IDEA World Fitness Convention 2013

The IDEA World Fitness Convention first came on my radar after I became a personal trainer and group exercise instructor. I’ve heard so many fantastic things about the conference from those in the fitness industry and was told by numerous people that the conference invigorates your passion for fitness and is incredibly energizing and exciting.

It is all those things and more. I absolutely loved my brief time at the conference and am already crossing my fingers that I’ll be able to attend again next year.

The IDEA World Fitness Convention is unlike any conference I’ve attended in the past. (The energy level actually reminded me a lot of Jazzercise Tropic Heat!) The sessions expose attendees to new workouts, tips for working with personal training clients, workshops geared to ward helping attendees improve their skills as a group exercise instructor and more. It’s perfect for anyone who works in the fitness industry. Day one was awesome and I’m bummed I cannot attend the conference in its entirety. There is so much to see and do!

IDEA World Fitness Convention: Day One

The first session I attended at 7 a.m. was a dance fusion class presented by Reebok.

The class felt much more like step aerobics with a little dance flare and I had a very hard time catching on. The instructor was so peppy and enthusiastic that I wanted to do well but I am not a dancer and find choreography really hard to pick up, so the class took me way out of my element. I was definitely the girl in the back of the class stepping up and down while other people did turns and kicks over and on top of the step. A few people seemed to be in the same boat which made me feel a little better and it was fun to take the class with two of my best blogging friends, Monica and Gina.

Equipment-Less Boot Camp

After the first session, I walked into my first workshop of the day: Equipment-Less Boot Camp.

In this session, Abby Apple spent the first hour discussing ways to modify and progress various exercises for different clients or small groups. It was really interesting and a great refresher after all of my NASM studying.

Some of her tips for increasing intensity without equipment include:

1. Change the range of motion
2. Change the plane of motion (sagittal ,frontal, transverse)
3. Change the speed of the movement (depending on the exercise, speeding it up or decreasing the speed can increase the challenge)
4. Decrease the duration of recovery
5. Alter body position (longer levers)
6. Change the reps, sets and frequency

She emphasized the way trainers and instructors can quickly change the intensity of an exercise and respond to the energy and ability level of the class. Once the informational part of her workshop concluded, it was time for attendees to try a equipment-less boot camp workout of our own! Abby took us through six rounds of cardio and strength exercises that had me seriously sweaty! It was a great workout with tons and tons of lunges and squats.

Here’s an example of one of the six circuits:

• Triceps dip with kick (right)
• Bouncing lunges (right)
• Forearm plank to hand plank (right)
• Shuffles
• Triceps dip with kick (left)
• Bouncing lunges (left)
• Forearm plank to hand plank (left)
• Shuffles

At the end of the workout, Kristin, the blogger behind Stuft Mama,  and Megan, a super fun woman who works for Reebok, and I had fun chatting while we wiped the sweat from our eyes! 

Tip: If you ever attend IDEA in the future, pack an extra shirt to change into in between sessions. I wore the same blue Reebok tank for all of the workouts and dubbed it my “sweaty tank.” I changed into a white, breezy Reebok tank that I packed when I walked around the expo or participated in workshops that didn’t include a workout. I was so glad I did this because I didn’t have to walk around in a wet, sweaty tank once my body stopped sweating I started to get chilly inside the conference.

Keynote Speaker and the Expo

The boot camp workshop concluded a little after 10 a.m. and I headed over to the Marriott hotel to watch Bo Eason, the keynote speaker. Before Bo presented, the Jack Lalanne fitness award was presented to Beto Perez, the founder of Zumba! Though Beto couldn’t be there, Jack Lalanne’s wife, Elaine, was there to talk about his accomplishments and she was such a fun lady! She did pushups and was full of spunk!

As for Bo Eason’s keynote speech, all I can say is that it was fantastic. He shared his story with everyone and I am pretty sure everyone couldn’t take their eyes off him. He was so animated and excitable. Definitely check him out if you have a minute!

Following the keynote speech, I grabbed a quick lunch with Monica and Gina before it was time to hit up the expo.

The expo was overwhelming in the best possible way. There were so many different fitness and food vendors and I had a great time exploring.

I also spent quite a bit of time at the Reebok booth!

Reebok invited me to attend the conference and sponsored my trip to Los Angeles and I am so grateful to the company for their generosity. It was so great to see some of my favorite Reebok buddies again and meet some of you guys who stopped by to say hi!

(Shelley and me)

(Johnice and me)

(Monica, Shannon and Kristin)

Throughout the conference Reebok is offering 25 percent off all of their apparel to anyone who attends the expo and they also have top-notch trainers and dancers taking people through super-fast workouts, so their booth was slammed the entire day!

Even though I am not a dancer, I am kind of in love with their dance apparel. How fun is that top!?

 

As I explored the expo with Monica and Gina, we stumbled upon Cassey’s booth!

I’m sure a bunch of you guys recognize Cassey! She is the YouTube superstar behind Blogilates and now sells apparel and her own fitness DVD.

Cassey told the three of us to pick out a Blogilates top and I snagged the bright orange crop top you see in the picture above. I think it will be cute over a long solid-color workout tank and thought the heart cut-out in the back was too cute.

Les Mills GRIT

The next session I attended was the one I was looking forward to the most during my day at IDEA.

I am a huge fan of Les Mills’ BodyPump and loved Les Mills’ BodyCombat when I had the chance to take it once at the gym by my parents’ place, so I jumped at the chance to experience the company’s newest workout program, GRIT.

Oh my gosh it was so sweaty and SO FUN. Talk about high intensity!

The workout gave me a ton of ideas for teaching at my gym, but I really want to do some research and see if it’s a class we can bring to my gym and offer to members. I think it would be a hit!

We did an intense, fast-paced workout that centered around four exercises:

• High knees
• Plyo push ups
• Sprints
• Squat jumps

I was sweating like crazy by the end of the workout and my heart was beating so fast. The music was motivating, the instructors were enthusiastic and I thought the entire experience was awesome. I am definitely a new fan of GRIT!

Super sweaty!

My day at IDEA was unforgettable and so much fun. I learned a lot that I am excited to take back to my gym and apply to my personal training and group exercises classes. It definitely lived up to the hype!

Now it’s time for Michaela and Kyle’s wedding weekend to begin! After a 3:50 a.m. wake up call, I caught an early flight to Denver this morning. Now I’m at the airport where I will be meeting Ryan, my friend Carrie and her boyfriend Aaron. The four of us are renting a car and driving to Winter Park, Colorado to kick off the wedding fun.

I can’t wait!