You could win:

1^st Prize: Precor 5.21 Elliptical CrossTrainer, valued at $2,399 (A Treadmill Doctor Best Buy Award Winner 2012)

2^nd Prize: iPad3, valued at $599

3^rd Prize PowerBlock U33 Set, valued at $379

The two new stores are stocked full of smart, new equipment and are staffed by knowledgeable sales associates who have experience in personal training, health sciences and more.

The launch of these stores shows our commitment to bring fitness and healthy lifestyles to as many communities as possible. They are the 11^th and 12^th locations for our company.

By registering for our sweepstakes, you will be enrolled in our P3 Insiders Club entitling you to exclusive offers from Push Pedal Pull.

To enter for your chance to win, simply fill out your information here. Winners will be contacted by August 6, 2012.

Good luck!

Sioux Falls, SD ~ Push Pedal Pull, a leader in specialty fitness, is opening two new stores in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area.  The new locations, Maple Grove and Burnsville, will continue the Push Pedal Pull commitment to providing premium exercise equipment and service to residential and commercial customers.

The Burnsville store opened its doors in March and has been warmly received by the community.  ”People are definitely excited to have Push Pedal Pull in the area.  The store looks amazing, exactly how a fitness dealership should look,” says store manager Zane Christensen. ”The turnout has been phenomenal.”

Christensen believes the store will provide the community a crucial education about the fitness options available to them. Customers will have the chance to ask for advice from professionals who care.

”We take a personal training approach towards selling this equipment. We want to find the right piece of equipment that meets your goals.”

The Maple Grove store, managed by Luke Reiland, will open at the end of April. This 6,000 square foot unique location is much more than simply a retail store.  In addition to its large retail and commercial showroom, it will feature a warehouse and distribution center along with a refurbishment center for used and pre-owned equipment.  The facility will also include office space, a large conference room for client meetings, and separate training facility to support a variety of onsite exercise programs.

These new locations are the 11th and 12th stores for Push Pedal Pull.   To reach the stores:

BURNSVILLE: 14300-B Buck Hill Road, Burnsville, MN  55337 | 952-892-6050

MAPLE GROVE: 9401 73rd Ave. North, Brooklyn Park, MN  55428 | 763-398-0000

About Push Pedal Pull

Push Pedal Pull is recognized leader and industry pioneer since 1985.  They are based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and currently employ over 90 people.  They offer a wide selection of new and used fitness equipment from a variety of leading equipment manufacturers including Precor, BH Fitness, LifeCORE, Magnum and many more. Their goal is to match the right equipment to your unique needs and budget.

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Presently, Push Pedal Pull has 12 retail equipment showrooms and 13 commercial sales representatives serving thousands of residential and commercial customers in 10 states including Nebraska, Oklahoma, Iowa, Colorado, Eastern Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Minnesota and Western Wisconsin.

When the elliptical first emerged on the fitness scene, it garnered attention because it was the first type of cardio equipment that had three variables to a workout: speed, resistance and elevation. Now, the new Precor AMT with Open Stride is the first piece to offer four variables: speed, resistance, stride depth and stride length.

The new AMT with Open Stride allows you to change the stride length, stride height, pace, resistance and more to give you a fully customizable workout that will continually challenge you.

“I’ve never seen the level of excitement out of the gate that we’ve seen generated by this AMT,” said Precor Chief Innovation Officer Jim Birrell at the machine’s launch.

By changing your stride height and length, you can experience an infinite number of stride patterns. This will allow you to constantly mix which muscles you are engaging with your workout — all with one machine. You can run, climb, stride, jog, step, lunge and even work your upper body with the AMT with Open Stride. With easy-to-use controls, changing the stride length, height or more in the middle of an intense cardio is easy, providing you with a seamless user experience.

Because the machine allows the user to adjust the stride motion, this machine can be used by almost anyone, no matter age or fitness experience level.

Other exciting new aspects of this machine include a large LED touch screen, a wide variety of pre-set workouts, a workout library, and other entertainment features.

Watch the video below to see the new Precor AMT with Open Stride in action.

Disinfect, disinfect, disinfect!

Ready to hop on that elliptical? Wipe it down first. Gyms usually have disinfectant wipes or spray available. Don’t trust that your previous gym rat cleaned it for you. Give it a thorough wipe. If your gym doesn’t provide disinfectant wipes, bring your own from home. Trust us, it’s worth it.

Have a home gym? Get in the habit of cleaning your machines after every use. This includes mats and weight machines.

Bring Your Own

Supply your own gym accessories. Don’t use gym towels, use your own if possible. If you want to use gym towels, look into how those towels are cleaned. Instead of using the water fountain, which can house bacteria not only on the spout, but also in the pipes, bring a water bottle that you can rewash after every use. If you’re a regular yogi, buy a mat and disinfect it after every use.

Have a home gym? You may think you’ve already “brought your own” since it’s all your equipment. True, but maintain it by disinfecting it regularly and cleaning what you own.

Listen to Your Body

If you’re worn down, haven’t slept and don’t feel great, then you may want to consider skipping the gym for the day. Your immunity can be lessened when you haven’t been taking care of yourself so don’t risk picking up something. Better to skip one day than the entire next week because you caught a cold.

Keep those hands down

Multiple sources agree that touching your face while working out makes it more likely that bad germs will spread. Consider all the items you touch in the gym — dumbbells, door knobs, even the ground, and make a conscious effort to leave those germs as far away from your face as possible.

Finally, don’t forget the basics: wash your hands often!

Here are some great articles to read more about germs at the gym:

Spry Living: Fight Gym Germs

Epic Fitness: Gym Germs and Fighting Off the Cold

Germ Warfare Moves to the Gym

If you have more helpful hints to stay germ-free, please share them with us!

Many of our customers enjoy heavy cardio exercise routines. This has many benefits, one of which is improving cardiovascular health. While cardio can help you lose weight, it doesn’t help your body maintain lean muscle. Here, the adage, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it” rings true. If you are not engaging those lean muscles than you can lessen the amount of lean tissue you have. This means that if you keep your diet the same, you may actually gain weight because you will have less lean muscle tissue helping you burn calories.

If you’re looking to end your weight loss plateau, consider adding in resistance training to your workouts. You’ll burn more calories and you’ll complete your exercises more efficiently because you’ve gained back that lean muscle tissue.

How can you add in resistance training? This US News article helps share some great resistance training exercises. Our experts at your local Push Pedal Pull store would be happy to discuss what products can help you incorporate the right amount of resistance training into your daily routine. Come in today, and we’ll give you some ideas.

Have you hit a weight-loss plateau before? How did you break through?

When stretching, make sure you get your muscles primed by warming up with some light jogging or walking. You don’t need to do a full workout, just get some blood moving to the muscles that you’re going to use. The Mayo Clinic warns against using stretching as a precursor to a cardio routine because you may hurt yourself if you stretch a cold muscle.

Listen to your body as you stretch. While holding a certain position may be slightly uncomfortable, it should never be painful. Don’t overdo it. Also, if you have a previous injury, don’t overstress that part of your body. You may do further damage.

If you’re a runner, or an athlete who uses a specific group of muscles heavily, you may be tempted to focus only on stretching the part of your body you use most during that activity. Instead, incorporate full body stretching into your routine, and stretch all major areas including back, neck, shoulders, arms and legs. Sport-specific stretching is good and can help you improve your athletic performance, but don’t neglect other aspects of your body that are also in play.

As always, we encourage you to mix fitness into your daily routine. Stretching is one of the easiest aspects of a workout to include in your everyday life. WebMD has 12 simple tips for stretching at your desk that encourages readers to substitute walks for emails, replace a desk chair with an exercise ball and give themselves a hug (to stretch out the upper back). An article in Men’s Health encourages the 20-20 rule: for every 20 minutes of work, complete 20 seconds of stretching or loosening up stiff muscles. We are huge fans of using technology to better your overall health. Set an alarm or reminder on your phone, online calendar or watch to remind you to get up and get moving.

Here are some great further resources that will get you loosened up in no time:

Livestrong: Common Stretches

The Most Common Stretching Mistakes

Mayo Clinic: A Guide to 10 Basic Stretches

Pinterest

Pinterest is a website that functions as an online bulletin board. While it is currently invite only, it’s not too hard to land an invite from a user. The concept is to “pin” images from around the web and compile your found items into a board to share with your followers.

Use Pinterest to collect healthy recipes, ideas for fitness gear, new exercises and more. One great way to use Pinterest for your health is to pin inspirational images, whether it be a rock-hard body in a fitness ad or a few words of wisdom. You can search Pinterest with a word and see what others have pinned for that topic. One result found for motivation read, “Someone busier than you is running right now.” Touché. Now that’s enough to make you lace up those sneakers and take to the streets.

Facebook

It may be hard to believe that Zuckerberg’s creation could be used to increase your fitness (after all, it can be a time-stealer) but believe it or not, Facebook can be used for health. With the new Timeline layout, groups are now easier to use than ever. Create a running group and have members share successful runs, upcoming races and more by posting within the group. You’ll see the updates by looking on the left-hand side of your newsfeed. This allows you to coordinate workout goals with friends and family members out of town.

Still not convinced? New fitness apps are being added to Facebook to incorporate into your Timeline and help you track progress. The app MapMyFITNESS directly integrates into your Timeline.

Apps

Have a fitness need? There’s an app for that. Affordable, portable and easy to use, apps can be a great way to turn your phone or tablet into a fitness aid. Here’s a look at some of the most popular fitness apps.

Livestrong Calorie Tracker- $2.99

This app will not only help you track your food intake, but will also help you measure your hydration level, exercise routines and calorie burn. Struggle with motivation? This app sends you daily reminders to encourage you to hit your weight loss goal.

Fitness Buddy- $.99

This app will not only help you track your workouts, but also help you complete them by showing you HD videos of how to use different types of equipment. It can help you target different muscle groups by showing you the exercises that will isolate your intended area.

Nike Training Club- free

Use your phone as your personal trainer with this app. There are over 85 custom-built workouts featured, with the chance for you to unlock exclusive workouts from celebrity trainers and athletes. The app is complete with videos and audio support, as well as a built-in rewards system.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your favorite device and start downloading and doing! What are some pieces of technology that you enjoy using before, during or after your workouts?

• Reduce the risk of premature death… if you could add 5 or 10 years to your life would you like that?
• Improve your psychological well-being… forget the scale if you’re not seeing immediate results.  Reap the benefits of certain hormones that are released during exercise and the feeling you get from finishing a hard workout.
• Reduce body fat and increased lean body mass… breaking down body fat enables your metabolism to work more efficiently.

• Reduce the risk of developing diabetes… many adults can alleviate diabetes onset with the incorporation of a physical fitness program.

• Reduce stress, depression, and anxiety… working out triggers the release of certain neurotransmitters in the brain that actually make you feel good.  Maybe not during the workout, but the post workout feeling is magnificent!!!!

• Improve cardiovascular/cardiorespiratory function… gain increased cardiac output, stroke volume (a cardio measurement), blood volume, and the body’s ability to carry oxygen, which means more blood to the brain!!

• Improve flexibility (range of motion)… which increases the production of Synovial fluid, the lubrication of the joints.

• Increase HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol)… HDL cholesterol actually cleans the arterial wall as part of its main functions.

• Increase musculature strength, balance, and coordination… this directly affects the overall functional ability of adults.
Because it’s fun!  Motion creates motion so get moving and enjoy the endorphins!

And lastly, each pound of muscle will burn approximately 60 calories a day.  So, if you gain 2 or 3 pounds of muscle you will burn an additional 180 calories a day.  What benefits have you experienced from exercise?

It should come as no surprise that a heart healthy diet means limiting unhealthy fats and cholesterol. Trans fats are especially discouraged. Mayo Clinic recommends avoiding cooking with butter, margarine and shortening. Healthier substitutes include olive oil (which can actually lessen bad cholesterol and lower your risk of developing heart disease), nonfat cooking sprays and other oils low in trans fats like sunflower, canola and sesame oil.

Go with a low fat options whenever possible. The American Heart Association recommends skipping fatty salad dressings, swapping out calorie-laden milk, yogurt and cheese for their low-fat or fat-free counterparts and cooking with egg whites as opposed to the yolks.

Paying attention to sodium intake is also important. Try using your own seasoning as opposed to pre-packaged seasoning, which often contains too much salt. You may be shocked to discover how much sodium is contained in well-loved foods. Read this WebMD article to learn about which foods contain the most salt. Here’s a sneak peek: frozen dinners, boxed cereal and deli meat are among the most surprising culprits.

Opt for lean meats or fish when eating for heart health. The American Heart Association recommends trimming the fat off of meat, and looking for “select” or “choice” cuts of beef instead of “prime.” Meat that is marked “loin” and “round” also typically has less fat. When eating chicken or other poultry, eat the lighter meat instead of the darker meat.

In need of some cooking inspiration for your heart healthy meal? Check out this slideshow by Health.com that displays a selection of ticker-friendly foods. Pick a few ingredients and get cooking.

What are some ways you’ll eat to cultivate a healthier heart this spring?

- Park Further Away

If you have to get some shopping in, why not maximize your walking time? Park towards the end of the lot and power walk it inside. You’ll burn calories walking back too.

- Do Some Yard Work

If your weekends are taken up by beautifying your grounds, make it work for you. Break out the push mower and work those legs, or give your arms a challenge by clearing out brush.

- Spend Some Quality Time With The Kids

If you’re a parent, make your family time active. Turn a movie night into a night at the batting cages. Moms with daughters in dance classes can shake it with their child post-lesson.

- Carry Your Groceries

Pass up a shopping cart for a basket and feel the weight start challenging your arms. There’s an added bonus-you may pass up some unnecessary snacks since you know you’ll be carrying them in more ways than one.

- Skip the Car

Go green whenever possible and opt for a bike or walking instead. You’ll appreciate the trip more and will be active in the process. Sometimes it will take less time biking somewhere since you can skip the hassle of parking.

- Tone During TV Time

Can’t miss your show? Make your tube time equal stronger muscles by doing exercises. Use the commercial breaks and make a game out of it. If your favorite character says their famous catchphrase, drop and give ‘em 20!

What are ways that you like to mix a little bit of fitness into your daily life? Do you know any time-saving healthy habits?