Good morning friends!
How was your weekend? What did you get up to? I know a lot of bloggers headed off to Philadelphia for the annual Healthy Living Summit, but as I mentioned on Friday , I spent the last 3 days at another conference. You may remember from last year that the Can Fit Pro international fitness conference is a huge summer event for me, and just like any other year, I was super pumped to attend. I’m feeling rather sleep deprived this weekend, but I’m excited to tell you about it!
Part of being a certified Fitness Instructor Specialist and Nutrition & Wellness Specialist through Can Fit Pro (short for Canadian Fitness Professionals) means earning continuing education credits each year in order to maintain my credentials. There are all sorts of sessions offered at the conference that count towards CECs for personal trainers, fitness instructors, nutrition and wellness specialists, club managers… you get the gist. The Toronto conference is the largest in the world and draws (wait for it….) TEN THOUSAND people per year. That’s huge!! Part of this 10 000 are Les Mills instructors like myself, who teach programs including RPM, Body Pump, Body Step, Body Flow, Body Attack, etc etc etc. (For a complete listing, check out the Les Mills International website .) While others attend their Saturday sessions, we attend ‘Les Mills Day’, but I’ll explain a bit more about that in a second.
On Thursday morning, one of my besties, Sara, and I, made the commute into Toronto. You know you’re on your way to a fitness conference when the car in front of you has this plate:
We dropped our luggage off at our destination…
… and headed to the convention center just in time for the opening ceremonies. On day 1, I attended some cycling workshops presented by Schwinn Master Trainers Jay Blahnik and Julz Arney, two of my absolute faves. I’ve been to their sessions for the past couple of years now and they never disappoint!
This photo was taken to one of my amazing readers, Marcia, who happened to recognize me during the session. Thanks Marcia!! 
Jay had just killed us with 45 minutes of crazy hard all-out intervals, hence my sweaty glow.
Friday night of the conference always concludes with a Zumba party, and this year was no exception.
Crazy Zumbies getting their groove thang on
After leaving the conference for the day, we headed out in search of a bite to eat a feast. We were starving!
Sara and I split some fresh chicken veggie rolls – rice paper stuffed with chicken, peppers, carrots, greens, rice noodles, sesame seeds, and some sauce on the side for dipping. I think it was a soy-sesame sauce, but I was in such a hungry daze that I can’t quite remember. What I do know though, is that it was really good!
My entree was a California salad topped with a big juicy grilled chicken breast…
…and Sara got the chicken stir fry, which would have been my second choice. This photo really doesn’t do it justice, but it looked delicious!
Day 2 started bright dark and early with a wake up call at 5am. You may wonder what would get us out of bed at 5am on a Saturday, but LMI Day really is that good!! We waited in the line of LMI instructors, just like teenage girls waiting to get into a Justin Bieber concert.
Finally, we were let in.
All 700 of us. Ya know – just your average group ex class. 
During LMI Day, we do the new releases for each and every Les Mills program. New releases come out every quarter, so you’ll get to hear these in the fall – and I promise, they’re good!! But if the instructors are the audience, who’s on the stage?
That would be the Master Trainers. Some come from New Zealand (home of the Les Mills brand), some from the US, and some from Canada. They appear in all of our new release videos and they’re pretty much like celebrities, so we tend to get all starstruck and awkward when they walk by (again, a bit like crazed Justin Bieber fans).
First on the agenda: Body Pump! I apologize for all blurry photos – shaky Body Pumping-muscles don’t make for very sharp photos!
After Pump was Body Vive, CX Worx (a new 30 minute core class coming to a GoodLife near you soon!), and Body Attack. After lunch, I headed to my RPM session while Body Combat and Body Jam took place in the main hall and other rooms. This session was presented by 2 of our Canadian Trainers, Renee Thrasher-Dutch and John Cleland, who was just as muscle-y and buff as he was last year. I’m sure all female fitness instructors would agree!! The new release, RPM 52, is a great one – I think you RPMers out there are going to like it!
Post-lunch, we still had to get through Body Step, Sh’Bam (another new program, similar to Body Jam but much easier – if you think you can’t dance, this one is for you!) and Body Flow.
But did we stop there? NO! There was still the trade show to check out, which is full of every new piece of fitness equipment under the sun, protein bar samples, clothing, Zumba gear….
… protein and other drinks, including the 10-calorie Vitamin Water Recoup (new to Canada) and Smart Water . I was loving my free samples of both!
We spent some time watching guest speakers on the trade show stage, like a legendary 70′s fitness icon….
Yes, that would be Richard Simmons, who was just every bit as energetic and crazy as you’d expect. (That’s not me next to him – we were a bit too far away for non-blurry photos!)
I also had a chance to chat with the Eat Clean Queen herself, Tosca Reno . Sadly, I’d just been in my RPM session so I wasn’t looking quite as primed and gorgeous as she did!
She gave a talk about goals and deciding to make today the day you start working towards them. A talk about goal setting? It’s probably not a surprise that this was motivating to me!
And then? Was it done then? Nope! On Saturday night we got all cleaned up… (pardon the crappy yellow hotel lighting)
… and headed out for dinner and drinks with a group of instructor buddies. We went to a restaurant which will remain anonymous, and I ate a piece of extortionately priced $30 swordfish, served on a bed of about 2 tablespoons of quinoa, mixed in with a few bok choy leaves that were swimming in oil. The fish itself was actually really good (although I’m sure I’d have thought burnt toast would have tasted good at 9pm after an 8-hour workout) but I don’t think I’d go back. Although we had a good time, the service wasn’t anything to write home about.
On Sunday, I actually managed to get up for my 7:30am session and made it back to the convention center smiley and determined to cram one more day’s worth of information into my already-overflowing brain. I had a couple of lectures (as opposed to workout-style) presentations to attend, which included some nutrition-related ones that I plan to talk about a bit more in another post. Finally, I checked out and headed home. As usual, it was an absolutely amazing weekend full of fun, sweat, and learning, but this girl is ready for a snooze. Here’s to hoping Monday passes quickly!
So tell me:
- Do you have a role model or icon in the fitness industry?
- Who, or what kind of presenters get you the most motivated?
- What was the best part of your weekend?
Good morning friends!
How was your weekend? What did you get up to? I know a lot of bloggers headed off to Philadelphia for the annual Healthy Living Summit, but as I mentioned on Friday , I spent the last 3 days at another conference. You may remember from last year that the Can Fit Pro international fitness conference is a huge summer event for me, and just like any other year, I was super pumped to attend. I’m feeling rather sleep deprived this weekend, but I’m excited to tell you about it!
Part of being a certified Fitness Instructor Specialist and Nutrition & Wellness Specialist through Can Fit Pro (short for Canadian Fitness Professionals) means earning continuing education credits each year in order to maintain my credentials. There are all sorts of sessions offered at the conference that count towards CECs for personal trainers, fitness instructors, nutrition and wellness specialists, club managers… you get the gist. The Toronto conference is the largest in the world and draws (wait for it….) TEN THOUSAND people per year. That’s huge!! Part of this 10 000 are Les Mills instructors like myself, who teach programs including RPM, Body Pump, Body Step, Body Flow, Body Attack, etc etc etc. (For a complete listing, check out the Les Mills International website .) While others attend their Saturday sessions, we attend ‘Les Mills Day’, but I’ll explain a bit more about that in a second.
On Thursday morning, one of my besties, Sara, and I, made the commute into Toronto. You know you’re on your way to a fitness conference when the car in front of you has this plate:
We dropped our luggage off at our destination…
… and headed to the convention center just in time for the opening ceremonies. On day 1, I attended some cycling workshops presented by Schwinn Master Trainers Jay Blahnik and Julz Arney, two of my absolute faves. I’ve been to their sessions for the past couple of years now and they never disappoint!
This photo was taken to one of my amazing readers, Marcia, who happened to recognize me during the session. Thanks Marcia!!
Jay had just killed us with 45 minutes of crazy hard all-out intervals, hence my sweaty glow.
Friday night of the conference always concludes with a Zumba party, and this year was no exception.
Crazy Zumbies getting their groove thang on
After leaving the conference for the day, we headed out in search of
a bite to eata feast. We were starving!Sara and I split some fresh chicken veggie rolls – rice paper stuffed with chicken, peppers, carrots, greens, rice noodles, sesame seeds, and some sauce on the side for dipping. I think it was a soy-sesame sauce, but I was in such a hungry daze that I can’t quite remember. What I do know though, is that it was really good!
My entree was a California salad topped with a big juicy grilled chicken breast…
…and Sara got the chicken stir fry, which would have been my second choice. This photo really doesn’t do it justice, but it looked delicious!
Day 2 started
brightdark and early with a wake up call at 5am. You may wonder what would get us out of bed at 5am on a Saturday, but LMI Day really is that good!! We waited in the line of LMI instructors, just like teenage girls waiting to get into a Justin Bieber concert.Finally, we were let in.
All 700 of us. Ya know – just your average group ex class.
During LMI Day, we do the new releases for each and every Les Mills program. New releases come out every quarter, so you’ll get to hear these in the fall – and I promise, they’re good!! But if the instructors are the audience, who’s on the stage?
That would be the Master Trainers. Some come from New Zealand (home of the Les Mills brand), some from the US, and some from Canada. They appear in all of our new release videos and they’re pretty much like celebrities, so we tend to get all starstruck and awkward when they walk by (again, a bit like crazed Justin Bieber fans).
First on the agenda: Body Pump! I apologize for all blurry photos – shaky Body Pumping-muscles don’t make for very sharp photos!
After Pump was Body Vive, CX Worx (a new 30 minute core class coming to a GoodLife near you soon!), and Body Attack. After lunch, I headed to my RPM session while Body Combat and Body Jam took place in the main hall and other rooms. This session was presented by 2 of our Canadian Trainers, Renee Thrasher-Dutch and John Cleland, who was just as muscle-y and buff as he was last year. I’m sure all female fitness instructors would agree!!
The new release, RPM 52, is a great one – I think you RPMers out there are going to like it!
Post-lunch, we still had to get through Body Step, Sh’Bam (another new program, similar to Body Jam but much easier – if you think you can’t dance, this one is for you!) and Body Flow.
But did we stop there? NO! There was still the trade show to check out, which is full of every new piece of fitness equipment under the sun, protein bar samples, clothing, Zumba gear….
… protein and other drinks, including the 10-calorie Vitamin Water Recoup (new to Canada) and Smart Water . I was loving my free samples of both!
We spent some time watching guest speakers on the trade show stage, like a legendary 70′s fitness icon….
Yes, that would be Richard Simmons, who was just every bit as energetic and crazy as you’d expect. (That’s not me next to him – we were a bit too far away for non-blurry photos!)
I also had a chance to chat with the Eat Clean Queen herself, Tosca Reno . Sadly, I’d just been in my RPM session so I wasn’t looking quite as primed and gorgeous as she did!
She gave a talk about goals and deciding to make today the day you start working towards them. A talk about goal setting? It’s probably not a surprise that this was motivating to me!
And then? Was it done then? Nope! On Saturday night we got all cleaned up… (pardon the crappy yellow hotel lighting)
… and headed out for dinner and drinks with a group of instructor buddies. We went to a restaurant which will remain anonymous, and I ate a piece of extortionately priced $30 swordfish, served on a bed of about 2 tablespoons of quinoa, mixed in with a few bok choy leaves that were swimming in oil. The fish itself was actually really good (although I’m sure I’d have thought burnt toast would have tasted good at 9pm after an 8-hour workout) but I don’t think I’d go back. Although we had a good time, the service wasn’t anything to write home about.
On Sunday, I actually managed to get up for my 7:30am session and made it back to the convention center smiley and determined to cram one more day’s worth of information into my already-overflowing brain. I had a couple of lectures (as opposed to workout-style) presentations to attend, which included some nutrition-related ones that I plan to talk about a bit more in another post. Finally, I checked out and headed home. As usual, it was an absolutely amazing weekend full of fun, sweat, and learning, but this girl is ready for a snooze. Here’s to hoping Monday passes quickly!
So tell me: