Fitness Professionals to Know - Patrick Goudeau

There are a ton of fitness professionals out there - and the elite few master presenters who help us when we need to be inspired, gain a new insight or just get to get your own great workout. Patrick Goudeau is one of those master trainers i've been fortunate to meet myself. what i like about him is he's not only a great guy in person, he's an excellent instructor in a variety of formats and i believe can even be found "on demand" on tv. some places you can find patrick and get a few free tips/tricks is:

• at his website
• on his blog
• twitter
• facebook
• you can find a lot of youtube clips on PG

i'll try to post info about lots of different fitness professionals, so if you ever get a chance to go to a MANIA or IDEA or other huge fitness conference where they might be, you'll have a better idea who they are!

http://turnstep.com/

since even before i started teaching, www.turnstep.com has been a source for instructors to share choreography for not just step, but also hi/lo, boot camp, cycle, kickboxing, etc etc etc. it has it's pros and cons, but is still something to always keep bookmarked

PROS:

• has a library of all step moves and what they are called. this is important, because then a participant can go anywhere in the world and take a step class because the V step will always look like a V step and a turn step will always look like a turn step. so...know what step moves are called so if you ever have to teach a class, your participants can follow you with ease
• has a huge variety of class formats to pick and choose from
• is still being updated - maybe not as often, but considering it's been around for longer than 20 years (and you can tell by the way the design hasn't changed in over that long!) that's pretty amazing.
• do you have a fave combo you want to share? you CAN!

CONS:

• sometimes, the way people write their choreography is UNCLEAR and just a OMG??? moment. so...you cannot expect to just write some choreo down and think you can teach it in the next 30 min. you really do have to practice it to make sure it's appropriate, flows correctly and is understandable
• personally i wish the creators would have kept up with it more and progressed it to include not only step moves, but moves and examples in other formats. and i wish they would have changed the color of the page years ago as well...but it's functional!

Fitness Music Companies - and my opinions

Ok...so you think you want to purchase your own music, but not sure of where all you can go for appropriate music. Here's some links to companies i have used in the past along with my own opinions of each company.

power music - they were one of the first - i have stuff from power music from when i first started teaching - in cassette format! not original artists, and for a while, i couldn't handle their music because it wasn't even close, but they're getting better in making the music sound more like the original. i'm not especially fond of how they compile their music - i haven't found much lately that really draw me in, but that could just be me!

dynamix music - another first - i think they've gotten better quicker at making sound more real and have a better variety of all types of music. i am especially liking their top ten (at 45 now). we have 41 and 42 in our library and i LOVE them. i like how they usually come out with 2 at a time and one might be more top 100/pop and the other is more dance/club. - and they're promoting that in the near future, you will be able to pick your own favorite songs and have them turned into a fitness CD, so we'll see how quickly that comes about!

multitrax - one of my absolute faves. they're out of the UK and have original artists. there was some issue with them selling in the US, and I used to have to go through all kinds of loops to acquire them, but now it's a lot easier with an online system. my personal fave is to wait until they come out at the end of the year with a 3-CD Annual for either Step or Hi/Lo. That way, I get 3 CDs for the price of 2 - and the 3 CDs are organized where one is more "club", another is more "chart" and the other is more "pop" (i think that's how they categorize them!).

yes fitness - a newer company - also promoting that in the near future, you will be able to pick your own favorite songs and have them turned into a fitness CD, so we'll see how quickly that comes about! they have free music downloads - i've downloaded them and have them in our library. not my favorite company so far, but will keep my eyes and ears open to see what they keep producing. I have purchased a mashup mania 4 that i think is pretty fun and it's in our library for you as well.

move-ya - out of germany, with original artists - this site will sometimes rock my socks off, but it's very european, and doesn't always have a lot of what our audience will enjoy. it's more dance/club and most of the music is compiled and promoted by master presenters from around the world. checking out this site helped me discover that step was trying to progress into 3/4 step, which hasn't seemed to win over many people, but it's progressive. i tend to find one or two songs i really really like and try to find them elsewhere to use on cycle playlists.

i wear adidas, but love me some NIKE WOMEN

nike women brings it on. they have a great website, a great youtube site and an active facebook account to inspire and challenge you (yes...it's also their way to get you to buy the pretty merchandise - BUT the amount of free stuff they put out there is quite good i think. i also think it's amazing that they're showing strong, athletic women - it's focused on women. for women. AND they are constantly changing their website - so check it frequently or you might just miss something cool.

some of the cool stuff they've done in the past and present - free music downloads, video clips, dance choreography, phone apps, training programs, opps to highlight you, contests, etc.

EXRX dot NET

Check out this website. Good to help you remember the difference between your quads and hamstrings :) and, they have a cool picture of the body where if you click on a body part, it will take you to that muscle, show you what it looks like, what it's called, and what exercises work that muscle. they also have LOTS of small video clips that show you how to do the exercise and give you a description on how to do the exercise safely.

Their description of themselves: ExRx.net (Exercise Prescription on the Net) is a free resource for the exercise professional, coach, or fitness enthusiast featuring comprehensive exercise libraries (>1300 exercises), fitness assessment calculators, and reference articles.

Healthy Weight Week - 1/16 - 1/22

Just saw this (supposedly it's been every year for the past 18 or so...!). The website needs a fresh look (IMO), but has some good information that I think we all know as fitness professionals, but sometimes need reminding. Main point: celebrate healthy diet-free living habits that last a lifetime and prevent eating and weight problems.

The Challenge
To celebrate Healthy Weight Week, Frances Berg has issued a personal challenge that includes ten healthy living habits. The challenge calls participants to choose two or three activities from the list to carry through the week, at a comfortable level. The aim is to continue the initial activities and gradually adding others as the year goes on.  The list briffly includes the following below. A more descriptive look can be found at the website:

1. Stop dieting.
2. Be active in your own way every day.
3. Identify and build on your own special talents, traits and interests.
4. Feel good about others. Expect and extend respect, tolerance and acceptance.
5. Promote good relationships and communication with family, friends and acquaintances.
6. Rediscover normal eating
7. Eat well. Include all five food groups every day: bread and grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and dairy, meat and alternates. Choose balance, variety and moderation. All foods can fit.  
8. Relax and relieve stress in your life.
9. Respect and appreciate size diversity.    
10. You may choose to make a personal contract and give yourself a reward at the end of each week.

DJ EARWORM - new stuff

I know I told many of you about DJ Earworm last year and I've heard his stuff in our studios - which is awesome because some of his stuff rocks. He just posted a new one with a mash-up of 2010 Top 25.
He can be found on FB and online at his website where you can download his music for FREE. We all like that word in front of our other favorite word, MUSIC. FREE MUSIC! yay!

thank you Kim B for the update on his newest

nutrition/exercise websites

here are a couple of websites i think are pretty cool that help track nutrition and exercise - and they're free to use!

Sparkpeople.com

CalorieCount.com

Both really are quite comprehensive and have an extensive food library if you like to track food/calories, but still have the options to enter in a food not listed. They also have ways to be involved with other members in a very non-intrusive manner. They also try to send out fun/useful information regarding health/wellness/nutrition/exercise/etc. Anything from current studies and their results to tips on how to do different exercises.

iTunes Ping - playlist ideas from Julz Arney

If you have iTunes and like creating your own playlists, I know it gets difficult always trying to come up with fresh new ideas. But, if you check out Ping on iTunes and search for Julz Arney, she's posting her playlists fairly regularly. Check out her website too - she even posts playlists and choreography here. I met Julz this last August at a fitness conference and took a spin class with her. Quite spectacular and energizing. She's not just a spin instructor but also teaches Yoga, Dance, Step and basically everything it seems.

In-Service - 1/8/11

thanks to everyone who could make it to the in-service on 1/8/11. I wanted to share my playlist and if anyone wants a copy - let me know HERE by leaving a comment. Also, if anyone needs a copy of the choreography, let me know or if you need reminders of what my choreography means, I can do that as well.

I am working on making short video clips of some of the exercises and posting them here, so if there's something in particular that you want me to demo, leave a comment!

DJ Got Us Falling in Love - Usher ft. Pitbull
Bon Bon - Pitbull
Yeah 3x - Chris Brown
Whip My Hair - Willow Smith
Light Up the Night - Black Eyed Peas
Sing Sing Sing 2010 - Jazzbit
Why Don't You - Gramophonedzie
The Time (Dirty Bit) - Black Eyed Peas
Only Girl in the World - Rihanna
Stereo Love - Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina

A GREAT way to promote yourself?!!! YOUR FIT GURU . COM

OK....so....when do you finally get swamped with too many websites and ways to promote yourself? Well, here's another one for you. It's a FREE website builder where you can control your classes and your profile and add pictures, announcements, etc. You can check out my profile LeighD - it's not complete, but it's started up so you can see what this is all about.

I've added the website to my FB profile page and would easily LOVE to add any of yours to the fan page (if you decided to create one)

Supposed to work for personal trainers as well.

HAVE FUN!

dance trance - info charlotte nix found in southern living magazine

 

Charlotte N showed me an article in Southern Living today about Dance Trance. Seems like hi/lo reinvented with a cool name to me, but something fun to know about.

It's the date to promote cool apps

 

Tempo Magic Pro - a great app if you use an iPhone or iTouch and have your absolute fave CD imported that's normally 135 and you'd like to it to be at 128 - this will do the trick! Here's a review on the app. It's not free, right at $5. Something to def check out! Found at iTunes.

To Inspire and Share

Happy 2011 GX instructors. I want this to be a place to share information, choreography, ideas and cool stuff to incorporate into your classes or just into your own workouts. We'll get started with a fun little free app that I've started playing with on my new phone: NTC (Nike Training Club). It has a ton of workouts that it will guide you through with images, video and "rewards" when you meet different goals. From beginner to advanced levels, you don't need a lot of equipment if any at all.