Monday, July 18, 2016

a great IDEA http://ift.tt/29GJWkB

Hi friends! How are you? How was the weekend? Hope you had a great one. πŸ™‚ Summer Shape Up Week 2 is happening here! If you’re just now joining in the fun, check out the intro page for all of the details.

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I’m back home after an amazing weekend at the IDEA World Fitness conference and BlogFest in LA. I look forward to IDEA every year, and can always count on new techniques, motivation, and inspiration for the classes I teach. With BlogFest, I’m thankful that it also gives me some new tools to improve this little blog, and ideas to make things more fun and easy to navigate around here.

I also look forward to the chance to catch up with friends and enjoy delicious dinners, wine, and girl time. πŸ™‚

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(with Ashley and Jess!)

I drove up late Thursday morning, and arrived just in time to grab some lunch and hit up my first BlogFest session.

Snacks

(road trip snacks)

While I want to recap allthethings, in the spirit of keeping this post a post instead of a small book, I wanted to share some of the highlights:

Ryan Lee: Why you should be gathering emails + how to do it (BlogFest)

This is one of those sessions that ended too quickly, and I couldn’t take notes fast enough. Ryan was hilarious (with a dry and fabulously sarcastic sense of humor), which made his lecture lighthearted and fun. While I waited a while to start my email list, I’m so glad that I actually did it because it gives me another method to interact and share content (like the monthly workout plans). I feel like email is very personal, so I really appreciate it when readers invite me into their email inbox, which is why I don’t send a ton of emails. That’s against Ryan’s advice (he said to email at least once a day —> don’t have time, and I personally get annoyed when companies/people email every day), but he shared some valuable tips that I’ll be implementing.

(Katie Dunlop) Building Your Brand with Snapchat and Youtube (BlogFest)

I’ve been living under a rock because I wasn’t following Katie’s accounts, but she’s sustained a 45-lb weight loss and shares inspiration and workouts on her social channels. She is a joy to listen to, and when I met her afterwards, she was just as kind and lovely. I’m excited to keep following along, and I learned some new Snapchat tips (like how to find prettier font colors instead of the regular bold). I just started using Snapchat fairly recently, and it has quickly become my social media platform. 

Solutions for training postpregnancy clients (IDEA)

I was really excited about this session because I’m currently working on the next edition of PBB. It was nice to hear the experts share my philosophy on postpartum training, and supported the procedures in my own plan. I’m excited to apply the tidbits I learned for the next exciting generation of post baby bod plan.

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(Todd Durkin) Become a World Class coach (IDEA)

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Todd Durkin lives here in San Diego, owns a fitness center here, and I’ve heard everyone talk about how awesome he is… and I still hadn’t taken his class. I’ve been MISSING OUT. He is so fun, motivational, and intense. It’s apparent that he trains professional athletes. He scares me a little, in a good way. πŸ˜‰ When Ashely and I arrived at his lecture, we weren’t really planning on working out since we were toast from earlier workout sessions. He made us want to take his class, and it was awesome. We went through an energizing circuit workout, using a variety of tools: battle ropes, BOSU, boxes, resistance bands, and medicine balls. It was fantastic. Maybe if I’m feeling brave, I’ll venture into Fitness Quest 10 sometime haha. 

He also shared his strategies for being an effective coach. It all comes down to compassion, empathy, being present, and LOVE. You have to love your clients and participants, and become genuinely invested in their success. I agree wholeheartedly, and I can personally tell a difference if an instructor or trainer is distracted. It was a valuable reminder to stay present, continue caring, and show love whenever possible.

This salad from Mendocino Farms

Salad of my dreams

I want this salad for lunch every day. It was the spring roll salad, with chicken instead of tofu, and included salad greens, mango, rice noodles, carrots, jicama, cilantro, spicy peanut butter chicken, kelp noodles, and avocado. This needs to recreated ASAP.

Workout with Gunnar Peterson (BlogFest)

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I’ve been wanting to work out with Gunnar for years, and it was everything I’d been hoping for. He’s a celebrity trainer (the Kardashians are some of his clients), with a unique bootcamp-style format. He had a straightforward yet laid-back style, and I liked the new moves we did with resistance band loops. This was probably one of my top sessions from Blogfest.

Zumba Mashup with Gina Grant (IDEA) 

I was SO EXCITED to finally meet Gina Grant. She’s one of the few original Zumba master trainers still around (like from the dawn of Zumba), and I always knew I would like her choreography on the ZIN DVDs. She is so cute, and was extremely sweet in person. I’m always so awkward when I meet fitness/chef icons (whyyyyyyyy am I so awkward?!), and she chatted with everyone who took a photo with her.

Something interesting about the Zumba session: it was ALL hip hop. I already told you guys that I though Zumba was dying a slow death -and I’m riding the wave until it crashes- but it was interesting to see that they’ve kind of dropped the “it has to be mostly Latin music- philosophy. I have zero problems getting down to “Anaconda” and “Panda” so there ya go.

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(I look dead because I was so.tired)

Oh, and here’s a pic with Demi Lovato! 

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JK she was made of wax.

I had such a wonderful time at the conference, as usual, and know that this feeling will last me until next year, when I’ll be due for a little re-charge. πŸ˜‰ 

The drive back home took 4 hours instead of 2, thanks to the lovely LA traffic. I got to listen to the entire Hamilton soundtrack in its entirety (usually it’s in bits and pieces here and there) and cried when it was over like a weirdo. Why is it so good?! I keep hoping work brings me to NYC for something so I can stay an extra day and stand in the Hamilton line for 24 hours since tickets are sold out forever.

I also listened to a couple of podcasts and was finally back home with the crew. <3

Home

As much as I enjoyed the weekend, my heart is always so happy to be back home.

Hope you all had an amazing weekend, too! What’s something that makes you feel recharged and excited? πŸ™‚ What podcasts or audiobooks are you enjoying right now? I rekindled my love for the Stuff You Should Know podcast. So good. πŸ™‚ Also I have to know if you’ve ever met a celebrity! Were you awkward like me, or did you play it cool?

Have a happy Monday!

xoxo

Gina

More IDEA recaps:

2013 Conference recap

2013: The Expo and other fun stuff

2014 snack stash

2014: What I learned

2014: What I knew

2015: IDEA World and BlogFest

Special thanks to my friends at IDEA and BlogFest for generously providing my event tickets. Transportation and accommodations were not sponsored. <3



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