New Orleans ACSM conference

Whew! On Tuesday, Dan and I drove down to New Orleans for the American College of Sports Medicine national conference (and drove back on Friday). ACSM is an organization for Health and Fitness professionals- This organization publishes peer-reviewed journals on every imaginable H&F topic- weight control, sport performance, sport psychology, public health, training protocols, gender differences, etc...They provide statements on hydration, body comp, exercise recommendations, etc...what they say is typically the "gold standard"- check them out at acsm.org

Why go to the conference? Because I'm a dork. Tons of new research on amazing stuff! Researchers, Professors, and Students with approved abstracts created posters and presented them during morning or afternoon poster sessions each day- I got to see what other grad students from universities all over the country were doing, and more useful to me, HOW they conducted and presented their research.

Besides posters, there were also "Talks" (in the form of lecture/debate/ comparing&contrasting research) about countless topics, like "Mineral Loss through Endurance sport- is there a need to change dietary requirements?" (where Dr. Craig Horswill, the head guy at the Gatorade Sport Science Institute spoke) or "Special Considerations in Ultramarathoning" or "High Intensity Interval Training Revisited" etc....

There were even sub-interest group meetings within the conference, I went to two- Endurance Sport Science & Medicine and Environmental Physiology (meaning exercise in the heat, at altitude, etc.)...for you athletes, there was even an "Expo" where vendors had booths and advertised and gave away free stuff! (Gatorade, Accelerade, Jelly Belly, etc.)

I'm a loser, and this was AWESOME for me. I got some really good ideas for my master's thesis or project I'm going to be starting soon (more details to come)...it was also like a "live" Runner's World or Triathlete Mag !!

Besides all this, Dan and I also managed to hit up two Hard Rock Cafe's (knockin them off the list) and partied on Bourbon Street...with two of our Instructors!!! oooooh my...