It takes no equipment and anyone can do it. It works your chest, back, core, shoulders and a bunch of stabilizing muscles. And it can burn a ton of calories . . . when you do enough of them.

There are so many different variations you could do as well:  plyo pushups, clap pushups, one armed pushups, asymmetrical pushups . . . literally hundreds of variations. Even when you change your hand or foot position you’re changing the exercise enough to target some different muscles.

Below is a tutorial on the basics of doing the PERFECT PUSHUP. Once you have perfected the pushup, then come out to Pushups for Charity on May 19 and do some with us as we raise money and awareness for the men and women of the armed services.

We’re having a raffle this week for a pair of tickets to the May 12 concert of REO Speedwagon and Styx in the Woodlands. For every $5 you donate you will get an entry into the raffle, make your donation at http://crowdrise.com/body3fit OR come to our studio to purchase at the front desk. Drawing will be held on May 5.

How to do a correct pushup:

Lie face down on the floor.  Put your palms on the floor, just about level with your breast and fairly tight to your body.

Then push up. Try and keep the rest of your body rigid.  Repeat.

Stop pushing just before you lock your elbows. Hold for a second and lower yourself down slowly. Go until your nose is almost touching the floor.

Push-ups work your arms, chest, core, legs . . . you name it! If you spend 5 to 10 minutes a day, you’ll see AND feel amazing results in a very short time.

Now go ahead and register for Pushups For Charity on May 19 . . . or at least support us in our efforts to raise money for our military by donating here: http://www.crowdrise.com/body3fit. For every $5 donated this week only you will receive an entry into our raffle for a pair of tickets to the May 12 concert of REO Speedwagon and STYX!!

EVENT DATE: Saturday, April 21 2012
TIME: 8:15AM – 9:00AM
Cost: FREE when you sign up for Pushups for Charity

“It may seem like a shameless bribe to get as many people to support our Pushups For Charity event in a month,” explains Jackobs owner of Body3 Fitness Center and Author of Get Off Your Butt and Do Something, “I’m willing to do what it takes to get as many people to support our troops as possible, and if that means giving away a great workout then that’s what I’ll do.”

It’s easy to register; just go to http://www.PushupsForCharityHouston.com and enter your information and you’ll be registered.

Or if people just want to donate to our cause and help us raise $20,000 for the Boot Campaign, they can go directly to http://www.Crowdrise.com/body3fit and securely donate. 100% of the money raised will go to the Boot Campaign, who gives back to our military and veterans.

“Do your part for the men and women who sacrifice so much for our freedoms and donate now!” exclaims Jackobs.

To participate in the free boot camp workout this weekend, just show up at Body3 Fitness Center, 1987 W TC Jester Blvd. at 8:15AM with water and a mat. Be ready for an awesome workout!!

Join Captain Chad Fleming, Pushups for Charity and The Boot Campaign by not only watching but liking and reposting this video:

Youtube: http://youtu.be/-IYGWYx5w78

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pushupsforcharity, www.facebook.com/bootcampaign

Twitter: #PushUpsForCharity #BootCampaign

To register for the event please visit:  http://www.PushUpsforCharityHouston.com

The Boot Campaign
The Boot Campaign is a grassroots military appreciation and veteran awareness campaign started by five women from Texas, known as the Boot Girls. The Boot Girls launched the Boot Campaign in 2009 to spread awareness of the needs of military personnel returning home from combat and express gratitude to current military. Through the sale of military combat boots, the Boot Campaign donates proceeds to a group of partner charities that work with soldiers healing from a variety of physical and emotional combat wounds, embodying the campaign motto that, “When They ComeBack, We Give Back.” www.BootCampaign.com

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In case you wondered what people do in retirement…

   The guy in the back of the kayak is my father.  He just turned 73 and my mom just turned 72 (shhh don’t tell them I told you their ages.)

This is a picture from their recent trip to Antarctica for a marathon.  Umm yes you read that correctly a marathon… well my dad did the half marathon and my mom did the the full marathon.   CaaaRAZY!!

This is retirement “fun” for them.  Have they always been active like this?  Not at all, my mom didn’t start getting active until her 50s.  My dad was always pretty active, he used to bike to work every day when I was growing up.

It’s because they chose to be active.  I’m convinced that they wouldn’t be doing a tenth of the stuff they do now if it weren’t for the fact that they were active in their younger days.

Heck, my dad builds houses now for Habitat for Humanity and my mom coaches race walkers.

Needless to say, I’m really proud of my parents and how they’ve taken care of themselves.  It pushes me to continue to take care of myself and help others to take care of themselves too.

If you’re struggling now getting around because of bad knees, bad back, achy whatever, don’t just go for a quick fix to mask the pain, FIX THE PROBLEM.  The correct kind of exercise helps will all of those issues, and we can assess where you’re at and develop a plan of action to get you to where you want to be…. AT ANY AGE!

If you need some help, then give me a call at 281-667-3648 and schedule a fitness consultation and see what it’s going to take to get you active at any age!

MEDIA ADVISORY

Local Fitness Enthusiasts Pushup for Our Troops

WHAT:            Pushups For Charity,   www.PushupsForCharityHouston.com

WHO:               Right at Home Fitness (www.HoustonsBestPersonalTrainers.com)

                        Body3 Fitness Center (www.Body3Fit.com)

WHERE:           Body3 Fitness Center, 1987 W TC Jester Blvd (18^th Street & Ella Blvd)

WHEN:             Saturday, May 19, 2010, 10:00 AM

DETAILS:        Over 100 people of all ages will do as many pushups as possible within 90 seconds to raise money and awareness for our wounded veterans. Because the biggest tragedy of all is being forgotten.  All money donated will go directly to the Boot Campaign (www.BootCampaign.com )

Elite fitness business owners from around the nation are participating in this event. In Houston, Body3 Fitness and Right at Home Fitness have teamed up to host this event.  Owners Tom Jackobs, Danielle and Trey Eckerman will participate with the support of over 100 of their clients and other interested parties

About Body3 Fitness:

Body3 Fitness is committed to the wellness of the overall person.  Body3 Fitness focuses on nutrition, strength, and cardio training for optimal well-being of the individual.  Owner Tom Jackobs brings extensive experience to the fitness mission. www.Body3Fit.com

Tom, Trey and Danielle are available for candid and informative interviews prior to the event, this would make a great human interest and fitness story.

Join Captain Chad Fleming, Pushups for Charity and The Boot Campaign by not only watching but liking and reposting this video:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pushupsforcharity, www.facebook.com/bootcampaign

Twitter: #PushUpsForCharity #BootCampaign

Youtube: http://youtu.be/-IYGWYx5w78

To register for the event please visit:

http://www.PushUpsforCharityHouston.com

The Boot Campaign
The Boot Campaign is a grassroots military appreciation and veteran awareness campaign started by five women from Texas, known as the Boot Girls.  The Boot Girls launched the Boot Campaign in 2009 to spread awareness of the needs of military personnel returning home from combat and express gratitude to current military.  Through the sale of military combat boots, the Boot Campaign donates proceeds to a group of partner charities that work with soldiers healing from a variety of physical and emotional combat wounds, embodying the campaign motto that, “When They Come Back, We Give Back.”  www.BootCampaign.com

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Braised Balsamic Chicken

(Serves Six)

6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon garlic salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1. Season chicken breasts with ground black pepper and garlic salt. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet, and brown the onion and seasoned chicken breasts.

2. Pour tomatoes and balsamic vinegar over chicken, and season with basil, oregano, rosemary and thyme. Simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 15 minutes.

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Ready: 30 mins

Amount Per Serving – Calories: 206 / Total Fat: 6.1g / Cholesterol: 68mg / Sodium: 538mg / Total Carbs: 7.5g / Dietary Fiber: 1.1g / Protein: 28.2g

Recipe from AllRecipes.com.

But back to why I’m ashamed.  As it turns out, there was a little bit of “positioning” amongst members of the staff to inflate their “before” weights . . . OK, so maybe I was involved in it as well . . . but it illustrates something interesting when it comes to weight loss or, more specifically FAT LOSS, and the psychology behind it.

It’s HARD TO DO IT WITHOUT MOTIVATION.  We’ve all struggled . . . I know I do every day, but having the proper motivation to push you to achieve your results will make you do what it takes to be successful. I’ve heard so many people say they’re not competitive; that’s just not true. We’re all competitive to different degrees. When you give someone the right motivation and the right prize, he or she will do what it takes to succeed, even when it’s hard.

The staff has really stepped up to this little challenge we have going. We are a competitive group, all with our own struggles. Yes, we are fitness professionals and experts in our field,  but we’re also human. Each week one of our staff members will write a blog post to be published here, so you can see what it takes to get focused and finish strong.

What’s your motivation? If you’re having trouble finding one, then I invite you to participate in the Your Best Body Challenge.  It’s only $25 to enter and we’ll give you the road map to be successful.

And if you just want to talk about what it takes to get in the best shape of your life, then schedule a free fitness consultation.

Your comments are welcomed below.

The Worst Fat of All…BELLY FAT

Did you know that the vast majority of people today have excess abdominal fat? It’s true — as much as 70% of the population are now considered either overweight or obese. The first thing that most people think of is that their extra abdominal fat is simply ugly and makes them self conscious about showing off their body.

However, what most people don’t realize is that excess abdominal fat in particular, is not only ugly, but is also a dangerous risk factor to your health. Scientific research has clearly determined that although it is unhealthy in general to have excess body fat throughout your body, it is also particularly dangerous to have excess abdominal fat.

There are two types of fat that you have in your abdominal area. The first type that covers up your abs from being visible is called subcutaneous fat and lies directly beneath the skin and on top of the abdominal muscles.

The second type of fat that you have in your abdominal area is called visceral fat, and that lies deeper in the abdomen beneath your muscle and surrounding your organs. Visceral fat also plays a role in giving certain men that “beer belly” appearance where their abdomen protrudes excessively but at the same time, also feels sort of hard if you push on it.

Both subcutaneous fat and visceral fat in the abdominal area are serious health risk factors, but science has shown that having excessive visceral fat is even more dangerous than subcutaneous fat. Both types of fat greatly increase your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, sleep apnea, various forms of cancer, and other degenerative diseases.

Two of the most important aspects to getting rid of visceral fat are:

1. The use of high intensity forms of exercise and full-body resistance training. Low intensity cardio exercise simply isn’t as effective for removing visceral fat in particular. High intensity exercise such as interval training or full-body weight training are very effective at helping to improve your body’s ability to manage glucose and increases insulin sensitivity, a crucial step in removing visceral fat. These types of high intensity exercise routines are also very effective at increasing your fat-burning hormones and creating a hormonal environment conducive to burning off abdominal fat, including visceral fat.  This is the type of training we do during our boot camp and small group training programs

2. In addition, it’s vitally important to get blood sugar under control to help restore insulin sensitivity through the right nutrition. This means greatly reducing sugars and refined starches in your diet and focusing more of your diet on healthy fats (such as avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut fat, olive oil, free-range eggs, fatty fish and fish oils, etc), as well as increasing protein and fiber intake. The standard diet recommended by the government, which contains an unnaturally high grain intake is NOT conducive to controlling blood sugar and reducing visceral fat! Reducing grain-based foods in your diet and getting more of your carbs from veggies and high fiber fruits such as berries can go a long way to helping to solve this problem.

If you’re interested in starting a program to get rid of belly fat then give us a call at 281-667-3648 or fill out a free consultation request form.

If this is interesting to you please pass it on and make a comment below, I’d love to see what you think about belly fat too!

“I can train someone to be a great trainer and get them certified through a national certification agency,” states Jackobs, who holds multiple certifications in rehab exercise and nutrition, “but I can’t train someone to be professional and to treat this field as a profession.”

Jackobs started the Apprenticeship Program last year in an effort to increase the quality of fitness professionals he employs. “When you can go online and purchase a certification for
$49 after taking a 10 question test, it devalues all the hard work and study real professionals have done to get to where we are today.” explains Jackobs. “Our clients are at a very fragile and vulnerable place in their lives when they first reach out for our help and, if their trainer doesn’t have the right training, they could get hurt very badly.”

Pictured from Left to right, Tom Jackobs, Mike Warren, Rayme Mack, and Jeff Fisher. Mike, Rayme and Jeff have all successfully completed our Apprenticeship Program and have started their career as Houston fitness professionals.

About Body3 Fitness:
Body3 Fitness is committed to the wellness of the overall person. Body3 Fitness focuses on nutrition, strength, and cardio training for optimal well-being of the individual. Owner Tom Jackobs brings extensive experience to the fitness mission. www.Body3Fit.com

Editor’s Note: Tom Jackobs has been a contributor to CBS Radio and has appeared on Great Day Houston and is available for entertaining and informative interviews.

Tom Jackobs, Houston Fitness Expert gives his tips on How to Look and Feel Young at any age!

It seems that everyone wants to keep their youthful appearance, but more than that, people want to feel young too.

I’m over 40 now and I feel so much better than I did when I was in my thirties, primarily because of the lifestyle changes I made to keep feeling young.

TIP #1: Reduce Toxins. I’m talking about toxins like cigarette smoke, air pollution, excess alcohol, and toxins in our food and water supply. Of course, if you’re smoking, I suggest you stop immediately.
For your food supply, stay away from processed foods that have all kinds of artificial colors, chemicals, and sweeteners. They do nothing but erode your health, and after years, they can start to make you look older (mostly because they are “dead foods” void of quality nutrients). I try my best to eat wholesome, unprocessed foods every chance I get. And try to keep your alcohol intake low (relax I said low not eliminate). Your skin and internal organs will thank you by remaining healthy and young.

As far as water, drink at minimum 50ozs per 100lbs of body weight, especially when you are metabolizing body fat (losing weight).

Tip #2: Increase your essential fat intake. Back in the 80s and 90s the media constantly said that all fat was considered bad. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are great fats out there that your body needs, especially for skin integrity and to help your skin be healthy. They are called essential fatty acids, and your body simply can’t produce them on its own. You need to get them through your food intake or supplement.

Most Americans are deficient in one of the essential fats called Omega-3s, and you can really see this deficiency in their skin–it’s typically dry, cracked, or wrinkled.

To avoid this, make sure you’re eating good sources of these fats from fish like wild salmon, tuna, and mackerel. Other sources of essential fats include nuts like pistachios, walnuts, and almonds, along with seeds like flax seeds and pumpkin seeds.

Every day, try to eat a serving of fish (such as salmon), ¼ to ½ cup of nuts and/or seeds,. You can also use a supplementation such as OmegaPlex.



Tip #3: Less sugar, more antioxidants. My final tip today has to do with reducing your sugar and increasing your antioxidants. Less junk and more good stuff. The average American consumes about 173 grams of processed sugar a day. Some teenagers are consuming 200, 300, or even 400 grams of sugar a day. This is not good because:

1. These processed sugars don’t have any real nutritional value, and eating them will lead to nutrient deficiencies that cause you to age faster.
2. After you consume sugar, your body is still starving for nutrients so your cravings increase, which leads to weight gain that makes you look older. Plus, sugar is highly addictive so you keep eating more and more, and it’s converted to fat very easily in our bodies.

Needless to say, you want to stay away from these processed sugars whenever possible.

So keep your processed sugars down, and replace these empty calories with fruits and vegetables that are packed with antioxidants. In case you don’t know, antioxidants are kind of like “microscopic doctors” that keep your body healthy by fighting off free-radicals (which are molecules, atoms, or ions that can cause premature aging and disease).

If you would like to learn more (a whole lot more) I recommend you click the following link FREE FITNESS CONSULTATION and get started today. Really…. what are you waiting for???

What other tips can you think of?  Post a comment below.

Does Diet Soda Make You Fat?

“Really?! You’re killing me here Tom.  I can’t believe you’re asking this question… It’s bad enough you tell me to eat veggies… now I have to give up diet soda as well?”, complains typical client.

I’m just the messenger here.  But, according to several studies I’ve read, diet soda can contribute to weight gain just as much as the full fledged high fructose corn syrup counter parts.

A study done by the American Diabetes Association found that not only do diet sodas stop you from gaining weight, they may contribute to it. The researchers measured the circumference of the waist compared to how many diet sodas a person drank per day. The study’s results showed that people who consumed more than one diet soda per day saw their weight and waist circumference increase.

The results lead one to wonder what causes the weight gain and increased waist circumference since there are no calories in diet soda. One answer is the artificial sweetener aspartame. There is anecdotal evidence that aspartame triggers the appetite causing people to eat more.

The study also found that people who drink diet soda every single day had a 61% higher risk of experiencing a heart related health incident such as heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. The study had a large contingency of participants consisting of nearly 3,000 people.

Here’s some findings from an 8-year University of Texas study that I had read…

An excerpt from the study author:

“What didn’t surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity,” Fowler tells WebMD. “What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher.”

“There was a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day,” Fowler says.

There’s a lot of complicating factors as to why this occurs…

One reason is that the artificial sweeteners in diet sodas create a negative hormonal response in the body that increases fat storing hormone production and increases cravings for more sweets and refined carbohydrates in the time period after consuming the diet drink.

Another reason is that people may subconsciously think that because they are drinking a diet soda, that gives them more leeway to eat more of everything else, hence consuming more calories overall.

I’ve said this all along, but the bottom line is that if you’re serious about your health and body, soda of any kind should be avoided at all times, except for very rare occasions when you can’t avoid them.

What is a good alternative to diet sodas?

The best alternatives are good old water with lemon or unsweetened iced teas… you have plenty of options with teas – green, white, black, red… be creative in making your iced teas and you’ll enjoy it more. Plus you’ll get a more diverse array of antioxidants.

What other alternatives can you suggest?  I’d love to hear them as well as the other readers of this blog.  Post them below.

If you want to talk to me about how you can achieve your fitness goals once and for all CLICK HERE to request a free fitness consultation or give us a call at 281-667-3648 x2.