This past weekend I attended a conference, focused mostly on water exercise.  Since it was a lot smaller than most fitness conferences there were only two sessions going on at once at all times, making decisions on which session to take easy: wet or dry.

Saturday morning I did two sessions in the water.  The first one was on working the core in the water.  I was anxious to get in the water from the start of this 1.5 hour session but there was a long lecture for more than half the session.  The second session in the water was Aqua Yoga.  Attending these conferences year in, year out, I keep hearing the same stuff that I repeat in my classes.  What I got out of the two morning sessions were observing how each instructor’s personality held the attention of the class.  I learned new cues and visuals for exercises I’ve been doing for years.

Aqua Yoga was nothing new and innovative to me but it did make you look at the way you tell people to breath in the water.  As a swimmer, breathing correctly during water exercise is natural but explaining how to teach breathing doesn’t always translate. The Aqua Yoga gave some interesting tips on this.

The afternoon I observed two land sessions.  The first one was call, LeHip.  Developed by Sharon Mann (whom I know from doing her workout in the 90’s). ..I love this woman. I’m not much into equipment (especially equipment that costs over 100 bucks for exercises you can do with dumbbells).  Her enthusiasm is fun to watch and motivating to do some of these intervals.  Got a few move ideas for when I teach Bootcamp classes.

The last session of the day was exercise for Pre and Post Natal. There was not a single male attendee at the entire conference (there were 2 male presenters though).  It was nice to be in a small group with women talking about women’s bodies before and after pregnancy.  After attending numerous workshops on this special population, there’s always something I learn.

Sunday I was pretty tired but started with an 8am session on how to present yourself.  The presenter talked and led meditation.  This was a different approach on how to look at yourself as a presenter/leader.  The meditation introduced on how internally, we can transform how we come across to the world.

The last session of the day was over an hour in the water using the Gym Stick.  Anyone that is experienced with water exercise were rolling our eyes at this silly piece of equipment. While it might work on land, transferring it to the water just didn’t work.  Instead of working the muscles the instructor was ‘focusing on’, I came out with sore forearms and a rash from the foot strap rubbing against my ankle during the class.  What I did learn is if you’re funny and attentive to the class, you’ll convince people to buy whatever you’re selling.  Lots of smiles in the water that weekend.

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