"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."
I must be ready for a total transformation of body, mind, and spirit because that was the theme of this year's IDEA World Fitness Convention held in sunny Anaheim, California last week. I attended four days of workshops, lectures, and master classes in a variety of modalities, including group fitness, yoga, the business of fitness, and even a mind-body connection presentation by Cheryl Richardson, author of You Can Create an Exceptional Life. Virtually everything I took was absolutely fantastic and the presenters were truly top notch. The Expo with its 600 vendors blew me away. I discovered new types of equipment, classes, foods, and even a certification program for pet personal training! Sounds right up my alley, doesn't it? I left the convention feeling inspired and knowing that I need to cut a few things out of my life in order to focus on fewer areas--less is more. Letting things go can be difficult, but considering that I keep hearing the same "messages" from recent books I've read and now the IDEA convention, the time for me to transform my life is NOW. Because the past is over and the future is always ahead of us. Now is the only time we truly have. I capped off a tremendous week with a trip to Disneyland on a twilight pass. If anyone knows how to do things right to achieve success, it's the Walt Disney Company. I had an epiphany in Cheryl Richardson's presentation and again as I toured the park concerning myself and Disney. I won't share it at this moment, but let's just say it's a humdinger of an epiphany. So what is ONE thing you can do to transform your life? What are you willing to do differently in order to change? Start with one small thing and each week add another small thing. In one year you will have made 52 positive changes--talk about a transformation! So go ahead, become the change you want to see in the world. You can do it and you're worth it!
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Meet Moxie, a 10-13-year old American Staffordshire Terrier and the inspiration for the character of Luna in my newest novel The Weredog Whisperer.
Moxie has arthritis and doesn't walk so well anymore, but swimming is right up her bayou, so to speak. She wears a doggy float vest so that she can swim continuously for thirty minutes at a time without the stress and strain of trying to keep herself buoyant in the water. One of her favorite games is "keep away" with a tennis ball. She'll also "fetch" in the pool and will even tell us when she wants to swim by dropping the tennis ball by the pool steps. Float vest by Outward Hound, purchased at TJ Maxx. The temperature dropped into the 60s the morning of my aquatic workshop: (Developing) Off-the-Wall Theme Classes. As a first-time presenter at the International Aquatic Fitness Conference, I had qualms that everyone would choose to stay in their warm beds at 8:00 am EST instead of brave the chill morning air, but I was pleasantly surprised when fifty participants showed up at the pool for a rousing football game themed class including cheerleading, football drills, and even a half-time show with the marching band and majorettes. The water turned out to out to be warmer than the air, but it was the perfect temp both in and out of the pool. No one was cold once we got started and I didn't have to worry about massive sweat dripping into my eyes (a very real concern when it's hot) or overheating in the sun. Jock Rock tunes accompanied our Tabata drills, football pass-and-dash game, and traveling drills. We shook our pom-poms to popular cheerleading songs--even the guys!--and got wild and crazy with a tunnel as we "Danced to the Music." At half-time we had to "bang our drums" and then marched around the pool conducting the band and playing various instruments. At the end we sang, "Nah Nah Hey Hey, Wave Goodbye" as we high-fived each other after a vigorous "game" of football. My costumes and props included a football helmet, red/white poms, a red/white referee dress that doubled as a cheerleader uniform, a sport's whistle, a bag of footballs, and a baton. After the pool practical, we headed indoors for a brainstorming session on developing themed classes. The attendees came up with many fabulous ideas and song possibilities and we had fun sharing ideas and walking through the creative process together. I had so much fun facilitating this workshop and am looking forward to many more! If you've never been to IAFC, I highly recommend it! For more info, visit www.aeawave.com. I'll be presenting two courses at IAFC (International Aquatic Fitness Convention) this year. I'm super excited about it since teaching and developing other instructors is one of my passions.
I'll be leading an aquatic workshop: Off-the-Wall Theme Classes [developing theme classes] ,and a lecture: The Write Stuff [breaking into fitness publication]. I am honored to join the ranks of the most excellent water fitness presenters in the world at the Innisbrook Resort in Tampa, Florida from May 13-17. IAFC is the premiere water fitness event of the year! For more information, or to register, visit www.aeawave.com. IAFC 2014 is expected to sell out, so don't wait. Forty-four countries participated in Worldwide Aquathon Day today, November 9, from 9 am - Noon. The facility where I teach--The Anniston PARD Aquatic and Fitness Center--was one of the facilities representing the United States this morning. Four instructors--Robin Brothers, Mary Webb, Julie Brown, and myself taught a variety of water fitness modes during the aquathon, including tai chi, bootcamp, aqua dance, and aqua kickboxing. We had a great turnout and tons of fun making a splash around the world. Rose Hartzenberg, a water fitness instructor in South Africa, started the wave that would travel around the world to encompass forty-four nations. Planning began this past summer and culminated today. Some of the countries involved: South Africa, Australia, Great Britain, Portugal, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Russia, the Netherlands, Norway, Malaysia, Hungary, the Ukraine, and Korea... Slide show and instructor gallery below... [pictured above: Susan Abel Sullivan & Vicky Smith] This morning I blogged about True Wonder Women in my Zumba classes on my author website. http://susanabelsullivan.weebly.com/blog.html Fighting the Battle of the Bulge one class and one pound at a time... The Aquatic Exercise Association recommends a water depth between navel to nipple, but actually there are quite a few factors to consider when deciding how deep or shallow you should go. Here are a few suggestions to optimize your water workout...
* Work in deeper water for Level I or Rebounding movements to cushion weight-bearing joints and to increase your buoyancy so that your jumps are buoyancy assisted. I've had both of my hips replaced even though I'm young and for me, rebounding at a collarbone depth feels optimal. If you tend to carry extra body fat, working deeper may make you too buoyant. Experiment to see what water depth feels the best without undue impact. * Work in shallower water for grounded or anchored movements so that gravity will help anchor you and allow you to increase the drag forces on your limbs from being stabilized. Ditto for water walking variations and faster skipping variations. If you're too deep, you'll float more, but find yourself unable to move quickly or get much traction on the pool bottom. * Traveling moves using large Level I or Rebounding movements is best done at a nipple depth. Since you're moving from one end of the pool to the other, as well and up and down, this depth allows some buoyancy assistance but lets you get some traction to travel forward, backwards or sideways. * For Level II or Neutral moves, you're supposed to sink down to your collarbone, but if you're too shallow when you sink, you may hurt your knees from being too hunched or in the case of a hip replacement, feel like you're going to dislocate a hip from too much hip flexion. Again, experiment to find the optimal working depth for Level II moves. * Stretching works well at waist depth. Some stretches like the calf stretch and hip flexor stretch are difficult to perform if you're too deep because your body will want to float up off the pool bottom. * And finally, it's okay to change your water depth throughout a class. Different moves require different optimal depths. Let go of any territoriality (that's my spot!) and move around the pool from nipple to navel to collarbone depth. |
AuthorLover of dance, dance-fitness and aquatic fitness. Archives
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