Singapore – a great but expensive conference venue
As part of our other lives Rachael and I regularly attend international conferences in some interesting places. However rather than being a glamorous activity, living in a conference hotel, eating buffets and spending the day stood on an exhibition stand networking is not conducive to feeling fit and healthy. So when we book the hotel we are always keen to have access to a good gym facility and perhaps a pool, promising ourselves that this time it will be different and somehow we will find that hour or two each day to take a break and work up a sweat.
So we have just spent 4 days in Singapore presenting and exhibiting at the 2015 World Confederation for Physical Therapy Congress and used our BeFitApps programmes to squeeze a little piece of physical training into our days. Our familiarity with the BeFitApps exercise routines means we can grab a few minutes either in the hotel gym or even in our hotel room and go through a series of warm-up and core exercises, finishing off with a quick stretch before showering and donning smart outfits to go into action with the delegates. Its difficult to be disciplined and fit this mini-workout in, but when I do find time, my conference work performance definitely seems to improve. I find myself more switched on and energised ready to embark on hours of conversation, discussion, deep thought and of course handing out leaflets!
Some of my favourite exercises in these mini-workouts include plain old fashioned squats, plank and press up core sequences, dips on a chair, Russian twists, single leg balance and dips, IWTYs and sky divers, all taken from the BeFitApps programmes. Even when I’m stood on the exhibition stand I find I can do some single leg balance and single leg dips work when there is a lull in the attention from delegates. I try to make sure no one is watching too closely though!
The single leg dip is a classic and subtle enough to do on the stand!
So as usual we didn’t manage to get the hour of exercise we had hoped to incorporate into each day but we did find time for a couple of mini-workouts which definitely helped us feel better and perform better during this conference. The next one is in Halifax, Canada so fingers crossed we can be even more disciplined next time!
It can be fun hanging out at a conference too!
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