IDEA World Les Mills Summer Games Recap! 2014

August 22, 2014 -
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Hey all! How are you!?

Before we get to today’s post, thank you everyone who entered the NOW Foods Giveaway! The lucky winner is, Julie @ RDelicious Kitchen! You’re going to love those stevias girl! Thank you to NOW foods!

Currently in Cape Cod with my girls Heather & Katie for the first ever, GLOW RETREAT!

 

This weekend is going to be epic. We can’t wait to meet everyone!

Crazy to think how just a few days ago I was in California & now I’m across the country! For day THREE of BlogFest we were able to have access to the IDEA Fitness World Convention. I was chosen through FitFluential to compete in the Les Mills IDEA Summer Games so Saturday consisted of checking out the sessions!

The following post is sponsored by FitFluential LLC on behalf of Les Mills but as always, all opinions are my own! #betruetoyou

Thank you Katy for the post workout pic!

I was pumped to see the Strength & Conditioning Circuit session earlier in the day & take notes on everything. I’m always up for learning more and truly think that the great Teachers are the best students.

If you have yet to hear about the Les Mills Summer Games – here is a bit of info from Les Mills Grit. “The Les Mills GRIT™ series is quickly becoming the most popular small-team training offering in the country, using high-intensity interval training to transform participants’ fitness levels with short but intense bursts of work. The Les Mills GRIT™ Games Competition was designed by the exercise science team at Les Mills to test the athleticism of participants in three key areas: strength, cardio and plyometrics. Come battle it out on the outdoor Grand Plaza for the chance to earn bragging rights and amazing prizes!”

They went over a bunch of cool stretch band warm ups and how we could utilize them in our training. They also went over different types of strength training like front squats, back squats, rows, & push press and how you can pair the moves together to target strength & conditioning at the same time.

I took a bunch of notes on how to incorporate different strength/conditioning movements into one workout. Great ideas! A few hours later was the first ever IDEA Les Mills Grit Summer Games competition that I competed in & made new friends for teammates.

My girl Tasha was my photographer for the session which is like a bloggers dream, right? Having someone who has the same vision for some legit pictures is always a plus.

We hung to the side as they went over our competition rules & moves. The workout for everyone consisted of:

45 seconds with a 15 second break as you move to the next station in front of you.

  • Push Press
  • Front Squats
  • Bent Over Row
  • Box Jump Overs (side to side)
  • Burpee Bench Jump
  • Plyo Push Up On Benches
  • High Knees
  • Burpee With Clap Behind Your Head (for full rep to count)
Each exercise was 45 seconds and honestly, if you put all of your effort into each move, that 45 seconds was tough – in a good way! I like this kind of training style to work strength & conditioning at the same time, especially for when I coach my athletes.
Now, I agree with my girl Katy (who also competed throughout the day on behalf of FitFluential & Les Mills Grit), that in this situation with almost 75ish or so people competing and your team being your ref for reps, some of the form would lack due to trying to complete the reps so quickly. As with Katy, I am a Fitness Professional & take my job very seriously when I work with clients & athletes. I am sure in a small group training session with a smaller amount of people & an instructor watching form, their would be more cohesiveness throughout the movements.
It seemed to me that most people competing had a great understanding of the mind muscle connection & were able to keep form consistent. I definitely concentrated on myself & my team to make sure we were encouraging one another & watching form as well!
We started with a warm up & my body was already feelin it – I was a bit tired but once we got started I was pumped! The athlete side tends to come flying out once in a while ;] Then we moved through the stations with our teams & kept reps of each movement for each other.
Push Press
Mid Front Squat
Bent Over Row (you could choose your grip & and I went with underhand since my shoulders were a little taxed, I wanted to recruit my biceps to help this movement).
Hop Overs
Plyo Push Ups were next. (You could choose to do them from your knees as you walked your hands down, touched chest to bench, then pushed yourself up from that position to the top of the bench.)
Burpees! Hiyo!
I liked the clapping behind your head because it made me work on coming all of the way up to the top before back to the down part of the burpee.
Calculated our scores after & then top 3 women & top 3 men made it to the final! My team did amazing & I was so happy to make some new friends that were positive & full of energy.
Got to see Katy & Julie after – definitely an opp for a sweaty pic.
All in all, I really enjoyed the Les Mills Grit Games at IDEA & I think they were a great addition for some friendly competition amongst the attendees!
Have you ever tried Les Mills classes? We offer them at the fitness center I work at and I have taken Body Pump before and thought it was great!
I’m off to finish our Glow Retreat Prep for the start TONIGHT!! Woo!
Have a great Friday guys!
Be true to you,
xo Kasey
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