Homework for Almaden boot camp and Campbell boot camps

Hey boot campers!

Welcome to my blog. If you haven't already, please take a moment to scroll down and watch the video in the previous post below. It'll be your laugh for the day. Then, come back up here and grab your homework.

Your workout is simple (but tough) this weekend. If you have shoulder issues, please substitute crunches or planks for the push ups.

Here it goes:

After a 3-5 minute warm up, do the following exercises for 30 seconds each

-Push ups
-Front lunges in place
-FAST lateral shuffles
-Squats (you can make these "jump squats" if you're feeling beastly)
-Dips (off a bench, chair, or anything else you can find)

Recover for 30 seconds (walking around, getting a sip of water, etc)

Repeat for 5-10 rounds

Stretch after you've finished your last round!

I'd like to give a special shout out to Laura W. from the Almaden boot camp for successfully completing a hike up Half Dome in Yosemite last weekend. No easy feat. Congrats, Laura!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!

Yours in health,

Becky

Can you get fit with Wii????

A customer in one of my boot camps mentioned being a little sore from playing Wii the day before.  I don't know much about the Wii (don't own one), but it got me to thinking---is it a really a workout?  And what do you do with Wii Fit any way? Well, low and behold, lookie what came into my email inbox today from another alert trainer.


http://view.break.com/541145 - Watch more free videos


Now, are you gonna trust a highly educated fitness pro with 20+ years experience in the field, or Nintendo with your health and fitness? I'm not sure "stepping on the little white thing" is a workout----unless all you do is sit on the couch the rest of the day. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm all for blowing off some steam and having some fun. Recreation is great. Let's just not get all crazy and call it a workout, okay???

If you live in or near San Jose or Campbell, I guarantee you'll get into better shape participating in my boot camps or with one-on-one personal training.

Got Wii Fit experience? Let's hear about it.

Yours in health,

Becky

How many calories ARE you eating, anyway??

You might be surprised.  Research has shown that most people underestimate their food consumption by about 30%.  I'd have to say I see lots of "portion distortion" and "food amnesia" in some of the logs of my clients when I press them for details.  I don't think people are deliberately lying. Sometimes it's just hard to  remember everything, let alone put calorie values to everything.  

Enter FitDay!  It's a free program that lets you log your food and exercise, set goals, and log body measurements.  I've been playing around with it for several weeks and think it's a great resource.  And, did I mention it's FREE!? They also offer some very inexpensive PC software if you'd rather have the program at  your disposal on your computer (FitDay Software).

For me, the best part about it was getting a sense of the balance of fats, carbs and proteins I was eating.  I'm pretty aware of my calorie intake most days, but not always sure of the balance of nutrients.  FitDay really helped me out here. For instance, a couple of days my fat intake looked kind of high. The FitDay program breaks  fat intake into different types of fats and I was able to see that the greatest percentage of my fat intake came from monounsaturated fats (good fats) like olive oil and almonds.

I also liked how I could take a few measurements (e.g., weight, waist circumference) and set goals as to what I'd like to achieve with these numbers and by what date.  The software keeps track of where you are as long as you keep entering in your updates.  Nice to have some accountability as well as a place to track progress!  

The only negative I found was that some of the estimations for the calorie cost of exercise were rather low in my opinion.  This will affect your energy balance for the day in that it will underestimate how many calories you expended in a given day. However, having my nutrition profile displayed for me with everything down to how much fiber and potassium I'm getting made the calorie stuff a minor issue for me.

FitDay is a great resource for anyone wishing to put their current eating plan to the test and see how it stacks up nutrition-wise.  Give it a try!

Yours in health,

Becky

About those New Year's resolutions....

Remember way back in January when you vowed that this year would be different?  You'd eat better, exercise more, get a better job or a raise, maybe find your soul mate, perhaps start a new business?  How's it going?  If  you're finding that your resolutions have yet to materialize, I have great news!  Check out this website:

MidYearResolutions.com

This is an amazing opportunity to re-ignite those resolutions and really make them happen between now and the end of the year.  Two fitness colleagues of mine, Jeremy and Alissa Nelms, have brought together over 20 experts in the fields of fitness, nutrition, finance and relationships.  Over the next week, Jeremy will be interviewing these experts on how you can successfully lose weight, improve your nutrition, develop deeper and more meaningful relationships and even how to make more money every month!

Jeremy and Alissa really outdid themselves in getting some very top talent in each category. I've already signed up to hear the calls, because they'll be interviewing one of the contributors to the best selling book, "The Secret",  and two of my favorite Registered Dieticians, Jayson Hunter and Dr. John Berardi. I know those interviews will be jam packed with usable and motivating information.  

The best part is:  all these audio interviews are FREE!  And, you can listen to them at your convenience.  Pick and choose which interviews suit your Mid Year Resolution needs and then watch your email for notification when the experts you want to listen to will be broadcast.

This is an amazing opportunity I hope you won't pass up!  This could be just what you need to re-focus and re-energize yourself to really get what you want this year, whether it be permanent weight loss, better relationships or more income each and every month.

Log on now to reserve your FREE spot for this one of a kind event!

MidYearResolutions.com

Yours in health,

Becky