Last weekend at the IDEA 2010 Fitness Fusion Convention in Chicago was an absolute blast. Getting new ideas and inputs from some of the best in the industry (Peter Twist, Jonathan Ross, Trina Gray, Fraser Quelch etc) on topics far more specific and hands-on than all the politically correct, very broad based learning that are often offered in a school setting (that are of course still important - foundations first).
Now if you're interested in what I experienced at the conference I've summed it all up below, as breifly as I could. Don't hesitate to contact me if you wanna know more about the conference or a specific presentation...
I attended the TRX Group Trainer certification at the pre-conference and was fortunate to meet with
Fraser Quelch (the “brain” behind the TRX suspension trainer). Fraser had an absolute great connection with the participants from 1st to last sentence through the entire day, giving us a taste of two different TRX group workouts, Body Blast (rep counts) and circuit training (timed sets).
All in all a great day with some new ideas to cue a group workout and how to use the TRX in the best way possible.
Me working on a Keiser Infinity Cable Machine. A must for any gym...
The second day of the conference started with a Boot Camp workout from San Diego based Todd Durkin's Fitness Quest10 program and it continued with workout with Peter Twist, owner of Twist Conditioning and former strength & conditioning coach for the Vancouver Canucks. Using smart-gyms, agility ladders and slingshots Twist showed examples of effective small group training with big results.
Twist emphasized on taking people out of the comfort zone and encourage people not to be afraid of failure since that's the only time progression can occur (you'll get worse before you'll get better).
At Twist Conditioning, new clients start one on one training but eventually phase into groups (1:6 trainer/client ratio). Therefore he offers no memberships at his facilities - only coaching sessions and his concept has proven to be very successful.
I had an a very interesting conversation with Twist, about the Sedin twins (he worked with them their first years in Canucks), different training methods and movement analyzing tools. Hopefully I can get to chance to come to Vancouver (the ideal place to live?) in a near future and learn more about Twist Conditioning.
Trina Gray gave some insights and tips about the creation and implementation of her program Corporate Fit challenge in the presentation Worksite wellness: strategies for success on Saturday. Her corporate wellness company started two years ago and has seen huge success despite the recession and being located in Michigan (an area heavily effected by the former).
I found the presentation very useful for future business opportunities, especially considering the on-going changes in health plans, insurances, etc in the US.
To sum it up, Trina did a great job of simplifying and inspiring people to take action: “ready – fire – aim”.
I certainly didn't expect the functional assessments presentation, by MAT - Muscle Activation Techniques, to be as powerful as it was. Perhaps it was partially due to the very passionate presenter (which I forgot to get the name on - filling in for the MAT founder Greg Roskopf). I got the feeling some people didn't like what he was saying (or at least how he said it) but without a doubt he was on to something that many people miss. Personally, I'll be looking into MAT closer and I'm definitely considering to invest in learning more about the MAT assessment system.
Basically the presentation talked about how the whole body is integrated and how some things aren't what they seem to be – they might just be the complete opposite. Therefore it's important to understand, especially as a fitness professional, what the actual causes of a compensation or deficiency is (not easy, I can tell you) in order to get things straight and optimize health, wellbeing and performance.
One of many trying (and failing) the 40/40 challenge at the TRX expo booth. I'm still biting my lower lip when writing this, falling short myself by only 4 reps (40/36...) to win a TRX (value $189)...I guess I could blame the failure on 3 hrs of workout sessions before, not enought sleep and dehydration - but I'm not going too=)
Function First Corrective Exercises was another presentation I attended that went along well with the previous one (MAT functional assessments). Anthony Carey, owner of Function First in San Diego (btw, another ideal place to live), also praised the MAT system but made a good point that it's not free to practice nation wide (US), using the certain techniques of the system – something I wouldn't have thought about. Overcompensations, muscle activation, posture analysis, improved biomechanics and simply how to make someone move better was brought up. Carey used a staircase leading up to a floating balloon as an analogy of how a client should be gradually progressed and assessed to reach their goals.
Lawrence Biscontini was the last presentation on Saturday – talking about how to promote yourself and stand out above the crowd in the fitness industry (hence the title of his book and the presentation; “Cream rises - excellence in private and group fitness education”). Lawrence had a lot of good and interesting tips to give but to be honest, he could've probably made chicken farming sound like my life calling – what a pro he was, extremely skilled in capturing the audience and his presentation technique was the best I've ever experienced. Very impressive.
Coming in to Sunday my head was pretty much stocked with information, luckily I took notes of everything thorough out the weekend. I listened to Tom Purvis' “Functional exercises: from bias to continuum”. He emphasized on what many others before him had touched on – exercises commonly thought of as isolation exercises is not the devil and that stereotypical functional exercises are often over glorified and has to have a purpose and good form – or else there's nothing good to it. Purvis, founder of Resistance Training Specialists, also talked about how certain exercises and movements might seem to produce a certain result but there's a difference between reality and what's being felt/perceived. “Exercises don't transfer so don't mimic a movement with added weight, thinking it will transfer to the desired sport/motion”. To clarify, this Youtube clip was shown that suddenly made every MLB pro (and trainer) seem stupid (at least according to that theory).
Jonathan Ross (Ace Personal Trainer of the year 2006) presented Personal Trainer v2.0 before wrapping up a busy, but very fun and inspiring, weekend in the windy city. Jonathan (Aion Fitness) delivered a stellar 2 hour presentation and it's incredible how useful it can be to listen to another Personal Trainer talk about what he does to be successful, his beliefs and philosophy. Educating people in health, make them less dependant and in that way more involved in fitness was some of the things highlighted.
Needless to say, I was more than satisfied after attending the IDEA 2010 Fitness Fusion Convention in Chicago, it was just the injection I needed (and a break from mainstream “food pyramid-static stretching-hola baloo”). I recommend anyone interested in fitness, enthusiast or professional, to attend such events as the time and money invested will pay back, with interest – guaranteed (although I highly recommend taking notes!).
Hopefully I will have time to post a summary of studies on Intermittent Fasting later this weekend so check back soon or look on the right hand side of this page and become a FOLLOWER!
Stay stong,
/Henrik
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