Joy Keller's Blog

It’s the calm before the storm here at 2010 IDEA World Fitness Convention in Los Angeles. Oh sure, if you walk by the Zumba room you feel a warm front of funkiness. If you stroll past the other premier sessions, people are huddled beneath an umbrella of education that is both poetic and practical. It’s the day before thousands descend on the Los Angeles Convention Center and you feel the coming crush like the queasy-good feeling in your stomach before a much-needed thunderstorm. It’s time to thrust learning into overdrive.In addition to being senior editor of IDEA’s publications, I am now also a certified personal trainer and indoor cycling instructor. It was an easy and no-brainer leap to make after being in the industry for 10 years as a writer, editor and general fitness enthusiast. Honestly, I do feel more like an “insider,” even though I only train and teach part-time. I’m a happy, lucky camper. I get to write and edit about a topic I am passionate about. Not only that, I am exposed to the best fitness education and educators in the world. What a perk!You can barely throw a medicine ball here without hitting a golden learning opportunity. Case in point: within 5 minutes of being in Doug Gray and Gary Gray’s session “Gray Institute: Optimize Your Current Skills in 3-D,”I learned about 10 new ways to train myself and my clients. That’s efficient. In addition to this, Gray said something that stuck with me. Regarding balance, he challenged us all to think about what “neutral” is and whether or not we really want to train and live from a perfectly balanced state. His point was if you are perfectly balanced, you’re frozen, fixated in a moment. What you want to do instead is “move through neutral.” Balancing while in motion is a good way to live life. There is no time for malaise to settle on your bones.The Fitness & Wellness Expo is even more impressive this year than it was last year, with more than 150 booths from a wide range of exhibitors. Check out some of the new programming from your favorite companies and meet some new favorites. I hope to see you moving through neutral on the expo hall floor or in the session rooms.