We attended the Canadian Fitness Professionals conference in Downtown Toronto this past weekend. Here are some little nuggets of what we learned and encountered among the hustle and bustle of Lulu Lemon pants, sweat, and great looking people.
- Don’t mess with Zumba women, they are loud and will eat you for breakfast.
- Like the look of a fitness pro from your favourite health magazine? Well, you can easily add 10 years to most of them when you meet them in person.
- We picked up a ton of knowledge and you’ll see that implemented in the coming months, but it was also re-assuring that what we’re doing right now is on the right path.
- The onslaught of the latest fad fitness machines was at times, overwhelming, and they are not going away. If you’re looking to pick up a piece of equipment, get a trainer’s viewpoint first. Here’s a small gallery of some of them
SLIM BELLY | CORE STIX | BOX MASTER |
- More men should take Pilates. If you can’t activate your glutes or hips then there’s no point adding weight to the bar.
- If you’re an actor or a DJ you’ll probably make a great spin instructor.
- Jillian Michaels is really, really nice. Use people like her as motivation but go to trainers to show you how to get the job done correctly.
- Fit Kids programs are very rare. Out of 400+ seminars at the largest fitness conference in the world there was only ONE session geared towards training children. There’s a child obesity problem and nobody is trying to fix it. That’s why we’re very proud to be running our Fit Kids After School program.
- Guys, if you walk around a conference with your shirt off, our baseline opinion of you is that you’re a douche.
- Canadians are really, really good at organizing events and running them on time. The conference was crazily, efficiently run.
- If a UFC fighter singles you out for great technique, your head doubles in size.
- Biggest WOW moment! Scientists have now discovered that you are able to turn on and off genes depending on what you consume. That is huge considering we always assumed genetics can’t be naturally altered.
- The best book we saw advertised was something along the lines of getting you in shape in 6 months. Not 5 days, not 2 weeks, not 2 months. Without the sensational book title, this presenter probably doesn't have a commercial book deal but he likely knows what he's talking about. Seek out more people like him.
Overall it was a great learning experience and we recommend it even if you're just a fitness enthusiast. There were some fantastic workout sessions and some really inspiring speakers. If you avoid the corporate back slapping and sales pitch work outs there are plenty of interesting seminars and presenters to take your health and wellness to the next level.
Victoria & Kevin
