It happened, it really really happened....Fitness Magazine's Blogger Meet and Tweet (#FitBlogNYC)! I got to the event last wednesday, May 9th, around 9am. I had no idea what to expect, I walked in to a beautiful open white room filled with table upon table of fitness gloriousness. I was first welcomed by Samantha Pepi Of New Media Strategies and some of the Fitness Magazine crew. They signed me up and then pointed me to the next table where I received a small bag filled with the schedule, a Camelbak water bottle, and flyers for each sponser. I then made my way to the eye candy table... Oops I mean the coffee and tea table. Thank you to whoever hired the hot coffee and tea boys! I grabbed a cup of tea and went to each table to visit with the brands brand to get info about their products. I talked traing shoes with Reebok, sunglasses with Oakley, comfortable sandals with Birkenstock, shaving with Schick Hydro Silk, skin protection with Vichy beauty products, nut butters with Grain Food Foundation, importance of protein with Pure Protein, fruit smoothies with V8 V-Fusion, intense workouts with Kiwi Sweat pop up fitness, and social media marketing New Media Strategies. The sponsor representatives were so helpful and nice! After meeting with all the amazing sponsors and getting all kinds of goodies from them, I had officially turned into a bag lady, for the first time in my life, I was OK with this!

During the event I ran into several FitFluential Ambassadors, some I recognized by name from our facebook group and others I recognized by their twitter or blog name. I also had the pleasure of meeting our fearless FitFluential leader Kelly Olexa! She is such a lovely person, just as I expected, so full of energy and has an amazing bubbly fun personality! I also met several other bloggers and tweeters that came from all over to attend the event. We had more time to bond and get to know each other more over the lunch deliciously healthy lunch that was provided for us. It was so great to meet these everyone in person and get to know their personality face to face!

I eventually found my way over the stage area where we got to hear from a great line up of speakers. The speakers were all so different, I loved hearing all of their stories and tips!

This is how it went down...

10:10 – 10:15am Welcome with FITNESS Editor in Chief Betty Wong and Mia Hamm  Mia is a retired Olympic gold medal soccer player who has scored more goals than any man or female in soccer history!

10:15 – 10:45am Drop Dead Healthy with A.J. Jacobs This author, father and editor of Esquire magazine is all about achieving optimal health and finding ways to fit in exercise into his every day life. We received a free copy of his book in our swag bag, I look forward to reading it soon!

10:45 – 11:15am The Real Deal on Carbs, Cleanses and Caffeine with FITNESS Nutrition Editor Juno DeMelo, Keri Gans and Tanya Zuckerbrot These ladies taught us that carbs don't make you fat, eating too much of the wrong types of carbs make you fat. Portion and moderation are key when trying to lose weight. They also don't believe in cleanses for weight loss, your body needs protein and other key nutrients to maintain muscle mass. Caffeine and coffee are A-OK says these ladies, coffee has antioxidants try to limit yourself to up to 3 cups a days and watch out for sugary additives that will pack on the pounds!

11:15 – 11:45am Fitness Facts and Fibs with FITNESS Deputy Editor Mary Christ Anderson, Joe Dowdell and Alycea Ungaro These guys were great! Joe explained that when working with a personal trainer, they should have you on a training program, not just making you "move" and sweat. Sweating does not necessarily mean you had a productive workout. He also suggests to get your sleep and diet in check first, then exercise. Sleep should be your number 1 priority! Alycea explained there is no way to lengthen your muscles, just like there is no way to lengthen your bones.

12:00 – 12:30pm Why ELMM (Eat Less Move More) Is So Last Year with Dr. Pamela Peeke 12:30 – 1:00pm Gym To Street: Fashion Tips That Will Help You Stretch Your Spandex Beyond The Gym with FITNESS Fashion Director Argy Koutsothanasis  Move over Tim Gunn, these ladies say you CAN wear your favorite pair of yoga pants out in public! These ladies matched up hot track jackets with J-Crew pencil skirts for a sexy sporty look! They showed us fun ways to incorporate our favorite fitness gear into our every day wardrobe. I am all about this, I would live in my workout great if I could!

1:00 – 1:30pm Easy Beauty Secrets: Q&A with FITNESS Beauty Director Eleanor Langston and Laura Geller These ladies were awesome and had such great personalities, they gave us so many great beauty tips on how to make makeup last long, blending techniques, how to get rid of under eye circles and so much more. I'm going to write a separate post on all the tips they gave us!

1:45 – 2:30pm How To Turn Your Blog Into A Business with Kelly Olexa, Tina Haupert, Carla Birnberg and Julie Fagan How could I not love these FitFluential ladies!! These top bloggers gave us tips on how to be a successful blogger. They suggest finding your blog mission, being proactive on a variety of social media sites to get noticed, work with ad networks, get a media kit and resume together, bloggers should be themselves, write frequent posts, post pictures to blog posts, make videos on youtube, set Google alerts for your blog, and stop worrying so much about where your blog traffic is coming from and what your numbers are, let people discover you! I learned so many great tips from these ladies, they were all so knowledgeable! 

3:00 – 4:00pm Tabura Pop-Up Workout with KiwiSweat  I wasn't able to participate in this since I wouldn't be able to shower before work, but I did get some great video of the girls working up a sweat to an African style Tabura workout!

After all of the scheduled events were over we had one last table to visit, the swag table! The awesome people of Fitness Magazine had boxes of Reebok shoes lining the back wall and huge colorful gym bags (aka swag bags) waiting for us. We took the bags back to our table and tried to get organized before heading out, we were completely shocked and amazed at all the swagalicious goodies that filled that huge gym bag! I will be writing a separate post this week about all the goodies we received, so check back!

I am truly honored that I was given the opportunity through to attend this event. It was so great to interact with people who are just as passionate about health and fitness as I am! I made some friendships, met some really great people, and learned so much from the speakers. A BIG Thank you to Fitness Magazine, FitFluential, and New Media Strategies.

Now I have a pile of business cards to go through this week, blogs to check out, emails to send, and more blog posts to write! This event was so amazing, I can't fit it all in one post! More to come soon!

xoxo - Amber