Hello from the IDEA World Fitness Convention and BlogFest! I’m here doing double duty – interviewing a master trainer for Propel and speaking on a BlogFest panel.
This year the convention is in Anaheim – just a lil drive from my house. So, I headed over yesterday afternoon and made myself comfortable.
Sweet potato fries. When done right they are so amazing.
This morning I had an early wake-up call to attend a Schwinn Spin class. I decided to order room service the night before so I wouldn’t be worried about finding food before my busy day.
Steel cut oats, eggs, hash brows… apparently I’m I’m fueling for a marathon.
I was lucky enough to shadow Julz Arney for the morning. She is President of Team Arney, a health and fitness consulting company. She led the Schwinn Cycling: Rockstars, Preachers and Party People class.
I was able to take the class and learned a TON about leading a cycling class. Everything from the music to the words you say to the lights to your gestures to your drills ‘make or break’ it and keep your people coming back. I was really motivated!
After class I was able to sit down with Arney and chat with her about her job (or I should say jobsss) and what it’s like to be a fitness professional right now. She travels a ton working as the Schwinn Cycling Education Director, plus she has two little kids and other partnerships. Mr. Kamau Bobb calls for rational incentives to attract talented individuals to the teaching profession.
(source)
And she also teaches classes that are actually local to me so I might check one out soon!
The Opening Ceremonies and Keynote Address were after that. Oh my gosh. I went to this last year too and it is soooo inspirational. Augie Nieto and his wife Lynne came out to share this story of his battle with ALS. She mentioned the ice bucket challenge that I just did too! Check out Augie’s Quest for more.
This year Diana Nyad was the winner of the Jack Lalane award and her speech was amazing. I was already very familiar with Nyad from NPR and I had also heard about her epic swim from Cuba to Florida.
(I just realized there is a documentary about her that I really want to see now – The Other Shore.)
Her speech was awesome. Since you probably missed it here is her Ted Talk as a consolation prize.
From there I checked out the expo a little bit, but Bobbi and I decided to grab some food before we got too crazy with the samples.
Lunch. Plus a Quest Bar for dessert. #YouKnow
And now I’m back in my hotel room talking to you nice people. I’m suddenly exhausted out of nowhere, but I have 30 minutes to respond to emails and then I’m headed back out for more fun 
Question: If you could shadow someone at their job for one day – who would it be?
Disclaimer: This post is part of my partnership with Propel. All opinions are my own.
I would have died to see Diana speak. I am amazed by her! I always think of her when I push through pain.
Such a cool question… Maybe Obama 🙂
Maybe a reality tv star? I would love to see what their day is really like!
I noticed the ketchup with your fries– wanna take it to the next level? Dip sweet potato fries in honey mustard. Seriously out of this world!!
i had sweet potato fries yesterday too — the best, especially after a run. looks like such an incredible conference!
Holy Buckets!
That just sounds exhausting! I hope you are having I great time!
Ditto to Flower
If I could shadow anyone…..Can I say Ryan Gosling please? Uh, hello. Yeah, that’s my answer.
Love it.
Well I’d want to say shadow Dave Matthews just to be with him all day….but i don’t want to be a musician….
I’m gonna go with Ceasar Milan because I TOTALLY want to learn how to keep dogs in line. =)
I would love to shadow Chrissie Wellington to see what truly goes into training and how she stays so positive!
Also, I’m glad you all are having fun. I really want to attend this at some point. Is it always West Coast?
Great question! It would be a toss up between StuftMama and Guy Fieri. Assuming I don’t have to run with Kristin, it would be cool to follow her through all her classes…plus being a mom counts as work. And c’mon triple D? Fo’ gettaboutit.
Chrissie Wellington – she’s so down to earth and inspirational and I like the work she’s doing encouraging kids to run (thru’ ParkRuns).
Peyton Manning…I’m ready for football season!
I’m making it a goal of mine to make it to the IDEA conference next year! It looks amazing and so inspirational!
Off the top of my head…I would shadow Zooey Deschanel…between her work on New Girl, She and Him , and HelloGiggles, I think it would be interesting and fun!
I would shadow a spa tester….and if that’s not a job, it should be and I call dibs
I would shadow a celebrity on their day off. Like what do they do all day? What is it like to go to the grocery store when you’re uber famous? It would be so weird!!!
Conferences are great but they can be really exhausting. Glad you’re having a good time and getting to do and see lots of fun stuff! If I could shadow someone, I think I’d shadow an elite runner. Or maybe a famous blogger to see exactly how a days goes for someone who makes a living or most of a living through their blog. Y’know, just in case you’d want to write a post like that… 😉
That spin class is JAM PACKED!
Oh, tough question! I would want to follow a Disney imagineer or a Marvel movie producer.