Week Challenge #10: Make It Happen!

Good day to you all!

I hope that your week has been going well and that you guys are all fired up for the start of your new challenge!

This week I want you all to complete:

5 burpees
10 squats
20 crunches (or sit-ups)
30 sec. cardio drills. (Mt. climbers, skaters, jump rope, high knees, lateral shuffles, etc)

Repeat 5 times through to complete!

Good Luck and enjoy your weekend!

And remember:

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Week #9: Time challenge!

Hey there you guys,

I hope that you all have been doing well and that you have been able to knock all these challenges out of the park!

This week you will complete the listed exercises for a full 60 seconds for each one, you must complete it daily... however, I am not saying all at once, in the order given, or even restrict any of you from completing it more then one time through.  :)

1) Wall Sit: (this one you may have to work up in but take breaks and keep going! you can do it!)
2) Squats: (see how many you can do.)
3) Push Ups: (on your feet or knees, it doesn't matter. Just work hard.)
4) Jumping Jacks: (make it a competition.... how many can you get?!)
5) Plank Hold: (watch your back and bottom, no sagging! You can also go to your knees if you feel your form leaving you.)

Good luck to you all for this challenge next week! Kick Booty! :)


Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Weekly Challenge #8: Double time!

Alright, so it has been 2 months since we started the Weekly Challenges and I want to know how you're doing with everything.  How are you with accomplishing the weekly challenges?  Do you feel like the challenges are doable? Here is what you are going to do for the next 7 days.

1. Drink 64-100 ounces of water each day

2. Burpees!!! Daily you must complete:
Beginners: 20 burpees
Intermediate: 30 burpees
Advanced: 50 burpees

Good luck this next 7 days with your challenges! I know you guys will all do amazing work! I hope that your weekends are filled with great times and sunshine. 


Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

week #7: Weekly Challenge! Make It Happen!

Wow! I can't believe that its been almost 2 months of challenges already! How are you doing with these challenges?  What do you think about them?  I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about them and really I want the good with the not so good. So, let me know what you think. 



I hope that every one's week is going well and that the weekend holds nothing but great things!  So, for the next 7 days, here is what I have planned for you to include into your routine.  Ready?

First and foremost, I want there to be at least 1 serving of vegetables with EVERY meal.  Now, if you are eating 5-6 times a day you might think that its hard but really it is so easy to just add a serving of vegetables.  Add 10 baby carrots to a snack, add 1/2 cup of mixed veggies with your eggs in the morning, have a small salad with lunch and/ or dinner, etc.  If you guys ever need help with ideas and placement of foods let me know and I will help you out where you need it.

Ok, for the second part of this, daily you will complete:
1) 1 Max plank hold.  (try and beat the time you got from the day before every time!)
2) 50 lunges (any kind and 50 total reps)
3) 2 sets of 30 seconds each of: Mt. Climbers and Jumping Jacks. (A total of 2 minutes of extra cardio. YAY!)

And remember, (taking from the quote above) don't just talk about it, think about it, or dream about it, be about it. What you want, dream, talk and think about can be yours but you have to take action.  Start today, you can do it!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Week Challenge #6: Show Me The Reps!

HAPPY MONDAY EVERYONE!!!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Easter! It was a beautiful weekend here in Oregon City, OR. The sun was out and shining bright.  It was a great weekend to be out and about.  Hopefully, you all had just as great of weather and time this holiday.

This weeks challenge is a bit of a different set up.  We are going to do a total of reps for four exercises for the whole week.  So, for 7 full days you need to get a total of:

300 Squats
200 Crunches
100 Push ups
50 Burpees 

Good luck with this weeks challenge.  I know you guys will do a great job.  I would love to hear how you all are doing.  Keep me informed on your success!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Week #5: Fitness Challenge

Happy Monday everyone!!!

Hopefully you all had a great weekend and got outside now that the weather seems to be getting warmer and a little more sunny... depends on where you are I guess. 

OK, down to business.  Here's the deal with this week's challenge.  During the times that we are watching TV and all those annoying commercials come on, which for some reason we all decide to sit and wait and watch all of it.  Instead, lets have fun and make it a fun activity/ game time.  How many sit-ups can you do during that car ad? How long can you do fast feet during that preview? etc. 

So for however long or how many shows you decide to watch this week, you will do an exercise for each commercial that you have come on.  Now, you will want to keep it simple but effective and somewhat challenging.  Some recommendations are:

• Cardio based: High knee runs/Jogging in place, Burpees, Jumping Jacks, skaters, Mt. Climbers, Fast Feet, Tuck Jumps, "Jumping Rope" (pretend that you are), etc.
• Strength: Push-ups, Sit-ups, Lunges (in place), squats, Plank hold, etc.

Hopefully, those exercises will help people fill their TV time with fun times and exercise to help burn off those  unwanted pounds and calories.  Remember, there needs to be a caloric deficit for there to be weight loss and with spring around the corner there is no better time then now.  We all have times were we are more into or less into our health and fitness goals.  But that time for being into them 100% is now and Better Body Fitness NW is here to help support that. 

Good Luck this week! We know you all can do it!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Week #4 Fitness Challenge

Happy Tuesday Everyone,

I hope that you all had a wonderful weekend and are looking forward to kicking this week off with nothing short of awesome!

How have your challenges been going the last couple of weeks? Have you been able to complete them? Have there been any struggles that you have experienced or successes that you have had? Remember, we are here for you and are able to answer any questions that you may have.

Ok, on to this weeks challenge.  This week we are doing: Limit your caffeine...( I know, NOT the caffeine!) to only 16fl.oz. each day.  This will cover ALL forms of caffeine (coffee, soda, tea, etc.) This will be good for you and I won't lie some of you might go through a withdrawal but the reason for this is because caffeine is a stimulant and while I won't say its bad for you (because research has shown with coffee and 1-2 cups a days has health benefits) we typically replace water with other beverages (most with caffeine) and it doesn't hydrate us, it will do the opposite and dehydrate us.  So, lets get to drinking less caffeine, replace the remainder with water, and get hydrated! (I know, I made it sounds very exciting.) But, it really is a great thing for your body.

For the fitness part of your challenge this week, daily you must complete 30 push ups and 5 burpees! Yay! This will help boost your

I hope that you guys have a great week and I know you all will rock these challenges.  Keep up the good work and kick butt! Just remember to keep going forward towards your health and fitness goals.  Make a motivational wall, take out those clothed that you want to wear, write down a quote or leave a book that speaks to you out, etc.  Do what its is you have to do to help yourself stay motivated. You can reach your goals.  It is all possible.  I assure you, it all can come true.  And, as always....

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Week #3 Fitness Challenge!

Happy Week 3 One and All!

I hope that this post finds you all well and that you guys are tackling those challenges! I am so excited to also announce that we are only about 3000 views away from 15,000 views! This blog is  something that is close to my heart and the fact that you all are taking such an interest in this as well as taking away information that will help you get closer to your goals is so amazing in my eyes. So, thank you. 

Anyways, back to your weekly challenge.  This week is more of a "workout" oriented challenge.  Its a great way of burning those little extra calories but it won't feel like you are "over doing" for any workouts that may happen that day or throw you off from a rest day that you may be enjoying. Remember, we need to start getting our gears into place because it is almost march! I know, I can't believe it either.  BUT this means that summer is coming and really isn't all that far away. So, by adding these challenges into your daily routine it will help you transition into a different mentality and help you get ready for summer quicker. OK! Our challenge looks a but something like this:

50 Squats (body weight)

40 Jumping Jacks

30 Russian Twists
(for beginner to moderate levels do 30 total, for more advanced levels complete 30 each side.)

20 Planks rows
(please review this: http://betterbodyfitnessnw.blogspot.com/2012/06/move-of-week-plank-row.html)

10 Star Jumps

Please complete this circuit 2 times during your day. You don't have to do this all at once if you do not have the time. You could do one set in the morning and the other after you get home from work, or during your lunch break, whenever.  That is the beauty of this challenge, it is quick and does not take long, so there is no reason not to do it!

Good Luck everyone and enjoy your week!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Fitness Challenge #2: Bring it on!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I hope that the week has started off to a great start and that you all have only great things headed to you this week.  OK! So, it is the start of another week and therefore another 7 days worth of awesome health and fitness challenges.  This week, we are going to be doing a nutritional and an exercise challenge. 

For the nutrition part, I want you all to focus on making sure you are eating 5 to 6 meals each day and are spacing them out about every 3-4 hours.  This is very important when you are working at getting weight off or keeping it off because it lets your body know that, one, you are not starving it and therefore it does not have to store all of what you are eating to fat. Then secondly, it keeps your metabolism running at a higher rate so you will feel hungrier and your body will have to fuel that it needs to give you more energy to do the things you need to get done everyday, as well as, having increased energy to stay and be active.

Now, for the exercise challenge! It is a burpee week.  If you are unfamiliar with burpees, please review at this link: http://betterbodyfitnessnw.blogspot.com/2012/04/best-total-body-exercise.html
Here is the concept.  I will have you all start with 10 burpees on day 1.  Then, on day 2 you add 2 for a total of 12 and so on for a total of 7 days you continually add 2 reps.  (You will end at 22 on the last day of your burpees. 

Good Luck with your challenges this week everyone! I know that you will do a great job and remember that you can always ask us any questions via our comments or our email.  I hope that everyone has a great week of kicking butt!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe

Let The Fitness Challenge Begin!

It is into the new year and we are already in February! Wow doesn't time move fast! Well, it is time for a check in.  How are you doing with all your health and fitness goals that you set for yourself this year? How are you feeling with your progress? No matter what your answers are, we all need to try something different, be held more accountable, and have that support system.  Well, look no further.  We are here for you all!

We started out with our own goals for the new year and this is what we are looking forward to starting with you all.  We are not only bring back our exercises of the week but we are going to call them Exercise of the month. So, once a month you will all get a new move to try out with progressions.  Also, something new that we want to try is to bring in weekly fitness challenges to help keep you motivated and going strong towards your health goals. 

Now, with these challenges some weeks it will be exercise focused but then other weeks nutrition will be a focus and then randomly there will be weeks with both! This way you are never bored, always working on your health, and constantly trying to improve your health, fitness, and build your mind and willpower!

This week our challenge is a two part one.  It needs to last for a full 7 days. The first part is a plank challenge.  You will do a max plank hold on day one, then on day two you need to try and beat it by a minimum of 5 seconds and continue that trend for the full 7 days. (If you need a reference on how to do a plank, please view this post again: http://betterbodyfitnessnw.blogspot.com/2012/05/exercise-move-of-week-core.html)

Part two is to eat no more then 3 servings of fruit in a day.  Try and fill the wanting for more servings with more veggies instead, they are lower in calories, more filling, and have less sugar. 

Let us know how you do!

Committed to your health and fitness,
Justin and Angie LaPointe