The Empower Fitness Conference

This past weekend was amazing & I'm SO sad it's over!!! It all started last year when I found out about the Empower Conferences that are held around the country. I REALLY wanted to go, but it was expensive & I never ended up signing up for it. As the weekend came & past, I was SO sad that I missed it. Fast forward to the beginning of this year & I started seeing advertisements for the  conference. Then there was a call for volunteers on their FB page & I found out that if you volunteer, you get to attend the conference for FREE!!!

My shift started Thursday night & it was EXHAUSTING!! All of the equipment for the classes had been shipped to the hotel in boxes, so we had to open everything up & get them to the correct room for Friday morning. I had gotten up early to workout as normal that day & this was like a whole other workout on top of that! I was SO tired when I got home from volunteering that night.

Friday is when the conference officially opened & I was hoping to go some time during the day, but I had to continue my job as mom first & drop off and pick up the kids from school, so I wasn't able to attend any classes. I showed up to volunteer again at 5 & we quickly moved a few things around & then we were told we could go attend a class!! I was SO excited since I had missed all of the classes during the day. I chose to go to a Yoga/African Dance class and it was AMAZING!!! I am on a dancer & don't do Zumba or anything that I feel will make me look like a fool. However, the instructor quickly put me at ease and we just had FUN! I really didn't think the two went together, but it was just such a GREAT way to move & I got into it & just let go. I finished up Friday night by deflating a ton of exercise balls, which was fun too LOL We had a bunch of time for girl talk & bonded.

FINALLY Saturday rolled around & I was able to take some classes!! I even got to sleep in & didn't get up until 7!! I went to my first class at 8:45, which was a Vinayasa Yoga class. It was PACKED, but I still really enjoyed the movement & the instructor. After that I went to a Kamagon Ball demo/class. Kamagon balls are kind of like rubber kettlebells, except that they have two handles & are filled with water. The water gives a little extra resistance & it was SUCH a cool class. It was set up like a bootcamp class, & I really enjoyed it & the instructor :) We had a quick break for lunch & then I took a class called Strength & Alignment. We got to work with Leslee Bender, who created Bender Balls as well as PostureFit bars. They are short, weighted bars with a big cushion on them that you can use for many things!! We started off putting them behind our necks, so we could feel proper alignment in our spine. It was amazing to try squats with them & without them, there was a HUGE difference!! I am really fascinated with proper alignment after taking this class b/c I have something weird with my hip that I've always wondered if I could do anything about it. I'm looking into more information on it, as well as any classes in my area.

With each class being over 2 hours long, I was physically tired & just GROSS from working out for 6 hours. I had some time before I had to volunteer again, so I went to a seminar. It was good & interesting, but I felt that I had heard the same things before, but I did leave early & maybe I missed the best part!! Saturday evening was another quick night of moving a few things around & packing them up, but then there was a room we couldn't get into, so we all were able to go home early!! I was SO tired & happy to be able to go home & see my family! I missed them after being gone all day.

All in all, I had a GREAT time at the conference. I wish there had been more/better freebies, but I loved the classes that were offered & I really enjoyed vounteering!! We had an awesome group that was together for 3 nights in a row, so we really got to know one another. I already miss those girls & wish that I had gotten information from them to be able to keep in touch. It was nice to be around people who understand my love & passion for fitness. A lot of times people don't understand it & think it's something negative in my life, but being around fitness professionals showed me that I am not alone. I am definitely motivated to finish my Personal Trainers cert & I am also thinking of getting a Group Fitness cert too. The classes I attended were SO fun, I'd love to be able to go next year as a professional!! :)

The Empower Conference is held around the country, so definitely check out the website & see if/when there's one in your area!! http://empowerfitnessevents.com/events/

It's been too long! I've been busy, sorry blogland! I have been trying to run more, I must thrive on challenges. A group I am a part of, challenged the members to run at least a mile every day in Feb. One of my friends has taken that VERY seriously & has inspired me to do it too. I was going to do it, but then didn't run for the first 3 days or on Thursday, so that makes 4 days total that I missed out on. Anyways, my other workouts have suffered a little bit because of that, although when I run on the treadmill I always try to lift weights too.

I ALSO told a friend I would do this workout every day:

ummmmmmmmm, that has suffered more than the running one, I think I've done it twice!! Sorry Kallay! I did incorporate it into my Thursday night circuit workouts, so it also includes strength & cardio. Fun times!! We had a blizzard come through Chicago on Thursday night, so I had to cancel our Thursday night workouts at church. So I did my circuit at home by myself. 

Spicing up my side plank ;)

Actually it was funny, my kids joined in for a little while, but then got bored & went off and played. The rest of my workout was uninterrupted with them needing things from me or me having to split up their fights. Fun Times!! 

I got paid yesterday, and I had to go shopping for a friend, so I stopped by my old trusty friend, Nordstrom Rack. I haven't been there for ages!! I still liked it, but the prices weren't as good as I remembered  Anyways, I found myself looking at the workout gear. I need a heavier "jacket" to wear when my running buddies & I are out this winter, when it's supposed to *ahem* SNOW on Monday. Yeah, I think I'll be happy a got a running jacket. Anyways, I think that cute workout clothes definitely motivate me to get more workouts in! LOL

New jacket, forgive me, my bathroom lights are really dim! BAHA