The glutes are essential in almost all functional exercises, especially in motions like standing up and walking.
Working on the glutes with low-impact exercises like these is a great way to build strength safely and effectively!

Happy Monday! Believing in yourself is a very important step in accomplishing your goals! No matter what you are trying to accomplish- nutrition, physical goals, mindset, you have to believe in yourself to achieve your goals. A good tip to help with self believe is saying self affirmations to yourself daily. Start each day with "I am" statements, such as "I am strong", "I am smart". Positive self talk will lead to belief in yourself! 

This April, we are recognizing Jeff Freund as our client of the month. He is being recognized due to his results, perseverance through challenging times, and shift in mindset from just trying to feel stronger and healthier, to fully appreciating the healthy Northstar lifestyle.

Jeff loves to bowl, and although he hasn't managed to snag that elusive perfect 300 yet, he's come close several times. In his free time he also enjoys reading suspense and mystery novels, and helps others through personal finance (debt-elimination and budgeting), taking them through Dave Ramsey's FPU program.

Two years ago, Jeff was diagnosed with cancer. Since the diagnosis surgeries, rehab, and various physical ailments had taken a toll. "I lost strength and muscle mass, and tried to exercise on my own but realized I needed a more complete program in order to reclaim good health." Through this process his attitude and work ethic have never failed, which has led to him seeing great improvements in strength...

Last night, we had a very educational webinar on Nutrition. One of the topics discussed was macronutrients and water is one of them!  One of the most commonly asked questions from clients is exactly how much water should we be drinking? The answer is, about 8-12 cups, depending on exercise frequency. Regardless, everyone should aim for about 8 cups or 64 ounces of water each day.

There are many health benefits with drinking water such as: recovery after exercise, protection of body organs and tissues, flushes out waste products and carries nutrients to body cells. Water also helps with clear skin and helps to avoid dehydration. 

A few tips to try to get 8 cups of water each day includes: starting each day with a glass of water right when waking up, carrying a water bottle with you whether you are running errands or working out or even setting reminders to yourself to drink water throughout the day. Give these tips a try! 

How much water did you drink today?

1. Plank- Really engaging core here by pulling belly button in towards your spine

2. Dead Bugs- Really keeping core tight to balance moving limbs

3. Penguins- Flexing core to really engage those oblique abs

***always remember to maintain your breath during core exercises!!

It's easy to let reminders of what we don't have constantly control us.
This can be very detrimental to your mental health, so our challenge for you this week is to replace each of those thoughts with a positive one. "I'm not skinny", BUT "I'm stronger than I was last year."

If you're looking for a seafood dish that isn't included at your Friday Fish Fry, this shrimp/tomato/basil linguine is a great option!

Roughly 4 servings

475 calories

25-30g protein

Ingredients
1 ½ pounds medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (tails removed)
Coarse salt and ground pepper
6 teaspoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
½ pound linguine
1 ½ cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces, plus extra leaves for garnish (optional)
Directions
Shrimp, Tomato, and Basil Pasta

Step 1
Season shrimp with salt and pepper. In a large skillet, heat 4 teaspoons oil over high. Add shrimp; cook until opaque
throughout, turning occasionally, 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl; set aside.
Step 2
Make sauce: To the same skillet, add remaining 2 teaspoons oil and garlic; cook over medium heat until fragrant, about
30 seconds. Add canned tomatoes and their juice, along with 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer,
stirring...

Are you looking for some new shoulder exercises to help strengthen your shoulders?
Give these 3 exercises a try during your next workout!

For each exercise, it is very important to keep the core engaged thoroughout the movement. With keeping the core engaged, that will help isolate the shoulders to avoid using momentum or a "swinging" motion. 

I Grew up in Yankton, SD, home of Lawrence Welk and Tom Brokaw, I was an exchange student in Tübingen, Germany, graduated from Notre Dame and masters from Georgia Tech. 

I am married to my wife Jennifer and we have 6 beautiful children (Benedict, Ivory, Colette, Dietrich, Stefan, and Andreas).  They do behind the scenes work with cleaning, organization, and they also LOVE to come work out when they can, too! 

 Some things someone may not know about me is I have over a dozen patents, have designed a wind turbine blade over half a football field long, was nominated and selected to carry the Olympic Torch for the summer olympics, and participated in the National Corporate Track and Field competition.   

My fitness and health journey started  when I was a 4 sport athlete and state champion in high school, and I walked onto the University of Notre Dame track team the spring semester of my freshman year.  After getting injured halfway through...

Ingredients:

Instructions:

• STEP 1

  Put the chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and tahini into a food processor and blitz to a smooth consistency. Loosen with 1–2 tbsp water if it seems a little thick.

• STEP 2

  Make a hole in the top of each carrot with a skewer or by cutting a small hole with the tip of a sharp knife. Dab a small amount of hummus into the hole and push in a small sprig of parsley.

• STEP 3

  Spoon the hummus into thoroughly cleaned small, plant pots or bowls and push in the carrots. Let the children dunk into the hummus with the carrots.

  Nutrition: per serving

  Nutrient	Unit
  kcal	134
  fat	8g
  saturates	1g
  carbs	9g
  sugars	3g
  fibre	4g
  protein	4g
  salt	0.05g