Everything you need to conduct Threshold Field Tests in your Indoor Cycling class.

ICI/PRO Members – here is Jennifer’s video presentation on conducting a Threshold Field Test with your class. I have also included links to the ZONE methodology and the HR ZONE calculators -HERE- and Jennifer’s Threshold Field Test ICI/PRO Audio Profile #84

Threshold Field Test Q&A teleseminar this Sunday

We postponed last week’s teleseminar due to the SuperBowl….and scheduled it right smack in the middle of Valentines evening! But no more postponing. Depending on where you are in the world, put your romantic dinner (or breakfast) off a little bit or schedule it a little earlier. My husband is just going to have to wait for dinner (as long as he keeps the champagne nice and cold)!

As I said before, but it bears repeating, even if you aren’t quite ready to do a field test with your students and make the transition to threshold-based heart rate training, begin now to learn more and cement your understanding of this important subject. Because mark my words, we are on the cusp of a change in this industry. You will start to see more and more programs making the suggestion to move beyond MHR-based zones.

Here is an example of some of the excellent questions I’ve gotten from ICI/PROmembers around the world that will be covered in this weekend’s call: Read more…

LT, AT, VT, FT, MLSS, OBLA….I’m so confused!

You’ve heard of lactate threshold and anaerobic threshold, but have you heard of functional threshold? Ventilatory threshold? MLSS? OBLA? Do these terms only add to the confusion? There are about as many different terms to express what’s going on at this point as there are definitions to describe it! Even the experts do not agree on the one term that is most appropriate and useful, especially for the fitness industry.

One thing the experts do agree on is what is happening at this point:

Lactate Threshold is the point at which lactate accumulation exceeds the body’s ability to remove it (flush it out). As lactate begins to accumulate in the system, there is a concomitant increase in H+ ions, which is the cause of the acidosis and the inhibition of muscular contraction.

For an excellent overview of what is going on here, Len Kravitz, Ph.D., frequent presenter at numerous fitness conferences for the past thirty years and Professor at the University of New Mexico, wrote this excellent article on lactate and lactic acid.

Lactate Threshold (LT) is the term most widely utilized and accepted in endurance sports, Read more…

Spinning profile: My aerobic ladder ride this morning

I thought I’d post my profile for my ride this morning in class because it really worked out well and I feel simply awesome! Every now and then I dig around in my profile book and resurrect one I hadn’t done in awhile – the last time I did this one was last year during Base Building, but I don’t think I’ll wait that long to do it again! It’s a great feeling, and students love the structure of the profile – with enough change to keep them on task without getting distracted. The progressive nature of the efforts ease you into it, and before long, you find yourself working “somewhat hard”.

We’re still in our Base period for another three weeks, but I do get them up to just below threshold during this period. This profile will probably become an ICI/PRO audio PROfile one of these days with all the cueing and coaching I use, but for those who are doing a base building program and are fretting about not having enough interesting things to do at aerobic heart rates, this one will keep your students engaged. You can add your own cueing.

Progressive Aerobic Ladder Read more…

What you’ve been waiting for – the Threshold Field Test audio profile!

I’ve been holding back on presenting the threshold field test as an audio profile for ICI/PRO members simply to give you all time to learn more about what threshold is and to sell you on the concept so you can sell it to your students.

• You needed to ponder how to answer HR questions your confused students have about their zones.
• You needed to be convinced that MHR zones are unreliable and not based on science.
• You needed to question why there is a 92%MHR ceiling and wonder how valid it is. (I have another post coming this week on that subject as it relates to LTHR).
• You needed to learn the RPE at threshold and how to describe it to your students.
• You needed to know that threshold-based zones aren’t just for elite athletes – they help anyone who wants to lose weight and improve fitness!
• You needed some more convincing about how guessing threshold as 85% of MHR can either under or over push your students, hindering their own fitness enhancement.
• You needed a couple of audio profiles that are based on threshold intensity, good training for your students to lead them up to doing a field test. John’s Grand Canyon threshold ride, the Step-it-Up profile interval ride gradually increasing to threshold,  Progressive Dueling Aerobic Efforts to work below threshold, and more.

And I’ve still got a lot more scientific data and supporting information to give you in the next few weeks and months, but I think it’s time to introduce this most important class. Next Sunday John and I will post the audio PROfile on how to teach a threshold field test in order to estimate Lactate Threshold (or anaerobic threshold) for your students, and then what to do with the information. Read more…

ICI Podcast #78 – This new ChestLick product helped save his life!

Happy New Year!

I don’t think I have done this before. I’m going to suggest that you forward this interview on to your participants & fitness friends to hear. It’s a compelling story of the importance of wearing and using a Heart Rate Monitor + an excellent example of being your very own medical advocate!

Imagine you are married to an IronMan distance endurance athlete. You learn that instead of flying off to compete in his next IronMan Triathlon, your husband is scheduled for open heart surgery. During his recovery and subsequent training he becomes an avid Heart Rate Monitor user but is frustrated by his monitor’s inconsistency.  So you find and begin distributing a product that will make his heart rate monitor perform like it should. I does. So well in fact that it leads to a second open heart surgery, preventing a certain heart attack.

I have been using ChestLick for about a month now and can attest to how well it works and how cleanly and easily it goes on.

ChestLick is a newly-developed, state-of-the-art, athletic heart rate monitor spray. ChestLick is used to ensure that your heart rate monitor is able to immediately and accurately receive the signal from your chest strap. Because ChestLick is so effective and unique, there are worldwide patents protecting the formula! This formula is non-residue, non-staining, and hypo allergenic!  This same electrolyte spray is used in hospitals around the world.

Melinda would love to send you a sample. You can email her info@chestlick.com or visit www.chestlick.com to order some today.
Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/078_ChestLick.mp3]

The Myth of Maximum Heart Rate

How many times have you heard from your students that the heart rate you asked for is just too easy? How many times have you been faced with comments like I mentioned in my last post, where my student Annie said she rode at 95% for the entire class (and you know that that would be impossible)?

Indoor cycling instructors are faced with a conundrum. The fitness industry is “stuck” on the concept of using age to determine max heart rate (MHR), yet we know it is an incorrect assumption. Even worse, the bogus formula of 220 – age = max heart rate is ubiquitous; every cardio machine and heart rate monitor that asks you for your age is using that formula to prescribe training zones based on MHR.

You’re no better off than if you closed your eyes and threw a dart at the maximum heart rate chart.

Read more…

Can you answer your students’ questions about heart rate?

This morning I taught a tough interval class in which we did numerous intervals above threshold. There were a lot of smiling faces afterward, their legs drained, faces red. As usual my students are eager to learn the training information I give them with each class and they listened carefully as I explained the importance of recovery after this kind of intensity. I explained that this intensity is great for burning total calories (though not fat calories), but if they trained here too often with insufficient recovery afterwards, their ability to raise their heart rates to the desired level in successive classes would be compromised, as would their performance.

I said, “unless you are an elite athlete who has finely tuned her training to peak for a specific high intensity event, you probably wouldn’t be riding at this intensity on successive days.”

Afterwards, one of my newer students (who hasn’t yet been through a field test with me to determine training zones based on threshold) came up and asked me a question about her heart rate. Annie is in her 50’s (and no, she’s not an elite athlete). The following was our dialogue and it represents one of the classic misunderstandings that exist when it comes to heart rate training (and especially max heart rate).

Read more…

ICI Podcast #45 – Research into the psychological effects of heart rate training.

I love people who see a question and decide to find the answer.  Melissa Marotta is just such a person: Spinning Instructor, Medical Student and also an excellent writer. Check out her blog and you see what I mean – http://www.spintastic.blogspot.com

Melissa asked the question; “does using heart rate monitor improve your Self-efficacy — that is, one’s belief in one’s own ability to navigate the challenges of one’s world?” And then decided to do a study to find the answer.

This post describes what she has planned and the Podcast adds more detail about – EXPLORATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF HEART RATE MONITOR USE DURING EXERCISE.

Once you have listened to her interview please complete her survey HERE.

You can contact Melissa melissa.marotta@gmail.com

I plan to have Melissa on later this summer to find out what she learns.

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/045_Melissa_Marotta.mp3]

ICI Podcast #40 – iSpinning™ iPhone® App & SMHEART LINK™ from iTMP Technology

iSpinning™, the new iPhone® App, along with the SMHEART LINK™ is coming to your studio soon!

As an Indoor Cycling Instructor, I feel it will be helpful for you to have some understanding of how it works and the value it can bring to you and your Spinning class.

Michael Williams, the CEO of iTMP Technology, is my guest for episode #40.  Can you believe 40? Michael and I discuss his personal inspiration and fitness journey that lead to the development of the iSpinning iPhone app. iTMP also is offering other iPhone fitness apps; iRPM, iBPM and the iNewLeaf app that brings your Heart Rate Training Zones from your latest Metabolic assessment right into your iPhone or iPod touch.

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/040_iSpinning_App.mp3]