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

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

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