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5 Tips for Better Arms

“How do I get better arms?”

We get this question all the time. Sometimes it’s from people who are looking to build muscle in their biceps and triceps. Other times, people are looking to achieve better tone. We’ll answer the question for both crowds.

Here are five things you can do to get the arms you want.

1. Eat Properly

Surprised this one is first? Don’t be: Nutrition is the foundation of everything when it comes to fitness. If you want to build larger muscles, you’ll need protein. And if you’re looking to increase tone and definition, you’ll need to reduce body fat. To drop fat, you must have your nutrition dialed in: You can’t eat excessive amounts of food, and some foods will help you accomplish your goals faster than others.

We have nutrition experts who can tell you exactly how to eat for your goals, but here’s the short, general version: Prioritize protein, and look to whole foods like fruit and veggies before processed, fatty foods with lots of added sugar.

2. Lift Heavy Stuff!

To build some arm muscle, you need to lift enough weight to cause the muscle to grow. That means the last reps in any set should be challenging. If you do a set of 8 biceps curls and the last rep felt very easy, you’re probably not lifting heavy enough. 

You need to “feel the burn” and challenge yourself! That safe stress will trigger your body to grow new muscle to adapt to the work you’re asking it to perform. Muscle growth is called “hypertrophy.”

In the past, people often saw bulging bodybuilders and worried that heavy lifting would turn them into behemoths covered in veins. That just doesn’t happen without very hard, very specific training (and often anabolic steroids). So don’t worry that heavy lifting will make you “bulky.” Lifting heavy is exactly what you need to build muscle and achieve great arms.

How heavy should you go? That depends on the movement and the sets and reps you’re doing. A coach can give you an exact plan—and we’ll talk about that below.

3. Do Arm Movements

This seems obvious, but we’ll point out something most people miss: You shouldn’t just focus on the biceps if you want great arms. Sure, the biceps are prominent, but you can’t forget all the muscles of the forearms and the triceps on the back of the arm. Deltoids are considered shoulder muscles, but they still help move the arms, and you should work them, too.

Hundreds of movements can be used to train these specific muscles. You can use barbells, dumbbells, bands, cable stations, body weight and household objects. A lot of times people will use “single joint” or “isolation” movements to train the arms. Think biceps curls, triceps extensions, delt raises and so on. 

These movements can be great if you want to target very specific areas. For best results, we recommend you train all the muscles in the arm in isolation and together—read on!

4. Do Compound Movements

Compound movements work many muscle groups at once and involve several joints. Think about a pull-up, for example. It requires the elbows and the shoulders to move, and it trains a host of muscles at once.

Isolation movements are great, but don’t think you aren’t training your triceps in a bench press or your shoulders in a barbell press. You’ll get a huge bang for your buck with compound movements, and we use them regularly in the gym. As an added benefit, compound movements usually involve the muscles of the core and sometimes even the legs. That means you can improve your whole body even if you’re mainly focused on your arms.

A few great compound movements for arms: pull-ups, chin-ups, bench presses, shoulder presses, bent-over barbell rows.

5. Change Your Routine

If you always do the same thing, your body will adapt for a while and then stop adapting. But if you change your routine at appropriate times, your body will keep adapting to new stresses and you’ll get the results you want. 

That means you might do 3 sets of 8 reps of barbell biceps curls with 20 lb. for three weeks, then switch to 2 sets of 12 reps of dumbbell hammer curls with 10 lb. in each hand for three weeks. 

You can adjust the weights you use, the reps, the sets, the movements, the rest and the number of times you train. But it’s not random. You need to make the right changes at the right time. We could write a huge book on that, and we carefully tailor workouts to our clients so they get results. We’ll just say this to get you started: Change up your routine at least every four weeks to ensure you’d don’t hit a plateau.

Get to Work!

There you have it! With these five tips, you’re well on your way to better arms.

We’ll even give you a simple workout:

2-3 sets of 8 alternating dumbbell biceps curls (rest 45 seconds between sets)

2-3 sets of 8 dumbbell lying triceps extensions (rest 45 seconds between sets)

2-3 sets of 8 dumbbell hammer curls to overhead presses (rest 60 seconds between sets)

2-3 sets of 8 dumbbell bent-over rows to triceps kickbacks (rest 60 seconds between sets)

If you’d like a more specific plan that will help you accomplish your specific goals faster, we can help. Click INTRO to book a free consultation with one of our expert coaches today!

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Avoiding the Holiday Snowball Effect…

WARNING: CHALLENGES AHEAD

You know it’s coming in the next 30-40 days…

You’ve built up good momentum, are already consistent and are feeling pretty good. 

You’re eating quality foods 80% + most of your days and you’re hitting your fitness consistently 3 to 5 times per week without deviation.

Your next greatest opponent to challenge all the behaviors and momentum you’ve built is right around the corner.

The holiday season.

The holiday season challenges all of that in its own unique ways. 

I know that if in the past you’ve gotten

  • Very stressed around the holidays,
  • Fallen off your nutrition routine
  • Lost consistency with fitness

That these patterns are likely to emerge and challenge you again and again.  

AVOIDING THE SNOWBALL EFFECT… 

While the holiday season in an exciting time:

family gatherings,

delicious foods,

shared memories

and quality time with people we love,

it’s very natural and normal for our nutrition and fitness to take a small step back. 

How big of a step back is in your hands and your control. 

The snowball effect happens when that small step back turns into a walking backwards or in reverse.

HOW IT HAPPENS

At Thanksgiving, we are around people we love and we feast. We are in company we love and enjoy and we let our guards down temporarily.

We eat foods we wouldn’t or don’t normally eat on a regular day to day basis.

These tasty treats and variance throws our taste buds into extreme sensation and pleasure seeking mode.

This snowballs when one day with one meal turns into days or even weeks of over indulging or eating too much of those joy foods and not enough quality food. 

We are officially off our routine.

Then with Christmas around the corner our levels of stress are higher.

This leads to that need for a quick impulse or feel good to be even at a higher level, so we continue down this path.

As exciting as Christmas is for most of us, we can be in a constant state of stress about schedules, gifts, shopping, expectations or worries that we skip the gym more than get our daily dose of health, wellness and endorphins. 

Missing a day here or there is normal and isn’t going to derail your progress. 

It’s when we fall off our normal 3, 4 or 5 day a week fitness regime that we put ourselves in this hole that the further we get into it’s harder to get out of it. 

And when we do eventually make our return we are unfortunately met with difficulty, a feeling of everything is difficult and I’m winded so quick and easily.  Making the very thing you loved and enjoyed so regularly seem so difficult.

All challenging your will.

And then, New Years.

A classic time where people stay up later than normal, over eat snacks and drink alcohol to celebrate the closing of a year and beginning of another. 

The staying up late, food and alcohol combination throws off our entire daily rhythm and leaves us with more anguish than excitement. 

These factors in combination are the downhill snowball effect in full speed.

They challenge all the good behaviors, mindset/mentality and healthy consistent actions you’ve built up consistently over a long period of time. 

WHAT DO I DO? 

Aware – Acknowledge – Action 

Awareness, that’s the first step. 

Second, we must acknowledge. 

We can acknowledge that our nutrition will not be perfect over Thanksgiving and Christmas and that we will fully enjoy those meals and moments with loved ones, guilt free.

We acknowledge in advance that we will likely be around others (people we love) who don’t share the same will, drive, discipline or goals as we do.

Sadly, even the same desire for high levels of health and wellness.

(Friendly tip: If your family knows you as the “CrossFitter” or the “healthy person” or “workout nut” a couple of things may happen during this time of year…..

One  they may challenge your discipline or healthy ways or two – they may talk or communicate in a way that almost shames you for being so healthy or them for not.

I encourage you to not be reactive but to lead by example and allow your best self to show up in these instances. Meet them with unwavering love and understanding. What is really being said without actually being said is “I wish I had the level of discipline and commitment to my health as you do.”)

We acknowledge that although we may travel or need to do holiday shopping or be out of town, we will remain MORE consistent within the gym than not. 

Third step, the most critical is we take action

We take action in not letting ourselves spiral out of control due to 1-2 holiday indulgences. 

We take action in committing to a minimum amount of days within the gym per week because we know it will lower our stress, help keep moving us closer to our goals, bettering us daily and that if we don’t we dig a hole that the deeper it gets the harder to climb out. 

We take action in planning ahead.

We plan our schedules around our workouts. 

We plan what days we will be traveling. 

We plan what healthy and nutrient foods we will be eating a majority of our days. 

We plan to get back on track the meal or day after we eat “out of the norm.”

We plan ahead and we vow to not let 1 or 2 days where we eat out of routine (Thanksgiving and Christmas) make the other 30+ days a wash and set ourselves further away from our ultimate goal and actually hinder our progress, body composition and ultimately how we feel day to day. 

We know this time of year our healthy habits will be challenged the most.

We get ahead of that challenge by being aware it’s coming, acknowledging what we need to do and not do and taking and committing to action. 

Because the alternative? 


That snowball effect turns into an avalanche that some can never recover from. 

Here’s to stopping the SNOWBALL!

Thanksgiving Week Hours: Wednesday-Normal Schedule Thanksgiving-OPEN…9am Class Only Friday-Open Gym 6:30am-7:30am and 9am Class Saturday-Open Gym 7:45am and 9am Class

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed 🙂

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Transformation Tuesday!

This time around I’m going to put myself out there…This summer (well, actually the last 18 months or so) has pretty much reeked havoc on my life…personally, physically, and emotionally.

All of these things made me go down a road that I did not want to be on. I didn’t focus on my health in the way that I should…I was talking the talk but I wasn’t walking the walk.

So towards the end of July, feeling sluggish and unmotivated I decided to “coach” myself and call upon an accountability partner to help get me through “August Accountability”.

I hated seeing those first numbers on the InBody reading as they were at my highest ever…this was a good time to start developing better habits – tracking my food, drinking more water, getting more sleep and moving a little more.

I did an InBody on 7/31 and five weeks later, I’m happy to say that I’m down 6.7#, added 1.1# of muscle and lost 3.2% body fat!

My workouts are so much better and I have more energy to do the things I need to get done! This stuff really works!

So are you ready to CHANGE for the better? If so, give me a shout and I can coach you 🙂 Just click HERE to set up a Free Intro!! I want to help YOU!!

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The Gift of Resilience

When looking at your body composition goals there are often 2 competing thoughts: 

A quick fix and dramatic results are what you crave. 

There is nothing more you want than to get to your goals as fast as you can, but it often feels exhausting and overwhelming.

Vs.

I need to learn habits that I can maintain long term.

Taking the time to get the desired results will help maintain these results, but it feels “not so sexy”.

Let’s examine what can happen with each approach.

Many of us have done restrictive challenges, fad diets and had amazing results, only to feel depleted and exhausted. Maintaining these behaviors is tough due to the rules and restrictions. The upside is the aesthetic results. Many people comment on how amazing you look. Inside, you may not feel the same. Fatigue and feeling deprived have been mentioned by some people who have adopted the quick fixes and are now searching for something sustainable. Without that sustainable approach, many people return to old ways.

Often time quick fixes and restrictive diets leave a person isolated. They don’t often promote the balance between real life and the diet. An example here is an event like a birthday or work party. On a restrictive diet, there is a temptation to not participate, not enjoy the event due to the foods or beverages involved. Instead, there is much to be learned about taking a planned break from a diet, having some “controlled fun” if you will and then challenging yourself to get back into a healthy routine after the event is done.

What is missing with these quick fixes is the time to learn habits that build your foundation. By taking your time to really learn different healthy behaviors, practicing them in real-life situations, building them into your routine, creates behaviors that are second nature and effortless. Another thing that is missing is the building of a healthier more resilient mindset that you have been able to overcome a setback and get back on track with healthy behaviors. Taking the time to learn healthy habits, a few at a time, and challenging yourself to commit to getting back on track after a time where you have gone off track builds resilience and mental toughness. 

Another thing that can happen that feels more far off by taking your time is that you are taking small steps each day to invest in your long term health. Each day, by working on habits, you are making internal gains on working on avoiding the burden of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease. 

The challenge here is allowing yourself to appreciate what can be gained by taking the time to learn the process, trusting that by investing the time and effort in learning healthy habits that this will yield a healthier and happier, more resilient you for a lifetime. 

If you are looking for a healthier and more sustainable approach to achieving your goals, we recommend booking a free intro with our nutrition coaching staff!

Click here to book your free intro today: FREE INTRO

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4 Recipes That You Are Guaranteed To Love!

(Pick at least one to prep this week!)

You don’t have to only eat chicken, broccoli and brown rice to see amazing results. 

Our top 4 recipes are sure to be a hit with the whole family.

#1 Egg Muffins

Change up the flavor by adding your favorites meats and veggies, or try our variation with sweet potato.

#2 Amish oatmeal

This baked oatmeal is a great option for the whole family. Top with you favorite fruit and nuts. To add extra protein, add in Bubb’s Collagen when cooking. This increases the protein to 24 grams of protein per 200 grams. 

#3 Meatloaf Muffins

At my house, we are huge fans of muffin tins. These delicious meatloaves are great reheated. Pair with roasted veggies and mashed cauliflower for a balanced meal!

#4 Pulled Chicken

This is one of the most versatile recipes we have. You can put it over a sweet potato or make a Mexican bowl. 

If you liked these, check out our recipe book. Fun fact: you can find all the nutrition facts for HSN recipes in MyFitnessPal, by typing Healthy Steps Nutrition Official then the food name. 

What is your favorite recipe? Let us know! 🙂

You can find more delicious recipes >> https://www.crossfitunstoppable.com/recipes

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Why Does It Take So Long??

A client came to me recently and said how badly she wanted to achieve their body composition goals and was frustrated that it was taking so long. “Why does it take so long to see the changes?” I had the opportunity to have an open and honest conversation about the importance of taking a long-term approach to our health and wellness goals and why the quick fix isn’t the way to go.

I will warn you that taking a long-term approach and truly taking the time to learn habits and make them part of a daily routine is not sexy and it is not quick. This stuff takes effort and time, and it is not a quick fix. 

Taking a long-term approach to improving our nutrition means we have intent, objectives, goals, and a mission to accomplish not only short-term goals but also long-term goals. The big picture mission is simple, we want to be happy, healthy, and strong – both mentally and physically. Being consistent with healthy habits like drinking water, exercising, sleeping, meal prepping, and eating real foods is key to accomplishing your long-term goals. When we take the time to learn these healthy habits, that is when we sustain healthy behaviors and we achieve the results we are so desperately seeking.  

Intent without action accomplishes nothing.

Many of us want to get to ideal body composition, losing weight and body fat. Setting those goals is the easy part. Being accountable for those goals and doing the smaller, often deemed “not so sexy” action items that lead to goal achievement is the hard part – and that’s where working with a nutrition coach in customized nutrition programs and participating in ongoing coaching programs over time is important.

First, let’s start with mapping out a long-term approach. Follow these 3 steps:

Step 1: Begin with the end in mind: What do you want to achieve? What will it take to get there?

Step 2: Start small. The little wins will snowball into larger wins down the hill. Consistency wins.

Step 3: Establish SMART Goals.

What’s a SMART goal? Glad you asked!

S – Specific; Should be simple and defined what you are going to do.

M – Measure; Tangible evidence so you can achieve the goal.

A – Attainable; They should push you just outside your comfort zone.

R – Results-Focused; Goals should measure outcomes, not activities.

T – Time-Bound; Goals should be linked to a time frame that creates a sense of urgency.

Here’s an example of what it looks like to map out nutrition goals over the course of a year:

I will eat a balanced breakfast using the plate method at least 4/7 days this week.

I will meal prep dinners with 3 compartment containers with balanced portions of lean proteins, green vegetables, healthy fats, and healthy carbohydrates for the next month to deal with busy times of the day.

I will eat balanced plates with lean proteins, green vegetables, healthy fats, and healthy carbohydrates, and have a glass of water instead of regular soda with that meal for at least 2 meals per day in the next 3 months.

In the next 6 months, I will log my meals daily to learn about my macronutrient balance, and work with my nutrition coach to stay accountable to losing 15 pounds in my customized nutrition coaching program.

This year, I will enlist the support of a coworker, family member, or friend at the gym as another accountability partner to make sure that we are eating healthy balanced meals 90% of the time, and getting to the gym at least 3-4 times per week.

I will work with my nutrition coach for at least a year to stay accountable to losing 30 pounds and 8% body fat in my customized nutrition coaching program.

It’s your turn! What does it look like for YOU to take a long-term approach when it comes to YOUR nutrition? 

Map it out, and book a free intro to sit down with your nutrition coach to get a plan in place for accomplishing your long term goals! If it sounds like its going to take a long time, remember that a nutrition coach will be there with you every step of the way. 

You can book a FREE INTRO HERE! We want to help YOU reach your true potential! 🙂

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Do This One Thing to Start Losing Weight TODAY!

Eat when you feel hungry and stop when you feel satisfied.

Sounds easy right? Well, guess what- it isn’t and the lifestyle of today doesn’t help make it any easier. So what can you do to ensure you do this one thing? Here are a few tips to get you started.

  1. In between meals, when you think you are hungry- try to drink a full glass of water, wait 10-15 minutes and see if you are still hungry.
  2. When your stomach is growling- eat whole foods comprised of vegetables, fruits, healthy carbs, lean protein, and healthy fat.
  3. Pay attention to your food and take your time when eating. If you scarf your food down in various ways and locations- you are not mindful of your food or your body.
  4. Enjoy your food. Take your time, smell it, taste it, chew slowly.
  5. Do something between bites- but don’t prep your fork for the next bite.
  6. Have a conversation with family or friends- but try to avoid the TV
  7. Most importantly pay attention to your body and STOP EATING when you are satisfied. Eating faster and sighing are both signs that you are satisfied.

It can take time to understand your body and realize when you are hungry or satisfied, but be patient and work towards eliminating unnecessary distractions. Don’t look at eating as something difficult or a chore- change your mindset to enjoy it by slowing down!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Transformation Tuesday!

 “I gained a bunch of weight in sobriety, just quit smoking, and now I needed to work on a healthy lifestyle. I had no idea the wonderful people I would meet and just how helpful they would be for me.

I’m on track with nutrition and it feels normal to eat healthy. That would have never happened without CFU and the nutrition program. I love the workouts the most though…I started gaining muscle and losing fat almost immediately after starting.


CFU really exceeded my expectations and you shouldn’t wait for the “right time”. Join TODAY! You won’t regret it!”

Today we would like to celebrate with Jennifer as she has accomplished amazing things in the past 3 months! Jennifer came in right before Christmas for a consult really unsure of what she needed to do so we worked out a plan for her.

She started with the Unstoppable Fitness Boot Camp program four days a week in late December (I wouldn’t let her wait until the new year 😉 ) She has found that she is strong and capable and wanted to add to her success so she joined our Nutrition program as well in mid-January. She will admit that she didn’t know how to eat healthy and she needed someone to help her with nutrition.

We got her on the right track and with this combo, she is headed towards great things! We (Aaron, Heather, Nikki and myself) as well as everyone else at CFU couldn’t be prouder of you, Jennifer! Keep up the amazing work! 🙂

If you would like to see similar results, set up a FREE INTRO! We want to help as many people as possible! P.S. You don’t have to be a member of CrossFit Unstoppable OR live in the Jefferson City area…we have remote and online training as well – how cool is that?!?

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Tuesday Thoughts…

Sunday I had my 53rd birthday…holy smokes, where did that come from?? See, in my mind I think I’m still in my 30’s (although my body doesn’t agree some days 😉 ). Your mindset is soooo powerful in how your perceive your life to be.

If you have the wrong attitude about things going on your life, like “I’m never going to be able to get out of debt…”, “I’m never going to be able to lose weight…”, or “I’m never going to be able to find my dream job…” Chances are, you never will!

You can’t wait for the perfect moment to start something because life is never perfect, things might be good, but it’s never perfect. It takes baby steps in order for you to start something and one needs to realize anything that is a daunting task will be a marathon and not a sprint.

We tell our fitness and nutrition clients NOT to expect drastic weight loss overnight or even in 30 days because we want them to establish healthy habits in order to succeed. Think about all of the gimmicks out there where you can lose 10# in 10 days…how healthy do you think that is? Or “drink this drink for 30 days and watch the scale plummet!”…these things are not teaching you how to eat a balanced diet.

This is just my opinion, but whatever is natural should be the things that should be consumed. If it wasn’t made by God and from the earth, then most likely it isn’t good for your body. Now don’t get me wrong, I will consume things here and there that are not natural, but I have a good sense of how to eat. (Even though sometimes I indulge…but that’s okay because that is life!)

The important thing to remember here is that there will be ups and downs in one’s fitness/health journey, but if you know how to get back on track and WANT to get back on track, then there are ways to get there! Reach out if you would like to set up a FREE consult to figure out how to get back on track with your wellness journey! Book a FREE INTRO today so we can help! 🙂

Have a Great Tuesday!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!

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Heart Day <3

What’s your favorite exercise to get your heart rate up or exercise?

*Running *Walking *Jump Roping *Lifting Weights *Rowing *Skiing *Skating *Snowboarding *Volleyball *Basketball *Football *Wrestling *Soccer *Baseball *Softball *Tennis *Pickleball *Hockey *Golf *Swimming *Gymnastics *Rock Climbing *Cycling *Skateboarding *Boxing

Soooooo many options and I’m sure I left some out for sure! It is recommended that your heart rate be between 120-150bpm for at least 30-60 minutes per day! Are you achieving that? Are you doing what’s necessary in order to keep your heart healthy?

When I taught PE, I had the kids play a tag game called “Heart Attack Tag”. There were 4 taggers, each representing four risk factors of heart attacks – Smoking, Sodium/Salt Intake, Junk Food, and Couch Potato. If you got tagged once you would place your arm over your chest indicating that you were 25% likely to have a heart attack but you were still in the game; tagged a second time, two arm crossed on chest (50% likely to have a heart attack). If you got tagged a third time – 75% chance of a heart attack – you had to lie on the floor and wait for the “Dr” to come and save you.

I believe this made quite and impression on the kiddos when they played it as the “Dr” would prescribe exercise in order to get back into the game…My mission is to help as many people as possible so if you are reading this and your nutrition and fitness are not up to par and run a risk of hurting your heart from one of the risk factors, get up and MOVE! Just 5 minutes is better than nothing! Think about what you are putting in your body to fuel it…is it good nutrition or is it junk? Eat mindfully not mindlessly – You’ve only got one body to live in and it’s up to you to love it enough to take care of it!

If you’d like extra guidance on how to take care of your fitness and nutrition, book a Free Intro!

Have a Great Heart Day and Be Safe out there!

Work Hard, Eat Clean, Be Blessed!