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

Stress: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

In today’s world, it has come to be that we are all a little stressed out. We all have bills to pay, work to go to (in which the dynamics there might be a little stressful), a house to take care of, then add on a family, pets, and the list can go on and on. After a while we all just start to break down. We all handle stress in different ways and how our body responds to that stress can very but it can come in the form of sickness, eating too much or not enough, gain weight or lose weight, get acne, and the list continues.

First things first, what we should all know is that stress in of itself is a neutral. But it is how we use this stress that can make it a good stress (eustress) or a bad stress (distress). Now, the stress we are going to be talking about with negative impacts on your body is related to the distress. So, why does stress have such an impact on our bodies? Well, it is because when the body is under stress, a hormone, Cortisol, is released in the body and it produces what is known as "our fight or flight response". This is a good thing (especailly if we are being chased by something like a T-Rex), however, only for a short period of time. It is the very thing that saves people or gets us through a really rough patch. But the longer that we are under a great amount of stress,  the more that it will break down our bodies because of how hard it is on it over time.

With the way that we are all living these days we are always on the go and should have had things done yesterday. Therefore, we all don’t take the time to eat as well or exercise as often as we need to. To top it off, there is so much stress that we have to deal with there seems like there is no healthy way of getting rid of it.

Stress is something that everyone will experience but we need to find ways to combat it so that we are not victims of weight gain (due to cortisol, which is known to increase abdominal fat), weight loss by not eating, or getting sick (by being run down). Here’s how….

1.       First, you need to exercise. And not find the time but make the time! This is very important because by putting your body under that kind of work and stress it will help alleviate the distress that we are put under.

2.       Next, Eating will also become crucial to you and by eating healthy you are providing your body with the proper nutrients to support optimal health.

3.       Another thing you should do is make time to have fun. Whether this is time that you sit at home and read a book or you go out to watch a movie or participate in a hobby, you need to make time to decompress and have fun.

4.       Make sure you have a safe or scared space. You need to have a place where you feel like you can have calming time and a place where you can relax completely.

By doing these relatively simple things you will change your life. And we know that it seems like a grand statement but it is true. We all may not even realize how much stress we even are carrying around with us until we make that change or all four and then you see how much of a difference there is. We hope that this will help you through your holidays and through your daily life. There are sites below that are related to stress and its impact on the body and techniques to help you through it.

·         http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/slash-your-stress-level

·         http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/meditation-lowers-blood-cortisol-levels

·         http://www.ideafit.com/fitness-library/mental-health-and-exercise

Committed to your health and fitness goals,

Justin and Angie LaPointe

How to Reach Your Goals This New Year’s

Tis' the time of the season that the year ends and people start to make their goals that they wish to achieve for the upcoming year. We have all done it, our New Year’s Resolutions. They will tend to be: “I want to be fitter, healthier, weigh less, run more, go to the gym more, eat better, etc.” and the list can go on and on. The problem with this is not that people have these goals or even that these goals are unrealistic but the problem tends to be that people go head first into the deep end and they get burnt out which leads them to giving up too soon.

Now, we have all had this happen to us at one time or another. Whether it is getting burned out, never quite making it to the gym, or maybe you are wanting to begin eating better next week, there are ways to make you successful in achieving your goals, whatever they may be.

1.      You need to MAKE THE DECISION FOR YOURSELF TO DO IT.  You need to consciously make it a part of your routine and changing your lifestyle to accommodate it. Make yourself WANT TO DO IT and NOT “have to do it”. This self-talk will help you change the way you look at it, especially if it is a goal that may be good for you but it is not something that you originally are really wanting to do.

2.      FIND WAYS TO ENJOY YOUR NEW ACTIVITY.  Whether it is with a friend or a big group of people, going outside (biking, hiking, rowing, running, etc.), listening to music, or even having little rewards for your successes to motivate you, you need to find ways that will motivate you to stay on the path.

3.      One of the most important parts of setting goals and new resolutions is that you MUST MAKE THEM REALSITIC.  By setting realistic goals they are less intimidating and you are also more likely to go after them. With goals that were already too intense for you reach, you might start out discouraged, intimated, or unsure if you are even going to reach it.

4.      FIND YOUR INSPIRATION. Music, quotes, movies, books, etc. find something that is inspiring to you and is something that will fuel you in your lowest of low moments.

5.      ENVISION YOURSELF SUCCEEDING! This is very important because if you can’t see yourself succeeding then how are you going to succeed? You need to believe that you can do it so much so that you can actually see yourself doing it.

6.      Last but not least, you need to MAKE THE COMMITMENT TO DO IT.  This is pretty self-explanatory but it is also one of the hardest steps to do. So, make a pledge to yourself that when you make the commitment then you stick with it and achieve it!

Remember that you can do anything that you set your mind to and that you need to believe that you can complete your goals and make them come into reality. Getting your mindset and having the will power to do all this will go up and down but you will find the strength that you need to make it happen. You just need to make sure that you take that first step.

Good Luck and remember we are always here to help you on your health journey

Committed to your health and fitness goals,

Justin and Angie LaPointe

Surviving The Holidays

WE ARE HAVING AN EVENT!!!!!


We are hosting a event here at Better Body Fitness NW! Surtviving The Holidays is an event that will arm you with resources so that you will be able to have healthy and happy holidays.  There are going to be samples of three different meals that are traditionally served during the holidays with a healthy spin on them, a grocery store tour (looking at what you should look for and what to buy), and general nutrition advice that you can use everyday!

Where: Better Body Fitness NW Facility
 1610 Red Soils Ct.
 Oregon City, OR 97045

When: December 6th at 6:30 to 8:30 PM

Please contact us for either more information and to reserve a spot with us. Slots are limited, so reservations are a must.

Call: 503-657-3814 to get your spot now!

Happy Holidays and we look forward to seeing you there!  

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