2009 IDEA World Fitness Convention™ - All Days - All Types - Joy Keller Blog Entries

Okay, so it's the fourth day of the show for me and I am feeling wiped out. I am also feeling that familiar malaise that comes from covering a fitness convention and not being able to participate in the sessions. You might as well stick me in the middle of a room lined with the finest dark chocolate and tell me not to lick the walls. I am getting a lot of great ideas not only for the magazine, but also for my own personal workouts. If I can only remember them all....

As I sit here I struggle to write this entry. My brain is foggy from all the information and I am feeling overloaded. Sure, I have plenty of things to write about, but I don't know where to start. And I'm on deadline. Just when I begin my slow descent into panic, presenter Eve Fleck, who has just finished teaching her class "Definitions," walks in and inspires me.

Eve is glowing. She walks up to the table and sighs. "This is such a wonderful feeling," she says. "I love how I feel after I've taught a class." Eve talks about how she clicks into teaching mode when she needs to and then takes time afterward to decompress. I watched part of her class this morning. She does indeed go to another place. Thanks to her energy, I am able to click into writing mode. Eve not only Inspires the World to Fitness®, she inspires this editor to blog.

Our interaction is pretty typical here at IDEA World Fitness Convention™. Everywhere I look attendees engage each other and you can see brainwaves spark and new connections grow. This may be the under-appreciated benefit of attending World: networking. In fact, while I've been sitting here two presenters have approached me with excellent article ideas. I'm feeling a lot better about this blog entry as I go along.

The moral to this story is instead of contracting when you feel confronted and challenged, expand. If you are called on to sub for another instructor and you have no clue what you're going to teach, you're exhausted, and the class is upset because their favorite instructor is out, don't go into panic mode. Instead, transmute the energy with jokes and playful interaction. Let the participants guide the class. Click into a different mode.

Now that I am in a different mode, I am off to view more sessions and cull more excellent, practical ideas for IDEA's publications. Please look for these in upcoming issues, and let me know what you think!

Two weeks ago, I gave up caffeine and sugar. I gave up coffee 2 years ago, which was a feat among feats. I switched to green tea—which is much better for you—but still has caffeine. In the middle of a cleanse I realized how much better I felt without consuming caffeine and sugar and had the epiphany that I (and my adrenal glands) am super sensitive to America’s favorite drug. So I quit, cold turkey. I decided I didn’t want to be a slave to anything, not even green tea. The upside is that I love rolling out of bed and getting right to the business of things without the buzz ritual. The downside is that it’s a whole lot harder to stay in that rolling position throughout the day without my cup of counterfeit energy.

Why on earth did I decide to do this right before the IDEA World Fitness Convention™? Because I knew IDEA members would carry me along with their vim and vigor. I knew all I had to do was go to one of Chalene Johnson’s classes (in this case, Hip-Hop Hustle) and that before too long my blood would be bouncing again. This is what I need, a natural stimulant. IDEA members emanate a positive, natural energy that is truly contagious. That’s what I did today—I traipsed from session to session gleaning joy from attendees’ joy in the moment of movement.

And I also learned something new I wanted to share with you, especially if you work with children, from the session “Childhood Obesity: Current Research and Practical Tools,” presented by Karen Donaldson, MS, RD, LD. Donaldson reviewed the latest trends and protocols in working with obese children, including how to determine Body Mass Index for boys and girls. In talking about assessment, Donaldson asked the group of about 50 attendees if anyone had heard the term “Acanthosis Nigricans.” Not a single person raised his or her hand.

Acanthosis Nigricans is a skin disorder characterized by dark, thick, velvety skin in body folds and creases. It is often an indication of an endocrine disorder and often occurs in obese people. It can be a sign of increased insulin resistance. She cited it as something she sees often in her clinic, which sees a lot of obese children and their families.

Hands started shooting up around the room. People had been seeing this with their child clients without knowing what it is. While it certainly is not within the scope of practice of a fitness professional to diagnose Acanthosis Nigricans, it is important information to know. This skin disorder can be a warning sign of type 2 diabetes (although not in all cases), and the client (or the client’s parents in this case), need to be informed so they can see a health care provider. Yet another way IDEA members are part of a team of allied health professionals.

Did you come to fitness via a need to quell pain? From my casual observation (and radar-equipped ears), I’ve seen and heard a lot of IDEA members talk about their personal histories and how they came to embrace fitness.

One woman was obese in high school and decided she wanted to join the cheerleading squad in college. She also had a crush on a football player, but he ignored her. The pain of rejection, coupled with the pain of being obese, combined to motivate her. She started walking on the track during football practice (so she could keep an eye on her favorite guy). Pretty soon she started running. Eventually she progressed to running 5 miles, and the weight melted off. And the football player? Who needed him! She decided to major in exercise science when college started and became a first-string cheerleader.

Another IDEA member said he became excited about fitness after an injury almost cost him his life. At 19 years old he broke his back in a car accident. Nothing seemed to help diminish his pain—surgeries, physical therapy and drugs all had minimal effects. It wasn’t until a very informed and skilled personal trainer helped him train the right muscles that he discovered the power of proper palpation and muscle recruitment. Now, he says his pain is a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10.

What’s your story? Do you have your own pain and freedom tale? How many of your clients come to you with pain (let me guess: 80%)? Are you able to show them how to help relieve that pain through exercise while remaining within your scope of practice?

Exercise is so much more than the three-legged stool of cardiovascular, strength and flexibility. It’s a doorway to optimal health and wellness.

So think about the pain and freedom paradigm when you’re working with deconditioned clients and participants. If you’ve been lucky enough to be healthy and free from pain most of your life, try to walk a half mile in an obese person’s shoes. During her session “Peak Pilates® for the Obese Client,” Zoey Trap, MSc, urged attendees to carefully assess clients. “When in doubt,” she said, “ask questions.”

She stressed the importance of modifications and had some pretty brilliant ideas on how to get results combining a stability ball with a reformer. She also talked about how dangerous it is to make assumptions when working with obese clients.

“Do not automatically presume that your new client can’t do a roll-up simply because she’s obese,” Trap said. “It’s your job to help her connect with her core musculature and find the juiciness of articulation in the spine.” Trap didn’t mince words when it came to which style of Pilates was more “correct.” “You may come up the hill on one side and I may come up on the opposite side,” she said. “The important thing is that a healthy client meets us at the top

Here’s to a pain-free, movement-happy life for all!

Today I arrived for the preconference events at IDEA World Fitness Convention™, albeit a little late thanks to thunderstorms that "narrowed the flight corridor," affecting most other flights in the sky. But I made it. The ride in from the airport was short and uneventful. Checking in was a piece of cake. I did, however, have an interesting exchange with Jerrie, the woman who checked me in.

"So you're here for the IDEA thing?" she asked.

"Yes," I replied, "I actually work for IDEA."

"You all look so fit and so happy," Jerrie said. "It makes us feel bad standing behind the desk...like we should be out exercising or something."

"Yes, well, I usually sit at a desk 8 hours a day and I don't teach or train clients like our members do. They amaze me with their energy and ability to inspire others."

I encouraged Jerrie to visit the Expo Hall and checked into my room. But the interaction made me think. Jerrie talked about how seeing so many fit people made her feel "bad" or "guilty." Did you realize you have that kind of influence on others? More specifically, have you ever stopped to think about how your appearance affects or inspires another? Do you know how fit you are? Are you fit enough on the inside to tell someone like Jerrie, "Oh, don't feel bad or guilty, it took me years to get in this kind of shape--not to mention strict discipline in other areas of my life. If you want, I'd be happy to give you some quick tips on ways you can become healthier starting right now!"

This type of one-on-one experience creation is something Helen Vanderburg touched on in her lecture “Managing a Quality Driven Business,” which was part of the Focus on Fitness Management track on Tuesday. One thing she said particularly resonated with me. “Quality is organic.” You can learn a lot about quality by reading a book. But when it comes down to “game day,” it really is about being in the game fully. You have to go with the flow when working with clients and members and adjust your quality meter based on what is most needed in the moment. If I owned a fitness facility in Las Vegas, I would have given Jerrie a free pass and invited her to experience what I have to offer. Opportunities to refine the quality of your human presentation abound.

I am signing off now so that I can help one of our assistants (for whom we are eternally grateful) rip out the Expo Hall coupons from her notebook. This is an age-old ritual among IDEA World Fitness attendees and I want to get in on the action. I hope to see you in the hallways and session rooms.