In recent years awareness of vitamin D deficiency and resulting related conditions has increased dramatically. Canadians specifically are affected by this issue with estimates of more than 97% of Canadians being deficient at some point in the year. Vitamin D – long known only as the body’s catalyst for proper calcium absorption – is now known to play a key part in cell growth regulation in the body. The health ramifications appear to be enormous with a reduced risk of breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate cancer as well as multiple sclerosis and diabetes.

In Canada we are at risk for vitamin D deficiency because of the country’s relatively weak sunshine most of the year. In fact insufficient levels of UVB found in sunshine are essentially not available October through March. Vitamin D is rare in diet, occurring naturally only in fatty fish. A synthetic form of the vitamin is supplemented into milk.

Health Canada lists tanning beds as a source of vitamin D. The JCTA believes that, given controlled nature of the UVB emitted by indoor tanning equipment, tanning beds are the most effective source of vitamin D available to Canadians. Over 90% of all tanning beds in Canada emit sufficient UVB to optimize vitamin D production. The following graph published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition illustrates the consistent nature of vitamin D as produced through a tanning bed exposure resulting in 1 MED.
Serum vitamin D concentrations after a whole-body exposure to 1 minimal erythemal dose (MED) of simulated sunlight in a tanning bed and after a single oral dose of either 10 000 or 25 000 IU vitamin D2. UV, ultraviolet.

Not only are tanning beds an effective source of vitamin D, but they also work wonders for boosting your mood and picking up your spirits during the winter months that tend to be more overcast and provide us with fewer daylight hours.

Take advantage of the variety of tanning beds that we have available at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

Yours in health,

BeachWalk Family Fitness

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Have you tried using the Woodway Curve self propelled treadmill at both BeachWalk Family Fitness locations? It’s an amazing cardiovascular workout that burns more calories than the traditional motor powered treadmill. It’s IDEAL for doing intervals because you don’t have to wait for the motor to slow down or speed up. It’s just like doing run/walk intervals outdoors.

The Woodway Curve addresses the common concern treadmill runners have about the treadmill doing half the work. Essentially, with the band being moved for you, instead of moving yourself forward on pavement, you are losing out on some of the benefits of running on the road. The curve is not powered by electricity, but instead by the user itself, allowing for the runner to accelerate and decelerate at his or her own pace. Avoiding a treadmill because it is doing half the work is then also no longer necessary.

The shape of the curve is much like a hamster wheel. The curving shape of the treadmill makes it possible to run without the band being powered by anything but the runner. The curve shape also forces the runner to use proper posture and technique. For any beginning runner, using the Curve should be a mandatory exercise; kind of like using training wheels. To help develop good posture and running technique is paramount to performance and to avoid injuries.

If you have tried the Woodway Curve treadmill at our gym or are a regular user of it, we would love to hear your feedback and see you sharing your thoughts and experience with your fellow members.

Yours in health,

BeachWalk Family Fitness.

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If you enjoyed the high protein pancake recipes that I shared in a recent post, you’re going to fall head over heels in love with these high protein crepe recipes.

In 4 out of the 5 high protein crepe recipes below, I add 1 scoop of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein Powder, which you can find behind the counter at BeachWalk Family Fitness. There are 77 servings in the container and it’s a great value. I’ve used both the Double Chocolate and the Cookies and Cream flavours in these recipes and love the taste! Protein powders is definitely not just for shakes. Adding it to your recipes is a great way to boost your protein consumption while adding flavor.

Some of these recipes are ideal for post workout meals or for breakfast, because they are higher in carbs as well as protein. Others are very low carb recipes, for the times when you are cutting back on your carbs a bit.

Nutrition Facts:
425 calories
45.5 grams carbs
55.5 grams protein
2.5 grams fat

This made 6 crepes.

Spread on whatever topping that you wish. I used 1 tsp natural peanut butter for each crepe. You can also use natural honey, or sugar free jam…. or whatever your hearts content.

Please watch this video to see how I make the crepes nice and thin…

SPECIAL NOTE: My kids absolutely devoured these. After Noelle tasted that first one she ran downstairs to give my son a bite. He came running up the stairs and wanted more!

Blend all ingredients together.

Nutrition Facts for the entire meal (7 crepes)
485 calories
45.5 grams carbs
57 grams protein
9 grams fat

With this recipe we did not need to spread anything on the crepe. It was very moist and tasty.

In this recipe I did not use any protein powder…
Ingredients:
6 egg whites
2 whole extra large eggs
1 Tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Nutrition Facts:
250 calories
35 grams protein
2 grams carbs
12 grams fat

Filled the crepes with 1 cup of blueberries
80 cals 20 grams carbs (don’t need to use as much as me)

Blend all ingredients together

Nutrition Facts:
375 cals
16.5 grams carbs
56 grams protein
9 grams fat

Nutrition facts for this meal would be…

240 calories
52 grams protein
3 grams carbs
0 grams fat

I tried a few different toppings this morning…

1 tsp peanut butter on one of them
1 tsp sugar free jelly on another one
1 tsp raw honey on the 3rd one

All of them were super yum!

You only need a very tiny amount of the topping. 1 tsp is more than enough to add flavor and moistness to the crepes.

My family is now hooked on these bad boys!!!

I hope that you enjoy these high protein crepe recipes as much as my family has been. I will certainly be experimenting with more of these recipes and will be sure to update you as I go along.

Sculpt a Masterpiece,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body sculpting programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

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Today I would like to share a favorite meal of mine that I eat everyday, either for breakfast or as a post workout meal. This healthy and tasty recipe allows me to achieve one of my main goals, which is to consume at least 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight everyday. It’s just as important that I consume adequate amounts of carbohydrates to keep my energy levels up throughout my weight training sessions. That’s what makes high protein oatmeal pancakes an ideal meal for physique artists like you and me.

I have been experimenting with a variety of high protein oatmeal pancake recipes. Here are just a few to give you an example. Please feel free to modify the recipes to suit your caloric needs…

High Protein Oatmeal, Banana, Blueberry, and Cinnamon Pancake

Ingredients:

1 banana
2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup blueberries
dash of nutmeg
cinnamon to taste

spray frying pan with extra virgin olive oil and cook on medium heat until golden brown. Flip and cook until golden brown.

NOTE: This is a post workout meal for me, which is also the largest meal of the day for me. You may want to cut this recipe in half, using one half as a pre workout meal and the other half as a post workout meal if your caloric intake is lower than mine for the day.

Nutrition Facts:
791 Calories
40 grams Protein
122 grams Carbohydrate
19.5 grams Fat

If you add 1 Tbsp raw honey on top of the pancake that equals 60 calories from carbs.

You could increase the protein content of this pancake by adding 1 scoop of Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein Powder to the recipe. 1 scoop would give you 120 extra calories, 24 grams of protein, 3 grams of carbs, and 1 gram of fat.

One tub of this protein powder provides you with 74 servings and is available behind the front desk our our fitness clubs.

Here are some recipes that include the Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey Protein Powder…

Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Banana Pancake

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
Chocolate protein powder – 24 grams protein 3 grams carbs
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 medium banana
1 Tbsp Natural Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Cinnamon

I pour the 4 egg whites (1/2 cup) into a protein shaker cup. Add 1 scoop chocolate protein powder and blend with an electric hand mixer. Add banana and mush it in with a fork. Add peanut butter and stir it in. Add oats and cinnamon and stir it all together. Pour into a frying pan and cook on low-medium temp. Flip when golden brown.

Nutrition Facts:
460 calories
49 grams carbs
45.5 grams protein
11 grams fat

If you add 1 Tbsp raw honey on top of the pancake that equals 60 calories from carbs.

High Protein Oatmeal, Egg White, Apple, Blueberry, and Cinnamon Pancake

Ingredients:

8 egg whites from carton
2/3 cup dried oats (large flaked rolled oats)
1/2 cup blueberries
1 apple
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
lots of cinnamon

Nutrition Facts:
566 calories
40 grams protein
92 grams carbohydrate
5 grams fat

If you add 1 Tbsp raw honey on top of the pancake that equals 60 calories from carbs.

High Protein Blueberry and Banana Pancake

Ingredients:

6 egg whites
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup blueberries
1 medium banana
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg

Nutrition Facts:
645 calories
99 grams carbs
53.5 grams protein
5 grams fat

If you add 1 Tbsp raw honey on top of the pancake that equals 60 calories from carbs.

High Protein High ENERGY Pancake

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
1 whole egg
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 cup large flaked oats
1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp cinnamon

Nutrition Facts:
852 calories
102 grams carbs
78 grams protein
14 grams fat

If you add 1 Tbsp raw honey on top of the pancake that equals 60 calories from carbs.

Chocolate Monkey Pancake

Ingredients:

4 egg whites
1 scoop chocolate protein powder – 24grms protein 3 carbs
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 medium banana
1tbsp cinnamon

Blend egg whites, banana, cinnamon, and protein powder. Stir in oats. Cook over low-medium heat. Flip when golden brown.

Nutrition Facts:
365 calories
45.5 grams carbs
41.5 grams protein
3 grams fat

If you add 1 Tbsp raw honey on top of the pancake that equals 60 calories from carbs.

Low Calorie Blueberry Pancake

Ingredients:
4 egg whites
1 scoop protein powder
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup blueberries
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Nutrition Facts:
295 calories
26.5 grams carbs
40.5 grams protein
3 grams fat

Eggs-o-Plenty Pancake

Ingredients:
8 egg whites
1 scoop protein powder
2/3 cup oats
1/2 cup blueberries
1 Tbsp cinnamon

Nutrition Facts:
581 calories
67 grams carbs
60 grams protein
6 grams fat

There you go! A bunch of healthy, tasty, high protein meals to help you burn fat or build muscle.

Remember, if your caloric needs are less than mine, feel free to split these recipes between two meals. Breakfast, as well as pre/post workout meals would be ideal timing.

Enjoy!

Sculpt a Masterpiece,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body sculpting programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

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There was a great turnout at our first Body Sculpting Secrets Seminar last night. Thank you to everyone who took the time out of their busy evening to take part in the presentation.

The Body Sculpting Secrets Seminar covered the key motivation, nutrition, and workout strategies that I applied during my recent transformation…

Here’s Some Highlights From The Seminar…

Mindset: Change the way that you view training and nutrition. Transform yourself from a fitness enthusiast to a physique artist. View your body as a work of art.

Ditch the scale. Focus on visual progress. Take daily or weekly photos of yourself as a measure of your progress. Schedule a photo shoot for accountability and to reward yourself in the end.

Use a training journal and nutrition log book to track your progress and to become inspired every time that you improve from workout to workout or week to week with your nutrition.

Nutrition: Take a progressive approach. Begin by decreasing the quantity that you eat while increasing the quality of food that you eat.

Once you’ve mastered these basics you can then shift to a carb cycling approach where you lower your carbs for three days followed by one day of higher carbs.

Calories MATTER! We discussed the importance of knowing how many calories your body burns throughout the day. Here are the calculations in order to determine what your caloric intake should be…

Harris-Benedict Formula For Calculating Caloric Intake

Men: 66 + (13.7 x wt in kg) + (5 X ht in cm) – (6.8 X age in years)
Women: 655 + (9.6 X wt in kg) + (1.8 X ht in cm) – (4.7 X age in years)

Conversions:
1 inch = 2.54 cm
1 kg = 2.2 lbs

Here’s an example of a male who is 5’8” tall, 35 years old, and weighs 165 pounds…

BMR: 66 + 1027.5 + 863.6 – 238 = 1719.1

1719.1 calories is what this particular male would burn if he was at rest all day. This does not take into account his activity level.

If you are working out 3-5 days per week your activity level would be considered moderate and you sould multiply your BMR by 1.55 to give you your Total Daily Caloric Expenditure (TDEE).

For the example above, this male would multiply 1719.1 X 1.55 = 2664.61

Now in order to lose weight you will need to create a caloric deficit… meaning that you will consume fewer calories that what you burn throughout the day.

A great place to start is by creating a 15% deficit, then working your way up to a more aggressive 30% deficit. You should not go beyond a 30% deficit.

This would be the designated deficit using the example above…

15% deficit: 2664.61 x .15 = 399.69
2664.61 – 399.69 = 2264.92 calories per day

30% deficit: 2664.61 x .30 = 799.38
2664.61 – 799.38 = 1865.23 calories per day

Counting calories does not have to be a chore. To make things easier, simply create a 7-Day Master Meal Plan and stick to it each week. You only have to count the calories one time with this method.

Workouts: Incorporate a variety of rep ranges and training protocol within each workout. Change your workout every 4 weeks. Here’s a related article that summarizes what we discussed…

Within Workout Variety For The Ultimate Body Transformation

We talked about hitting each muscle from a variety of angles. Here’s an article and video demonstration that goes into some detail about this topic…

How To Sculpt Your Arms

We discussed ways to incorporate variety into your training by included different training protocol within each workout. Here’s an example of a dropset…

Killer Leg Press Workout

…and here’s an example of a superset…

Superset For Your Back Muscles

Cardio: Do what you enjoy and can stick with. Use it for active recovery.

The question came up about why some of the more muscular and fit BeachWalk Fitness members never seem to do cardio, yet they are really lean and even ripped. The reason is because cardio is not necessary to burn fat. What’s important is creating a caloric deficit. Cardio does burn some calories and contributes to your caloric deficit, but, you must become aware of whether or not doing cardio causes you to eat more. If you burn 400 calories on the treadmill and go home and eat half of a chocolate bar, in addition to your regular post workout meal you would wipeout that deficit with just a couple bites.

The reasons to perform cardio are for heart health and pure enjoyment (if that’s the case). It can be upsetting to see someone chugging along on the treadmill hating every moment of it and only doing it because they think it’s the best way to burn fat, when it’s not. On the other hand, it’s great to see people who experience total enjoyment from a daily jog.

Personally, I walk for 40 minutes 5-7 days per week. That’s my cardio. I find that it suppresses my appetite, whereas jogging, biking, or HIIT increases my appetite. It’s a great form of active recovery, reduces my stress, and makes me feel great!

One of the common things that people were looking for from this Body Sculpting Seminar was some guidance in creating a workout program and ideas to change things up and add some variety to their training…

…If you are in the same boat, I recommend that you check out my Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Program, which is the exact program that I followed to transform my body.

This is one of the few and rare programs that will increase your fat burning potential, while increasing your strength, and gaining lean and sexy muscle to shape and sculpt your body.

Metabolic Masterpiece is a 6 month workout program (six unique 4-week workout programs), including a workout journal to record your progress (pdf format), videos of each workout to ensure that you are performing the workouts with the best form possible (digitally downloadable), a 7 day meal plan and nutrition book with behind the scenes videos of the exact meals that I eat every week, mindset strategies to accelerate your progress, and 21 Unstoppable Fat Loss audios (mp3 format) to totally skyrocket your motivation!

What’s Next?

We will hold the next Body Sculpting Secrets Seminar in early November, only this time, my wife Angie will be joining me.

This time, we would love to focus the seminar on the most pressing questions that you have when it comes to sculpting your body. Whether it’s motivation, nutrition, or workout questions that you have, we would love to hear them and provide you with the best solution to meet your needs and fit with your lifestyle.

We look forward to seeing you at the next seminar and can’t wait to see you applying some of these strategies in the gym.

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body sculpting programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

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Rennee and Mario recently invested in a new piece of equipment that has me giddy with excitement. It’s called a Hex Bar or Trap Bar. It’s great for performing Deadlifts, Rows, Shrugs, and many other exercises. What I like about performing Deadlifts with the Hex Bar is that I don’t scrape up my shins and it’s easier on my lower back.

Here’s a video demonstration of a killer superset routine that you can add to the end of your back workout using the Hex Bar…

The superset begins with 15 reps of Deadlifts. The pace is a bit quicker and explosive. You do not want to go to failure with the Deadlifts, but you should feel pumped and a bit fatigued.

You will now immediately perform the Barbell Rows without allowing the weight to touch the ground between exercises. So basically, after completing the last rep of Deadlifts you bend your knees and get into position for the rows. You should be huffing and puffing already.

For the rows, the goal is 10-15 reps.

The awesome thing is… your back is already pumped from the Deadlifts and you really burn it out with the rows. The second awesome thing is that your legs are a little bit fatigued from the Deadlifts, but as you hold your position for the Barbell Rows you can feel your legs begin to burn.

This is one of the greatest supersets that I’ve ever tried. Absolutely killer!!! It works everything along your back side from your hammies, glutes, up your back, across your lats, along your traps, and up to your head.

Give it a try and let me know how it feels.

Sculpt a Masterpiece,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body sculpting programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

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Lately I have been hearing many of my friends complain about lower back tightness, tension, and soreness. They’ve been asking if there is anything that I can recommend they do in order to relieve the tension and get on with their workouts.

Now before I continue, I must make it absolutely clear that I am not a doctor or specialized therapist of any kind. If you are experiencing lower back pain I recommend that you first consult with your physician to ensure that the problem is not any more severe than you may believe.

The tips that I am about to share are based on my personal experiences with lower back tightness or soreness and how I relieved the tension.

It has been my experience on each occasion that I have felt tightness and soreness in my lower back, that it had nothing to do with my lower back muscles at all. It had everything to do with my leg muscles and even more so, my glutes (butt). More specifically, it’s been knots in my glutes. It hasn’t been a result of a muscle pull or strain. Just knots from working the muscles hard.

Often times when you have tightness or knots in your glutes you will also end up with tightness in your hip flexors and IT band. Over the course of this video series I will demonstrate stretches and actions that you can take to relieve tension in all of these areas.

The tip that I am about to share with you is very similar to a strategy that a Massage Therapist would use to get rid of knots in your muscles. With deep tissue massage the therapist will find your trigger points and place pressure on the knot with their thumb or elbow. This is very painful at first and you can feel the muscle begin to pulsate intensely. As you relax and as the masseuse continues to hold the pressure, you will notice that the pulsating and pain subsides.

In order to reproduce this treatment in a similar fashion on yourself without assistance, I have found that a golf ball or bocce ball work wonders. There are some areas of my body where I prefer to use a foam roller, but when it comes to my glutes and certain areas of my back, I prefer to use the golf ball or bocce ball.

I demonstrate how to perform this treatment in the video above, but a few key points that I want to emphasize is that you take your time and roll the ball slowly across your glutes in a back and forth as well as side to side motion, experimenting with different angles at your knee joint.

When you come across a knot you will certainly know it. It will grab you, as it’s quite painful at first. The key is to relax and take a few deep breaths. As your glute muscle relaxes you will feel yourself sink onto the ball. The pulsating will begin to subside and then it’s time to continue rolling slowly until you find another knot.

I recommend spending 10 minutes on each glute. Really take your time working out the knots. Keep this up on a daily basis even if the tightness in your lower back goes away. Consider it preventative maintenance at that point. The more that you do this, the easier and less painful that it will become. If you are really tight, you may want to do this exercise two times each day.

After rolling your glutes for 20 minutes I recommend performing a glute stretch. If you took your time working on your knots you should feel instant relief when you stand up. The soreness may not be completely gone, but there should be some relief.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes. I’ll be back again soon with some more stretches and exercises to relieve your lower back tightness.

Before I go, I have one more question to answer… “Can I continue to workout and train legs while I’m experiencing this lower back tightness?”

Once again, I am not a doctor and I do not know the severity or root cause of your lower back tightness, so I urge you to first consult with your physician. Now that the little disclaimer is out of the way, what I have done when I know that my lower back tightness is caused by knots in my glutes, is continue to weight train, but with lighter weights. When I perform the squat I make sure that I go deep and get a great stretch. The combination of lighter weight and deeper squat has helped me speed up the recovery process. But once again, this is just my personal experience. I am not a doctor and can not speak for your specific case. I am simply offering up some tips and advice to explore.

I hope that these tips have been useful to you.

Sculpt a Masterpiece,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

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This killer quad developing exercise is for BeachWalk Fitness members who have what it takes to dig deep and give every workout absolutely everything that they’ve got. This is not for the faint of heart.

This exercise is to be performed toward or at the end of a leg workout. It’s a finisher. By the time that you get to it, your legs should already be pretty close to toast.

The exercise is… 3/4 Hack Squats, where you go down deep and only come up 3/4’s of the way. This will keep constant tension on your quads. Here’s the video demo…

Start off by doing 2 sets of 15-20 reps. Take 60-90 seconds rest between the two sets. At this point your quads should be absolutely screaming! Now the fun begins…

You will want to reduce the weight a bit for this last set. You need to give everything that you’ve got to this set. You should hit muscle failure between 15-20 reps… but you’re not done yet…

…rack the weight and rest for no more than 10 seconds. Take a few deep breaths, then crank out as many reps as you can. But you still aren’t done…

…rack the weight, rest for no more than 10 seconds while taking deep breaths… then crank out everything that you’ve got left in you.

This last set is actually 3 sets in 1 as you can see. Aim for 30-35 total reps. In the video you saw that I hit 18-9-8 reps for a total of 35 reps, which means that I’m going to add some weight for the next workout.

If you’re really pushing yourself you’ll probably begin to feel the burn during the 9th rep of that 1st set and you’ll continue to work through that burn. Remember, your quads should be on FIRE! The 2nd and 3rd set the burn will kick in almost immediately.

NOTE: You really should have a spotter for this exercise. My spotter was holding the camera and as you can see on the 2nd and 3rd set I almost got stuck on my last rep. And as I’ve mentioned, you really want to work through the burn and give this exercise absolutely everything that you’ve got!

If you are brave enough to give this a try, I would love to hear about your experience with it. Be sure to share it with us in the comment box below.

Do you enjoy challenging yourself with exercises like I’ve demonstrated today? Are looking to add some variety to your workouts? Would you like to add some muscle while burning off the excess fat? You’ll love the Metabolic Masterpiece workouts! Get the full details here…

==> Metabolic Masterpiece Body Sculpting Program

Enjoy the burn!!!

Sculpt a Masterpiece,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

Tweet This Post

Jen Moore is a Certified Personal Trainer and Kettlebell Instructor at BeachWalk Family Fitness. “Best Thing About Life, is Loving Who You Are.”

Nutrition Tip: Don’t skip meals, just beacuse you are eating less food doesn’t mean you are losing weight. You are putting your body into starvation mode and lowering your metabolism. You should eat 5-8 small meals a day to maintain energy levels and to prevent temptations to binge.

Eliminating complex carbs will allow you to sustain your energy levels throughout the day, while making improvements and staying super lean.

Strength Tips: When you perform cardio before weight training, it makes you weaker as the blood ph drops making the body recruit high threshold of fibers.

Favorite Fitness Model: My favorite fitness model is Oksana Grishina. What motivates me most is seeing someone that is dedicated and works hard. I love the muscles.

Workout Schedule: My workout schedule is Kettlebell training 3x a week with 2 days of strength training the lower body and 2 days strength training the upper body.

Favorite Songs:
Put it down on me – 50 Cent
Party Rock Anthem -LMFAO
Rain over me – Pitbull
Electric – Shawn Desman
Where them girls at – David Guetta

Favourite Quote: “Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person’s physical, emotional, mental state” ~ Carol Welch

About Jen: One year ago, I was 40lbs overweight, a heavy smoker and had very poor eating habits. I was depressed and down on myself. I disliked who I was as a person.

One day, I said to myself, “Quit feeling sorry for yourself and do something about it!” Well, that’s just what I did! Now, I’m 40lbs lighter and in the best shape of my life! I have learned to love who I am again. Though my goals are not quite met, with my dedication and hard work, I know I will get there!

So, if you are in a RUT and you need a PUSH to keep you motivated and on the right track, I’m the person for you! With my high energy, I will push you to your MAX! I will keep you motivated and thriving for your next work-out. Believe me, you will not be disappointed!

So STOP making excuses! Come in and make a change for YOU and only YOU!

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If you have recently began running on the treadmill and experienced pain or tightness in your shins or plan to begin running as a way to promote cardiovascular health, but would like to avoid getting shin splints in the process, you’re going to benefit greatly from watching the video below.

There are many great exercises and stretches that will help you avoid shin splints as well as recover from them, but today I am going to focus on a few that have helped me the most.

The first exercise to strengthen the muscles in your shins requires only a towel and a slippery surface such as laminate or ceramic flooring. Lay the towel on the floor and place the top half of your foot on the towel while you are barefoot. Use your toes to curl the towel in toward you. Repeat as often as possible. You should begin to feel a bit of a ‘burn’ in your shins.

For the second exercise, simply lay on a bed, on your tummy, with your feet just barely overhanging the mattress. Curl your feet toward you using the mattress as resistance,

Shin splints are usually a result of running, especially if you are new to running or having walked, jogged, or run in a while. It’s important to warm up prior to running. I like to roll my foot around to loosen up my ankles as well as stretch out my calve muscles.

Notice in the video that I performed the calve stretch with a straight leg and a bent leg. The straight leg stretches out the outer layer of the calve muscles (gastrocnemius) and the bent leg stretches the deeper muscle (soleus).

After a run I like to use the foam roller to massage my calves. I slowly roll along the foam roller from my ankle to the back of my knee, looking for tight or knotted areas. When I find a knotted area I hold it until the ‘mild pain’ subsides. Sometimes you will feel the muscle pulsating while you hold that knotted portion on the foam roller. That’s totally normal.

I hope that you enjoyed this short video demonstration that promotes lower leg health and how to avoid getting shin splints. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to post them in the comment box below.

To achieving your limitless potential,

Scott Tousignant

About The Authors

Scott and Angie Tousignant have been helping busy men and women, just like you, transform their body and life for over a decade. This dynamic duo prides themselves on providing a balanced and practical approach that will motivate and inspire you to become the best YOU that you can be.

Scott and Angie have dedicated themselves to sharing their exact workouts, what they eat, and how they stay motivated to continue transforming their body and life.

Their line up of body transforming programs have been used by people in over 70 countries including, Metabolic Masterpiece and Girl Empowered, which were recorded here at BeachWalk Family Fitness.

We’re excited to share in you successful body transformation!

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