Las Vegas Recap: Shakira, Body Confidence, Travel Tips & My Top Vegas Faves | Muscles & Mindset

This week, I’m giving you a behind-the-scenes look at my recent Vegas trip—and why it turned out to be my favourite one yet.

In this episode:

✅ My love-hate relationship with Vegas (I’m not a party girl!)

✅ My go-to hotels, restaurants, and hidden gems for a calmer, luxe Vegas vibe

✅ Shakira’s concert—and the powerful lesson it taught me about confidence and presence

✅ Why Cirque du Soleil left me reflecting on strength and joy in movement

✅ Real talk about body image, poolside insecurities, and how to feel free in your body

✅ Simple travel tips to stay healthy without guilt or obsession

Whether you’re planning your own Vegas adventure or want a reminder that confidence isn’t about your body size, this episode is for you.

💙 My Vegas Faves:

Hotels:

• Four Seasons Las Vegas (quiet luxury, non-casino, non-smoking)
• Virgin Hotels (modern vibe, great food, quieter than the Strip)
• Elara Hilton Grand Vacations (nice rooms, good location)

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Connect With Me:

• Instagram: [@annejonesfit]

• Website: [https://www.annejonescoaching.ca/]

• YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/@annejones]

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Transcript

0:01

Welcome to the Muscles and Mindset Revolution, the podcast for ambitious women who want to build strength, feel confident, af, and lose fat for good, without counting calories or BS quick fixes. I'm your host, Anne Jones, certified life coach, personal trainer, and mindset expert. After 15 plus years in the fitness industry, I know the real key to lasting change isn't just what you do, it's how you think. If you're ready to shift your mindset, build a lifestyle you love and feel confident af, you're in the right place, let's dive in. Today's episode is a little different. I am just chatting to you like a friend, giving you a behind the scenes look at my recent trip to Las Vegas, to see Shakira. And of course I'm gonna spill some Vegas tea, but I'm also gonna share some big lessons and reflections about confidence, body image, relaxing, and what it really means to feel strong and free, whether you are on the strip, in sequence, or living your everyday life. And if you are tired of feeling like you have to change your body to go to Vegas, go to the pool, or live your best life. Keep listening. This trip reminded me as I am every day of why this is not true. Okay, so welcome. Let's talk Vegas. So first of all, I am not a Vegas girly. I have friends and acquaintances who love Vegas. They love the day clubs, the beach clubs, they love the all the things. I do not, I actually have a love hate relationship with Vegas. And I was thinking about this this past week actually, this whole time of planning this trip. I think that I'm holding some judgment maybe towards Woo girls. Which of course is unfair, but I'm not, I'm not a party girl. I don't like to stay up past 10:00 PM I don't do drugs. I don't have more than two drinks, three in Vegas, I find it very overstimulating. I find it loud. I find that there's a lot of, stuff I don't like anybody being exposed to there, particularly on the strep. But I have also had a lot of fun there. I love the shows. I love the people watching. There's great food. I kind of love the desert, I love the mountains. I love what it looks like. I love the colours, I like to get dressed up. So there are a lot of things actually I do like. So there are a lot of things that I do like, and honestly, people often ask me about my Vegas favourites'cause I have been several times, so let me share a few. My favourite hotel is now the Four Seasons. Not doing Vegas any other way ever again. Although I would be open to trying the Westin, I'm a Westin girly. The Westin's off the strip, but the four Seasons for the peace and quiet. I did like the Virgin for the vibe and the rooms and, they had really good food. For restaurants. My favourites are sushi samba, which is in the Palazzo, and, lemongrass, which is in the aria. I also love Texas de Brazil, which is a steakhouse off the strip. It's a little ways out, more in a residential area, which is called Something Village, something Townhouse Village. I'm, I'm not being a very good tour guide right now, but those are probably my favourite restaurants. And I'm not a big shopper, but I love to look a little bit, you know in Fashion show mall. my number one store that I always go to, and I didn't make at this time, just I spent too much time in the pool. s called Attic Salt. They just have funny t-shirts. I always get mad at funny t-shirts, fun sticker. I bought some fun, like cheap jewelry there. So that's my pretty much only store that I go to in Vegas. I'll pop a list of all my Vegas faves, hotels, restaurants, and fun shopping spots into the show notes for you in case you're planning your own trip. I'm not a gambler or a club girl, so I'd rather spend my time at the pool finding cute brunch spots. I went to Brunch of the Wind once. It was super fun and beautiful, or checking out new Cirque shows. This last time, I think was my favourite Vegas trip ever. So the very first time I went to Las Vegas, I was young. I was maybe like 11 or 12. I went my family and we stayed in the circus. Circus used to have a campground. Because we had a camper. I thought it was so cool. We didn't even do anything. I don't think I got to go on the rides or we just went in Circus Circus and I thought it was so cool that I was there. if you know now like circus, circus is not it in Las Vegas. And then as I got older, I have stayed. I think the next time I went back, I went back with my husband and our best friends in maybe. The mid 2010s.'Cause our friend was gonna a conference there. We had a great time as couples. We had a great time. There was no real clubbing or anything. But we had, we, I went to Celine Dion with my girlfriend. We went off strip to eat. We went off strip. The boys went off strip to gamble. Like we went to the CSI experience, which was super fun. We had some good food. That was a great time. We stayed at Treasure Island. I can't remember why. It was fine. I learned a lot about staying in Vegas. Since then, I've stayed at Treasure Island at least two more times'cause a girlfriend wanted to stay there for her bachelorette and I actually stayed there in January. So I went to a conference and I stayed there'cause it was like the best deal and my flight was free, but I hated it. I hate it. It is, it's in a convenient location, but it's old, which I don't have anything against but the casino. You come out as you do in many hotels in Vegas. You come out the hotel part into the casino, but the casino at Treasure Island has a very low ceiling. It's old, so it's one of the Smokiest casinos because the ceiling is so low and it's full of smoking everywhere. There's no separation between it and the elevators. There's no security at the elevators. You don't have to swipe your card to go up. I hated that. I didn't love being there, particularly this past last time that I went. I didn't like it. So I've done, I did Circus Circus, I've done Treasure Island. I stayed at Elara, which was really nice. where else have I stayed? Oh, I stayed at Virgin last year, which I actually loved. It's newer and it's a little bit off strip, but I really liked it. It was like really nice and new inside. It was very chic and fun. It's enough off the strip that it's quieter. There are great restaurants inside. It's a little newer and less smoky compared to Treasure Island and some of the older casinos. The rooms were super nice. I got sort of a strip view suites quite away from the strip, but you can see the sphere and everything, which I sent my daughter photos and she loved that. So I really liked Virgin. And it's off the strip, but you can walk to fashion show and within 30 minutes, which usually, you know, when I met Vegas in January, I love walking'cause it's warm, but it's not super hot. Walk everywhere. This past weekend when I was there, it was very hot. Never been there when it was so hot. It was like 40 to 42 degrees. Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot. so I went this past weekend, because I had the opportunity to go see Shakira. I wouldn't say I'm like the biggest Shakira fan, but reminds me of my teenage years. I love Shakira, love to see her dance, like she's just the sexiest person in the world. I think super talented and, I had the opportunity to go see her anywhere and. Vegas is one of the closest, least expensive places to get to from the Canadian West Coast particularly.'cause I live somewhere where you have to get to Vancouver just to go anywhere. So was gonna go and thought about gonna Mexico City to see her because she did eight shows there. I almost went to Boston. And then finally just let's make it quick and easy. Friday to Monday in an out by myself, went to Vegas. I found a good deal, a good package deal to stay at the Four Seasons, never in my life did I ever think I would be a person who stays at the Four Seasons. So I was super excited. Still like a little bit of a splurge, but I was like so excited to stay at the Four Seasons. And I have to say, it is I was like unlocked the secret to Vegas for me because you, it's at the very end of the strip. It's attached to Mandalay Bay. It's only the top five floors on one side of Mandalay Bay. So it's like tiny, tiny pool. you, when you arrive there's almost no sign that you can see from the strip. You go through like a jungle to get to the door and it's like quiet. It is one of the few casino non-smoking hotels, on the strip. It's so nice. Like also I've heard about four seasons, like customer service. I never experienced it. I was blown away. I loved it so much. I'm obsessed and then I fully. I was literally just there to see Shakira. I was going with a really good friend of mine who lives in Las Vegas. We were gonna see Shakira and we ended up also, getting free tickets to Circ on Sunday, which was amazing. So I was just there to do those two things. I'm not a shopper, I'm not a gambler. I literally stayed at the hotel. I intentionally spent two full pool mornings, like I was dedicated to this and before my early mid twenties, I was never. A layout at the pool person. I was talking to my girlfriend about this actually because. This was not modeled for me as a child. Okay. Like I did not grow up in the lifestyle. First of all, we didn't live anywhere near a pool or anywhere where it was hot ever. So I never saw my parents or anyone. We never went on like a beach vacation. We went on a couple cruises when I was a kid, but we never went on like a beach vacation and all inclusive. I certainly never stayed at a resort where someone like seats you at a chair and serves you like that. Has was not a part of my life until I got married. I just was talking to my girlfriend about how I feel awkward sometimes'cause I feel like I didn't grow up in this environment. I didn't learn like how this works. I feel very awkward. But it was amazing. And I spent two full pool mornings and so the pool was the perfect temperature. I had this like domy, they call it an orbit, this chair thing. I had my book. I was just, I was like so happy. I was so blessed out. I spent the whole mornings there and then I hung out with my girlfriend in the evenings. And I, I guess it's like a bit of a, not a not vegasy experience'cause I didn't really go to the strip. I don't gamble. But I do love the shows. And I went to the shows and I just feel like it was my favourite trip for all these reasons. And I waffled about booking it because I had already, I've already had a few trips this year. I was a little nervous about booking it and I'm. So glad that I did. I'm so grateful to my March self for booking this past weekend. By the way, make sure you're following the show. So the next episode lands right into your feed. So Shakira was at Allegiant Stadium. This is another reason that Four Seasons is a place to go if you're going to a show at Allegiant, because the parking situation at Allegiant is a nightmare. You don't even wanna take an Uber there. But Mandalay Bay and the Four Seasons are connected. And then Mandalay Bay is right beside Allegiant, so it's a 10 minute walk for someone like me who walks fast, a 10 minute walk might be a 20 minute walk, and it's mostly inside, so you're not super sweaty. So it was amazing. It was so many people, like 65,000 people, but the vibe was really great. there were so many fun outfits. Yeah, the energy was really good. Everybody was super happy and then holy cow, Shakira puts on quite a show. It's huge. There's a lot of props. The outfits are so fun. A lot of outfits really like the things that stick out to me the most is her confidence and charisma. And of course she's Shakira, she's beautiful. Like she's not super ripped or jacked and of course she's beautiful, but she owns it, right? And she does this thing with her eyes, like you'll see it in her headshots and stuff. Like she makes eye contact and like walks. I'm gonna try to do it. And like starts walking away, but keeps this eye contact. And that's what makes her so sexy is she owns her body and her space and I just love that. I think probably my favourite moments were like her belly dancing, which is crazy. The dancing is my favourite part But really watching Shakira reminded me how confidence is not ever about being the thinnest woman in the room. It is about owning your presence. It's how you stand, how you move, how you speak to yourself. And I see this a lot in Vegas I mean, you see a lot of The opposite of this in Vegas, there's a lot of insecurity, obviously, but I always notice this on a pool deck. First of all, the things that I notice on a pool deck is like, oh, right. Literally everyone has cellulite, literally every person and social media is fake because all these bodies are beautiful and real, and they just don't look like what you see Posey Posey online. so I really, I really love that. So I loved Shakira. I loved the dancing. I loved hearing the old songs like that. I heard when I was a teenager. I loved the colours and the bling and the sparkles and the dancing. The dancing was for sure my favourite. So it was a great show. Went to bed before midnight. It was amazing. Enjoyed my day at the pool the next day. And then on Sunday night we went to Cirque de Soleil Mystere, which I think is my favourite circ that I have seen. It was, you know, weird has no story. As many Cirques don't, but the acts were amazing. The trapeze was amazing. The, yeah, I think the trapeze maybe was my favourite. The, oh my gosh. the people and the, oh, this was the other thing I wanted to say about Shakira. She did like every dance genre. She did merengue, cumbia, belly dancing, salsa. She's like salsa version of some of her songs. She did intense sort of. You know, modern dance, but like jazz, kind of like poppy dance. I really love that. In Cirque de Soleil, my favourite act was these two female, I guess they would call them like acrobats. They were so strong and you could tell that was like the theme of the scene of the act or whatever as well, was it was all about femininity and they're on top of the world and the men are sort of bowing down to them, like these two women. Did everything together. One of them, like ham curled the other while she was in a handstand, she, at some point was like on her belly and this person is doing a handstand on her feet, and then she slides under and is on her. It was crazy, like it was some, I mean, that is the definition of Cirque de Soleil. as someone who knows how movement feels in the body and how to do a handstand and a ham curl, like I'm always putting myself in the position. I did this at Shakira too. Because the dancing is insane. So as someone who has danced on stage before, both in a fitness capacity and a competitive capacity, all I'm thinking about is how exhausted those dancers must be.'cause they are going all out and hitting it so hard for two and a half hours. So that is what I'm thinking about is the performers and like how they are feeling, the physical strength and artistry of them. So it's amazing. And you can also tell my girlfriend and I were talking about this... There's a extremely high level of discipline, obviously in training and execution of that, but there's also room for flexibility and there's communication. Like sometimes you can tell in they're calling out, they're communicating with each other particularly. But there's like a plan B. if this guy accidentally goes this way, they have a plan B for it. So I just loved that example of flexibility. I love the example of strength as art. We need more of that, more showing strength and real bodies as art, more moving your body for joy versus punishment, right? Like that looks hard, what those circ people are doing. But it also looks really fun. Like if you could do that, it probably feels so fun And I want, we need more of More examples of moving your body for joy versus punishment. And I always love that about Circ. It reminded me that strength is not just about muscle or fitness, it is about expressing yourself and experiencing life fully. And I love that Circ tells a story in that way. as I mentioned before, both in Vegas and at Shakira on the pool deck, I see a variety of bodies. I see no perfect bodies. I see some enhanced bodies for sure. But what I do see is that confidence isn't the level of makeup or the body. It is a way of being. One of my first podcast episodes was about how confidence and body image are actually not as equated as we think that we are. We think that body image is a result of our actual body. It's not, it's about how we feel about ourselves. You can be confident in literally anybody. You can feel not confident in literally anybody as well. I talk more about that on that podcast, but I think that is one thing that I do love about Vegas is just how people show up. It's the place where you can wear a sparkle, you can wear a color, you can wear the shortest dress, you wear a bathing suit, you wear nothing everything goes. And I think that freedom, you can see it as permission to feel how you want to feel in your own skin, which is how I see it. Like I didn't pack a pair of heels on this trip to Vegas. I know that's the place to wear the stilettos and wear the heels, but I was packing in a carry-on. I was going to a dance class. I was standing at a concert for three hours. So I was not taking heels, and I feel like you have permission to do that. I feel like anything goes, and I choose to see that in as many realms of my life as possible versus, Ooh, most people are doing this or that person is doing this. I also tried to think in this for, writing this podcast for you, if I had any moments of insecurity and how I coached myself through them. And to be completely honest with you, from a body perspective or a body image perspective, I did not, probably the most insecure that I felt was at the pool deck when a 10-year-old boy. Asked someone to set up four chairs for him and then slipped her a tip. When I hadn't done that was probably the most insecure I had felt the whole time. So I think for me, I'm gonna give myself that win in mindset is that this is what I always say about body image and confidence is a positive body image is not thinking that you are sexy and thin all the time. Actually, it's actually just not thinking about your body that much at all. which is me. I just not losing any sleep over it. And Vegas reminded me that the women who shine the brightest aren't necessarily the leanest, right? They're the ones who feel free, they look free.'cause they feel free. And that's the goal, right? not to lose weight, but to feel free. And then I wanted to give you some practical tips. This is not an episode about travel. I talk about travel a lot. Actually have a travel guide. I can link it in the show notes here. But I just wanted to remind you, as I always remember, a couple things that are always brought to mind when I travel is number one. I'm always grateful for my fitness and my mobility when I travel, I wanna be able to lift the suitcase. I wanna be able to walk faster than those people standing on that stupid moving treadmill. I want to be able to walk anywhere. I want to be able to walk up all the stairs. travel seems to be a very physical activity. I want all of that and I want to feel good and I want to do it without obsessing over food. And so I mean, I had a couple drinks probably every day this past weekend. I never had more than three, Vegas. I eat vegetables every day. I ate breakfast every day. this is what I always tell people. It's summer vacation. Right now we're going on travel. Don't make it different. Keep it as close to your normal living as possible. You can be in Vegas and eat fries for lunch and have had avocado toast and salad for breakfast. You can have Prosecco on the pool deck without calling the day a wash and drinking for the rest of the day you can enjoy food and wear a bathing suit. You don't have to obsess over it. If you live in the gray area, if you are willing to pick and choose, give and take, listen to your body. You don't have to over exercise to get there. You don't have to hide your body there. Nobody cares. Literally, nobody is thinking about you or your body unless you have a fun bathing suit, which I compliment everyone on their fun bathing suits. Oh, and their fun coverups. Nobody cares about your body on the pool deck, on the beach, I promise you. Nobody cares. I didn't work out on this particular vacation. I'm always like, if I'm somewhere for a short time. I don't necessarily wanna spend or waste my time unless I did go to a fun dance class with my friend Ashley on Saturday. We went to a Latin Fusion class where we learned a really sexy chacha, which was super fun. And then we walked everywhere, right? I don't wanna spend my time with her or my time at this beautiful hotel working out. Like I love working out. Maybe if I'm there for three weeks, but if I'm there for three days, i'm not spending my time in the gym like that's, no, I'm gonna walk. I did, Ooh. I got, oh yeah, you can get yoga mat delivered to your hotel room. I did that. I did yoga every morning before I went down to the pool. So I felt like I moved my body. I chose food that I love without feeling guilty about it. And then really for me, my biggest mindset hurdle is relaxing, giving into it, being okay, doing nothing. Enjoying believing that I deserve this. This experience, and I mean if I can do this in Vegas, have this healthy lifestyle surrounded by buffets and cocktails and sequins, I promise you can do it anywhere. if you are listening and thinking, I want to feel free like that, this is exactly what I help my clients do. My clients are constantly talking about ease. Th that is where we get them to so that they feel ease in their bodies, not just lose weight, they do that as well, but live fully without obsession or fear. Life is too short. So if you are ready for that kind of confidence. DM me on Instagram. I'm happy to have a chat with you, and I would love to know if you are a Vegas person or not. I would love to hear about it. I would love to hear about your favourites. I would love to know if inside or outside of Vegas you had a moment that reminded you of how strong and confident you really are. Come tell me on Instagram at@annejonesfit. If you would love help feeling this kind of freedom and confidence in your body and in your life without obsession or restriction, send me a DM on Instagram at Anne Jones Fit or check the show notes for my coaching options and free resources. Life is too short to keep waiting for perfection. All right. That's it for today's Vegas recap. I hope you're leaving this episode reminded that confidence is not about your body or perfection. It is actually about presence and freedom. If you love this chat, don't forget to subscribe, so you never miss an episode and come out with me on Instagram at Ann Jones Fit. I would love to hear if you are a Vegas person or not, and your favorite confidence wins and strategies. Until next time, keep living strong, free and confident. Thank you for being here and I'll talk to you next week.