IDEA BlogFest 2015: Day Two

I had an absolute blast attending the 2015 IDEA BlogFest and IDEA World Fitness Convention!

Ashley, Gina, Giselle, Bobbi and Me

Need to catch up?

Check out my previous recaps:

Friday Favorites #98: Week of 7/17

IDEA BlogFest 2015: Day One

 

2015 IDEA World Fitness Convention & BlogFest:

Day Two

 

Day Two of the IDEA BlogFest looked like an active and informative one!

My roommate Ashley and I started our day with a 7 a.m. boot camp style workout with Kaia FIT. For whatever reason, I expected Conditioning & Core to be more of a slower paced Pilates workout. Not so much!

We were taken through a series of bodyweight partner workouts and challenges, and I wasn’t quite ready for it.

Good morning, Ashley… 😉

After the workout, we followed the group into a sponsored breakfast by General Mills.

There was a huge cereal station as well as yogurt, granola, and fresh fruit to help start our morning. We were some of the last to arrive, so we had a mini breakfast pow wow with friends on the floor.

I loved getting to meet new people and catching up with bloggers I met last year, too.

(Hi, Kasey!)

Back in the conference room, our Keynote Speaker was the one and only Gabby Reece!

Some of you might remember that I had the chance to virtually interview her, and it was so great to hear her speak about her career and advice in person. She seemed very sweet and down to earth.

 

Some of the takeaways include:

She often gets asked “what are you training for?” Her answer is nothing specific, but for life and to keep up with her kids. She wants to be the best mom and a great wife. She wants to stay sane and happy.

Community is her favorite part of fitness. It’s a way for people to connect with each other.

She talked about age groups and comparisons she’s witnessed in her gym. She would teach a group of twenty-somethings and a group of sixty-somethings and the younger girls would note “that’s what sixty looks like.” Not always the case. It seems as though that there’s hardcore fitness and then everything else. She wants to focus on what is in between and to help people love fitness on an approachable level.

She was always given a hard time about modeling from her teammates.

Something she would tell her younger self is, “In the game, it’s not personal.” Things happen, people get intense, and it’s hard for a coach to make everyone happy. Especially for women in sports. Do the best you can, but be true to yourself.

30/30/30 rule: thirty percent of people love what you do, thirty people hate what you do, 30 don’t care, and 10 can’t decide. (<- I loved this!)

Learning to exercise and understanding the breath is something she wished she knew about in her twenties. It’s about spine mobility and continue to get stronger with a full range of motion.

Some quotes:

“We all have high cards and low cards. If you can learn what your high cards are and use them, you can make things happen.”

“Fitness is like a pie. Strength, resistance, getting outside, meditation, etc.” It all works together.

“The one thing you’ll never regret is working as hard as you can. Have fun!”

“Acceptance is really a big part of your life. You have to understand that you’re not always going to be twenty. You have a place where you are.” (Aging is a part of life, and she wants to do it gracefully. Any time she wants to fight the process, she walks away from the mirror.)

“We are overcritical of ourselves, but what is the outside perspective seeing? Most see the type of person you are and what you’re like to talk to.”

 

As soon as her talk was over, our group walked over to a showcase room to take a full HIGHX workout!

The room was divided into ten or so stations, and each one took us through three minutes of work: a set of two or three exercises, thirty seconds each, two or three times (depending on the exercise).

It was challenging and fun! I love interval training.

After the workout, BlogFest resumed in our main conference room with a talk about blogging with Jessica Matthews. She encouraged us to be ourselves, share our stories, be interesting, and share truth.

I snacked my way throughout the session and was looking forward to lunch sponsored by Morning Star Farms.

Longtime readers might recall me being obsessed with this brand a few years ago. As much as I loved their products, I eventually stopped buying them, since the company wasn’t Non-GMO verified.

I am happy to report that they now carry an organic, Non-GMO line! You can easily find these products packaged in brown boxes, versus the traditional green. I’m really looking forward to seeing and trying them at home.

Next, we had some free time to explore the EXPO, so I made a lap or two around the booths with some friends.

I saved most of my EXPO time for Saturday, however, and will share more of the highlights in the next recap.

Back in the BlogFest room, Sara Downey Robinson gave a presentation on SEO Tips and Tricks. I like to think that I have a pretty good understanding of the basics, but to be honest, a lot of the terms and concepts went right over my head. I wish I had more information to share with you… but I know I’m not the only one who left a little confused, either. I’ll definitely be going back through those slides in the future.

After that, a group of us wanted to see if we could get into a late afternoon TRX class. We were bummed to find out it was full, so we took that as a sign to take a coffee break and regroup before our last BlogFest session: Zumba with Beto Perez!

Oh my gosh, you guys. Zumba is SO much fun! I have taken a couple of classes before, but being able to take Zumba from the man who created it was a real treat. I don’t think I stopped smiling once!

After a serious sweat fest, we all huddled around Beto to hear his story and ask him questions. You would never know that he initially traveled to America in hopes to start a fitness career with no more than $50 to his name. His story is so inspiring!

He is also really good at taking selfies. He must have whipped through a giant line of us in just a few minutes. I loved the opportunity to take class from him, and only wish I came to the convention a day earlier to get certified to teach it myself. Next year for sure!

Ashely and I took our Zumba dance party right back to our hotel in order to shower and get ready for a BlogFest Networking Party soon after. We took about an hour to mingle with other bloggers, and enjoyed chatting while exchanging business cards.

Ashley, Giselle, Me, Bobbi and Gina

The event was sponsored by SUBWAY, but the group that you see above only had one thing on our minds: Mexican food. As the our time at the Convention Center came to a close, we walked over to a nearby spot called Rosa Mexicano.

The environment and company was great, but the table side guacamole was life. I literally could have eaten an entire order on my own!

As predicted, I filled up on chips and guacamole, a side of shared plantains, and a skinny margarita. Keeping things simple, I shared a taco from Gina…

… and ordered a side of elote corn and refried bean chili for my main entree. It was plenty!

We all left the restaurant in food comas, and ready for bed. Conventions sure do take a lot out of you!

 

Saturday started our first full day of the IDEA World Fitness Convention, and I will be back to share that recap tomorrow. Thanks so much for your sweet comments on this morning’s post.

I’m off to celebrate the day with my guy, and I’ll see ya in the morning!

 

Questions of the Day

• Have you ever attended a fitness convention?

• If you could workout with one celebrity trainer, who would it be?