What I Learned at Fit Fest

This past weekend, I attended MPLS. St. Paul magazine’s Fit Fest presented by Northwestern Health Sciences University with my friend, the mysterious V (she values her privacy). By fest’s end, we decided that we must do it again next year. Don’t you love it when you try something new and are so glad that you did?

The day was just what I needed to regroup and shift my focus back into fitness gear. After all, the past few weeks have been filled with: a birthday trip to Chicago filled with delicious food and a chance to see an amazing show, coming down with a wicked cold (or the flu) two days before moving to our new house, medicating my way through the move, and Valentine’s Day. During those weeks, I was too busy celebrating-sick-stressed to care much about what I consumed. Post Fit Fest, I’m ready to get after it.

Our Day at Fit Fest

At 8 a.m we took weRow Sculpt led by Tish Watson, owner of weRow. Oh did we work! Red faced and smiling we went upstairs to check out some of the vendor booths (more on that later). I’d never heard of row fitness classes before. If you have a chance, take one. If you’re in Minneapolis and have a chance, take one at the weRow studio.

Next up was Turbo Kick led by Janelle Schirmers of Beachbody LIVE. About 10 years ago I took a Turbo Kick class and hated it. I’m glad I decided to give it another chance. Turbo Kick led by Janelle has a fun party vibe and I had a blast. It was high intensity with lots of water breaks.

At 11, we parted, because V wanted to Zumba and I wanted to Barre Bliss. Even though the Barre Bliss class was super low intensity (it’s a mix of yoga, pilates, and ballet), I could feel my muscles working beyond exhaustion. One new-to-me exercise: push-ups done in a downward dog position. It felt great having my arm and shoulder muscles worked in a different way. I will be doing those again. The class was the perfect final workout for the day.

We lunched on food provided by Wedge Community Co-Op. I selected the Italian Focaccia with Italian-marinated peppers and red onion, tomato, fresh basil, smoked provolone on a baked rosemary focaccia. Yum!

Then we wandered around to the vendor booths we hadn’t had a chance to visit yet (including The Aviary‘s Aerial Fitness Demo – so fun!).

The one and only seminar we went to (and I am so glad we stayed and went to it) was: From a Cubicle to a US Olympian in Two Years presented by Mechelle Lewis Freeman. Lewis-Freeman is also the founder of TrackGirlz, an organization that promotes confidence, community, and healthy lifestyles through fitness events, leaderships camps, and athletic leisure apparel. After her speech and Q&A, I felt inspired, capable, and ready to choose the greater for me options in life even if I have to do them afraid.

Here’s what I learned:

1. 1. You can do anything for 2 minutes. You can do anything for 90 seconds. You can do anything for 8 seconds. Workout instructors are not lying when they say this. You can begrudge them and curse them all you want during those final minutes and seconds, it won’t make them wrong.
   2. My body can push harder than I make it on the regular and that is why I am going to start taking more fitness classes.
   3. There is a company called Origin Meals that creates chef-driven, handmade, gluten-free & dairy-free meals (paleo, modified paleo, and vegetarian) serving parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. There are pick-ups available in my hometown and I had no idea until I was at an event in the big city.  V and I tried samples of their chicken corn chowder. It was delicious! I will be giving one of their meal plans a try soon.
   4. I am lean. The Bod Pod told me so. My fat % is 18.9. The next level to get to is Ultra Lean, which according to the Bod Pod Body Composition Tracking System Analysis, is the fat level often found in elite athletes. I need to lose .9% of my fat mass to get there. 
   5. Impossible is nothing. Mechelle Lewis Freeman shared this quote of Muhammad Ali’s a few times during her speech. Here is the full quote: Impossible is just a word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It’s an opinion. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing.
   6. Sometimes, even an Olympic athlete has to do what they’re doing afraid.

The fest went from 8a.m. – 2p.m and cost $35. We were given a swag bag at the end of the event filled with information, coupons, a Step One Dark Chocolate Crunch Bar, and more. Lunch was included. In other words, it was a great value (imho).