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So far Justine Keyserlingk has created 100 entries.

Workout: 3 Exercise / 20 Minute Circuit

|Blog, Exercise, Workouts|

Sometimes the simplest workouts are the toughest and most efficient. That’s exactly what you’re getting from this one. With just these 3 exercises, you are ultimately working your whole body from head to toe!

The key with this kind of workout is to choose 3 exercises that complement each other well and that target a bunch of different muscle groups synergistically. Also, it’s a good idea to match 2 challenging compound exercises (in this case squat press and half burpee) with 1 lower impact single joint exercise (tricep extension) which will help balance out the work load by giving your larger muscle groups a chance to recover slightly while you’re still working and keeping your heart rate up. The key is to make the workout challenging yet sustainable throughout.

All you need is 1 challenging dumbbell (10-20 lb) and a timer. Also, this workout is not long to complete – about 20 minutes. But it’s the most efficient 20 minutes you’ll get out of a workout. So in other words- nothing to lose, and no excuses!
Scroll over each exercise for videos of proper execution of movements.

Squat + Dumbbell Overhead Press
Overhead Tricep Extension
Half Burpee

 
Instructions:

Round 1 introduces the 3 exercises, for proper form. So take your time to complete each rep and use the break between exercises.
Rounds 2, 3, 4 and 5 are geared towards completing as many reps as you can in the 45 seconds with no breaks between exercises, culminating with the last and toughest round where all 3 exercises are performed back to back. This will definitely get your heart and all muscles pumping!
After each round take just enough break (max 30 sec) to grab a sip of water and towel off the sweat!
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Top 50 Workout Tunes from 2014

|Blog, Music|

2014 has come and gone. Now, time for my top tracks to get your workout on from this past year. As always, you can listen to and download most of these songs on my Sound […]

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How To Make Positive, Lasting Changes This Year… and why we should scratch the word “resolution”

|Blog, Featured, Inspiration, Q & A|

The New Year is now officially upon us. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution? Well, if you’re like most, you have at least one resolution. And, if you are like the majority of these promise-makers, your resolution is probably related to health and fitness….somewhere in the realm of eating healthier, exercising more, and losing weight.

While resolutions are well intentioned, unfortunately most people fail at keeping them. With all the hype surrounding these promises, it’s easy to get caught up in them without really taking them seriously.

As a fitness/nutrition professional I see clients who have the best intentions of achieving these goals, and they will start out roaring like a lion out of the gate. Completely changing all their habits (which I think is the first problem), but then get discouraged after a few weeks as they do not see immediate results, only to eventually give in the towel feeling defeated. Something gets lost between great intention, initial action and sustained behavior.

So what is the secret to successful resolutions?  What makes that small percentage of people (studies show under 20%) achieve and stick to their desired change? After all, we have all heard stories of people making some pretty extraordinary changes to their lives which started from a New Year’s resolution. Which is why I have reached out to good friend and amazing Life Coach Melissa Penton to help fill in the important gaps on making and sustaining huge life changes.. She offers some great, useful advice below…
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Workout: 600 Rep Challenge

|Blog, Exercise, Workouts|

It’s time for another challenge. One of my favourite types of workouts are those with an end goal, that feeling of accomplishment after you’ve exerted that last breath to complete a challenge. An example of this is to give myself or my clients a certain rep goal, (in this case a whopping 600 reps) in order to feel like you’ve conquered the top of a mountain, when maybe you didn’t think you could at the beginning. 

It’s super simple to set up this workout, yet it definitely seems very daunting at the beginning, but trust me, keep with it and you’ll be flying at the end of your workout you’ll be so high on endorphins. I would suggest doing this workout in a group or with a buddy to feed off each others energy and keep each other going and motivated throughout.

The key for this 600 rep challenge is to pick exercises that target large muscle groups in order to get the most strengthening affects as well as get your heart pumping and sweat flowing. It is up to you if you want to target mostly the upper, lower, or, if you’re like me, you want to make it a full body workout. As soon as you throw in lower body compound exercises, you will automatically get your heart rate up higher and quicker since that is where your largest muscles in your body are, leading to increased strength and cardio-vascular benefits. I of course love this incentive, so that’s why I almost always include a squat or lunge type exercise in there! You get the best bang for your buck.
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Best of Oct/Nov 2014 Workout Music Playlist.

|Blog, Exercise, Music, Workouts|

Here we go again friends- another workout playlist for you to add to your collection. These are some of my favourite tunes I’ve used these past 2 months in my spin classes and for […]

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Holiday Dish: Goat cheese & Walnut Sweet Potato Canapés

|Blog, Nutrition, Recipes|

The holidays are upon us.. yes we must admit this fact. And it’s never to early to get ready for holiday entertaining. Simplicity is a key for me when planning a menu for guests, especially if I plan to actually be able to enjoy the evening and food myself.. I would imagine many of you feel the same way I do. So, this is why this recipe is perfect for starting your guests off on a night of deliciousness… Finger foods, canapés! Always a hit.
Check this out though – Sweet potato is used here as the canape base,  instead of the traditional refined toast or crackers. And YES it works great as a healthier, tastier substitution. There is something about the smooth sweet taste which makes this ideal as an appetizer for your next holiday party, or just to impress loved ones at any occasion.
Trust me – IT”S A WINNER!

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5 Tips For Eating Healthy at Home

|Blog, Nutrition|

As the colder weather and shorter days are setting in, so is our desire to stay in on our couches and hibernate. We also tend to turn to food to comfort us, and usually not the most fresh and nutritious choices, leading to overeating and weight gain during the winter months. That is why planning and preparing ahead is extra important at this time so we can assure we have plenty of healthy options to choose from when hunger strikes!

This day in age, we’re pretty lucky as there are usually tons of local markets at our disposal to help make shopping for fresh and/or organic food that much more convenient. Even our big chain grocery stores now offer more and more healthy items.  But just buying healthy food isn’t enough- how do we implement and sustain good habits from home? Here are 5 ways to to start on the right path, without needing to leave your house.

 

1. Stock your pantry!

A well stocked pantry (or cupboard for those of us with micro-apartments) is the first step to keeping your home healthy. Fill your pantry with easy to use items like canned beans, coconut oil, brown rice pasta and nut butters. If you only keep one thing on hand make it all natural nut butters. Peanut, Almond, Cashew- these high protein spreads make a perfect emergency snack smeared on toast or an apple or thrown in a smoothie.

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New Workout: Unilateral Lunge Circuit

|Blog, Exercise, Workouts|

This workout will have your LEGS & GLUTES screaming! Try it today…

Working unilaterally, or one side at a time, is a great way to work both your stronger and weaker leg individually. This kind of training helps to balance out muscular imbalances which can ultimately lead to injury due to overcompensation of your stronger side. Just a warning- You will feel this your thighs and glutes not only during the workout, but for a couple of days after. So you may as well just invite the burn. Best of all, all you need is a set of dumbbells for this workout- No excuses!
EQUIPMENT:

A pair of dumbbells (5-10 lbs)
Your body ready to push!

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Best of September 2014 – Workout Playlist

|Exercise, Music|

Hey everyone! Here we go again..

Time for another playlist of some of my favourite tunes I’ve used for my spin classes at Quad Spin in Toronto, as well as for my own workouts, this […]

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PROTEIN 101: How important is it? What kind? How much? All your questions answered!

|Blog, Nutrition|

Protein is probably one of the hottest topics nowadays when referring to nutrition, fitness and overall health so needless to say it is a subject I care deeply about! And for good reason…

Protein provides us with the building blocks for healthy muscles, organs and immune system. When we consume it, our body breaks it down into individual amino acids (the building blocks) which is what in turn nourishes it. There are 9 essential amino acids (EFAs) that need to be present in a food source for it to be deemed a complete protein: Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan and Valine. Only some individual food sources fill those requirements. In other cases, you must combine foods to obtain proper EFA amounts.

What does that mean?? Well.. when discussing protein, nutritionists often speak in terms of “complete” and “incomplete” proteins. Complete protein foods contain all of these EFAs and in appropriate amounts of each for supporting biological functions in the human body – while foods that contain only some or not enough of each EFA are said to be incomplete.

Eggs, fish, meat, poultry and dairy products are considered to be complete proteins. Apart from some exceptions, vegetable sources tend to be missing or do not have enough of one or more EFA. For this reason vegetarians, and especially vegans, are often not absorbing enough quality protein in their diets. However, there are complete vegetarian protein sources.

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