BlogFest Workouts: Mega Circuit, Frog Fitness, Natalie Jill

While BlogFest sessions helped bloggers up their blogging game (particularly when it comes to creating e-courses, thanks to Sadie Nardini; filming video content, courtesy of Gigi Ashworth; and dealing with Google Analytics, presented by Kristine Beatty) as well as their life-game, the conference also included some great BlogFest workouts.

BlogFest kicked off with an unofficial workout: a 5K run with Marathon Kids. Running with SD Mom and Runny Legs headed up the group, and I struggled to keep up with Jamie King Fit, who had a baby less than three months before and was flying. Oh my gosh, I had such a blast with all the ladies that showed up! I was smiling almost the whole time. Another group went to SoulCycle after, but I hadn’t signed up. I went foraging for food instead.

Thursday BlogFest Workouts: Fit Bodies, Mega Circuit

Thursday morning kicked off with Fit Bodies, Inc.‘s beach workout, held in one of the Hyatt conference rooms. Fit Bodies gives fitness instructors the opportunity to travel on the cheap in exchange for teaching classes at resorts. The workout demonstrated on Thursday morning uses coconuts – yes, coconuts! – for some of the movements. I was feeling CrossFit withdrawal, so I missed the workout to get my WOD on at CrossFit Invictus. However, check out what my Sweat Pink tribe has to say about the coconut-themed workout:

• BlogFest (The Best-Kept Secret at the IDEA World Convention) by Lea Genders Fitness
• #IDEAWorld2018: My Journey of Learning, Lifts, and Laughs by LiveFunFit
• SweatPink and BlogFest: Finding Your Tribe by Sprinkles and Situps

It sounded like a lot of fun!

Thursday afternoon, BlogFest attendees headed down to the IDEA World expo hall for the second of the BlogFest workouts, the IDEA World Mega Circuit. In a nutshell, this circuit has about 20 stations, but you only get an hour in the arena and spend six minutes at each station, plus there’s transition time, so I think I got to try out a total of seven stations. My favorites were:

• The Spartan Strong pancake. I liked this station because all it required was a 10-pound “pancake” filled with sand and your wits. The trainer paired us up, and then we played around, tossing the pancake and reacting quickly when the trainer told us to grab it.
• The Water Rower GX. Seargent Ken barked at us (me in particular), and yes, a rower was involved. But I’m familiar with rowing machines, and I liked the challenge of trying to hit my meters goal with a partner and coach a partner through the “legs, arms, arms, legs” progression.
• The station with the punching bag/stand that included spots to use force from my knees. I can’t remember who sponsored it, and I also can’t find the circuit map. But I loved this piece of equipment.

Friday BlogFest Workouts: Full Frog Body Slam, Natalie Jill

Frog Fitness sponsored the Friday morning BlogFest workout, the Full Frog Body Slam. The Frog is billed as a total body resistance and aerobic trainer. It’s hard to describe the contraption, so here’s a photo:

Basically, you look like a frog on it. It uses resistance bands for the strength portion of it, and you can lock the wheels or take them off altogether for different exercises, like squats. I liked that it got my heart rate up doing a circuit of pushing my legs back, using both my legs and arms, and then using just my arms. However, since my legs are much stronger than my arms, I would have liked more of a variation in resistance for leg exercises. Also, getting into the Frog standing up for back squats is a little awkward, so I was playing with front squats. It really forces you to tighten your core! While I couldn’t see myself falling in love with the Frog, it does look like a great piece of equipment if you want resistance training and cardio at the same time.

On Friday afternoon, TriggerPoint sponsored the BlogFest workout with Natalie Jill. (I know, two BlogFest workouts a day! I was in heaven!). TriggerPoint makes the Original GRID® Foam Roller, which I basically consider the gold standard for foam rollers.  If you don’t have one, you need one, because foam rolling is critical for soothing sore muscles and enhancing mobility. (BlogFest attendees also received the TriggerPoint MobiPoint Massage Ball, which is great for rolling out sore arches. I keep mine under my office desk and roll out while I’m writing. In fact, I’m doing it now.)

First, a TriggerPoint trainer took us through a foam rolling warm-up to loosen up our muscles. Then, Natalie Jill put on the burn! She guided us through a 30-minute bodyweight circuit that had my core begging for mercy. It’s really easy to blow off bodyweight training as ineffective, but when you’re doing dead bugs and bird dogs, you really get into your core muscles. I loved it, and Natalie Jill is a sweetheart.

It was great to step out of my comfort zone and try new workouts. I can see myself incorporating some of Natalie Jill’s core moves into my accessory work, and of course, I’m going to continue spending a lot of time on my trusty foam roller.

Did you do the BlogFest workouts this year? If you didn’t go, what would you like to try?

This post contains affiliate links, which means if you purchase from those links, I make a small commission that goes toward hosting fees.