Category — Certification

Update! I will NOT be attending DCAC this year. If you are going to be there, have fun!

I’ve been researching various workshops and conferences to attend before the end of next year, and I wanted to share the fruits of my labor. I’ve decided to attend the DCAC Fitness Convention in Alexandria, VA August 4-8, 2010. I’ve not been to DCAC before, so this will be interesting. The last conference I attended was Florida MANIA, which did not earn me any STAR Points for Spinning. But at DCAC I’ll be getting NASM, AFAA and Spinning CEU’s, so it is one-stop shopping for me!

If you are interested in DCAC, it will be in Alexandria, VA August 4-8. If you want to know more about DCAC or other major conferences, here is a compilation of what I considered before deciding to go to DC this year!

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I just wanted to share a resource that I discovered in my inbox this afternoon. It seems that IDEA Health and Fitness Association is offering what they call IDEA Certificate Programs.  It’s a new program that provides access to workshops with some of their elite presenters via the internet. After progressing through this material (8 hours worth!) there is a test and you receive a certificate of completion from IDEA. I find this idea attractive for a variety of reasons:

1. Attending major conferences is a big pain for me, not just because of the cost and taking the time off work, but I am a terrible traveler. If I have to get on a plane, count me out. This type of offering gives me access to the presenters I’m missing by not heading out to these events.
2. The cost ($129 for non-members) is a pretty good deal for the number of CECs/CEUs that can be earned by completing the course. Who doesn’t want to save on CEUs?
3. I can absorb these workshops on my schedule and take time to work through the concepts, rewind to catch the things I might miss. This is a great benefit! When you attend a conference, you tend to get mental overload from all of the sessions and information presented. This way, I can learn it instead of just get glazed over by it.

There is a downside. I notice that AFAA is not among the listed CEUs available for this course. I have no doubt that I could petition for them, but that would be an extra $30 or so. If you are certified with AFAA, as I am or through another not-listed program, you will also have this headache.

Check it out and let me know what you think of the concept. I plan to register and give it whirl. I’ll let you know how it goes when I am done!

So you love your Spinning® class and want to become a teacher. Good for you! Now, how do you do that? The process is surprisingly simple.
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If you arrived here because you got my website from the Spinning workshop in Mount Pleasant this week, then you might want to know that I wrote one of the useful websites on the wall incorrectly. It should be: IndoorCycleInstructor.com…..

If you weren’t in my class this Sunday, you can still benefit from the incredible wealth of information at IndoorCycleInstructor.com. Great podcasts, incredible knowledge and all around useful stuff, so take a look!

AFAA APEX is coming up! Dates are February 12, 13, 14 2010. Here are the cities:

Atlanta, GA
Boston, MA
Charleston, SC
Chicago, IL
Columbia, SC
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Ft. Lauderdale / South FL
Kansas City, KS
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Nashville, TN
New York, NY
Orlando, FL
Phoenix, AZ
Raleigh, NC / Chapel Hill
Richmond, VA
Sacramento, CA
San Antonio, TX
San Jose, CA / Bay Area
Washington, D.C. Maryland

They have a couple of early-bird specials posted on the site — if you register before December 31, 2009, you can get discounts on training materials and some of their other courses. See you in Charleston!

AFAA APEX

When I first heard of Johnny G’s new creation, the Krankcycle, I had what I’ve learned is the typical response: “Spinning with your arms?  Who’s going to do that?”  That was a year ago.  I should have known that with a man like Johnny G attached to it, the Krankcycle would once again revolutionize the fitness industry, just as Spinning changed the way we think about fitness nearly 15 years ago. 

Independent Crank Arms of a Krankcycle, image from krankcycle.com

I have the awesome privilege to be on the sub list at EcoFitness, which was selected to be a beta site for Johnny’s krankcycles in 2007.   Even seeing the first Krankcycle models in action didn’t have me completely sold, because of all of the preconceived notions I had.  It is gorgeous and sexy compared to those horrible UBE machines that used to sit in the corner of my mom’s old gym, but I still assumed they were equivalents.  I was fully invested in the notion that you must use your legs in order to acheive any type of cardio benefit.  And I was a little afraid of change…

But then I was invited to participate in the certification workshop for teaching Krankcycling and in one day Jim Karanas, the CEO and Head of Education and Training for the Krankcycling College of Knowledge not only taught me something new and amazing about the potential of my body, he opened my eyes to a much needed and impeding change to the industry — Inclusive Fitness.  To say that what is coming is transformative and incredible is, in my mind, putting it lightly.  There are some other aspects of the training that I probably would not have been so receptive to had I not already found the deeper, philosophical side of Spinning; however, it is a shift in thinking that I believe is needed in our industry overall.  I’m interested to see if Kranking can bring the mind-body connection to the forefront of group fitness.

The Johnny G Krankcycle by Matrix. Image from krankcycle.com.

To attempt to share with you all that I learned yesterday would be impossible, but I encourage you to start looking at Kranking.  Take a look at their website and explore the College of Knowledge.  And check back here from time to time.  Not only did I learn some incredible stuff yesterday, I felt the flame of passion about fitness reignited!  I cannot wait to share more with you as I learn more about Kranking (through 150-hours of practice!), so stay tuned…