I spent today at the annual fitness conference. It’s been about 4 years since I’ve attended. I had been going every year since I became a personal trainer (2004). Having taken a break from that scene for so long I found today’s revisit worthy of a blog entry.
Positive reflections of my day.
- Last minute I switched a bootcamp workshop to attend a chair yoga class, which gave me more new ideas for my work with seniors. The instructor was really good. Seeing what I liked about what made her a good instructor, inspired me to be an even better instructor.
- I saw Jillian Michaels in person. On an hour break, I went to the Trade Show, mostly for a good laugh at some of the insane and silly products and fitness classes. Since I have a crush on Jillian Michaels I went to see her Q and A. I used to watch her videos when I first started teaching group fitness and I learned a lot from her style. I’ve since seen a lot of other styles but she was my first. I was not alone there and it was actually kind of touching how many people spoke about her being their inspiration to getting into teaching. She’s funny, down-to-earth and swears a lot. 🙂
Jillian Michaels, my crush, is funny, down-to-earth and swears a lot!
- The last of 7 sessions I was only going to go to get my CEC, and stay for a bit as I was going out for dinner an hour after it started. I was half paying attention because I was mostly texting details on the dinner plans. I did hear someone say that every night they find 3 things they are most looking forward to the next day. Tonight, I am going to begin this habit. Thanks for that inspiration.
These women walked on their hands for 10 metres and then climbed the rope.
On that note, I still have to give my critical thoughts on the conference and why I’m good for CEC’s and won’t be back for a while.
- I know we live in a social media age but fitness professionals most important skill is being personable, sociable and engaged. If you’re forced to download an app to get all the information you need, you can’t just put away your phone and network with people. You’re encouraged to hashtag this and that. I barely talked to anyone new today which is sad because that used to be what I most enjoyed about this conference.
- I will not take a Pilates workshop at this conference anymore. I much preferred the Yoga class, it was more mindful. The Pilates was all about marketing their new ridiculous product that does the same thing that last year’s ridiculous product does. Had the instructor been more engaging, it would have been easier to like. This has always been my experience with Pilates at this conference. It’s unfortunate because Pilates can be and should be taught mindfully.
Doesn’t that look just like the sit up tool from the nineties? Now you use it to make a ball, more stable. It’s a steal for $93. This makes me laugh.
- There are a lot of people with bad form and go far too hard at this conference. I have a bit of a knee injury so I couldn’t participate in many of the lower body exercises. I did a lot of observing. I was surprised how many trainers have bad form, then go from high impact session to another, doing the entire workout. Ouch, I don’t want to be them at the end of the weekend!
See you in 2019, maybe.