all) you can see what proper squat form looks like. The knees are at level with thighs creating a 90 degree angle, the chest and head are up and out, and the core is tight.

Once you have the form down, that is when you can start to experiment with it. As you advance and need to make it harder you can add weight, do speed squats, squat jumps, one legged squats, and the list can go on.

As always if you all ever have questions or thoughts just comment below, call, or email us and we will get back to you. Good luck with the squats! You all can do it!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Hey you guys!

On Monday, July 16th, we are starting a new session for Better Body Bootcamps! So, hurry and sign up! Its not too late in the summer to get that summer body. Please call at 503.657.3814 or email us at Info@betterbodyfitnessnw.com

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

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

Exercise Move Of The Week: Plank

People are always wanting to improve the look and strength of their abs. But what most people need to think about is their cores on a whole, the back and abs. Together they are a powerful team and can help with proper form and technique, support the back from injury, and get those rockin' abs that everyone wants.  A great way to improve the core is by doing a plank. This move is great because it is also a total body move because it engages the core, legs and shoulders... so everything! Talk abut being able to burn some calories.  How do you do this spectacular move?  Below you can see a fella that is in a plank position.  His elbows are directly underneath his shoulders, his core is tight, back is level with his hips and lastly, his legs are active.

Now, for people that have not done this move before you can start on your toes on go to your knees to work on your strength or start on your knees and work up. Either way, the goal is to stay in the plank for as long as you can with good form.

For those of you that have done plank a lot and need something to spice up their planks here is something to try at home or the next time you are at the gym, a stability ball plank. here is a great example of a plank on a stability ball.

Notice that the only that that has changed is the addition of the ball. Otherwise, her elbows are still beneath her shoulders, core is tight, back is straight, and her legs are working to keep her up. One of the other great reasons this is such a great move to do is because is also works those little muscles all over your body that help you balance and be stable. 

And there you have it. Two awesome way to tone up your core, create strength and stability in your whole body, and burn more calories then you would doing sit ups.  Have a great week everyone!

As always, committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Sweet & Crunchy Guacamole

Hey Everyone!

As the summer months come, so do the BBQ's, picnics, and eatting outside. I don't know about you all but I know that one of my personal favorites to have during the summer months is guacamole...when the avacados are tastey, fresh and cool and the veggies are just delicious!

Searching around for some healthy ways of mixing things up for this up and coming summer, I stumbled apon this awesome recipe for guacamole. For only 107 calories (for a 1/4 a cup serving) it is a good way of keeping things healthy and fun! A nice change to your fish tacos, turkey burger, or even cut up veggies it is the perfect summer side dish.

Check the title for the recipe and I hope that you all had a great weekend, a Happy Mother's Day and that you enjoy this week!

Committed to your health and fitness, Justin and Angie LaPointe

The BEST Total Body Exercise

So, out of all the exercises that are out there we all want to know which one is “The Best Total Body Work Out.” One that is efficient, portable and something that you can do anywhere and that will work everything. In one word that exercise would be called: THE BURPEE. Now, for those of you that don’t know about the Burpee, we have added a picture to show you  what it looks like so that you can see just how amazing this exercise is, but also, it works almost EVERY muscle in the body! That is pretty awesome considering just how many muscles there are in the human body.

It will work your legs, arms, core, and get cardio too! What more could you ask for? It will build you strength and will have you burning a bunch of calories too help you lose weight. Adding this into your workout routine will also help make things more challenging to help you progress to the next level or even just spice things up a bit.

How do you do a Burpee, you ask? Well, take a look at this image below to see how.

The person shown here is hopping into a push up position and hopping their feet forward and then does a jump when she comes up. You can vary the difficulty of this move by adding a push up or having your stomach touch the floor and then press yourself up to come up. For first timers or beginning level exercisers, doing the hop into the push up position would be best till you get used to it. It will be more than enough to make it challenging and difficult. Now, we challenge all of you to try and do just 10-20 of these little guys in your workout or just try it out at home.  They don’t take up much space at all. So there is NO reason not to do them! Before you know it, you will have a love/hate relationship with them and you will be amazed at how they work everything in your body.   Just be sure, like with any other form of exercise that you stretch out after you are done.

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Reboost Your Fitness Motivation: Blast Through Those Pesky Fitness Failures

Hey everyone!

Now is about the time where we all have been working hard on trying to lose weight, get fitter, healthier, and ready for summer.   Well, at some point we begin to lose motivation, get swept up in other things, start to feel burnt out, make excuses, or lose sight as to what we were working so hard for.

Well in the realm of fitness, health, and nutrition, there are a lot of excellent and informative resources.  We recently stumbled upon this article from LIVESTRONG “How To Beat 3 Common Fitness Failures”, which was the perfect sum up of things we have previously discussed about making you successful in accomplishing your goals, ditching that negative mindset of “I can’t” to “I can”, and reaching your goals.

The reason we are revisiting this is because at the beginning of the year we all hit the gyms hard and our nutrition harder.  But there is a time of the year that we need to have our minds reset, motivation boosted back up and to realize that we have come a long way (and you should be proud of what you’ve done) but if you aren’t were you want to be then let’s keep going.  Don’t settle. You can do this. We know you can. So, take a look at the article below and get recharged to be on your way to your new body!

http://www.livestrong.com/blog/how-to-beat-3-common-fitness-failures/

Committed to your health and fitness, Justin and Angie LaPointe

Hey everyone!

We are wanting to try something new with you guys. We want you guys to ask us questions, post topics, or subjects that you would like us to research and share with you. Lets call it "Ask The Fitness Professionals". 

And by ask, we mean ask us. We want to help you with those nagging health questions that have been plaguing you.  We want to help you learn, become armed with knowledge so that you can make the choices that are the best for you and your health.

So comment and let us know what you would like us to write about next! We are excited to see what you guys will write!

Committed to your health and fitness,

Justin and Angie LaPointe

Where Are You At? Come In And Get A Body Composition Done!

Good Afternoon Friend!

We hope you are having a great January and that you are still moving in the right direction with regards to reaching your new and improved health and fitness goals.

We are committed at Better Body Fitness NW to help motivate and hold you accountable to reaching those goals you have set for yourself. We are here for you and will help hold your hand on your way to a leaner, stronger, more functional you. We take pride in holding you accountable and motivating you to be your very best.

We want to let you know about two days that are coming up that we have put on our calendar to do body composition (lean mass/fat mass) testing. It is important to know these numbers from a health standpoint so you can work on doing the right things to lose body fat and not your lean muscle (fat burning machinery)

The two days will be as follows:
Monday January 30th from 5-7pm - Maddie and Justin will be covering this session
Saturday February 11th from 9:30-11:30am - Nicole and Maddie will be covering this session

It is free of charge to current clients, campers, and wellness program participants.  It is $5 for everyone else. Feel free to tell your friends, family and co-workers to come see exactly how much lean muscle tissue and body fat they are carrying around and how they can get rid of it. You can sign up for spots at Better Body Fitness NW or call 503-657-3814 to hold your spot.

So start off this year on a good note by taking some time to come in and let us give you some starting statistics about where your body is to day so you can keep track of your numbers and make sure your body changes are going in the right direction.

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin, Angie, and the staff of Better Body Fitness NW