In the pre-Covid times, I would head out at the end of each summer for an annual trip to the IDEA World fitness convention to meet up with fitness friends and earn the continuing education credits I need to renew my trainer certifications. It was always fun, but the world changed, and canceled events led me to explore other ways of continuing education.
A friend told me about a smaller convention holding an in-person convention locally, SCW Dallas Mania Fitness Pro Convention. I was drawn to it because I would save a lot of money in travel costs by driving from Fort Worth and sleeping in my bed every night. Apparently, they have been doing these in Dallas for 20 years! Where have I been? —Oh yeah, spending thousands to travel out to the west coast!
I signed up as a staff assistant for a reduced rate in exchange for helping with the conference expo booth. Even as a self-proclaimed introvert, I know these things are much more fun when you're with people rather than going alone. I chose my staff assignment because it connected me with many fun fitness people. My responsibilities included selling clothing and equipment, assisting with merchandising, setting up, tearing down, and inventory, all done between my educational sessions.
I took sessions on nutrition, sleep/recovery, social media, hormones, healthy-aging fitness, program design, fitness business, and functional training with foam rollers for postural assessments and corrective exercises.
Steal My SCW 2022 Dallas Mania Notes
It was a whirlwind of a weekend, and I took as many notes as possible (in my trusty Rocketbook). Still, it would have been impossible to note everything, especially during the workshop-style classes where I actively worked out, so I am highlighting some of the big takeaways that I think will help you!
SLEEP FOR ATHLETES
Sleep is one of the most important factors in recovery from exercise. Optimal recovery = optimal sleep. The more intensity or volume you add to your training, the more sleep you need. If an average sedentary person needs seven hours to function optimally, an athlete needs more because they ask more from their body.
“adaptation breeds results”
If you don't recover, you don't adapt and improve.
Training stimulus adds stress.
Fatigue -> Adapt -> Recover
Leads to super compensation = get better/improve
““over-training is more likely under-recovering””
Without recovery, you end up worse than you started with recovery debt. If you don't see improvements or results from your training, lack of recovery may be to blame.
Stress is not all bad, as long as you are recovering. Exercise is a stress, but sometimes so are work, relationships, family dynamics, and life circumstances.
Your body prioritizes energy, and there’s only so much:
Keeping you alive is the priority
Dealing with stress, then
Improving fitness
Stress (no matter what type) adds to the system load, and more exercise is not always better. Too much high-intensity exercise, life stress, and poor sleep habits lead to insufficient recovery, which leaves results on the table.
Main takeaway: While athletes spend a lot of money on recovery compression, sauna, cryotherapy, etc., the best (and free) recovery tool is improving the quality and quantity of your sleep. If you don't recover, you don't improve.
CORTISOL CONTROL FOR THE AGING-ATHLETE
Chronically elevated cortisol (stress hormone) causes catabolism (muscle tissue breakdown) and the inability to overcome recovery periods.
As we age, building and maintaining muscle becomes even more critical, but older athletes often require extended recovery periods compared to their younger counterparts.
Keep moderate to intense exercise under 75 minutes a day. It may help some people to get their intense activity completed earlier in the day. Use evening workouts for stretching, Yoga, or other low-intensity exercises.
Choose activities you enjoy versus activities only focused on calorie burn or fat loss; try different strengthening exercises. Focus on strength building, health, and longevity instead of hyper-focusing on weight loss or goal achievement.
Extreme dieting or worrying about weight loss (or lack thereof) can raise cortisol and impact results due to the hormonal impact of stress.
High-intensity cardio intervals for aging athletes should consider fully recovering between work periods (rather than pre-timed intervals such as 30 seconds or 1 minute). For example, one-minute hard effort, recover until heart-rate returns to near normal and repeat five-eight times, often called Fartlek training. Once or twice a week is sufficient for most athletes.
Manage life stress with journaling, positive relationships, reading, meditation, prayer, or other relaxing activities.
Main takeaway: Athletes (of all ages) need to be aware of the impact of elevated cortisol on their health and fitness and take steps to reduce sustained stress. Normal stress goes up and down, but chronically high cortisol will impact results. Your exercise choices, nutrition, life stress, and habits all play a role.
Functional Fitness with Foam Rollers
My favorite weekend class was one with foam rollers, and we didn't do any traditional myofascial release. We used foam rollers for postural assessments, mobility, corrective exercise, and strength training. One example of each:
Postural assessments
Perform overhead squat assessment: Look for: knees collapsing, feet collapsing, raised heels, arched back, forward arms, and forward lean.
Strength training
Doing push-ups with hands elevated on the foam roller for an unstable surface. I recreated this one at home since I didn’t get a video at the convention.
Mobility/corrective exercise
Lay on a long foam roller along your spine with your head supported, your knees bent, and your arms straight out to the side, making a t.
Lift one leg at a time while pushing low back into the roller, 6-8 on each side
Main takeaway: We don't need a lot of equipment to build a strong foundation, good posture, and baseline strength.
I had a great time and earned the continuing education credits that I will need to renew my fitness certifications next year. Even though I entered my staff assistant position with some hesitation, it turned out great.
The best way to learn is to teach, so even if this wasn't all brand new information for me, it helps me to absorb it by typing it all out to explain it to you! Blogging my convention notes allows me to process them more meaningfully and impactfully! So thank you for reading; I hope you learned something you can immediately implement in your training or lifestyle.
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Questions? I’d love to help.
