Game: Elevated

After three days of total body mastery immersion here in Alexandria, my brain is buzzing just as much if not more than my aching, happy muscles. Being part of such an incredible event is probably the best job perk I’ve ever had in my career (although telecommuting is quite nice). This year’s theme is “Elevate Your Game.” I officially consider my game as elevated. Based on the blissed out faces mirrored in the attendees, I’d say they agree.

If you look at the class schedule you see it’s peppered with the following words: corrective, functional, performance, regression, progression, matrix, strategies, metabolic, power, creative and solutions. These words are tags for a successful personal training practice (among many others, of course). This weekend I watched all levels of personal trainers from across the country share what works for them while learning new ways to do it better.

Attending a conference to learn theory and research is one thing. Attending a conference to learn theory AND then how to take it and USE it in more than one way is quite another. That’s what happened here this weekend—just the regular magic of being open to education. How on earth are you going to learn 50 or so things to do with your in-home client in less than one hour if Annette Lang didn’t take the time to wow you with her very cool, tested and true ideas? Would you have known about the role the amygdala has in your client’s level of motivation if Robert Cappuccio hadn’t taught it?

I’m excited about taking the details of this weekend home with me to use with my own clients—with the proper modifications, of course. This kind of immersion stays with you, it lingers on your psyche for weeks and months and it shows in the work you do. If you don’t believe me, I challenge you to attend one of IDEA’s upcoming events. If your game is not elevated to planetary heights, I’ll do crab walks down the street.