Thursday was the first real day of the conference. My morning started with a 7am session, so I rolled out of bed just after 5:30 and shoved a granola bar in my face.

My first session was just a ride with Stages. This was called “The Power of the Dork Side.”

They used a big screen to take us through a science fiction movie themed ride. My favorite part was the Back to the Future themed part, where they showed scenes from the movie and forced us to pedal fast enough to travel through time. The screen also had our bike effort level. We did a time trial at max effort at the start of class, and the computer on the bike calculated different work zones based off of this (i.e.: work at 70% of max, and it would flash up a particular color).

It was pretty cool! The screen is definitely a fun distraction.

This was for sure my hardest day in terms of exercise, partly combined with a late night prior. After my 7am session, I quickly drank chocolate milk before heading into Schwinn for my next workshop.

At this point, my metabolism was definitely humming along, and I broke into cheerios during the lecture portion of the workshop. Sidenote: I brought an entire box of Apple Cinnamon cheerios and this was an amazing decision. I ate a bag or two every single day of the conference.

Schwinn: Teaching Tips from TED

This workshop was really interesting: they speakers compared leading a cycling class to doing a TED talk. This session really focused on how I, as the leader of a class, should present myself. Here are some takeaways:

-TED talks are great because they are passionate, entertaining, educational, humorous. We want cycling classes to be the same. We have to draw the students in, and try to make class feel like no time has passed.

-The big parts of presentation (just like any persuasive essay from high school) have logos (logical appeal), ethos (credibility) and pathos (emotional appeal). A cycling class is no different. You obviously want to establish credibility (NEVER lie to your students about what’s ahead, i.e. “Sprint for 30s….JUST KIDDING ONE MORE MINUTE). Your riders need to trust you. You establish this not just through credentials, but based on how you look, act, and lead class.

-The first 30 seconds of class are incredibly important, like a TED talk. Draw the class in, command the room, and let them know what’s in it for them!

-Tell stories (emotional appeal), but be relevant and have a point.

-End class with a bang, because this is what students remember. It could be a high energy push, but it could also be a slow hill, with a carefully selected song to pull on the heartstrings (I love doing this too. Their suggestion was OneRepublic’s I Lived, but there are a few the Fray songs I like for this.)

The format of the cycling workshops was to do a lecture, and then a full ride to see how the information is applied.

After the ride, I was exhausted and famished. I downed a mini-protein bar before heading to Opening Ceremonies back at my hotel (it was literally right next to the Convention Center where most of the conference took place.)

At the opening ceremonies, they present awards and have motivational speakers. It’s always so inspiring! Admittedly, I left before the keynote speaker because I was STARVING. I grabbed another Greek salad from the hotel cafe and headed up to my room because I had a break.

Plus a bar.

Because there was a break, I had time for a short but much needed nap.

My first afternoon session was Olympic Lifting! This was mostly about coaching Olympic Lifting. I love Oly, and honestly would love to coach it, but it’s just not a priority right now and probably ever. We learned different progressions for the lifts, though I am familiar them.

Progressions for basic movements (start at one and move on when the previous movement is mastered)

Squat: Bodyweight squat to back squat to front squat to overhead squat.

Press: push up, strict press, push press, power jerk, split jerk.

Clean: hang power clean, power clean, hang squat clean, squat clean.

We practiced the progressions with a PVC pipe equivalent, and then worked with partners giving cues.

The biggest takeaway: FORM is so important! Spend a lot of time working with lighter weights an perfect technique, and only a little time working with heavy weights. I can attest that this is important. In my experience, you can instantly PR if you make a technique adjustment.

At this point, my body was HURTING. I was tired from a late night, and my legs were DONE from the back to back mooring cycling classes. I had another break before my last session, so I went to the Fitness and Nutrition Expo in hopes of finding some free samples with magic energy.

I didn’t try a ton. These things are a lot less fun when you’re allergic to EVERYTHING, but here are a few fun finds!

Cottage cheese with blueberry at the bottom. SO delicious. I love sweet with cottage cheese (I love pumpkin butter with cottage cheese!), and the protein was much, much needed.

Dried figs.

Yogurt-like cheese that was delicious. Like less-tart yogurt.

Super good bars that are literally just bananas.

And finally, life:

Coffee. I know I don’t do caffeine because I don’t do well with it, but this was so necessary. And freaking amazing. They had samples on tap, and I figured a small amount was just the right amount! These canned lattes from La Colombe are super frothy, which I loved. And caffeine.

Finally, it was time for my last session! Another cycling!

This was run by Keiser, and I was pumped to walk in and realize these are the bikes I teach on! This workshop was a really fun one, thankfully, because my legs were done. This was cycling karaoke! Yes, it’s literally exactly what it sounds like, and it’s amazing. I loved the instructor, who was full of personality, and who doesn’t secretly love karaoke? In this class, we cycling to all karaoke music, meaning we listened to popular songs without lyrics, and had a screen with the lyrics displayed. Everyone sang at once, but we also passed the mic around so one person would be projected over the speaker. The instructor walked around the class offering the mic. Fun fact: it’s a lot harder to cycle when you’re singing. It’s hard to breathe. Know that instructors have the same problem when speaking while teaching: it’s harder work to talk/sing while exercising!

i had such a blast I literally didn’t notice I was exercising. I definitely needed that!

Then, I got cleaned up for the IDEA conference party. I didn’t really make friends this year and I didn’t know anyone, so I felt a little weird going solo, but there was food! The first thing I did was get a beer at the hotel bar, because after 3 cycling classes it was much needed.

I’m going to show you my outfit of the night because real people clothes!

For my meal, I had a salad and chicken stir fry over rice.

I decided to not really spend time at the party and call it an early night after a long day. Instead, I got froyo at the 24 hour froyo place (!) in my hotel and carried it to the room with all the Sports screens to watch the Giant’s game.

Chocolate and cheesecake froyo with butterscotch and chocolate chips.

Back in the room I watched some TV shows and ate a Bobo’s chocolate chip banana oat bar. It’s my first time trying this flavor and it was so good!

One thing I do want to mention was the interesting challenge of fueling myself properly. On this particular day, I had a stomachache most of the day. I was constantly hungry and full, because I was burning SO many calories. And the unfortunate fact of the matter is, while my stomach condition is way better than it used to be and is rarely an issue, I still have trouble digesting large amounts of food. So going over my normal daily calories, despite the fact I needed fuel, left me feeling sick, especially at night after froyo+granola bar. After that day, I had to be smarter about what my calories were and when I ate them, and it definitely helped!

Coming up next: actually one of the longest days of my life!

My flight landed right around dinnertime Tuesday night. The Vegas airport cracks me up. Thanks to slot machines right at the gates, you instantly know you’re in Vegas.

Balloon at check-in, because why not? I was staying at the host hotel for IDEA World, which was SO SO SO nice. Also, not a terrible price!

(View from my room.)

I went to this conference 2 years ago and had an absolute blast. The energy actually felt life-changing. On the way to my hotel, I was thinking about where I was 2 years ago versus where I am now. Had 2 years ago Aurora seen what I am and what my life is now, she honestly wouldn’t have changed a thing. While this was my last hurrah before vet school (in two weeks…eeek), I really felt like I was living the life. I got to spend all day learning and doing what I love, and got to do the whole “fun young person thing” at night.

The first thing I did was grab a Greek salad from the hotel cafe. I got ketchup for the chicken, and the cashier definitely made fun of me for that…#no shame.

Knowing I had a big week ahead, I called it an early night. I spent some time wandering around the giant hotel, and found a room with the biggest sports TVs and every imaginable game on. It’s for betting, but whatever. I definitely spent some time there pretty much every day. I love my boys!

Before I knew it, Wednesday morning was here! I did a pre conference Schwinn indoor cycling certification. I am currently certified through Spinning, but my certification is expiring in a few months and I chose not to renew it again. I feel like Schwinn is a little bit more in line with the future, and I was no longer able to find any Spinning in-person workshops for continuing education. And honestly I think a lot of the online options for credit are a waste of money for what you gain.

I packed a ton of food, and grabbed a few fresh things at the airport when I arrived. Day 1 breakfast was yogurt with cheerios and a nectarine that I brought. I knew I could have something a little bit heavier because it would be a few hours before I would be riding. Most days I had a Luna bar for breakfast.

Let’s do it—Day 1!

The certification was 8-5, and taught by 2 of Schwinn’s top master trainers, Jeffrey Scott and Amy Dixon. I went to some of their workshops at IDEA last time!

We learned the basics of bike fit, as well as the main tenets of a good class. We had 2 bike rides during the day, one right before lunch and one at the end of the day.

For lunch, I packed food from home before I left. A sunbutter and peach jam sandwich on GF bread, plus snap peas.

I had a bar in the afternoon, as well as a GF sea salt chocolate chip cookie that my sister brought me from the airport restaurant at SFO with amazing GF cookies.

I want to talk a little bit about Schwinn, and the difference between Schwinn and Spinning, because I am now currently certified in both. Both are based on riding like you would outside: no gimmicks; if you wouldn’t do it on a real bike, we won’t do it in spin class. This is definitely how I teach. Honestly, I think I teach about halfway between Spinning and Schwinn (maybe because I went to a number of Schwinn workshops before!). The biggest difference is in class structure and music selection. Spinning I think is a little bit more old school: you mimic a real ride with hills and flat road, and music is not necessarily the banging modern music; a lot of times they encourage instrumental. Schwinn is more of what you might see at Equinox or a high end gym: while it is divided into hills and flats, it’s more time interval based, both for sprint efforts and steady state. They also really emphasize the science behind each type of work, and HIIT (high intensity interval training) is a big focus. This day honestly really solidified my knowledge, and my identity as an instructor. Here are a few of my big takeaways:

-Most people have their seats too low. A longer leg=more power. With one foot at the top and one foot at the bottom of a pedal stroke, there should be a slight bend in the knee (Spinning always says a 30 degree angle).

-Schwinn really emphasizes their “coaching pyramid.” The main tenets are content (how long you do something, the intensity, the leg speed), clarity (what the ride is) and perspective (where you are in the class). The frame is coaching.

-It’s really important to let riders know exactly what they’re doing and what’s coming (in the near future), as well as give a brief overview of what the class is going to include that day. This is something I really emphasize as an instructor for a couple reasons: 1. It drives me crazy when I’m in a spin class and it’s unclear what I’m supposed to be doing and 2. People will work harder if they have a known end point. For instance, if you tell riders they have to sprint for 15 seconds only, they will go all out.

-Build the class before the music. I used to find music as I built the class, but lately I’ve been leaning ore towards building the class first anyways. It’s just more efficient. I let the music inspire the class sometimes, but I do think I will build the class first more in the future.

-Have a purpose or a theme of class. This lets the students know what they should be doing, and it gives class a direction. It could be something like “HIIT intervals,” or “steady state,” or even something fun, with themed music, or simulating a ride outside. (Anybody remember my Thanksgiving ride that I taught in a turkey hat, and simulated Thanksgiving day?)

-Schwinn encourages teaching with a rate of perceived exertion. Instead of complicated numbers, it’s easy, moderate, hard, or breathless.

Things that I intend on working on: build my classes with more of a purpose, and my overall presence in the room (more on that in another post!).

The two rides were incredible. The instructors are the best of the best, and therefore they really were able to push and motivate me! I left totally beat, even though it was only 2 classes (note I’m saying “only” 2….there’s a little foreshadowing for ya!).

In terms of outside of conference activities, my amazing sister decided to come up and stay with me for one night (hence the GF airport cookies), so we made the most of it! She found a fancy restaurant for us to go to in the Wynn hotel. *Note: a lot of places in Vegas had dress codes that were definitely enforced, i.e. no shorts/flip flops.

We got all dolled up and enjoyed walking around Wynn en route to Andrea’s.

I’ve never been inside the Wynn before, and had no idea it was so fun and whimsical (and elegant, of course). (I’ve been to Vegas a number of times, but always for softball tournaments in high school, so I mostly laid eyes on the strip and didn’t go inside places).

This is how you know it’s fancy: they asked us if we had a water preference—Fiji, San Pelligrino, or “house water.”<- That cracks me up.

Our dinner came with a little cucumber garlic gazpacho taste.

To start, we got truffle salt edamame. Why have I never thought of this before?? Amazing.

We got matching beautiful cocktails. They had Asian pear, lime, hibiscus syrup (and I couldn’t tell you what else). Yum!

For my meal, I got a salad with sesame ginger dressing and fried scallions, and an avocado roll.

Then, we headed to Paris for a rooftop beer park, with over 100 beers!

The inside of Paris was super trippy. The ceilings were painted like sky and it was actually really realistic!

And of course, here’s the eiffel tower:

I liked the beer park a lot. Maybe it was because it was a Wednesday, but it was super casual and we had a chance to just talk. I got a brown beer that I really liked! My sister got a vanilla stout, but the stout was light in color…interesting!

After, my sister wanted to walk across the street to the Cosmopolitan because of their “wildly inventive” drinks and giant chandeliers.

Folks, wildly inventive was correct. My sister got something with passionfruit and curry (and coconut, so I couldn’t try it), and then we split the craziest drink. I’m not kidding. We looked at the menu, and ordered the drink without any idea what any of it actually meant. After getting the drink, we realized it was Willy Wonka themed. I’ll get the description for you off their website:

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!

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

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.

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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?