Vegas: Rest is For the Dead (Chainsmokers)

Date: July 24, 2017

Author: astottler

Hello again! I’m still working on my IDEA World recaps, but we’ve made it to Friday! It was one of the longest days of my life, but not in a bad way! (Well, it didn’t feel so great on Saturday, but that’s a post for another day.)

Friday morning, I woke up at 4:30 and could not fall back asleep. I think my body was so physically stressed from all the exercise the previous day that it was on high alert. Around 6am, I got up and had a Luna bar and half a nectarine before starting the conference.

My first workshop was another Schwinn class, this one on intervals in cycling. The instructor went over different types of intervals, and talked about studies that supported them.

-HIIT: going above the lactate threshold for a short period of time, with varying recovery times.

-This type of interval has been around forever (early 1900s).

-When riders can decide how long to recover between intervals, most self-select 2 minutes.

-HIIT is really hard! It’s physiologically stressful, so only do it 1-2 times a week. Schwinn really emphasizes cross training (weight lifting/yoga), which I think is amazing! When cycling, you’re in a pretty crunched up position, so if this is all you do, there will be imbalances. Sidenote: I never realized how much shoulder/back is used during cycling until I took 3 classes a day, and then got on a massage chair.

-When instructing intervals, make sure the riders know exactly what they’re in for: how it should feel, and how long.

-Some real bike races start with a “cold start,” meaning the bike is not moving. We did a set of intervals from a stopped position, and that was definitely something different!

-For all out efforts, make sure to offer proper recovery. Suggested: sing-a-longs. If not properly recovered, riders won’t be able to sing.

-HIIT intervals are all out efforts. They are usually shorter workouts, and the studies backing them up are of short workouts. An hour long HIIT class is not true HIIT.

-Tabata interval is 4 minutes with 20s work, 10s off. The study only looked at 4 minutes of work, not tabata after tabata after tabata. This is way over applied. It’s not necessarily bad, but the science isn’t there backing this up one way or another.

-Here’s a sample of a workout you can do: the Copenhagen intervals.

5 minutes. Each minute is:

10s anaerobic (breathless)

20s hard effort (edge of breathless, difficult work)

30s moderate (still working, but not crazy)

Rest for 2 minutes, and do 5 sets.

After my fueling issues the previous day, I wanted to be smarter and more efficient with my calories. I immediately made a flapjacked protein smoothie with the mix and some milk. This was absolutely perfect.

My next session was ICG, and the focus was on power numbers when cycling.

Power is a equation of leg speed x resistance in cycling. The ICG bikes calculate different power zones based on your FTP, or functional threshold power. This is the highest average power a rider can generate when cycling for an hour. The bikes can calculate your FTP based on a 5 minute time trial, and then they light up different colors based on the percent of the FTP you’re working at. It’s super cool! The instructor then gives you instructions based on what color zone you should be riding in, and the front of your bike lights up in that color. It seems like focusing on power is the new trend in cycling (more on this later), and in a lot of ways it’s better than training based off of heart rate because the heart rate is your physiological response to the intensity, whereas the power is the raw intensity.

For this session, we did a really extensive (read: hard) warm-up before doing the 5 minute FTP test. The bikes can also estimate your FTP based off a variety of factors, such as general fitness level, gender, and bodyweight. This is great because you wouldn’t have to do an FTP test for every ride, and new riders would have something to go off of. However, my estimated FTG was way higher than my measured FTP (possibly because my legs were already dead), so trying to stay in the color zone combined with an already tough workout was HARD. Finally, we did our FTP test and then continued the ride with our calculated FTP.

After class, I SPRINTED to the cafe at the Convention Center for lunch. Need. Fuel.

I got a southwest salad with chicken and used light Italian dressing and BBQ sauce as dressing. I also had baked chips because I also felt like I really needed salt! (And carbs.)

After eating, I went back to the expo to check out a few more things.

Highlights: cheerios overnight oats and monk fruit sweetened chocolate/hot chocolate.

Then, it was back to the Schwinn room! I broke into my emergency Cheerios.

This session was on how to WOW as an instructor. Basically, how to make your classes love you! Takeaways:

-Know the club culture, know the class culture.

-Know the members and the staff. Learn names!

-Know your brand. I talked about this in my first post that I wrote on my phone immediately after exiting this session. My brand is my passion. My why is getting to watch and help people transform.

-Study motivation speakers and rock stars to see their presence.

-Have a consistent instruction style, do drills that are actually backed up by science and then share that information!

-Change up your coaching language to keep it interesting.

-Pretend the mic doesn’t work and practice commanding the room (you are forced to have a bigger presence without a voice.)

-End with a “mic drop” moment. People are giving you an hour of their lives, bring it home strong and make them feel glad they came.

-Know your own coaching style and own it.

This instructor was up for the group fitness instructor of the year award, and I can see why. This class was awesome. The best classes are the ones that make you really dig deep and get emotional. The ones that push you to the place that’s almost magical, where you can feel yourself changing. This was my third cycling class of the day, but as I mentioned in the other post, I hit a crazy high power number.

After class, I typed up the post and drank a (free) LaCroix from the expo.

I didn’t even know this was possible, but I got a nasty and super painful bruise on my ankle after class. The rooms had chairs next to the bikes, and when unclipping from the pedals I hit my ankle super hard on the chair, and it immediately started swelling. LaCroix as a fancy ice pack…?

After the session, I left the Convention Center for my next session and was exposed to the elements. I was inside most of the week, and it was SUPER cold.

I ate a NuGo bar in my next session. I really wanted to wait for food until dinner, but I was dying. It was amazing.

My last session was a lecture only: food myths. It was pretty good, but not amazing. I think everyone has their own nutrition philosophies. I don’t agree with everything she said, but I agreed with some of the things.

-Addictive sugar studies have only shown sugar is addictive in rats. Is this really applicable to humans?

-1% of people have Celiacs, and 6-7% have a non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. However, 20-30% of people have cut gluten from their diet because they think it’s healthier. It’s not unhealthy unless you have one of the above issues.

-Coconut oil? Unsaturated fat has heart protective fats, so if you replace those with coconut oil, you’re losing that protectiveness. Not necessarily bad alone, but bad because it replaces something healthy.

-Most people eat too much protein. You only really need 0.8 g/kg bodyweight per day.

-95% of people who lose weight will regain it in 5 years.

-The “all natural” food label doesn’t mean anything legally.

-Juicing can offer a lot of antioxidants (depending on the juice) but still offers a sugar surge.

-Organic foods are not shown to be healthier for consumers, but better for the health of farm workers and the environment.

After the session, I rushed to the magic baseball room to catch an inning of a game before foraging for dinner. My hotel had a number of restaurants, including sushi. I wanted sushi, but there was a wait so I hit up the buffet since I figured they would have sushi. I for sure didn’t get my money’s worth at the buffet, but a Las Vegas buffet is for sure an experience.

I’m pretty sure the foods were 50% fat/oil.

I made myself a salad bar salad, and then got my sushi. I also tried some “Mexican street corn,” which was super mayonnaise-y and soggy, mashed potatoes (mostly butter), and salmon. I left most of the corn for obvious reasons!

I had a small dessert of soft serve and a few bites of cheesecake.

As far as my night, I actually had big plans! I decided that I’m in Vegas and I’m 23 years old, so I should actually go out an do something! When I was walking around with my sister, I saw a few signs for things. I ended up being myself a ticket to see the Chainsmokers at Encore. *Another note: dress code is enforced. I saw someone get kicked out of line for wearing shorts. Here’s a look at my outfit:

I got there a little bit early and explored Encore, looking for a TV playing the Giant’s game.

I finally found a bar with the game on and watched while sipping a gin and tonic.

Can I just say though, going to a NIGHTCLUB in VEGAS is so intimidating. But I decided I needed to just own it and go for it and have fun.

The club was apparently (one of if not) the best in the country? And it was absolutely incredible.

After waiting in line FOREVER, I was finally in. I grabbed another (CRAZY expensive) drink and walked around a little, exploring. I tried my luck at Blackjack and instantly lost $40. I just got really unlucky, and decided that there was no reason to throw away any more money. I see how it would be so easy to do though!

The thing about going to a club alone is that it’s not a huge deal. I made friends.

I did learn, however, that The Chainsmokers were not supposed to come on until 1:30am. Gulp. It was 11:30pm at this point. Would I stay for them…?

I did. And it was absolutely amazing. The club was really awesome and had great energy. Everything I like about this atmosphere is what I like about a spin class. I honesty think they cane really similar. It’s all about the music and the energy!

Here they are!

There was this cold steam that would sometimes shoot out of the floor.

And confetti.

As much fun as I was having, my energy was majorly starting to drop. Around 3, I decided to call it a night and take a cab back to my place.

By the time I reached my hotel room, I think I was more tired than I’ve ever been in my entire life (except maybe 3 hours later when my alarm was going off).

I almost slept in my clothes, and I was rushing around the room trying to get to sleep ASAP. I realized that I had been hungry around 10pm that night so I should probably eat something, so I literally ate cheerios out of a measuring cup while getting in bed.

It was honestly such an amazing night, and I’m glad I decided to just go out on my own and do something I wanted to do.

More adventures to come!

3500 Calories and Trends in Indoor Cycling

Date: July 21, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I’m back for my final IDEA World Fitness recap! This one will mainly focus on some controversial topics in indoor cycling today.

Session 1: Revisiting the 3500 Calorie Rule

We’ve all heard this, right? 3500 calories equals a pound. A 3500 pounds deficit in a week= a pound of weight lost over a week. Did you ever wonder where this came from?

The calculation comes from the energy released by burning a certain mass of fat (based on a bomb calorimeter for my science minded friends). Human fat tissue is 87% fat and 13% water, so when water is factored out, we get about 3500 calories.

If this is true, how come when a person cuts calories and loses weight, the weight loss plateaus? There are a few reasons. The first is initially a lot of water weight is lost. At the beginning of weight loss, the body burns lots of glycogen (carbs), which absorbs water. But besides just the original water weight, weight loss also slows for several other reasons:

-Resting metabolic rate decreases. In a calorie deficit, the body adapts and becomes more efficient. Additionally, a lower body mass means a lower calorie need. So what can we do? 1. Reduce calorie deficit slowly so that the body doesn’t adapt as much and 2. Be realistic about weight loss expectations and timeline.

Session 2: Hot Topics in the Saddle

My final session of IDEA was with Amy Dixon, who won fitness instructor of the year at the opening ceremonies. Needless to say I was in good hands! This session focused on several newly emerging trends in the cycling world today, and I’d like to share a few things with you from that!

1. Spinning with lots of resistance on the bike will make your legs big.

There’s a rumor going around the media these days that spin will make your legs bulky. Celebrity trainer Tracy Anderson stated that cycling will make your legs bulky. Why is this not the case? First of all, we don’t have the testosterone necessary to make us bulky (we as in women). Second, spin is cardio, not strength training. To really build muscle mass, you need muscle hypertrophy (an increase in the size of the muscle), which happens when you are pushing as much resistance as you can, and couldn’t do one more rep (like testing your one rep max squat). Are you ever doing that in a spin class? Doing at something at a one rep capacity? Let me break it down. 80 revolutions per minute. 45 minutes. That’s 3600 reps. That will not increase your muscle mass. You may get a temporary muscle pump, caused by an increased blood flow to the muscle working, but that goes away quickly.

2. Upper body strength work on the bike

I will go right out and say it-I don’t believe in. I still go to some classes that do it, which makes me hypocritical, but I don’t believe in. So what did the best fitness instructor of 2015 have to say about it?

Don’t do it! First of all, it’s not something you would do on an outdoor bike, and most spin programs are based on outdoor cycling. Some other reasons?

-Thousands of studies have shown that by doing upper body work on the bike, you reduce the overall power output.

-You can only really focus on one plane of movement.

-You aren’t in the correct position to do these exercises. In addition, because of this it’s not really functional.

-It’s really only shoulders and triceps, not total body.

-It’s overstimulation of the front of the shoulders, which are already worked just being on a bike normally. Most people who spend all day on a computer are in this same position-we really should be focusing on extension to counteract all of this. This can lead to muscle imbalances.

-You can’t continue to get stronger. There’s only so much you can do with 2 lb dumbbells, and after a few weeks you will plateau-and it’s not practical to have bigger, heavier weights on a bike. Therefore, there’s a limit to the strength that can be gained.

The cycling portion of the workout was awesome and high energy, and I left feeling so inspired and grateful. What a fantastic way to end the week.

I refueled with a free sample from the previous day, and put some fresh clothes on before heading to the airport.

I can’t express enough how amazing this conference was. The expo was a lot of fun, the people were awesome and excited and enthusiastic, and I was doing something I loved and care deeply for. I really do feel like I found myself again at the conference, and I’m excited to take what I learned back to my classes. I definitely want to go back next year!

IDEA World Day 1

Date: July 17, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello! I am currently sitting in bed in my PJs in my hotel room. I am 2 days into Idea World Fitness! It has been SUCH an awesome experience so far! Definitely tiring though! I think I’m finally getting the energy back that I could have really used this morning! I want to recap the first couple of days of the conference while it’s still fresh in my mind!

Thursday

My first session of the day was a Schwinn cycling class! They broke our their new computer consoles for the first time ever, and they were very intuitive! Although I’m more familiar with Spinning bikes, the Schwinn bikes are nice as well. The class was tough. We got to see our stats on the front screen for certain difficult portions of class, and when you’re in a class with 50 other spin instructors, you push pretty hard!

With jello legs, I walked straight over to my next session, RealRyder indoor cycling.

RealRyder bikes move side to side and mimic the feel of a real bike on the road. I hadn’t tried these before, and when I heard about them I was expecting them to be turning at a 45 degree angle sideways, which is not the case!

It’s more subtle, and it’s mostly the front of the bike/handlebars that move. This bike is considered a big advancement in indoor cycling because it allows cyclists to more accurately practice their sport. Additionally, it adds in an added core effort. Possibly one of its biggest selling points though is that it is much easier on the body than a regular spin bike, which can be beneficial to people rehabbing from back or knee injuries. This is because on a more traditional stationary bike, the frame of the bike and the rider’s joints absorb sideways movement, and these bikes allow movement so they aren’t so jarring.

This was a tough ride. When I stood on the bike, it immediately felt like standing on a road bike. I’m only now able to stand on my bike outside through lots of practice/added strength. Side story-when I came to college I hadn’t ridden a bike in years and riding for me was not pretty. At all. After taking this class, I think one of the reasons I had so much trouble outdoors was because I was so used to normal spin bikes, which don’t allow for movement at all!

Anyways, when I stood on this bike, it was not too pretty either. There is definitely a learning curve, and you can’t cheat. You have to keep your weight back towards the saddle and absorb everything with the quads. Otherwise, the handlebars will move side to side like crazy. I actually got an IDEA Inspiration medal for being the most improved in the class! This was a pretty small class, probably because it was the first morning, so the intimate setting made the experience even better because we could all ask questions. Additionally, I met a friend in the class who I was able to tag along to Opening Ceremonies with, immediately after (and I had no clue how to get there so this was lucky!).

Opening ceremonies were pretty cool. They gave out some fitness/trainer awards, and brought in a couple of motivational speakers, one of them being a wrestler who was born without a leg, and worked incredibly hard to win D1 NCAAs.

After that, we both walked over to the Expo. It was pretty intimidating. I was also starving, and the free samples were a welcome lunch. Kellogg’s had breakfast sandwiches which were heaven. I think I also had an absurd amount of granola bars yesterday, but what are you gonna do? It was nice having someone to navigate the Expo with who although it was also her first time, was much more savvy than I am.

My first after lunch session was Small Group Sports Conditioning, which was a lot of fun. We learned about training clients in a small group setting, and incorporating agility, power, and strength drills into the workouts. I really enjoyed this session because I’ve been on the other side of Small Group Sports Conditioning (as a participant) quite a bit in my softball-playing past. We did all kinds of cone and ladder drills, and it was a fun team setting. I hope to incorporate more of these things to my future workouts-even though I’m not an “athlete” anymore, I think agility is key to being fit for life and also for injury prevention. A couple of tidbits: For agility training, the work to rest ratio should be about 1:1. For Speedwork, the work to rest ratio should be about 1:3-4. Also interesting-for adult athletes with novice experience, the training volume per session should only be about 80-100 footsteps before you run into the potential for injury.

My final session was Women, Hormones, and Training. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed with this one.

I feel like it was mostly stating things that are fairly common knowledge, although maybe it’s because I have a pretty strong science background. The takeaway is that to change the shape of your body, you really need to strength train. You can use cardio to lose weight, but it won’t change your shape very much.

I walked out of the lecture starving and headed to the Expo to try a few samples I hadn’t hit up earlier, including Arctic Zero. I honestly don’t know what to think of it. It’s definitely not ice cream, and seemed pretty watery to me, but I might consider it as a lighter alternative on a hot day.

I then hightailed it back to my hotel to shove food in my mouth and clean up after a long day of workouts. Thursday night was the Idea party.

My new friend and I met up for drinks before heading over, and it was great to get to know new people! In addition, there was some pretty good food at the party! Healthy, of course. There was a really nice salad bar, a carving station, amazing cornbread, and pasta.

I had to #leavemymark. #GoStanford. There was supposed to be a place for the students in the college program to meet up at the party, but I never found it.

We ended up not spending too much time at the party and instead went down to the lobby of the hotel where the event was being held and met more new people. I ended up staying out far too late given I had an 8am session the next morning, but it was a great first day! More recaps to come 🙂

I’m Going to Idea World!

Date: July 15, 2015

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hello from LA!

This afternoon, I flew in to attend the Idea World Fitness Conference, as part of the College Discovery program. To say I’m excited would be an understatement! I’ve never actually been to downtown LA before-just in the area. I will definitely do a nice full recap of this trip and the sessions! I am mainly going to spin sessions and Nutrition/Science lectures, but there are also other fun things here like the Urban Party tomorrow night (not really sure what that will be like) and the big Nutrition/Fitness Expo. My morning begins bright and early tomorrow for a 7am spin class by Schwinn. I’m taking quite a few Schwinn courses while I’m here, and since I’m certified in Spinning brand of indoor cycling, I’m very interested to see how the philosophies of the two organizations are similar and different!

My morning began with a simple breakfast of eggs and mango, plus half of a Luna bar.

My workout today was lots of Olympic lifting with my trainer. My snatches were not so good today, but the cleans are getting a lot better, and felt good! Plus, my hip is feeling WAY better. I’m going to still baby it a bit though and try to only squat in a controlled manner (like a back squat, not a burpee). My puppy came to pick my up from my workout since my car was in the shop, and she had her first walk outside since she is almost totally vaccinated!

Once home, I was super rushed to pack, eat, and shower. Lunch was leftovers. Chicken breast, carrots, and asparagus with goat cheese. Plus the other half of my Luna bar.

The trip here was short and uneventful-the taxi ride to my hotel was super expensive and long though because this is LA! I have actually had the worst experience with my hotel thus far in that I wasn’t happy with how they charged me originally, and then it took FOREVER to get checked in. I guess it’s kind of an apartment complex so there’s no lobby to check in at exactly. On the plus side, my room is actually super nice. It’s basically a studio apartment with a full kitchen and everything. I’m less than a mile from the center where the event is held. I checked in today, and while where I’m staying is a good area and the expo is in a good area, Google maps routed me through a not so great area. Given I’m going to be by myself, I’m happy I found a much better (and more direct) route!

I was actually pretty lost trying to find the Convention Center. To make it worse, I walked through the area where the ESPY’s are going on! I finally got close enough to see people with IDEA bags walking away and was able to find it!

I stopped at a Carvery for dinner on the way back and got a salad with kale, avocado, and chicken. Perfect!

On the way back, I stopped at a grocery for some food and snacks. I’m not sure what the food situation will be like, and I’m worried about my stomach acting up, so I tried to really stock up. I’m hoping I’m not eating Luna bars for every meal! I found a salad for lunch tomorrow. I also tried soy nut butter for the first time. The verdict? I like it! It doesn’t seem as fatty as sunflower seed butter (which can be good or bad depending on what you’re looking for), and it definitely doesn’t taste like peanut butter, but it’s nice to mix it up!

It’s about 8pm here now, and since I have quite a big day tomorrow, I’m probably going to watch a little Netflix before calling it a night!

Have you ever been to a conference?