….ok. Maybe not 24 hours straight, but pretty close to it!

Last weekend I attended Empower Fitness Conference and had a GREAT time! I would have stayed longer but needed to tend to my mommy duties. 🙂

Let me give you a little recap!!

Friday night I arrived and took a Total Body Conditioning class. The conference was held at Lifetime Fitness so they had some regional trainers there to teach their style of class. The class kicked my rear end!!! It was mainly a strength class, but because I was using large muscle groups I had cardiovascular conditioning. After that class, we got a worksheet and got some education and did some group work.

Saturday morning, I woke up (gingerly, I might add) and attended an 8am medicine ball class with Petra Kolber. I’m not sure if you have ever heard of Petra or not, but she is a well known exercise instructor. So I was thrilled to even be in the same building, let alone the same room as her!  She put us through an EXCELLENT class (I have lots more ideas for medicine balls!) and I even got a chance to talk with her after class! Here is a picture with her!

By this time, my body needed a break. I was sore from the night before and Petra’s class solidified the muscle pain I had. Thankfully, I had chosen a class with no activity, “Ultimate Metabolic and Calorie Burning Makeover”. I LOVED this session! The instructor, Dr. Len Kravitz, had such an enthusiasm and passion for his job! He has numerous awards and journals/studies written and is such a wealth of information. I honestly could have sat with him for 8 hours and listened to whatever he wanted to teach! I will definitely be writing some more blogs on the information I got from him so stay tuned!!

I grabbed a quick lunch and went into my next session, “Ultimate Program Design for the Lower Body and Core”. Sounds exciting, right? It WAS!! The instructor is yet another pioneer in the fitness industry, Keli Roberts. We used a combination of weights, medicine balls, resistance bands and cuffs to work through different ways on conditioning the lower body! I was DYING by the end. If I never do another sort of lunge again then I’ll be fine! HA! Just as the other classes went, we would exercise for a good hour or so and then review a worksheet and ask questions. After we were done, I went up to meet Keli and got another picture!! She was soooooo nice!!! (She paid me a very nice compliment which never hurts!)

I had a 15 minute break—ran to the locker room to change, grabbed some water and a granola bar and went to my last class. It was taught by Staff Sergeant Ken Weichert. Doesn’t his name make you shake in your boots? He taught numerous classes over the weekend but the one I attended was called “Operation Deep Impact: Sgt. Ken’s Obstacle Course”. At this point, walking to the restroom was exhausting so I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to make it through this last session! Let’s just say there were multiple times when I felt the fire burning in my chest and I thought I was going to puke. It is a RARE occasion that I feel that way when working out. I honestly didn’t think my abs and shoulders could take anymore, but far be it for me to quit! Class ended with a “cool-down” (I’ve never seen such an active cool-down!) and ab work. Sgt. Ken has a great story and was telling us a bit of it. Very inspirational and as tough as he looked, he was a very nice guy!!! (If the picture below looks like I can barely lift my arms up, it’s because I can’t!)

The 2 hour drive home that night was a bit miserable. I was tired and my body was sore from sitting so long!!But I was floating high with all the info I had just learned. Couldn’t wait to process it with someone. (My poor husband…yes. He got to learn about metabolism!)

As you can tell, this was a Fitness Instructor’s earthly version of heaven!  🙂 If you are a fitness instructor, I highly recommend Empower! Fitness Conferences. The class sizes were small. The instructors were accessible (and happy about it!) and the cost was GREAT!!  I had a great time and went not only for my enjoyment and education, but also to learn from the best of the best so I can help YOU in your health journey!!!