Goodness gracious!! Element 5 Fitness clients are psycho! I’m afraid as a trainer. Be very afraid if you plan on joining our fitness minded group. I don’t think my safety is compromised, but let me tell you why I think our clients are psychotic!

It all started on Thursday snow day at 4:45 a.m. There was ALOT of snow. It actually started early that morning and filled up the landscape and caused numerous problems all over the Northwest. I received numerous emails and texts about concerns whether class or training sessions are still on that morning. Never mind their safety, these people are fitness focused and passionate about working out! They wanted their Strong and Sexy Bootcamp to continue. Wow! I was impressed. Although we did cancel our class as the gym eventually closed, I was keeping people up to date like a weatherman/fitness newscaster. These people were determined.

It reminds me of a phrase I saw at my martial arts training studio…”SEVEN DAYS WITHOUT TRAINING MAKES ONE WEAK!!!” It sure seemed like they absorbed that mantra as their motto for the week. (Feel the pun?)

On Friday, I sent out a home-based workout for those who wanted to stay active while they were cooped up. They had their mini at home Strong and Sexy Bootcamp. I called it the P (1/2 of) 90X workout. (Hehe, must be because it was only 45 minutes instead of 90 and just as hard if not harder) Finally, Rommel and I gave in to the peer passion pressure and decided we were going to brave the weather and road conditions to fulfill our clients’ fitness cravings for Saturday 8am Strong and Sexy Bootcamps.

As saturday rolls around, and previously closed roads in Redmond and Bellevue open up and the chaos SLIGHTLY clears up, I decide to roll out with my All Wheel Drive to the gym for the 8am class. It was slick, icy, and scary watching others try to attempt to drive beside you, in front of you, and behind you around turns, and up or down hills. I honestly did not expect that many people to show up on that dreadful morning, but six people turned up! It was quite the morning. Let me explain:

Out of the six people, Theresa who was pregnant, worked out with galoshes for the first 30 minutes due to forgetting her shoes. We had her friend Sandra drive from Seattle, swing by her house, and pick up her shoes before coming to the gym to join in on the workout. Heather walked to the gym as a warm-up to get her workout in and walked home afterwards. Dena came in slightly sick, but dedicated herself to taking on the workout. Molly came in to join the fun, and later switched vehicles with her husband and the kids so he can then workout with me after her bootcamp class. Matt braved the snow to be the only gentleman representing the males and kept up with these hardcore females!

Wasn’t I right? Our clients are Psycho…in a good way! Maybe I should say Psycho Passionate! It was fun and quite the laughs.
Here is that workout I sent out. It may be somewhat modified but here it is. On a sidenote, did you know back at Oregon State University we did a segment on home workouts? We took some film and radio class to learn how to produce a show. Originally we were going to call it the Beaver show spinning off that Comedy Central ”Man Show”. We sent out the proposal but it got turned down. Weird… But we created a fitness show instead. Anyways, on with the quick workout:

- A1 Pushups 20 reps

- A2 Bent over Rows using Gallon jugs of water or milk

- A3 Tabata Squats 20 seconds fast, 10 second rest, and repeat 3 times

- Repeat the above three A exercises 3 or 4 sets…its a nonstop fast sequence

- B1 Step out alternating lunges 30 total 40 max with water jug vertical press

- B2 Plank hold 60 seconds

- B3 20 Crunches

- B4 Reverse crunches aka butt lifts aka reverse curls aka you know!

- Repeat B exercises 3 or 4 sets Nonstop fast sequence!

- A and B should take 30 minutes

Cardio Time:

- 30 seconds split shuffles

- 30 seconds ice skaters

- 30 seconds jumpsquats

- 30 seconds in place high knee runs

- 30 seconds jumping jacks

- 30 seconds slalom hops

- 30 seconds wideouts (jump in feet together and jumpout wide while staying low and hands behind head)

- 30 seconds wall sit

- Rest 30-60 seconds and repeat 3 times the whole cardio series ALL 8 OF THEM IN A ROW!!!

Be Safe, Have Fun, Happy Holidays, and the next time your indoors…Try the above workouts. No snow can stop you! In fact you might burn so much calories and core temperature reach a pretty high level you can stand out on your driveway and melt the snow!

Belton Lubas

I’ve been a fitness professional in the Eastside since 2004 (with 10 years in the industry), and many of my clients and people who know me well understand that I don’t agree with most people’s New Year’s Resolutions in regards to their fitness goals.

There are many reasons why I don’t agree, but I’m going to share my top three with you today. First, allow me to ask you a really big question: What is honestly going to be so different in your life next year that you cannot take action today? Maybe I’m being a little harsh during the holidays, but seriously, I think most resolutions are an excuse and a means to justify and delay action steps that we all know deep down should be acted on today.

Here are my reasons:

1. Psychological justification.
Most people will do whatever they want for the rest of the year in order to justify that next year they’ll be focused and finally achieve the fitness goals they dream of. The unfortunate reality is that the average weight gain from Thanksgiving till Christmas is 12lbs. That’s enough weight gain to ruin your whole year’s efforts. Is it really worth it?

2. Not revisiting your health and fitness goals every 2-3 months.
It’s a good idea to make the necessary adjustments to your health and fitness routine with the changing of the seasons. We tend to decorate our homes with the change of the seasons and it’s great for the psyche to do the same with your health and fitness goals. Restructure and reorganize your routine to meet the daily needs of the upcoming season.

For example, just about everyone is out and about during the summer months reaping the rewards of our efforts in the earlier part of the year. When fall comes we tend to slow down because the year is winding down and then when winter hits we pretty much proceed into a mental hibernation. However, this mental hibernation is usually not supportive of their fitness goals. This is why it should be a priority to revisit your goals with each season to make sure you restructure it accordingly for you to manage and engage appropriately so that you always stay on track.

3. Because you ALWAYS have an opportunity this very moment.
It really doesn’t take much effort to make a dramatic difference in your health right now. If you haven’t exercised in a while, start with a 15-minute walk three times per week for 2 weeks, and then crank it up to 30-minute workouts including strength training starting the third week. Don’t be fooled by the “Exercise at least 5 hours/week of cardio and 2+ days of weight training”. Anyone can easily become more fit in just 15-30 minutes three times per week. That’s 1.5 hours per week at the most! Who wouldn’t want that kind of fitness schedule?

Anyway, there really is no reason to wait until the New Year . You’re good enough RIGHT NOW, and you’re worth it!

PS…Click here to learn some damage control strategies for the rest of the holidays.

Here are two quick 4-exercise circuit for an effective total body fat-loss workout!

Circuit 1a
1)Incline Pushups
2)Body Rows
3)Alternating Lunges
4)Core Band Twists

Perform 5 rounds of 10-12 reps of each exercise.
Rest 10 seconds between each exercise.
Rest 30-60 seconds rest between each round.

Circuit 1b
1)Bar Squats
2)Pullups
3)Alternating Lunges
4)Hanging Reverse Crunch

Stay Tuned for more from the Element 5 Fitness Team

Visit our sites
Element 5 Fitness
Strong & Sexy Bootcamps

Being snowed in these past few days has been quite fun, and productive. Playing in the snow was fun, and the productive part was Julie and I did some needed housekeeping which also allowed us to catch up on a few things from the chaos of our professional lives. We’ve been reading “It’s All Too Much” by TLC’s professional organizer Peter Walsh. Peter Walsh is considered an organizational guru and has appeared numerous times on Oprah.

I’ve only read one other organizational book, but this one is unique in that Peter’s approach focuses on helping people let go of the emotional and psychological clutter that drains the life out of your home. His book shows you how to face a BIG question: What is the vision for the life you want to live?
I don’t know about you, but that’s the first time I’ve ever heard that from a professional organizer and it was refreshing. If you are struggling with organization in your home or office and you feel consistently drained by just looking at the unnecessary clutter, I encourage you to go get this book. The techniques are easy to implement in a step by step plan.

So with the advice from the book we shredded tons of old mail and other junk, filled up close to 10 large garbage bags of stuff to give to Goodwill, and rearranged our office and the kitchen. The result was feeling a new sense of energy from all the freed up space and new organization to meet the function of the spaces we worked on.

Asides from the massive housekeeping, Julie and I trekked about 10-15 minutes from our home to the nearest shopping area everyday since last Wednesday. That’s roughly 30 minutes of walking up and down hills in the snow for each trip, and we did that twice today because we forgot something at QFC! It was great because we were definitely burning calories, especially being bundled up in thick jackets.
These past “snowed in” days prompted me to do a follow-up post to our “Post-Thanksgiving Workouts” segment. I recorded two quick workouts that can be performed at home with some bands, stability ball, and a weighted bag (in the video 2 I have a 50lb sandbag) just in case you can’t make it to the gym due to our fabulous weather.

Focus on performing all exercises in a fast manner with GOOD FORM. Intensity is key with home workouts or you’re just wasting your time. Choose a challenging resistance, do these workouts right, and you’ll easily burn 300 calories!

Work hard, stay strong!
- Rommel

View workouts

It’s been 14 years since I made the final decision to pursue a career in health and fitness. Just two years after starting my college years in Business Administration I enrolled in a degree in Exercise & Sports Science at Oregon State University. The ironic thing is I couldn’t stand business back then, but today as an owner of Element 5 Fitness, I completely appreciate it and actually enjoy the business side of things. But I digress.
Many, many things have changed in relation to how I approach my nutritional habits, my workouts, and my auxilliary physical activity. From 1995-1998 I approached fitness with a balls-out approach of working out 5-6 days a week, which included 45 minutes minimum of strength training, followed by 1-3 hours of recreational basketball at least 3-4 days per week. I was also mountain biking and rock climbing regularly, and snow boarding during the winter at least two times per week.
I was very lean, and was able to eat whatever I wanted. I supplemented well only because I knew that I wasn’t getting all the necessary nutrients from the foods I was eating. I was spending a lot of money on multi-vitamins, protein powders, meal-replacement shakes, you name it I’ve more than likely tried it.
You see, although I was in an Exercise Science program I was still set in the mindset of “I can do whatever I want, and because I’m so active I won’t gain any fat”. When in reality I was just too lazy and undisciplined and resorted to supplements to “make me healthy.”
In 1998 I started my personal training career at the university’s gym, and to prove I was a product of my product I knew I needed to change my mindset in order to change my fitness lifestyle. I enrolled in EAS’s “Body of Work Spokesperson” Contest (this was just before it was renamed to the now famous Body for Life Transformation Challenge). I was already hooked on EAS’s products at the time that I wanted to become a spokesperson. I ended up as a semi-finalist, and was awarded a certificate of achievement and a “Success Coach” certificate as a means to help other individuals who were pursuing the Body for Life challenge.

(Couldn’t find my 12th week photo, sorry!)

BUT, I know you’re diggin the Kid ‘N Play hairstyle! LOL!

My Certificate of Achievement

My transformation created a huge shift in my lifestyle. I finally set concrete goals, wrote them down, and ACTED on them. I kept a food and workout journal everyday, and was even meticulous about weighing my food – talk about anal. I was monitoring EVERY SINGLE thing that was going into my body. I was always within roughly 100 calories above or below my target, I drank a minimum of 96 ounces of water per day, took all my supportive supplements, slept 7-9 hours per night, and even took yogo twice a week to improve my flexibility. I was dialed in, and no one and nothing was able to upset my regimen! I finally practiced what I preached, and I took what I learned from this experience and applied it to help other individuals create transformations of their own.

Fast forward to 2002, which was the start of a more holistic approach, and the start of my re-education in my field. In 2002, I was fortunate to win a contest to the World IDEA Convention, which is the largest fitness convention in the world. The convention lasted five days, and I went to as many cutting edge educational courses (at the time) as I could. Long story short, I realized that what I knew and understood up to that point was simply outdated and that I needed to make more of an effort to keep up. This sparked a voracious appetite to do hours of research and testing out many nutrition and exercise protocols.
Fast forward to today. I’m a big believer in Dr. Berardi’s Precision Nutrition lifestyle program and this is what I adhere to 90% of the time. Hey, you gotta allow yourself to cheat 10% of the time, but more on that in another blog. Nowadays I don’t count calories, eat more whole foods, less simple and starchy carbs, WAY more fruits and vegetables, use less supplements, and increased the good fats in my diet. As for my workouts, they’ve been cut down to 30 minutes or less. I’ve simplified them into quick and efficient workouts, which have allowed me to get the same results in half the time. It seems that the more experience and knowledge I gain, the methods become simpler and more laser focused.
So what’s next? Well, I’ve decided on pursuing another transformation to prove that less is more. Stay Tuned!