Last week I was invited to go check out a 4-day experience put on by Propel Water. The experience, called Propel Co:Labs, was housed at a beautiful residence in Venice where a number of different workout programs and brands came together to host classes and other fun wellness activities.

I attended a session with Yoga for Bad People founder Heather Lilleston, who specializes in leading yoga retreats at beautiful destinations around the world. Currently, they only offer classes in NYC. Although we were not on a tropical beach halfway around the world, the setup at Propel Co:Labs felt like a serene little getaway, and combined with Heather’s practice, I felt completely zen post class.

Image by Propel

After the workout, everyone headed upstairs for a much anticipated Q&A session with celebrity trainer Gunnar Peterson. You’ve seen his work on Khloe Kardashian (talk about an amazing transformation!), as well as on J.Lo, Angelina Jolie and Sofia Vergara. He debunked some common myths about fitness (giving the advice that if it sounds too good to be true, it most likely is!), and I was hoping that he would tell me that you DON’T need intense cardio to burn fat. But alas, that one holds true. The heart is a muscle, after all, and you need intense aerobic exercise to strengthen it just like any other muscle.  Fun fact from Gunnar: he does not consider basketball intense aerobic exercise because the players are always stopping and going, and the way he sees it, cardio means a continuous exertion. I guess that will remind me not to take breaks during my treadmill sessions in bootcamp then. In addition, Gunnar reminds everyone that if you do try something new in your fitness and wellness regimen, be sure to do it in isolation. If you are trying too many things at once, you won’t know which one is actually effective.

Following the Q&A, the roof deck was set up with a delicious and healthy post-workout lunch. Propel also made these beautiful mocktails with their new flavored water line. We got to mix and mingle with the fellow attendees, many of whom were also bloggers, editors and fitness instructors. Big thanks to Propel for putting on this amazing event and for the invite!

NYCers, don’t miss the chance to go check out this event when Propel Co:Labs hits NY!