Life on Mars: Weekly Newsletter

Greatness is in the Details (Week of 03.09)

Welcome to the Table: A Wellness Feast

This week, I packed my bags and headed to Denver for the IdeaFit Conference. IDEAFIT is one of the leading organizations in group fitness education. First off, I’ve never been to Colorado, let alone Denver. But the traveling gods decided to bless me with perfect timing.

Not only was it Denver Restaurant Week when I arrived, but a loft also opened up last minute near the conference, and the final day of the conference fell on International Women’s Day.

In honor of Denver Restaurant Week, let’s dive into this week’s adventures, course by course.

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The Starter: Denver, IdeaFit, and Lessons Learned

Overall, I would give the conference about 3 stars.

Day One Highlights:

1) Burpees, Bear Crawls & Crab Walks: Day one started with a workout led by a lethal sexagenarian who had us doing burpees, bear crawls, and crab walks across the length of a conference hall. I felt like I had walked out of a beautiful Airbnb and back in time to my days in basic training.

2) Standout Lectures: My standout lectures and workshops on day one were about mastering your voice as a coach and gaining credibility as a speaker. This talk hit home for me because, as an instructor on camera and with audio-only classes, my voice is often the only tool I have to form a connection with someone in class.

3) Body Alignment Workshop: Next, there was this great body alignment workshop. Again, I was humbled by a sexagenarian, this time by my lack of mobility. We conducted multiple mobility tests and fascia manipulation methods to give us immediate feedback and increases in our range of motion.

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Day Two Highlights:
1) Glute Activation Workshop: Now, I’m not gonna lie, I was very uninterested in attending this workshop initially because, as someone who’s spent quite a bit of time training, you can feel that one glute workshop is the exact same as the next. However, the presenter made the material and the experience interesting by setting up stations. Station one was kettlebell swings as a glute activator—a way to wake up and begin firing the glutes—followed by a more athletic move. The key was that the activation had to be low threshold.

2) Impromptu Juggling Sessions: Although it wasn’t a workshop, I did have an impromptu juggling lesson. Can I juggle now? Nope, but I did get pretty darn close to juggling three balls before my patience—or lack thereof—got the best of me.

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Now it’s time for a few lowlights:
1) Micro-aggressions: Marcel experienced a few cringe-worthy moments, like the guy who warned me that meditation goggles might “mess up my eyelashes” (because apparently, no one else with makeup had that issue). Then there was the e-stim training suit guy who tried to sneak in a free promo video without being upfront about it and asked me, with a camera shoved in my face, who I work for and to review his product.

2) Networking: Unfortunately, it’s quite common on the fitness circuit to have a crowd lacking in diversity, but typically the crowd is still open to mixing and mingling. This crowd, however, felt very transactional rather than collaborative. I would definitely rate this part of the event 1 star.

Oh, and there was no food. They tried to pass snacks off as lunch and ran out of coffee within the first 30 minutes every morning.

Would I go back? To Denver, definitely. To IdeaFit Denver, maybe. For now, I’m eyeing the California location for a more diverse crowd.

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The Main Course: Experiencing Denver

Highlights:

As I mentioned, I happened to be visiting Denver during its Restaurant Week. The conference ended every day around 5 p.m., so I was able to go out and explore. Night one, I kept things local to downtown Denver and got to experience a live band. Night two, however, I got dressed up and Googled "best restaurant in Denver," which led me to Wildflower. If you’re ever visiting Denver, I highly recommend it.

Day 3, I was headed out, and I was determined to take advantage of the remaining time in the city. I jumped online to check out the best brunch spots, which led me to a hotel for a great twist on eggs benedict—hollandaise eggs on sweet corn cakes instead of the traditional English muffin. As someone who will confess that I’m not really a foodie, I was so impressed by the flavors I experienced in such a short time in Denver. This part of the trip definitely earns 4 stars.

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Dessert: Moment of Terror

So, on the morning of checkout, I woke up late to head to the conference, skipping the morning workout. Strange, but nothing to write home about until I got ready to leave the condo. As soon as the condo door shut, my phone crashed and went completely black. I could tell it was still on, but I was completely locked out of it.

Mind you, every door at the Airbnb was digitally locked, and although I did consider, just in case of an emergency, taking a photo of the key codes, I didn’t commit them to memory or write them down. This whole episode was unfolding at 7:30 a.m., so no Apple Store for troubleshooting for hours.

When I would try to turn my phone on, an alarm would go off, and the lights would begin flashing. Finally, I was able to press a combination of the side buttons and manage to call 911. Only after making the emergency call did my phone magically come back to life.

Finally, after calming down 15 minutes later, I began to head out to the conference. However, not before fielding frantic calls from my emergency contacts.

Apparently, after the emergency call, my contacts were sent my address and notified that I made an emergency call. Way too early in the morning to be scaring the crap out of my family and friends. It was 6 a.m. for my aunt and around dawn for my best friend.

Let’s rate that experience 0 stars.

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6six Diaries

Where was 6ix during this time? He was boarding at a new daycare. Here’s the emotional play-by-play:

1. Day One: Happy as a clam, making new friends.

2. Day Two: Anxious and unsure—where’s Mommy?!

3. Day Three: Back to happy, settling in with his new crew.

It was an emotional rollercoaster for the pup, but he survived (and maybe even thrived).

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OFFICIALMARCELFIT HQ:

Marcel’s birthday was yesterday, but she’s still in the mood to celebrate! To mark the occasion, she wants to hear from you. What’s your favorite Marcel moment? Whether it’s a workout that left you inspired, a story that made you laugh, or a wellness tip that changed your routine, share it with her.

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Let’s make her birthday extra special with a collection of your favorite Marcel memories.

That’s it for this week’s edition of Life on Mars! Stay tuned for more updates, stories, and maybe even a sauna trailer announcement. Until next time, keep it wellness-forward and lifestyle-fierce.

Bon appétit,

Marcel & Team