Monday, October 20, 2014

MMR: Fitness Magazine’s #FitBlogNYC

This week’s Monday Morning Rambles Post is a good one so get ready (video is below). I was lucky enough to attend Fitness Magazine’s Meet &Tweet #FitBlogNYC event, again this year and it was just as amazing. 

Before the event officially began, you can sense the excitement in the room. I checked in and grabbed my seat up towards the front so I wouldn’t miss a thing.

Fitblognyc intro

Betty Wong (Editor-in Chief) kicked off the event and explained the itinerary for the day…

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The first speaker of the day was Celebrity Trainer Holly Rilinger.

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When you first see Holly, the first thing you notice is her amazing body…I could not stop staring at her biceps. Holly has a basketball background and was named the #1 Freshman Pointguard by USA TODAY. Holly spoke of the New Formula for Fitness Success and gave us a few tips:

  • It is not one size fits all when it comes to fitness. What may work for one person is not going to work for another.
  • Magic happens when we sleep…sleep is crucial for recovery.
  • If you are someone in the fitness industry, you need to make sure your brand is authentic. (Mari’s Note: AMEN!)

The second speaker of the event was Marci A. Goolsby, MD and she spoke on How to Stay Healthy in a Hard-core World.

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  • Some of the main causes of running injuries are: To much too fast, not enough strength training, people not adjusting their nutrition to support their new fitness regimen.
  • Listen to your body so you can avoid stress fractures.
  • If you do happen to get injured and NEED to take time off, you can always modify your workouts. If you are a runner and cant run, perhaps take up swimming or cycling so you can keep your endurance up.
  • What if you lose your period? Usually the cause of this is being too restrictive with nutrition
  • How do you avoid soreness? Stay mobile. (Mari’s Note: I tell this to all my clients)
  • If you are pregnant and want to workout…rule of thumb is if you were already working out; keep going but modify if needed. If you never worked out before but wish to begin while pregnant, you should definitely start of slow.

The third speaker and can I just say my favorite was Carla Hall from Top Chef and The Chew!

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Carla was so animated and personable and you could feel her passion for her craft. When asked about how she became a chef, Carla basically told us that “there is not picture, there is no path” and how she knew that she loved what she did “The fact that I worked so hard and I didn’t care”. (Mari’s Notes:I can relate to this one when I have to wake up at 4 am to train a client and I am happy!). Below are some of Carla’s cooking secrets:

  • Her Philosophy is to cook with love…”if you are not in a good mood, the only thing you should be making is reservations”.
  • Don’t overthink the technique, change up the spices.
  • When you take out all the fat, you are not satisfied and up eating MORE. You need to find the balance.

I had to get a photo with her!

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(I look like a gnome next to her)

After Carla finished, we broke for lunch and had a chance to go around and meet some of the Sponsors such as Luna Bar, Balance Bar, and Pure Protein! I am always on the go and love to carry bars in my backpack so it was great to get some of these goodies in our swag bag!

BARS

The next two  sponsors that I met  were beauty care companies; Demalogica and Tria Beauty,

Demalogica has been on the shelves since the 80’s and have everything from cleansers, exfoliants, to kits that offer daylight defense.

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I don’t know about you ladies but shaving and waxing are a pain in the bum and now with Tria Beauty, you can do it at home! These products were so great and I loved the designs as well. These might be going on my Christmas wish List!

Tria Beauty

I am a big advocate of CLA so it was great to see Tonalin at the event as well!

You may be wondering what is CLA so here is a little information, Courtesy of Tonalin:

“When you consume fat that your body does not need to use for energy, it is absorbed by fat cells with the help of an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase. CLA blocks this enzyme and diverts unused fat to your muscle cells. The CLA then activates another enzyme which helps your muscle to burn this fat, especially during exercise”

One thing that everyone knows about me is that I LOVE to make smoothies so I was excited to hear about Oster Versa Blender.

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Have you guys heard of Hoka One One? I am ashamed to say that I did not until Thursday and I feel like such a fool! I have to be honest; when I first saw these sneakers, I thought they looked a tad strange and I was skeptical. However, tried them this weekend on a two mile run and absolutely love them! I felt like they were propelling me forward and I felt stronger.

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The final booth that I visited was Eddie Bauer (Mari’s Note: lady at the booth was awesome!). For some reason when I think of Eddie Bauer, I think of preppy clothes (Mari’s Note: I loved wearing it in high school) and honestly didn’t know that they had such nice fitness gear. They were nice to give us a new top which I wore this weekend and even though it was super light, it kept me nice and warm despite it being 50’s and VERY windy.

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Here I am wearing my Hoka One One and Eddie Bauer gear for an early morning run

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After we finished lunch; we sat down for the Panel Discussion “My Digital Brand is My Business”. The panel featured one of my favorite Instagram Yogis Laura Kasperzak (@laurasykora). Laura was joined by Bianca Jade (Mizzfit), and Anne Mauney, RD (fannetasticfood). The ladies gave us some tips and advice which are listed below:

  • (Laura) It is worth it…follow your passion. Keep doing what you are doing and keep being yourself.
  • (Bianca) Find your niche. Don’t copy but be inspired by others. Take ideas from other people and make them work for you and your brand. Help others…your blog shouldn’t just be about YOU. Enroll in classes and learn more about photoshop and editing (Mari’s Note: this one resonated with me and I want to do this). Use the apps that iTunes offers to help you grow your business. Never do something just for the money…if you don’t believe it; don’t feature it.
  • (Anne) Be okay with things evolving on your site as you evolve. If the passion is there, you will succeed!

Sidenote, I was like a giddy school girl when I asked Laura for a photo.

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After the event, we were given a bag of goodies and I was BLOWN away by the generosity of all these companies!

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I want to thank Fitness Magazine, all the amazing Sponsors, the guests, and the Moderators (Betty, Lisa, Pam, and Amanda)! Also, if you get a chance today, go check out Fitness Magazine’s new site…it looks so great (easy to navigate) and they are giving away some free swag.

Here a few more photos of the event…

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Thank you a million times over for the great memories!

Namaste…

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