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

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

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

The Do’s and Do Not’s For Fat Loss

There are many misconceptions of exercise that we all have. Many facts have been pasted down for the bodybuilders like Arnold or from other fitness gurus but for those of us that want to loose fat and don’t have hours and hours to dedicate we need a quick and efficient way of loosing fat that will get us to our goals quicker than not. 

·         Rule 1: DO resistance training and NOT just cardio.

o   While cardio is still something that is still healthy for you and something that you should do.  It does not mean that you have to be on the treadmill walking/ jogging/ running for hours everyday. You should be doing exercise that will build up lean muscle mass.

o   Look at your body as a car and the more muscle that it has the bigger your engine is and more fat it will use up as fuel. The cardio that requires you to go for 30, 40, 50, or 60 minutes wont give you more muscle and wont use your fat as fuel as much as lean muscle mass would.

o   This will also shorten the time it takes to drop body fat and therefore getting you to your goals quicker! Only by adding a resistance training routine 2-4 times a week!

·         Rule 2: DO whole body metabolic training and NOT body part muscle splits.

o   First off, a body part muscle split routine is where you focus on a specific muscle group, such as: chest, shoulders, and triceps.

o   Whole body metabolic training is where you are combining opposite movements together, these are known as supersets.

For example:

§  Doing a lower body movement with an upper

§  Doing a push then a pull

o   These kinds of movements will increase your heart rate and will burn more calories than if you were to do body part split workouts.

o   Focus on these kinds of workouts 2 to 3 times each week.

·         Rule 3: DO focus your time on large muscle groups NOT small muscle groups (abs, arms, etc.)

o   By focusing on larger muscle groups you are taxing yourself more and the more taxing an activity is the more calories you will burn and do for burning off fat allowing you to reach your goals faster!

·         Rule 4: DO High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) and NOT just jogging.

o   This is a big one. By upping the intensity you are going to burn more calories and you can actually lessen you time in the gym or that you spend working out. You will burn possibly the same amount of calories in half the time if not more!

§  Some great examples of HIIT training:

·         If you are on the treadmill, try jogging/ running at a faster speed for 3 minutes and then drop it back down for and other 3 minutes. And then repeat till you reach about 20 or minutes. You will feel like you worked harder and you will see that you did in fact burn more calories than if you were on there for 40 minutes.

·         Or do timed activity (1 minute going and 30 seconds break) repeats till you reach 15- 20 minutes.

o   Do these kinds of work outs 2 to 3 times a week.

·         Rule 5: DO eat good, whole, and REAL food and NOT processed and modified food.

o   This is perhaps one of the most important rules. This is what your body uses as fuel and what it uses when it works out.  No matter what anyone says, you truly can NOT exercise your way out of a bad diet. It will catch up with you at some point, whether that is for the start or years later. What you put into your body matters.

o   By eating real foods you are supplying your body with what nature meant for you to have and to use as fuel. The more processed or modified that that food becomes the less quality and the fewer nutrients that food will have to supply you with proper nutrition. See what  happens and how your body feels by switching up your food for the better!

Below is the inspiration for this blog and this article is a good read with awesome information. 

http://www.todddurkin.com/adults-and-fat-loss-do-this-not-that/

May this blog and article inspire you to improve your workouts! Good Luck!

Committed to your health and fitness goals,

Justin and Angie LaPointe