OK.  Bear with me, as I may be going off the reservation for some of you.

Let me start from the beginning…

Janell and I decided to have a little contest this first quarter to see who could lose the most weight (quality weight that is – not water weight, and certainly not muscle!) before our vacation at the end of March.  Now, the reality is we’re both in pretty good shape.  We’re certainly not fitness models or Greek statues, but we take pretty good care of ourselves.  Point being, this contest is going to be interesting.

One of the other things I really wanted to do was step up the care of the inside of my body.  I eat really well, but have been wanting to try a dietary cleanse and begin taking some health supplements like additional probiotics, greens and others.

I did some homework, and here’s what I came up with and what the results have been so far.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of my loyal Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp members, as well as South West Metro Minneaopolis’ number one HVAC guy Gary Kearin from Lake Air Heating & Cooling (little plug for ya buddy), asked me to put together a video with ski conditioning exercises that he could share with his ski patrol buddies.

Gary has seen phenomenal results with our boot camp workouts – he’s lost a bunch of weight, improved both his muscular & cardiovascular strength and endurance, and best of all has seen these results translate into his skiing.  When it comes to fitness for skiing, along with the obvious strength and endurance components, we need to focus on balance, edge control and rotary capability.  Integrating the whole body (lower, core, upper) is critical for skiing workouts.

Whether your a recreational skier wanting to improve your fitness for skiing, work as ski patrol or ski instructor, or are looking for downhill ski race training this circuit training skiing workout is for you.

50-10 5-Exercise Skiing Workout Circuit powered by Workout Muse:  Boot Camp Dynamite

You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest/transition for each exercise within the circuit.  Perform this 5-minute circuit up to 4x for a 20-minute total body workout.

Your ultimate goal is to be able to perform at least 20-25 reps per set for each exercise or perform an isometric hold for the full duration for each exercise within the circuit.  Once you accomplish this, seek to increase loading or progress to a more advanced exercise variation.

Exercise 1:  Body Weight Squats
Exercise 2:  Mountain Climber Push-ups
Exercise 3:  Single-legged Arm/Leg Reach
Exercise 4:  Total Body Extensions
Exercise 5:  Lower Body Twists

Enjoy this skiing workout.

By the way, if you have a specific workout video that you would like me to create please leave a comment below.  I’d be happy to make one for you.

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – For a $9 30-day Trial to the first and number one Online weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

It’s Super Bowl Weekend.  That means we’ve got to really hammer out a good workout today to fire up that metabolism to help fight off the fat.  As we do every Friday at Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp we blasted out an awesome High-intensity interval training (HIIT) 50:10 5-exercise circuit powered by Workout Muse today, followed by a killer finisher.  The energy was high and everyone rocked!

Check it out:

Here’s your Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp Workout Video of the Week

Exercise 1: Straight-legged Hip Extensions
Exercise 2: Chest Press
Exercise 3: Alternating Lateral Lunges
Exercise 4: Prone Pillar Rows
Exercise 5: Seated Upper Body Twists

By the way, if you didn’t get a chance to read Wednesday’s blog.  Click the link below:

Super Bowl Recipes That Won’t Tackle Your Fat Loss Goal

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – For a $9 30-day Trial to the first and number one Online weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

Are you ready for some football?!

Super Bowl Sunday is just days away. My two favorite things about Super Bowl Sunday are the hilarious commercials and, of course, the party food.

Unfortunately, all that party food can add up to some serious calories and pack on pounds of fat. In today’s post, I’ll show you how, with just a few tweaks, to make some of those delicious treats healthier and more figure-friendly.

The following is a comprehensive list of both approved food choices and/or healthier substitutes for traditional party foods. Use this list to satisfy your taste buds while saving at least hundreds if not thousands of calories in the process. If you use these strategies consistently for parties and social gatherings over the course of the year, this could prevent 5-10 lbs of fat gain… easily!

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a crazy busy week, but there’s always time for a 20-minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout

This weekend is the Women’s Expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I’ll be speaking all three days and will have a booth with great some great prizes and specials. Kym Johnson from Dancing with the Stars will be there, too!

I hope to see lots of readers there, but before you come make sure you crank out this 50:10 5-exercise circuit first. The 6am crowd was a little small today (gonna have to crack the whip; I mean, it was only -8 degrees

Here’s your Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp Workout Video of the Week

Exercise 1: Wall Sit
Exercise 2: Vertical Push-ups
Exercise 3: Single-legged Hip Extensions
Exercise 4: Hammer Curls
Exercise 5: Dynamic Side Pillar

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – For a $9 30-day Trial to the first and number one Online weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

Big weekend coming up. The Vikes are going to the Superdome for the NFC championship! But, before you close out the week, be sure to hit it hard with today’s FREE Workout Video of the Week.

Let’s go into the weekend strong with your Workout Video of the Week!

50-10 Five-Exercise Circuit powered by Workout Muse: Boot Camp Dynamite

You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest/transition for each exercise within the circuit. Perform this 5-minute circuit up to 4x for a 20-minute total body workout.

Your ultimate goal is to be able to perform at least 20-25 reps per set for each exercise or perform an isometric hold for the full duration for each exercise within the circuit. Once you accomplish this, seek to increase loading or progress to a more advanced exercise variation.

Exercise 1: Bent-knee Hip Extensions
Exercise 2: T Push-ups
Exercise 3: Alternating Reverse Lunges
Exercise 4: Bent-over Rows
Exercise 5: Dynamic Front Pillar

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – For a $9 30-day Trial to the first and number one Online weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

I’ve got another quick post from my buddy, Mason McClellan, at The MN Clinic of Integrated Medicine.  Today, he shares a very scary statistic and a little bit of wisdom.  Check it out…

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 1998, a report finds that prescription drugs kill about 106,000 Americans each year – that’s three times as many as are killed by automobiles—making prescription drug death the fourth leading killer after heart disease, cancer and stroke.

I would say that is a bit frightening for a statistic. I am sure 12 years later in 2010 those number of deaths are higher.  The good news is that most of those are preventable by following a healthy diet and regular exercise.  (Since we as a nation have become a society of the “chronically diseased” which the vast majority is a self-induced combination of modern life, improper diet and poor habits).

So, what is the moral of the story?

If you keep yourself healthy you can avoid a majority of the cancers, and most all the cardiac/diabetic/prescription drug-induced deaths.  But, to further this thought process the idea is not to avoid death for that is an exercise in futility; the notion is to enjoy life and improve the quality of your time on Earth.

The solution is simple.  There is nothing like exercise and sunshine to make you feel better, look better, and be more fit.  And, that is were the enjoyment comes from – having your health, so that you can spend the time enjoying what is important to you.

So, if you want to regain your life, get off the drugs, and improve the quality of your life so you don’t end up leaving this earth prematurely from a preventable disease keep taking care of yourself and stay drug-free. Stay healthy and be your best with the exercise, good nutrition, and “alternative” medicines like acupuncture, massage and chiropractic care.

Stay healthy!

Mason McClellan

Mason McClellan LAc, is founder of the Minnesota Clinic of Integrated Medicine in Chanhassen MN.  For questions, comments, speaking engagements, or inquires please visit www.mnacupuncture.com.

P.S. – Check us out every Monday from 4:00pm – 6:00pm for our “Happy Hour” Special – a $20 treatment!

Happy Friday!!!

Let’s go into the weekend strong with your Workout Video of the Week!

50-10 Five-Exercise Circuit powered by Workout Muse: Boot Camp Dynamite

You will alternate between 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest/transition for each exercise within the circuit. Perform this 5-minute circuit up to 4x for a 20-minute total body workout.

Your ultimate goal is to be able to perform at least 20-25 reps per set for each exercise or perform an isometric hold for the full duration for each exercise within the circuit. Once you accomplish this, seek to increase loading or progress to a more advanced exercise variation.

Exercise 1: Bodyweight Squat Variation
Exercise 2: Dips Variation
Exercise 3: Single-leg Bent-leg Hip Extensions
Exercise 4: Pulldown or High Row
Exercise 5: Side Pillar Variation

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com

P.P.S. – For a $9 30-day Trial to the first and number one Online weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.OnlineVideoBootCamp.com

So, last night on our Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp grocery store tour we started talking about eggs and omelets. Personally, I’m a huge fan of eggs; I eat some type of “egg medley” almost every night for my last meal of the day. Anyway, later I was looking at my calendar and noticed that tomorrow is Benedict Arnold’s birthday. That of course made me think of Eggs Benedict. Yummy

Oh, by the way, I wasted a little time on Wikipedia and learned that the delicious egg recipe was not named after Benedict Arnold. There’s actually controversy over who invented the recipe. Whatever. I still decided that since my mind was on Eggs Benedict I would put together a post sharing a healthier alternative recipe – let’s face it, the Hollandaise sauce is good, but it’s where all the bad fat and excess calories come from. I also thought it would be fun to ask you to share some of your own ideas. Let’s really get the comments going on this post.

While there are a ton of different versions, Eggs Benedict is traditionally made with: Eggs, English Muffin, Green Olives or Bacon and Hollandaise sauce.

Try this for breakfast tomorrow (Note: males should have 2 servings)

Healthy Eggs Benedict

1/2 a Toasted Whole Grain English Muffin or better yet Ezekiel English Muffin
1 Fried Egg
1 slice of Canadian Bacon
1 oz. of melted 2% fat cheese of choice

If you’re going low-carb, substitute the English Muffin for a bed of cooked spinach. That’s really good! 

You see; you can still enjoy delicious foods when you make a couple simple changes to the recipe.

I’d love to see some other versions. Please share your ideas by posting a comment below. Thanks!

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – We don’t advertise this service a lot, but we do provide a complete Kitchen Makeover where we come to your house, clean out your fridge and cupboards, take you on a private grocery shopping trip, cook you a delicious meal, and help you prepare your food for the week. Shoot me an email to learn more.

On Saturday, January 10th at 10:00 am CST 50+ boot camps from around the world joined forces for one purpose:  TO CHANGE THE WORLD ONE WORKOUT AT A TIME.  It was the world’s largest international charity fitness boot camp workout of all time with all net proceeds going to the American Heart Association.

Look Great at the Lake Boot Camp was chosen as one of the 50+ boot camps to participate.  And, believe me, it was a real honor.  Saturday’s are always tough to committ to (especially when it’s -15 degrees), but we had 24 people make it out for the event.  Our group raised over $500 for the American Heart Association.  In total, Workout Worldwide raised over $10,000 in online ticket sales; tickets purchased at the door are still by tallied at this time.

The workout itself was AWESOME!  Participants performed a 60:15 10-Exercise Circuit as follows:

Perform each exercise for 60 seconds followed by a 15 second rest and transition for a total of 12.5 minutes.  Rest for 2 minutes and repeat for 2 more rounds totaling 41 minutes of fat busting fun!

1.    Speed Jumps Variation
2.    Push-ups Variation
3.    Stop & Go Squats Variation
4.    Prone Posterior Hold Variation
5.    Spiderman Mountain Climber Variation
6.    1-Leg SLDL Variation
7.    T-Push-up Variation
8.    Lunge & Twist Variation
9.    Upper Body Running
10.    Jumping Claps Variation

Have Faith & Take Action!

Justin Yule, B.S., CPT

Your friendly neighborhood Chaska / Chanhassen boot camp instructor and online personal trainer.

Burn 9x more fat at a fraction of the cost of other personal training programs.

P.S. – For a FREE 2-week Trial to the area’s number one weight loss & fitness boot camp visit www.LookGreatAtTheLakeBootCamp.com