Monthly Archives: August 2014

Want to tone your triceps? No equipment required

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These dips are an excellent exercise for the tricep and will get you tank-top ready in no time.

How to get toned triceps - no equipment required

How to get toned triceps – no equipment required

How to do a tricep dip:

    1. On a secured bench, stable chair or even on the ground, position your hands shoulder-width apart.
    2. Extend your legs out in front of you (or bend your knees if this is too challenging) and slide your butt off the front of the bench.
    3. Straighten your arms while keeping a slight bend in your elbows (you want to focus the tension on your triceps).
    4. Now that you’re in position, slowly bend your elbows to a 90-degree angle, lowering your body toward the floor – keeping your back close to the bench. This is the bottom of the movement.
    5. Immediately press down into the bench, straightening your elbows – returning to the top of the movement. This is one rep.Note: Concentrate on keeping your shoulders down as you do each rep.
Triceps-Dip

Triceps-Dip

Tabata Tricep Dips Circuit (Advanced)

Do as many dips as you can for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. Repeat eight times. To make this exercise more challenging, start with your legs extended straight out in front of you (switching to bent knees if you need to).

At HomeBodyFit, we’re big fans of tricep dips. Why? Because they help develop powerful and defined triceps…and you can do them anywhere…at home on the floor or on the bottom of the stairs…or even on a pack bench!

Want a full body Tabata workout that will sculpt and tone from head to toe? Learn more about our at-home and online fitness and meal plan services here!

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Want fast results? Add this exercise to your routine.

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Make jump squats a part of your exercise sessions. Why? You’ll get results…fast! As well, they benefit your entire body (including your posterior chain and core) and they are an excellent boost to your overall fitness.

Get results fast!

Get results fast!

How to do jump squats

Step one: With your knees shoulder width apart, bend your knees slightly, keeping your back straight. Squat down.

Step two: Immediately jump upwards off the ground. As your feet leave the floor reach upward, straight out in front, or with your hands on your hips, keeping your back straight and facing forward.

Step three: Land back in the position you started in. Bend your knees slightly and immediately repeat the second step.

Tabata Jump Squat Circuit (Advanced)

Do as many jump squats as you can for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. Repeat eight times. To make this exercise more challenging, hold a pair of dumbbells.

At HomeBodyFit, we’re fans of incorporating jump squats into nearly every personal and couples training session. They are excellent for conditioning as well as being an effective cardiovascular exercise. Learn more about our services here!

Why eating guidelines are better than diets

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At HomeBodyFit, we're not about deprivation!

Don’t diet to lose weight!

At HomeBodyFit, we’re proprietors of the food journal. People are often unaware of what (and how much) they’re eating and food journaling is a great way to change that! When we begin training, we give our clients the option of submitting a food journal after the first week. What we find is – like many of us – our clients eat subconsciously, taking snacks here and there without realizing their calorie intake or the (often negative) types of foods they are habitually consuming.

By submitting a food journal, we help our clients identify the habits that are often sabotaging their goals and create a new eating “guideline” that compliments their HomeBodyFit exercise regime. But rather than enforce a strict diet that involves calorie counting or food weighing (who has time for that?), we educate our clients on making better choices and feeding their bodies so that they never endure hunger. We provide guidelines that allow you some wiggle room (so that you’re never board) and allows you to relax when dining out or eating on the run.

We’re about gradual lifestyle change. We help build healthy habits, so that there is no dependence on a diet or schedule.  Food should never be synonymous with guilt. Instead, we provide healthy satisfying choices (for all times of day, e.g. before and after a workout) that fuel the body. Our number one rule: If you’re hungry…EAT!  And eat from a long list of clean, easy-to-prepare snacks that will energize you. But better yet, never let yourself get too hungry. Get into the habit of satisfying your body (we even mandate an evening snack that helps you burn more calories when sleeping).

Rule number two: Eat more protein. You’ve heard this one before. Protein intake helps you lose weight. How? It’s satisfying and it helps maintain the fat-burning muscle you’re working so hard to achieve with your workouts.  

So forget about the old ideas of restricting (or counting) calories to lose weight. Instead, find out the right balance for you and your fitness regime. We can show you how!

Ready to get on the right track?  Fill in our online questionnaire for a FREE HomeBodyFit consultation.

Carb up the right way with these sweet potato recipes

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Healthy Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

Healthy Cinnamon Sweet Potato Fries

by Shannon Clark  BodyBuilding.com

If there’s one must-have complex carb you should stock in your pantry and include in your fitness nutrition plan, it’s the seemingly humble sweet potato. Depending on how they’re prepared, sweet potatoes can satisfy your craving for something savory or sweet without derailing your diet plan.

See all seven recipes including: Sweet Potato Soup, Easy Sweet Potato Pancakes and Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Pancakes

Ask us about our online and at-home training programs, including customized meal plans.

 

Pack more work into tonight’s workout than most people do in a week

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Did you know that an intense 4-minute high intensity exercise interval (e.g. burpees, mountain climbers, push-ups, jump lunges, etc.) is just as effective – if not more effective – at increasing aerobic fitness and improving muscular endurance than 30-minutes on the treadmill? 

At Burlington Body Camp, we take fitness to the next level! For each workout, we string together a series of these body-weight interval training circuits. Come try us out tonight for only $15 and you’ll likely workout harder than more people do in a week!

Burlington Drop-In Boot Camp only $15

Burlington Drop-In Boot Camp only $15

All you need to do is bring the motivation and we’ll provide you with a: 

  • fast-paced
  • head-to-toe
  • body-weight
  • high-intensity
  • interval training session

that will:

  • scorch calories
  • increase endurance and
  • improve muscle endurance.

Drop-in tonight for a one-hour workout and see and feel the difference a high-intensity interval training session makes…and if you’re new to high-tensity training, don’t worry we always provide alternative exercises for those easing into this type of exercise.

Time: 7pm or 8pm
Where: Sidrebene Park (Appleby Line between Dundas and Britannia)
Price: $15

Register online here

Or contact us at info@burlingtonbodycamp.com

Before your session (and to maximize the benefits), don’t forget to have a proper pre-workout snack

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What to eat before a workout

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At HomeBodyFit we encourage our clients to have a healthy snack before every workout and we’re often asked for ideas.

Here are a few pointers to remember when putting together your pre-workout snack:

1. Carbs are your pre-workout friends.

Peanut butter with banana and cinnamon

Carbs are your friends before a workout

Choose a mixed bag of complex and simple ones for a slow and steady release of energy throughout your routine. Try whole-wheat toast with peanut-butter (or almond butter) and fruit which is also easy to digest (another plus). Bananas are perfect in raising potassium levels, which drop when you sweat a lot. Lastly, you can add a dash of cinnamon, which has been linked to stabilizing blood sugar and improving brain function.

2. Sliced apples with peanut butter (or almond butter) are a winning combination.

Apples with peanut butter and bran flakes - An excellent pre-workout snack

Try crunchy nut butters or add a few bran flakes for a different consistency

In addition to the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants apples provide, you’ll avoid a sugar crash. The nut butter squashes hunger and keeps your energy levels up.

3. Lastly, don’t forget the tried, test and true smoothie!

Smoothies made with protein powder

We like whey smoothies pre-workout

Not only are they convenient, you can add easily change them up with your favorite fresh fruit, Greek yogurt and even granola for a thicker consistency. We like formulas made with whey. Note: Don’t be too heavy-handed with the protein powder. 10 to 20 grams before exercising is plenty.

Looking for more guidance? We provide custom-made meal and workout plans…fill in our online questionnaire for a free consultation!

Think you can cook recipes with whey protein like it’s flour? Guess again. Learn the secrets!

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Baking with Whey Protein Powder

4 rules to baking with whey protein powder

by Anna Sward, BodyBuilding.com

RULES OF THE RIGHT OF WHEY
There are four rules you must know to successfully cook with whey. Master them, and become master of the protein universe. You may use these rules to bake cakes as well but, for now, let’s stick to pancakes and muffins.

RULE 1
Never-NEVER-bake or panfry a batter that is more than ¼ whey. This is because, naturally, whey has a tendency to go dry, rubbery, and “cardboard-up” (if you allow me to paraphrase Steve Spurrier and coin that expression).

You have to offset this tendency. How? By making sure that the rest of your ingredients weigh it down and add enough moisture to counter the whey.

RULE 2
You must always use what I call a primary moisturizer. This can be cottage cheese, pumpkin puree, Greek yogurt, or a cooked sweet potato. It can also be fruits such as applesauce, apples, bananas or berries.

RULE 3
You always need to have a type of flour in your batter. This will combine with your whey and give volume to your final product.

My favorite flours to use are oats, coconut flour, almond flour, oat flour, amaranth flour, chickpea flour, buckwheat flour or quinoa flour. These are excellent gluten-free, high-protein, and high-fiber flours.

RULE 4
Always use a binding substance like egg whites, whole eggs or a combination of both.

By following the above rules, you’ll be able to make anything and everything with whey?from cakes and muffins to pancakes and breads!

The more you play with it, the more delicious variations of your protein favorites will result.

Add nuts, seeds, and any additional powders (e.g. cocoa, maca powder, lucuma powder), spices (e.g. cinnamon, cloves, ginger) and flavorings (e.g. vanilla essence, orange peel, almond essence) to your batter too.

The sky is the limit to what you can make once you understand the basics of whey protein cooking!

Experiment with your combinations. Find out what you like and don’t like. Combine lemon peel with poppy seeds, cinnamon with vanilla, cocoa with passion fruit!

Try exotic ingredients. Be creative with your flavorings and remember to always build on what you learn along the “whey.”

HomeBodyFit Free Gift on $75 orders with BodyBuilding.com

 

7 fantastic abdominal exercises for a chiseled six-pack

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by Chady Dunmore

Although it’s certainly true that you can’t have a chiseled six-pack unless your diet is top notch, training your abs definitely has an effect on their shape. Let’s say you’re killing your diet and you’re starting to feel lean and mean, but without some muscle mass on your rectus abdominus, you won’t have much to show off when that belly fat comes off!

Here are seven fantastic abdominal exercises that will help you build and shape a sexy stomach.

(If you’re a HomeBodyFit client or Burlington Body Camp attendee, these will all look familiar!)

HomeBodyFit Abs

Seven fantastic abdominal exercises that will help you build and shape a sexy stomach

Learn more about HomeBodyFit and Burlington Body Camp

HomeBodyFit Free Gift on $75 orders with BodyBuilding.com