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

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

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

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

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