John Macgowan

Follow me on Twitter

I’m on Facebook

Have you ever found yourself bored with your class?

I was.

Summers here in Minnesota are fabulous and we wait a long time for them as we suffer through each winter. No one wants to be indoors. Classes that are normally full have about six people in them, spaced equidistant from each other. The old adage “you could shoot a cannon through here and not hurt anyone” comes to mind. Anyway, I thought maybe I could find something online that would motivate me. Something that would stir up a spark in me that I could bring to my next class. So I started looking, and looking, and looking. Nothing. How about a podcast? By now there had to be a podcast directed at indoor cycling instructors. Nope. Ok, yes I found a few sites where someone had recorded their class. Not quite what I was looking for. Also found a few places that published their class playlists. Music is very personal to me, so they weren’t of interest. What I was looking for was a fresh perspective; some ideas on formats, solutions to issues and challenges that a typical Spinning instructor would face.

Still nothing. So I decided to start the indoor cycle instructor podcast. And then I understood why there wasn’t one, this is a lot of work! But it’s also a great mental exercise, requiring a lot of endurance; creating MP3s, wordpress & RSS feeds, PHP files, FTP clients, uploading, downloading, themes… Now that I’m past the initial setup I can breath a bit easier. Sounds a little like getting through the warm-up in class. The hardest part for me is the early push required to get my body aerobic. Once I’m there I’m ready to go!

My plan? To begin with everyone is welcome!
It doesn’t matter where you received your training & certification; Spinning, Schwinn Cycling, Keiser Cycling, Cycle Reebok, Reaction Cycling, Les Mills RPM Cycling, LeMond RevMaster Indoor Cycle or some other Group Fitness training organization. Or maybe you are a enthusiast, considering becoming a certified indoor cycling instructor?

Listen as the worlds best Indoor Cycling instructors, presenters and industry leaders discuss; teaching and presentation skills, sports performance training, class ride profiles, entertaining routines, heart rate training, nutrition, weight management, promoting your class and lots of discussion about music.

Let me know if there is something or someone you feel other instructors should hear about.

John(at sign)indoorcycleinstructor.com

That’s me in front, with my faithful stoker Amy Macgowan doing her part in the back.

I’m just a lowly Indoor Cycling Instructor, having taught for about 8 years. I’m currently teaching for LifeTime Fitness at a very nice location in Minnetonka, MN. Before that I did some competitive cycling that I used to fill the gap left after I gave up motorcycle road racing.

Amy is the “Senior Group Fitness Instructor” in our home. She’s taught just about our entire married lives, 21 years this September 2009. Amy teaches at a different LifeTime Fitness location in Eden Prairie, MN.

Do we sub for each other? Yes. Are we different in our teaching styles? As different as night and day. Co-teach a class together? Absolutely, we do special 2 hour endurance rides together every Christmas and New Years! (The members say they love to watch us snip at each other!)