By Region 5 staff rep Riese Stuber
During the August 15-16 weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the CanFitPro Fitness Expo in Toronto at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. As a nutrition and fitness enthusiast, I love this expo. This is a great opportunity to learn more about fitness and nutrition, meet people with shared interests, and try new things. Everyone who attends is interested in their health so it’s a great atmosphere for learning and development.
Not only did I attend the expo, I had the opportunity to volunteer to get free admission. I loved volunteering with the expo, as I got to learn more about the event and meet like minded people who are passionate about fitness and nutrition. Not only that, but I was able to use my experience helping with registration for OPSEU events to help at the registration desk!
One of the big draws of the expo is to be able to attend the Les Mills Live Experience. Les Mills is a world leader in all types of group fitness classes, from weight training to pilates to martial arts fitness. As a fitness instructor specialist in training, I love going and trying all their new workouts. This year was no exception, as the Les Mills international presenters and Canadian pro presenters led us through innovative and fun workouts, from dance fitness to spinning, from step aerobics to yoga.
The Trade Show is a big draw to the event. You get to try new workouts on their activity stage, listen to presenters talk about the newest and greatest in health and fitness, and try all sorts of new foods and supplements. People who know me know that I love a yummy snack and there were lots of snacks to try. There are all sorts of innovative products to see and programs to learn about. As well, if you’re into powerlifting and bodybuilding, there are competitions you can watch at the trade show that provide a lot of insight into these sports.
The last big draw of the expo is the excellent panels. There are all sorts of topics out for discussion, including nutrition, workout demos, and improving your spin and weight lifting fitness. I had the pleasure of attending a panel on DEI and the fitness industry, which is an emerging conversation in the fitness world. We had excellent discussion and were led by knowledgeable and experienced panelists. It’s great that these discussions are happening in the fitness world and I hope that we will continue to have these important discussions.
I encourage everyone to attend the Canfit Pro Expo, as it’s a great opportunity to learn more about fitness, and more importantly, learn more about yourself and what you like. It can be hard to keep up with your wellness with our busy work, our daily lives, and all our commitments. It’s important for all of us to fuel our bodies well and move our bodies in a way that feels good to us so we can do all the things we need to do and feel good.
I hope to see more OPSSU members in attendance next year!