Fitness Equipment – Product Spotlight: The Absolo

Thinking of purchasing new home fitness equipment but not quite sure what you’re looking for? Check out what could be the best addition to your home fitness equipment lineup – The Absolo from Fitness 4 Home Superstore. Save $500 off MSRP with our introductory price of $1999!

The Absolo is a revolutionary core training system that develops the body to perfection. Engineered with strength and style, the Absolo allows you to isolate these vital muscles to build a stronger physique. This is accomplished by the Absolo's innovative techniques that have incorporated the use of medicine balls ranging from 5-9 pounds. The Absolo is a state-of-the-art piece of exercise equipment that allows you to focus on the the core muscles more efficiently with faster results.

The revolutionary new Absolo core abdominal intensive training system has created an international fitness phenomenon. Facilities, trainers and exercisers are raving about this interactive, fun and effective way to develop abdominal strength, cardio endurance and muscle coordination.

Why is the Absolo the best abdominal equipment? Here are three reasons:

#1: The Absolo Provides a Challenging Core Exercise. Absolo training addresses the mid-section, the area where most people want improvement. Throwing and retrieving the Absolo medicine balls stabilizes the core and improves torso ahd helping reduce the risk of injury due to weak core muscles.

#2: The Absolo Improves Real Athletic-like Performance. Medicine ball training increases strength and hand-eye coordination by simulating sport - specific functions (like tennis, baseball, and golf swings).

#3: The Absolo is Motivational and Fun. The interactive Absolo training movement allows exercisers to set their own pace and increases motivation while the resulting adrenaline rush creates a feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment toward their personal goals.

Want to know more? Stop by any of our valley locations or visit us online and we’ll show you why BestFitnessDealers.com votes us the #1 choice for home fitness equipment in Arizona!

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, fitness equipment, home fitness equipment, exercise equipment, home exercise equipment, ab equipment

Diet - Chicken Caesar Wraps

Sometimes, finding something quick and easy for lunch can be a real hassle. Here’s a recipe for something you can throw together in just a few minutes that’s healthy and tastes great: Chicken Caesar Pitas!

Ingredients:

1 can (5 oz.) chunky white meat chicken packed in water, drained
3/4 C. chopped romaine lettuce
1 Roma tomato, chopped (about 3/4 cup)
1/4 C. grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/3 C. fat-free Caesar dressing
1 whole-wheat pita bread, cut in half

In a small bowl, add the chicken, lettuce, tomato, Parmesan cheese and Caesar dressing. Toss to mix evenly. Cover and place in the refrigerator. At the end of 10 minutes, stuff the chicken mixture into the pita bread halves. Serve immediately.

Serving Size: 1 pita half, Fat: 5g, Calories: 219

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, healthy diet, healthy eating, healthy food, low calorie, low fat

The Importance of a Healthy Mind from Fitness 4 Home Superstore

Your state of mind can affect your body in ways you cannot even imagine. Have you ever noticed that people who constantly experience high levels of stress often look tired, rundown and older than they actually are? They look like this because of stress and unhealthy mental conditions.

You would be surprised at how many people are constantly exposed to stress! Did you know that even infants can experience stress? Think about it - when a baby cries, they usually want or need something whether it be attention, food or a diaper change. If their cries are ignored, they may experience stress because their needs are delayed. Adults, on the other hand, can experience stress in a variety of ways that usually stem from the results of day-to-day activities. Triggers like demands at work, family problems and social conflict can throw just about anyone into a downward spiral.

Knowing your triggers, however, can help you take the step towards ensuring mental health! Some of your distractions or concerns are easily dealt with while others require extra steps to resolve. The best way to ensure mental health is to recognize that it is extremely important. Most people would ignore signs and symptoms of mental distress because they are used to believing that it's 'all in your head.' All too often, people do not recognize the problems until they have already affected them in a negative way.

One of the best sources of information regarding the state of your mental health is you, yourself. You know your limits and what you go through everyday. You can also recognize the factors that affect your mental health when you encounter them. To make sure you take care of your mental health you should learn to identify situations, events and people that are stressful to you so you will know how best to manage them when you need to.

Once you recognize your stress triggers and the things that challenge your mental health, there are certain steps you need to take. Here are some tips that should help you along the way:

Assess your mental health on a regular basis. Try to assess at what point your state of mind is at its best and then try to be aware of when you dip below that level. The point here is to take note of 'trends' in your emotional well-being. Have you been feeling happy and satisfied lately or are you generally depressed and have been for some time?

Set aside time to focus on your mental wellness everyday. Often, taking a few short breaks to relax everyday can do a lot for your mental wellness. Recognize that it is normal for people to have concerns and worries but that what you need to focus on are real solutions. To do this effectively, you need to make a conscious effort to manage your mental wellness.

Choose the most effective ways to manage your negative thoughts. People have different ways of dealing with stress and unpleasant emotions. When these thoughts enter your head, learn to recognize them and then interrupt the flow. Think of more pleasant things or distract yourself by taking part in more productive activities. These thoughts will probably appear from time to time but the key is to prevent them from dominating your mind.

Learn to prioritize. Most of the time, the stress that affects your mental health is caused by an overwhelming sense of being behind at work, at home and financially. Make a conscious effort to prioritize your life. Even if you have a list of 20 things to do in one day, for example, being able to complete seven of them before lunch hour can help reduce pressure.

Challenge your mind. The mind can get a bit rusty when it focuses on only one or two things. Learn to tread on unfamiliar ground and challenge yourself. Learn a new skill, for example, such as playing an instrument or learning a mind-stimulating game like chess. Unfamiliar things make the mind work harder because there is new information to process.

Go easy on yourself. If your mind wants to take a break, then go ahead and let it rest. Your mental wellness rests on how well you can listen to what your mind is telling you!

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, strength training, fitness equipment, exercise equipment

Eat Your Fruits and Veggies!

Are you getting enough fruit and vegetables in your diet? Recent studies have shown that people who consume higher quantities of fruit and vegetables are less likely to have heart disease.

In the study, researchers compared the diets of vegetarians with those of non-vegetarians and found that vegetarians have higher levels of salicylic acid in their blood. Salicylic acid may sound familiar - it's the active ingredient in aspirin, which can also help prevent heart attacks due to its ability to block blood clot formation. Salicylic acid is also a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug present in fruits and vegetables!

Fruits and vegetables provide many other essential vitamins and minerals as well. Additionally, higher intakes of fruits and vegetables are associated with healthier lives including lower risks of cancer and coronary heart disease. It is recommended that you eat five fruits and vegetables a day.

Labels: diet, fitness 4 home superstore, healthy diet, healthy eating, high protein diet

Diet - Moist and Tasty Pumpkin Bread

Fall is right around the corner and you know what that means...pumpkins! Pumpkin bread is a fall staple when it comes to sweet and tasty treats. This one also happens to be low-fat!

Ingredients
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 C. sugar
1 large egg
1/2 C. canned pumpkin
1/4 C. nonfat, plain yogurt
1/4 C. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 C. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground allspice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a bread pan with nonstick cooking spray. Use an electric mixer to beat together the butter and sugar on high speed until smooth. Switch the mixer to low speed, add the egg and blend. Add the pumpkin, yogurt, honey and vanilla and blend on low speed until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, ginger and allspice. Fold this mixture into the pumpkin mixture and combine until smooth. Pour the mixture into the bread pan and place in the center of the oven. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Serves: 8, Fat: 4g, Calories: 170

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, healthy diet, healthy eating, healthy food, low calorie, low fat

Gaining Strength

If your fitness goal is to gain muscle mass, or to tighten up your figure, your first goal must be to gain strength. Which may mean that you have to change how you think about weight training, as well as your overall fitness goals. Of course, before you embark on any exercise plan, you should talk to your doctor. Never begin a strength training or cardio program without doing so under the supervision of a qualified physician to prevent injuries as you train.

One of the first things you have to do is to challenge yourself to work outside your comfort zone, and mentally decide to push yourself just a little bit farther than you have been. Once you’ve made the decision to do that - there are 5 rules that will help you accomplish your goal.

Goal #1: Quit thinking about size - and strive for strength.

Don’t think that you have to train like a hard-core bodybuilder to gain strength. Single-joint exercises that target specific muscles won’t increase your strength - you need instead to think about training like an athlete, and incorporate exercises into your workout that target multiple muscle groups at one time. For example, rather than doing leg extensions, grab some dumbbells and do some lunges or step-ups. You’ll build strength and burn more calories, while also increasing muscle growth far faster than simple exercises.

Goal #2: Spend more time in your “discomfort zone.

The term for this is called “Progressive Overload” - basically, your trying to make sure that spending more time doing exercises that are making you work harder. The best way to do this is to cycle your workouts. Let’s say you normally bench press 150 lbs. Rather than doing 3 sets of 10 of bench presses for the rest of your life, shake things up a bit. Try doing 3 weeks of 3 sets of 10 at 150 lbs,, then 3 weeks of 4 sets of 5 at a 175 lbs, then another 3 weeks of 3 sets of 8 at 160 lbs, then a final 3 weeks of 5 sets of 4 at 185 lbs. By the end of 12 weeks - you’ve increased your strength for this workout substantially!

Goal 3: Work Explosively

Don’t just lift - raise that bar as fast as you can while remaining in control. The best weight-training exercises for this are Squats, Clean & Jerks, and even things like Body-Weight Squat Jumps, where you stand with your hands behind your back, and squat until your thighs are parallel with the floor. Jump as high as possible, resting 3-5 seconds between jumps - try this 10-12 times!

Goal #4: Be Unstable

Do more unilateral exercises. Think about this - maybe you can take a barbell, and do barbell curls with 60 lbs. of weight. But, can you take a 30 lb. dumbbell, and with one arm do those curls? By having each limb work independently, you’ll work it that much harder!

Goal #5: Balance

Most workout movements are “push” movements. Balance that with exercises that are “pull” movements. For example - if you do a set of pushups, follow that with some bent-over rows. Doing lunges? Then follow that with some back extensions. Doing shoulder presses? Then follow up with come chinups!

Overall, what your trying to accomplish is to shake up your body a little bit - changing up the routine can help break your body out of a rut, and move past the plateau you might be at in terms of increasing your strength!

Is Milk Healthy?

Some experts say that milk is a health hazard, saying that it’s loaded with cancer causing hormones that the dairy industry doesn’t want you to know about. Others say that it’s the most nutritious food you can find. Who’s correct?

Does Milk Build Muscle?

Yes - definitely. 80 percent of the protein in milk is whey protein, the other 20 percent of the protein is casein - both are high quality proteins. Whey protein is broken down quickly by your body into amino acids, which is great after a workout. The casein protein is digested much slower, which keeps your muscles supplied with a steady, smaller supply for that time between meals or when your sleeping. Overall, milk is a great combination of muscle-building protein!

Does the hormones that dairy cows are given affect your health?

In 1993, the FDA approved the use of recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) - which makes the cow produce more milk at less cost to the dairy farmer. But rBGH also increases the milk’s concentration of IGF - a hormone that has been linked to cancer. But here’s the deal. When you drink milk, your stomach acid destroys these hormones, and passes the waste out of your system. So, unless you inject milk into your veins, milk is healthy.

Skim Milk or Whole Milk?

It depends on what you think tastes better. Although whole milk does increase your LDL cholesterol - you’d have to drink 6 - 8oz glasses to increase your LDL by just 6 points! And, funny thing is - whole milk during testing also DECREASED triglycerides by 22%! And, whether you drink whole or skim milk - British researchers found that drinking milk lowers the likelihood of heard attach and stroke. (One thing, though - if you’re looking to gain muscle - drink whole milk. Scientists at the University of Texas medical branch at Galveston found that drinking whole milk after lifting weights boosted muscle protein synthesis 2.8 times more than skim milk did!)

5 Tips for Purchasing Home Fitness Equipment from Fitness 4 Home Superstore

So, you’re looking at purchasing home fitness equipment! Yet, whether you’re looking for home gym equipment for your strength training, cardio workouts, or both – finding the best equipment for your needs can be a challenge. With so many choices to be made when looking at home gym equipment, how can you be sure you’re making the best choice for you? Here are a few points to consider:

Tip 1: Before you start any exercise program, it is important for you to get checked out by your doctor. Never begin a strength training or cardio program without doing so under the supervision of a qualified physician to prevent injuries as you train.

Tip 2: For an inexpensive solution for strength training – many people start with a good set of free weights and dumbbells. Keep in mind that if you’re not familiar with using free weights, they can do more harm than good. To get the best results, it is essential that you use proper form and balance to avoid hurting yourself. So, if you choose this route, you should also invest in a good training program with a personal trainer – someone that can not only help you built a workout routine that will help you achieve your goals, but also show you the best way to use your equipment properly and avoid injury. Another way to avoid injury with strength training equipment, especially if you’re a beginner, is to choose a strength training machine, rather than free weights. Strength training machines allow you to maintain proper form as you exer­cise, which will help lessen your risk of injury. Plus, strength training machines don’t require a “spotter” – allowing you to work out alone.

Tip 3: Strength training machines are also a good choice if your home is “space limited”. You can achieve the same results with an “all inclusive” home gym unit, as you can with the more traditional weight stack or plates. So, don’t feel as though you need to duplicate the huge variety of machines you see at your nearby gym. Instead, look for equipment that exercises your main muscle groups effectively. Also look for equipment that offer optional attachments – with these, you can keep your initial cost down as you start out your exercise program, and then add attachments as your workout needs progress.

Tip 4: For your home cardio workouts, there are a number of choices available. Treadmills are great because they mimic an exercise that is both familiar and comfortable. Elliptical Trainers provide a low-impact cardio workout that protects your joints, and is a favorite activity for people who want a good cardio workout without a lot of pounding on the joints. Make sure when you’re looking at cardio equipment, you find a store that can help you match the proper type of equipment to your fitness needs.

Tip 5: Although your large “chain store” may offer basic home exercise equipment, a better choice is a store dedicated to helping you find the best equipment for your needs. This includes your being able to try out any piece of equipment before you buy it. Make sure that before you purchase any piece of home exercise equipment you feel comfortable with the way the equipment works.

Fitness 4 Home Superstore can help you find what you need! We carry a huge selection of fitness and workout equipment. Plus, our veteran fitness professionals can help you find the best exercise equipment to fit your workout needs - and fit your budget too!

Fitness 4 Home Superstore and Commercial Fitness Superstore is one of the nations largest dealers for TRUE Fitness, Tuff Stuff, Spirit, Vision, First Degree Fitness, Matrix Fitness, Cybex, Ab Coaster, PowerBlocks, Hampton and SPRI. Our selection of home and commercial fitness equipment is unmatched in the state of Arizona.

Stop by any of our valley locations or visit us online and we’ll show you why BestFitnessDealers.com votes us the #1 choice for home fitness equipment in Arizona!

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, healthy lifestyle, healthy living, strength training, fitness equipment, exercise equipment

Diet - Sesame Shrimp

Here is a simple recipe for sesame shrimp that will satisfy those cravings for Chinese food! Serve with steamed sugar snap peas and brown rice for a complete meal!

Ingredients
3/4 C. herb-seasoned stuffing mix, crushed
1 tsp. sesame seeds
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. black pepper
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
10 jumbo shrimp, peeled and de-veined

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°. Combine the stuffing mix, sesame seeds, paprika, salt, garlic powder and black pepper in a small bowl. Place the egg white in a small shallow bowl. Dip shrimp in egg white, and dredge in stuffing mixture. Place the shrimp on a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat shrimp with cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden.

Serves: 2, Fat: 4.1g, Calories: 242

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, healthy diet, healthy eating, healthy food, low calorie, low fat

We Have Moved! 2008 Models Must Go from Fitness 4 Home Superstore

We have moved! Fitness 4 Home Superstore has moved the Scottsdale store to a new location in Scottsdale. We are now located at the northwest intersection of Scottsdale Road & Gold Dust, a quarter mile south of Shea (in front of Ace Hardware).

Our new address is:

Fitness 4 Home Superstore
Scottsdale Superstore
10300 N. Scottsdale Rd,
Scottsdale, AZ 85253
Ph 480.778.0555

Plus, we are closing out all of our 2008 models to make room for the 2009 models coming in next month. Stop by our Tempe location or our new Scottsdale location and take advantage of our moving specials!

Don't miss out on your opportunity to nab a 2008 model at a bargain price! In fact, here are some great deals that you shouldn't miss out on:

'08 Treadmills up to 25% off!!!

'08 Ellipticals up to 40% off!!!

'08 Exercise Bikes up to 30% off!!!

Stop by any of our valley locations or visit us online and we’ll show you why BestFitnessDealers.com votes us the #1 choice for home fitness equipment in Arizona!

Diet - Roasted Red Pepper and Fennel Salad

Check out this light, refreshing recipe for Red Pepper and Fennel salad. It makes a great addition to any dish - especially Asian dishes!

Ingredients
1 medium red bell pepper
1/3 C. toasted pine nuts
3 T. toasted sesame seeds
1 head leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn into bite-sized pieces
1/2 fennel bulb, diced
2 T. soy sauce
1/4 C. vegetable oil
black pepper, to taste

Directions
Preheat broiler. Grill pepper under the broiler until the skin is blackened, and the flesh has softened slightly. Place pepper in a paper bag or resealable plastic bag to cool. Remove the seeds and skin (the skin should come off the peppers easily now). Slice into strips.

Set oven to bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place pine nuts and sesame seeds on a baking sheet, and toast until beginning to brown. They'll smell great!

Combine lettuce greens, fennel bulb, and red pepper in a salad bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce and vegetable oil. Pour over salad, and toss to coat. Sprinkle with pine nuts and sesame seeds, and season to taste with ground black pepper.

Serves: 6, Fat: 15.4g, Calories: 174

Labels: fitness 4 home superstore, healthy diet, healthy eating, healthy food, low calorie, low fat