Gonna be a PHAT weekend !!!

Yes, I do realize the word Phat is no longer cool … allow me to explain.

This weekend I’m attending something called Phat Camp !!  It’s a 3 day fitness camp, hosted by fitness professional Jen Hendershott.  Jen is a professional fitness competitor, and has won the Ms. Fitness Olympia and Ms. Fitness International contests twice each, as well as placed in the top 3 several times throughout her career.

A fitness competitor is slightly different from a bodybuilding competitor.  In fitness routines you are judged on your physique like a bodybuilder would be, however they emphasize muscle tone over muscle size.  In addition, competitors must perform a routine round, which requires a physically-active stage performance; most competitors attempt aerobic, dance, and/or gymnastic routines.

So needless to say, this girl is in damn fine shape.  I actually attended this camp once about 4 years ago, and I had an amazing time.  If I’m not mistaken, Jen was one of the originals to start this sort of camp, but of course now there are many copycats out there that followed suit.  I chose Jen’s camp because I already knew of her work; being the sponge that I am for anything diet and fitness related, I’ve seen Jen many times over the years as she’s graced the cover of Oxygen magazine and several other women’s fitness books and mags.

The great thing about it is that Jen attends and runs the whole camp herself; many of the others out there are sponsored by a fitness professional but you’re lucky to get a glimpse of them in attendance.  The camp is for women only, and runs Friday evening and all day Saturday and Sunday.  What do you do all this time ??  Well … you train, and you train hard :)  I can’t be sure what’s in store this weekend as it has been a while, but I’ll tell you what we did back in 2006.

Each full day was split into 2 sections, so in total there were 5 - Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning and afternoon.  Each section had 3 components to it.  First was a one hour, intense and super tough weight training workout, concentrating solely on one body part.  That was followed by a one hour cardio session; this varied between boot camp style classes, aerobics classes, or using various cardio machines in the gym.  The balance of the section was a workshop; either a seminar on fitness or nutrition, or Jen giving a talk, and they even had a special guest speaker.  Saturday night we let loose and had a pizza party ... after all that hard worked we deserved it ;-)

The weekend is not for the faint of heart … it’s pretty intense, but at the same time it’s so much fun.  The first time I attended I was terrified; I wasn’t in nearly as good shape as I am now, and I was fearful that all the other girls there would be fitness enthusiasts, all buff and toned, and I figured I’d be the fattest girl there :(  I hesitated signing up, so I wrote an email and got a personal response from Jen herself.  She assured me I had nothing to worry about, and she did not lie.  There were women there of all shapes and sizes, ranging from beginners to people seeking to become competitors themselves.  I felt completely at ease from the moment I arrived and I had a blast, and I also made a lifelong friend from Australia (hey Louise !!).  She was working in Japan at the time as a phys ed teacher at an English school but originates from Australia.  She travelled all that way just to attend Phat Camp and we later spent some time together as I showed her some of the sights of Toronto and Niagara Falls, and we are still good friends today :)  Many of the women that weekend made special bonds with others as well.

This time around I’m attending with my sister and a friend, and like I was the first time I attended, they are both nervous but excited about what lies ahead.

In addition to Jen, their special guest this weekend is Tosca Reno.  She has several books out on diet, nutrition and fitness, and like me she learned how to lose weight the hard way – she was once over 200 lbs. and is now 50 years old, fit and fabulous.  Tosca is married to Robert Kennedy, who is the editor of several fitness and diet magazines and also several books in the same fields.  Robert was there last time as well.  You know what this means don’t you ??  I will have TONS of resources to grill this weekend about my new career choices … I’m going to ask them their advice on what courses I should take and the paths I should choose.

I’m psyched :)

Not only will I be learning tons of new training techniques and nutritional advice for my own personal use, I’ll be able to pick the brains of several experts in the business to help my in my pursuit.

The last time I went to camp, not only were Robert and Tosca in attendance, but Oxygen magazine used the Toronto camp to profile in a future article about the various camps out there.  Their cameramen were there taking pictures of the campers in action, and I got my picture in Oxygen magazine !!!  But you recall how I mentioned I look at the gym right ??  My first time getting my picture in a national magazine – and a magazine that I subscribed to at the time – and I looked terrible :-O  No makeup, hair tied back, and I was a lot heavier than I am today.  Oh well, at least I have a small claim to fame - and I still have a copy of that issue saved here at home.

As soon as I’m able to move my fingers to type, I’ll update on my Phat Camp experience … wish me luck !!