Good Morning Bloggies!

I hope you had a fantastic weekend! Mine was absolutely brilliant and I want to start by saying thank you so so so much for the birthday wishes! As I mentioned in my previous post, I had the pleasure of spending the last three days at the Can Fit Pro Toronto fitness conference. Have you ever been in a place, maybe on holiday, where you wish you had a remote control so that you could pause everything around you, let your brain catch up, then carry on having a fantastic time? Have you ever been with a fantastic group of people, or at a particular event where you just don’t want the day to end because everything going on around you is so exciting and the energy level in the atmosphere is astronomical? This is what the conference was like for me.

I’ll start by going into a bit more depth than my last post about what the Can Fit Pro conference is all about. Every year, fitness professionals from across Canada come to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre to listen to specialists from around the world speak on topics such as exercise science, becoming a better group exercise instructor or trainer, exercise for special populations (aging, pregnant, etc), nutrition, running a business in the fitness industry, life coaching….. the list goes on and on and on. Delegates can choose to register for lectures, workshops, and workouts that apply to their roles (for example, most of mine were workouts that were specific to the group cycling programs I teach), or just choose to attend because a particular topic is of interest to them. Credits are given for the sessions that participants attend which are required for keeping certifications up to date, but even if credits weren’t given, I’d still go for sure. If you think one group exercise instructor has a lot of energy, try being in a room with over 1000 of them. It’s mental.

On Friday morning, I set out bright and early to the Tdot with a suitcase full of spandex and sports bras. One thing to note about this particular conference is that the food at the conference centre really isn’t much to boast about, and it’s expensive. Knowing that I’d be participating in several workouts each day, a cooler full of nice healthy eats was an essential. My friend Sara and I were staying in a hotel, so I packed up a bunch of snacks in 2 cooler bags which I emptied into our mini-fridge after checking in.

Some of the goods….

Bars GALORE! Plenty of Luna bars, Luna Minis, SoyJoy bars, a Kashi Bar and Kashi Go Lean Original cereal.

Bread and sandwich fillings, raw veggies, a salad with veggies and hard boiled egg, and a packet of sliced chicken breast (for later sandwiches and quick protein fixes)

Containers of chopped fruit, oranges, apples, yogurt, and bags of instant oats mixed with whey protein powder, cinnamon and stevia (which were for breakfast).

In addition to these things, I packed more bread and sandwich fillings to make lunches for the 3 days, as well as hummus and a big bag of baby carrots. I got some lovely nutritious goods at the trade show as well, but more about those in a second.

On the first night, there was a delegate welcome reception with heaps of snacks and a Zumba cardio dance party. I’m not a big Zumbie, but as you can see below, there are a lot of people that are!

We checked into our hotel, the lovely Fairmont Royal York, which was conveniently only 2 blocks away from the conference. Having completed two big spin sessions that day and listened to an amazing keynote speaker present, you can imagine that I was absolutely thrilled to see this:

Ohhhhh yessssss.

On Saturday there were loads of sessions to attend, but for GoodLife employees like yours truly, there is LMI Day, which refers to Les Mills International, the company that offers programs such as RPM (check out the bottom of this post or the Les Mills website if you’re not familiar), Body Combat, Body Attack, Body Jam, etc etc etc. For LMI day, Les Mills Master Trainers from across Canada and around the world come to the conference and teach master classes and education sessions that are absolutely out of this world. These are the people that are in my training videos, so they’re sort of like celebrities. When I first spotted a few of them, I went “Oh my goodness!! That’s… that’s…. OMG that’s him!” and just like with actors or actresses, the whole nervous heart-pumping experience began. And honestly, wouldn’t your heart start pounding if you were able to see this lovely lad in the flesh?

This is John, one of the Canadian Pro Trainers. During LMI day, he and the other trainers taught the brand new releases for each program. (These will be coming out in October-ish time, and I assure you, they are grrrreat!) One of each class is taught, so we began with one hour of Body Pump, then Body Step, Body Attack, and all the others. The hall was enormous, and hundreds and hundreds of instructors participated. It was a bit like a big rock concert crossed with a group fitness class. Sweaty, but ridiculously fun!

LMI Day Opening Ceremonies

Sara and moi, before Body Pump began

A little excited at 7am are we??

Pro Trainers doing one of the new Body Pump tracks

Between each session, we had small breaks to get snacks, water, or just chill out for a few minutes before the next workout began. I consumed plenty of my favourite goodies, including Luna Bars and SoyJoys, as well as Nordica Cottage Cheese from the trade show.

What’s this trade show I keep talking about? This is another highlight of the conference. Exhibitors of pretty much anything health and fitness related (everything from running undies to heart rate monitors to supplements to treadmills) set up booths and both delegates and the general public are able to go into the massive hall and purchase whatever their hearts desire, usually at a discounted price. This is the biggest fitness trade show in Canada, so it’s kinda a big deal. In addition to shopping, there’s also some freebies, like:

Free Larabars:

A little heads-up to my spinners: These will be coming to class soon!

… samples of pretty much any protein bar flavour you could imagine…

… plenty of Zumba gear…

…and some rather odd looking inventions, such as these interesting shoes, which are called KangooJumps. They are marketed as low-impact rebound sport shoes that can help you get fit, lose weight, and have fun! To see photos and videos of the KangooJumps in action, click here.

I visited the trade show in between some of my sessions, and in between workouts on LMI Day. One of the best parts of the weekend was the masterclass that I did for RPM (the group cycling program I teach). Now ideally, one wouldn’t envision oneself going up to a celebrity in a hot sweaty mess after a 1-hour ride on a bike, but this is exactly what happens on LMI because it would be difficult to find someone that isn’t dripping and grubby.

John Cleland, a very sweaty Angela, and Dan McDonogh

Speaking of celebrities…..

Look who it is!

After the last LMI Day workout, I had the pleasure of meeting Tosca Reno, one of my biggest role models and one of the most gorgeous women I have ever seen!!! In case you’re not familiar, Tosca is a mother, fitness model, author, and she created the Eat Clean Diet, which is my preferred way of eating. She is one of my greatest sources of inspiration and it was awesome to speak to her this weekend. (Again, ideally I would not have been grubbing it out in my workout gear, but hey, when an opportunity knocks…)

There were hundreds of sessions offered at the conference, and I wish it could have lasted a week because I was absolutely exhausted by Sunday morning! There was so much to learn and so many brilliant presenters with such interesting information to talk about. I’m pretty sure most folks wouldn’t find the idea of sitting on a bike for hours on their birthday very appealing, but this was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had! The presenters gave me so many new ideas that I can’t wait to share with my spin classes and you, dear bloggies! So get ready!

Alright, there’s a suitcase in the corner of my room that is emitting the noxious smell of wet, dirty laundry and it’s got my name on it. I’m out, but I hope you have a wonderful day!

Questions for Today:

• What was the best part of your weekend?
• What is your favourite birthday memory?