Boot Camp Workout of the Day - Climb the Ladder!

Here's what we did at the North Austin/Arboretum boot camp yesterday.  This is a great workout to do on your own (and even in the comfort of your own home).  It involves 4 exercises and you start with 1 rep of each.  The next round you do 2 reps of each.  And so on until you hit 10.

The 4 exercises we picked happened to be push-ups, modified pull-ups, core planks (1 rep - 10 seconds), and burpees.  You can, however, choose any 4 exercises you want!  Obviously pull-ups might be hard to do in your own home but just substitute with another body weight exercise like lunges (walking lunges or lunges in place), mountain climbers or spider crawls.  You can also watch our boot camp video for more exercise ideas.  

Climb the Ladder:

1 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (10 seconds), burpees

2 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (20 seconds), burpees

3 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (30 seconds), burpees

4 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (40 seconds), burpees

5 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (50 seconds), burpees

6 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (60 seconds), burpees

7 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (70 seconds), burpees

8 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (80 seconds), burpees

9 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (90 seconds), burpees

10 - push-ups, pull-ups, core plank (100 seconds), burpees

If that's not enough, then work you way back down too!  Then you get to call it a pyramid :-) Have fun!

BCU Recycles.....Do U?

While we are working towards keeping ourselves healthy and strong, let's do the same for our Mother Earth.  Instead of bottled water, ask Robyn for a Boot Camp U re-usable water bottle!  

“I Recycle” is the theme of Keep America Beautiful’s 2010 America Recycles Day (ARD), which takes place on November 15.

Millions of Americans have pledged to increase their recycling habits at home and at work over the 13-year history of ARD, a nationally-recognized initiative dedicated to encouraging people to recycle more at home, at work, and on the go. More than a celebration, America Recycles Day is the only nationally recognized day dedicated to the promotion of recycling in the United States. It’s one day to inform and educate, one day to get our neighbors, friends and community leaders excited about what can be accomplished when we all work together, one day to make recycling bigger and better 365 days a year.

Here are 10 ways you can take action this year:

1. Know your local recycling system. Different communities have different standards for what can be recycled and how to do it. Visit Earth911.com and enter your zip code for your local information and resources.
2. Plastic recycling: it’s all in the numbers. Look for the recycling symbol on plastic packaging or containers. #1 and #2 plastics should be accepted by almost every recycler. Some communities require that your plastic bottles have a “neck,” so know your local rules (see #1).
3. Can it! Metals are among the most valuable materials in the waste stream. Aluminum and steel cans are always welcomed by recyclers, and most metals can be recycled infinitely with no loss of quality.
4. Make recycling easy on the road. Keep two bags in your car or truck to contain your trash – one bag for garbage, and one for recyclables. Pre-sorting makes it easier to transfer your recyclables to the proper container once you’ve reached your destination.
5. Answer the call to recycle your wireless phone! Hundreds of millions of out-of-service phones are waiting to be reused or recycled. Do you have one or more in your home? Find a local charity with a phone recycling program, or visit Earth911.com to find recyclers near you.
6. Look beyond the daily paper. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, paper and cardboard are America’s most-recycled materials by weight. In addition to newspaper recycling, most communities will accept corrugated cardboard, and some will even accept junk mail, catalogues and phone books.
7. Plug in to E-cycling. We live in an electronic age and that’s creating a lot of electronic waste. Never throw old computers, monitors, TVs, printers, or other electronics in the landfill. Instead, donate them to a local charity for reuse, or find out about your local e-cycling programs.
8. Improve your community with a cleanup event. Clean communities are better places for everyone to live, work, shop and play. Join or organize a local cleanup event, and be sure to sort the recyclables you pick up. You’ll be amazed at what a difference a little effort can make.
9. Teach your children well. Do your part to help create the next generation of environmental stewards. Involve your kids in recycling and make it fun. Even preschoolers can help with sorting recyclables, and they’ll learn a lot about the world around them. Someday, they may even help with taking out the trash!
10. Don’t forget about “Reduce” and “Reuse.” Reducing the amount of trash we throw away, and reusing products BEFORE you throw them out or recycle them, creates the least impact on the planet and our resources. Consider how you can add “reuse” to products before they re-enter the waste stream.

How can you get involved in America Recycles Day? Visit americarecyclesday.org to find an event near you.

America Recycles Day – http://www.kab.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ARD_Links_and_Resources

Are you creating your own life?

Take a moment to look at the circumstances of your world. Is it what you want to see? What could you do differently to take one step closer to your ideal vision? We're all dealt different hands in life. That's how things are. To change things, you have to first accept that fact, then figure out where to go from here. We should all be able to count on each other for help, but in the end, we can't expect anyone to change our lives except ourselves. Nor should we want it that way. It's natural to feel powerless and give up in the face of hardships, but complaining and blaming do nothing except prevent action. Without positive action, you're giving up your power and asking for more of the same--a world you did not create. Where you start may not be your fault, but the course you run is still your choosing.  -From Sparkpeople.com

I really love this little blurb....especially that last line.  When applying this to health and fitness, it reminds of the the fact that your weight is something like 40% genetics.  Yes, that's a big chunk right there but it is still less than half and you still have the choice to participate in a healthy lifestyle (of fitness and nutrition) despite the circumstances you were born with.  Yes, some of us are genetically disadvantaged and vice versa but that doesn't mean we're destined to look or feel like our parents!


Chew on that one for a while!

Robyn's Supplement Story

Ok, so if any of you know me or follow some of my posts on Facebook, you know I am EXTREMELY skeptical about what I put into my body.  This includes foods as well as supplements.  From the second I learned from my exercise physiology professor in grad school, Dr. Brown, that the FDA doesn't regulate the supplements industry and supplement companies can put anything on their labels and make any claim they want to about their products (even un-true), I was completely against them!  The exact thought that crossed my mind is "I am never taking supplements" and "why on earth would someone take them knowing this?" The word "supplement" to this day, makes me cringe just because of the history behind it. I had the belief that you can get all your nutrients and everything you need from food (I still believe this but more on that later), so why do we need supplements?

So as you would imagine, the first person that came up to me to talk about supplements asking my thoughts on them, didn't get a very good response. This person was a nutrition supplement distributor that, knowing I was in the fitness industry, did his best to convince me that I should sell their product.  No dice.  I didn't even want to hear about it.

I did, however, catch one piece of information from our chat that sparked an interest.  Those were the words "scientific & medical advisory board."  I didn't really know what this meant but I took his materials and went home.  It was probably even a few days before I looked into it.  But more on this later...

That talk was 2 years ago. Today, I still believe that you can get all the nutrition you need from foods.  However, it is my firm belief that doing so is almost as hard as being a professional athlete.  Our foods just aren't as nutritious as they used to be.  Over farming,  mass-production of foods, meat factories, and other discouraging facts about our foods today have led me to believe it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to get all your nutrition from foods anymore. And you cannot believe or trust the claims that even food companies make.  Food companies are regulated by the USDA, FDA, etc and believe me, our health is not one of their main concern. If it was, we wouldn't be the fattest country in the world.  So sure, you can be "healthy" and "skinny" without supplementation, but are you filling in all of your nutritional gaps left by the foods we've eaten (or haven't eaten)?

So fast forward to today.  I now believe in supplements.  Am I still as skeptical as I was before, though?  ABSOLUTELY.  But I am happy to say that, as a fitness professional with her name and career on the line, have found a company in Advocare that I trust and back 100%.  I will put my name behind Advocare any day.  There are 5 reasons for this...

Here are my reasons:

1) Scientific & Medical Advisory Board - Yes, it did turn out to be a deciding factor for me. The board is made up of the top doctors, nutritionists, medical researchers and scientists in their field.  Most of them are associated with a major university (Yale, for example) and their reputation is far too important to be associated with unhealthy, unsafe products that make false claims.
2) Informed-Choice -  Advocare can proudly claim that their products are all "informed-choice."  This means that there are NO banned substances in their products. High school, college, and professional athletes can take Advocare products with confidence knowing that they will pass all drug tests.
3) Their Product Line -   The variety and amount of products offered is amazing.  It covers all the major health areas.  There are products associated with immunity, digestion, weight loss, products for active individuals, sports performance, overall wellness and more. I love this for myself as well as the fact that there are a wide variety of products that I can recommend to my clients.
4) The Support - I have support from one of the most knowledgeable guys in the nutrition industry with the biggest heart out there.  Joel Holcomb, has an extensive background in Sports Nutrition and was the former head athletic trainer of Georgetown High School where he was in charge of 1,800 athletes. After a scare with his athletes taking products from GNC, he researched products that were safe and exclusively recommended Advocare to his athletes from then on.
5) The TRUST FACTOR  - I love love love that I can recommend products to my campers and be confident that they are safe.  I constantly preach how important nutrition is in addition to exercise and now I have a Nutrition Company that I can trust with the health of my clients. My reputation as a fitness professional and owner of Boot Camp U, is far to important to me to be recommending un-safe products that make false claims.

Tell me, what are YOUR thoughts on supplements?  Do you have any stories to share about your experiences with them?  Good or bad. Please share.

For more information on Advocare, click HERE!

Boot Camp U - Austin Fitness Camp Testimonial 2

Shirley has attended boot camp for about a year. She could barely use her left leg when she started because it was so week for a hip replacement and years of pain. Now, through lots of hard work strengthening her legs(among many other body parts), she can do everything that is asked of her and the hip doesn't hold her back at all! We are proud of you, Shirldog!

Check out more testimonials on our website! Also, read reviews on Yelp!

Saving the Breasticles

As a fitness community, Boot Camp U participated in the Komen Race for the Cure today.  I personally love events like 5K's and the atmosphere surrounding them but the Race for the Cure seems just a little more special.  To see survivors of breast cancer out walking and celebrating their victories is inspiring.

We had a good group participate today of runners and walkers.  We were all wearing BCU shirts that said "Can U?" on the front and "Save the Breasticles" on the back.  We seemed to have gotten lots of comments on them.  I even think that Bobby Bones from 96.7 said "Can U?" as we walked past the start line.

It was awesome to get together as a group outside of camp and do something fun and healthy together....especially for a good cause.

Check out the photos of our event on Facebook!

Globo Gym Rules :-)

1.    First, never have a goal or a conscious strategy regarding what you are trying to accomplish- just go in and basically do what everyone else does.

2.    Never seek professional assistance, even if you've never been in a gym before...just watch others and copy what they do.

3.    Whenever possible, perform your arm curls in a power rack. If the gym has bumper plates, use them for the curls instead of regular metal plates.

4.    Always drink Gatorade before, during and after your "workout." After all, if you let your glycogen stores become depleted, your body might actually have to start accessing fat stores for fuel.

5.    A walkman or iPod with headphones is mandatory- without this important device, you might have to actually become conscious of what you are doing.

6.    Avoid the "Evil 5:" Squats, dead lifts, dips, chins, and Olympic lifts. Of special importance: even though many gyms feature a stylized pictogram of the snatch lift as part of their logo, NEVER perform a snatch in a gym. NEVER.

7.    Instead, concentrate on the "Golden 5:" Bench presses, arm curls, behind the neck presses, lat pull downs behind the neck, and dumbbell side bends.

8.    Always leave your weights on the apparatus you just used- you may risk burning an additional 6 calories if you replace them.

9.    To impress others with your dedication and expertise, always bring in a copy of Men's Fitness, and emulate the latest midsection workout by leaving the magazine open on the bench next to you, and carefully study the photos between sets to make sure you're doing it right.

10. Lastly make ample use of wrist wraps, belts, knee wraps, elbow wraps, you name it- really go for that "mummy" look that's so in vogue these days.