Ireland’s Fitness Party 2014

Ireland’s Fitness Party 2014 was one of the Health and Fitness events of the year in Dublin. It was organised by the Profi Fitness School .  It was a four day event (24-27 October, 2014) running through the bank holiday weekend. On Friday it was held in Goldstone Fitness in Dublin 12 and from Saturday to Monday it was held in St. Catherine’s Sports Centre in Dublin 8.  It featured great international instructors like Edyta Bartejczuk-Wolak, Kacper Wojcik, Luis Barbudo, Kasia Gasiarowska, Erle Liivak, Luciano Mottola, Heather Gordon, Nadia D'limi and Troy Dureh, just to name a few. The first day was all dedicated to cycling classes and a 2 hour marathon but unfortunately I wasn’t able to go. I did go to the last three days and they were great, full of different classes to try out (rip:60, dance classes, step classes, CrossFit, Reggaeton, circuit classes, H.I.I.T., pump and tone, fight club, different styles of pilates and yoga classes amongst others)

Me at Ireland's Fitness Party 2014

This event also introduced some different new trends in Fitness such as Piloxing (fusion of pilates, dance and boxing), KONGA, crazy jumping (a very fun class on the trampoline).

There was a variety of Exhibitors such as Dublin Holistic Centre, Fitness by Olena, Feel Joy Fitness & Dance Clothing, Smovey, XBody Ireland Ltd. (which really caught my attention as I got to try on the equipment and it is quite a challenging method of exercise using electric muscle stimulation).

There were more than 20 workshops about all things Health & Fitness. My favourites were Dawid Geler lecturing on Bodybuilding and also Oto Winkler’s Advanced Nutrition lecture. I found those workshops very inspiring and they gave me plenty of tips as a Fitness Instructor and Personal Trainer.

                No matter what age you were, as a Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer trying to get more ideas or to collect CPD or simply a Fitness enthusiast, you would definitely have found something of interest at this Fitness event. I had great fun there and I am already looking forward to their next event! 

Vinyasa Flow Yoga Weekend with Claire Missingham

Me and Claire Missingham

I have always loved Yoga and I first got to know Claire Missingham when her DVDs were shown on TV. Needless to say I became a fan of her Yoga classes.  She is a very talented Yoga teacher based in London who has her own Yoga Teacher Training for those that want to become a Yoga teacher.  Two years later, to my surprise, while I was browsing the internet I found out she was coming to Dublin for a weekend in June to teach Yoga workshops. I couldn’t resist and booked myself a place.

It was all organized by My Yoga Body Studio, a charming sea-view Yoga studio located in a beautiful part of Dun Laoghaire. Both workshops ran for two hours and a half and I couldn’t believe how time flew by! It was such a fun weekend and Claire couldn’t be a better presenter. She is not only a great inspiring teacher who was so nice, kind and open to talk to everybody present, but she also has a great sense of humour making yoga even more joyful.

The first one, called “Sweet and Steady Vinyasa Flow”, involved Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation) sequences, standing and balance asanas used in a fun and precise flow as in a choreography, counterposes, handstands as well as a relaxation part at the end. The second workshop, called “Get Down: Opening Hamstrings and Hips to Balance the Lower Three Chakras”, concentrated on the lower body and also core strength working on the lower three chakras with deep hip openers and reclined asanas among many other yoga positions.

I went to both workshops and I still can’t decide which one I preferred. This was an amazing and fun weekend that made me realise how much I miss having a regular Yoga practice. Many thanks to Claire Missingham for coming to Dublin to deliver such beautiful workshops and to My Yoga Body Studio team for making it happen. I hope there will be many more events like this one in Ireland. If you have the opportunity, don’t miss the chance to go to Claire Missingham’s workshops. I guarantee you will love them. For more information, check Claire’s website.