We are the champions!!

Irrational Behavior crowned 1st place in 1st annual Jumpstart Challenge!

It was close but only one team could prevail and thank God it was one of mine(I offered free rent for 1 month to any trainer's team who could beat mine).

Irrational Behavior a.k.a Danielle Pinneri and Jessica Breyer have won the first annual Jumpstart challenge. They pushed each other as teammates and tried new challenges which included boot camps, triathlons, and mountain biking.

They also really dialed in their eating and overcame many obstacles that normally would have set off overindulgence. Their discipline and hard work has earned them an overnight downtown Minneapolis with a celebration dinner.

They plan to enter this fall's Jumpstart which will be slightly re-tooled and revamped. We will announce the dates in August for the official start date. Check out our website for testimonials and rules at www.puravidafitness.com

Way to go ladies! I'm proud of you and my pocketbook thanks you too.

A Brush With Kindness

Our First Habitat For Humanity Project!!





At Puravida Fitness we believe it's very important to give back to the community that supports us. Especially to those less fortunate. We've been very blessed this past year especially in down economy. We never want to forget what is really important and why we are successful. It's because we believe in serving others whether it's our clients our the community, bottom line we are here to serve not be served!

On July 22nd we did our first official habitat for humanity project with their "A Brush With Kindness" division which helps people with low incomes and disabilities repair their homes. Here are some videos and pics of the day. We hope you can join us for our next project.

Below are some videos of the homeowners we helped and some of the volunteers who were there:

Volunteer Laurie Anderson

Homeowners Nancy And Clarence

Volunteer Phyllis Thomson

The WOW factor!!

Recently I met with one of my trainers and they really wanted to work on improving the WOW factor here at our fitness studio especially now since we are taking on members. I couldn't agree more. How can we improve our WOW factor?

For those that don't know what the WOW factor is, it is basically when someone comes here and experiencing being a client or member of our facility they say "WOW." That is something that we constantly need to be improving and paying attention to. Because it can easily be taken for granted.

I am buying new equipment, new paint, new fans etc.. But what else!! I think are best commodity is our trainers here at the studio. So I'm going to start utilizing them to showcase all of their talents more. We are going to start monthly educational seminars along with a revamped nutritional support program!

I have my ideas but I would like to hear from our clients and customers about what they think will improve the WOW factor. In the end it is their perception that is the the reality of where we are at. So please respond to this blog post and tell us what we can do better or what we are doing well. Constructive criticism is appreciated!

As we move forward this feedback will be critical to ur long term success.

Our youngest client!!

Check out Puravida Fitness's youngest client! This is my daughter Alannah and I doing a short functional training session in our new space. She's a natural and probalby will follow in dad's footsteps.

Jumpstart Update-Friday is the final day.

Final Jamboree Last Saturday!!

Here's a sneak peek at some of our remaining contestants hitting it hard!

We are in the final week of Jumpstart right now it looks like the top four teams are:

(Not all points are final but we are pretty close and still have to add bonuses in)

1. Irrational Befavior 5300 pts(through 10 weeks)

2. Erik's Angels 4245 pts (through 10 weeks)

3. BFDs 3680 (through 9 weeks)

4. Bk Broilers 2925 (upated to week 7)

We will be nominating most improved(200 points and rockstar(200 points) as well as 3 honorable mentions next week so we will have everything finalized then.

Jumpstart Update -Finish Strong!!

Jumpstart ends in 2 weeks-It's time to finish strong!!

We are just over two weeks from wrapping up the first Jump Start Challenge!

Right now here are the top teams. I'm only going to post them because we have all their points up to the last week. Their final tally is still confidential until the contest is over we will then post all the points in final format.

Chad Krueger of Team Dynamite earns player of the week for losing 18 pounds and his consistency with training and eating well over the past few weeks. Currently he is preparing for a triathlon. Click on the video above to hear his interview.

Right now the top three teams are:

#1-Irrational Behavior

#2-Erik's Angels

#3-BFDs

Other teams that are close are TNT, Double Ds, Team Dynamite

There is still enough time and races out there to rack up some serious points before this thing ends. Good luck and finish strong!!

ACE Hardware Vs. Home Depot

When I was in high school I worked at mom and pop hardware store in Prior Lake, Minnesota. It was a great experience because of the atmosphere. We knew every customer on a first name basis and many times customers would stay around long after purchasing their merchandise just to shoot the breeze. The owners of the hardware store were never going to be filthy rich but they made a living and many loyal friends in the process. Most importantly they seemed happy and content with being an instrumental part of the community. I always knew this experience would be a great influence on me in the future.

Two years ago I moved to Apple Valley a suburb here in the Twin Cities area. We have both an ACE hardware and a massive Home Depot. I frequently have to go to our neighborhood ACE hardware which is a mom and pop store for various projects for my house and our rentals. I always prefer to go there because someone is always right there to help me, they are knowledgeable and the fact that they are a small business like myself. They are family owned trying to make a living helping people get things done around there homes.

Other times I have had to go to Home Depot the mammoth super center where it is nearly impossible to find someone to help you and when they do many times you get poor advice or end up with the wrong item. I don't know anyone over there on a first name basis like I do my local ACE. Even the other day, I had to go there for something because it's close to one of my rentals. It took me forever to get help and when I did the employee gave me the wrong part. I feel like the people there are just there to colect a check there is no vision or vested interest in truly serving like the smaller stores have. It's about showing up and getting paid to take up space not about building true realtionships with your customers. Which to me is the key to long term stability with your business.

The only thing in Home Depot's favor is the their prices are slightly lower. Personally I don't mind paying a little more for better service and to be treated like a VIP every time I walk in.
I also feel good about supporting the little guy at a time when Corporate America is devouring them up.

This why we have decided to offer the chance to be members at our facility. It's smaller not as fancy as Lifetime or other clubs but we will offer the mom and pop atmosphere people seldom see these days. All of our clients will be treated like family and we will create that small town mom and pop atmosphere that seems to be so lacking in many businesses these days.

Long live the little guys!!