Cupid is Stupid Valentines Profile

As you can probably tell, I really like the profile concept of dueling intervals, where each hard effort alternates between a flat road higher cadence and a climb with slower cadence higher resistance. It has become a staple, especially when putting together theme rides!

Last year I posted a Valentines Dueling Interval profile on my Funhogspins blog. This year I am going to do something similar for my Friday and Saturday classes, but with a little more of an “anti-Valentine’s” theme. Just for fun, my ride is called Cupid is Stupid.

Some of the recovery songs in between the efforts are the same as last year’s ride (I have limited good short love songs in my library)!

I am still in base building with my members so I won’t be pushing them too hard – but we’ll probably get up to threshold on some of the work segments. You can certainly raise the intensity above threshold during the work efforts if you wanted to. Enjoy the profile! Read more…

ICI Podcast #82 – Meet Ben Greenfield our newest ICI/PRO Team Member

Ben Greenfield is our newest ICI/PRO Team Contributor. Through his new RockStar Triathlete Academy, Ben has promised to help me with my training for the three Multi-Sport events I have committed to this summer.

Besides all of his education and experience as a competitive endurance athlete Ben is an Indoor Cycling Instructor just like us. He knows how to use a Spinning Indoor Cycling class to train for competitive endurance events and how to build a class that focuses on training (what I call Indoor Cycling 2.0). You can learn more about Ben here.

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/082_Ben_Greenfield.mp3]

Update: I’m joining Ben Greenfield’s Triathlon Rock Star Triathlete Academy as I train for my first Triathlon. John

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]

ICI Podcast # 74 – 5 1/2 common computer problems and what to do about them

If you are anything like me, your life revolves around your computer. Email, FaceBook, iTunes, on-line shopping and this website are all inaccessible without a working computer. Since we have an official “Geek” here at IndoorCycleInstructor.com, I thought I would offer some of his wisdom and experience to listeners like you.

Meet Microsoft Systems Engineer (and my brother) Dan Macgowan!

Dan joins me to discuss 5 1/2 common problems he routinely sees in personal and small business computers.  Dan’s expertise is with PC’s but you Mac users will want to pay attention as well. The solutions and preventative actions Dan recommends apply to all types of computers.

Here is the link to the new FREE antivirus protection from Microsoft that Dan recommends in the Podcast.

Dan’s suggestion for Automatic On-Line Backup is Carbonite. More info here.

Mozy is the other online backup provider we discussed. Mozy info here.

You can contact Dan dan@indoorcycleinstructor.com

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/074_Computer_Problems.mp3]

ICI Podcast #68 Amateur, Hobbyist or Professional … Which are you?

Do you consider yourself an Amateur, Hobbyist or Professional Indoor Cycle Instructor? Listen to this podcast and then post your response here.

In this episode we announce that starting in January, CEC’s are included as part of an ICI/PRO Platinum Membership.

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/068_amateur_hobbyist.mp3]

ICI Podcast #64 – Master Instructor Janet Toussaint on how to sell endurance training to your class

One of the things that most excites me about the potential here at ICI and the technology we are tapping into, is that we have created a platform that allows us to seek out and interview some of the most progressive and experienced people in indoor cycling and bring them to you, our listeners and members. Where else can you hear interviews with the pros on subjects that help you grow as an instructor? (Except at an expensive conference once a year!)

We certainly do not know everything there is to know about indoor cycling, but we know how to seek it out and bring it to you. I have so many mentors I’ve learned from over the years who I would like to bring into the discussion at ICI. With every new person we interview, you will learn a different style, a different approach, or perhaps a new twist on something you haven’t considered.

Today we are speaking with Master Instructor Janet Toussaint from the Boston area. I met Janet eleven years ago in Santa Monica at a weeklong Master Camp for Mad Dogg Athletics. Janet had joined the Spinning MI team the year before I did (and left MDA two years before I did). At this camp, the entire MI team had to go on a challenging 40-mile very hilly outdoor bicycle ride with Johnny G; many of us still talk about that ride to this day. (Those were the days – Master Instructors were expected to have at least some cycling skills and experience!)

Janet was always one of my favorite Master Instructors and her sessions at WSSC were riveting; there was something about her gentle but powerful voice that made you want to listen when she spoke. It was the teaching style that I wanted to emulate as I developed my own style.

One of Janet’s expertises is teaching endurance. She ran the Spinning program for years at the Boston Athletic Club and not only got the instructors to buy into the concept of teaching a moderate intensity ride, but the large member base as well. Now that is a tough challenge when all they seem to want is high intensity all the time – I am sure many of you are faced with a similar challenge.

In January of 2003 Janet came out to visit me in Vail on a ski vacation with her son JP. When we weren’t skiing, I made her teach Spinning at my club! We were in the middle of a base building program at the time so I had her teach an Endurance workshop to my instructors. She had such a positive impact on our instructors and our program and I still use some of her special cues and metaphors that she used to motivate riders.

When you hear Janet’s passion, I am sure she will inspire you too!

John and I enjoyed this discussion so much that we decided to go deeper into the subject of endurance and scheduled even more time with Janet. For ICI/PRO members, we will offer two additional podcasts that you will receive in your Super-Secret iTunes feed. The next interview will go more deeply into the essence of teaching an endurance ride. Even more exciting, the second one will be  an audio PROfile on Janet’s own favorite endurance ride, The Endurance Connection, replete with her all-star cueing, coaching and playlist.

If you have difficulty coming up with motivational things to say in your endurance classes, you won’t want to miss any of these podcasts!

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/064_MI_Toussaint.mp3]

ICI/PRO Podcast #63 – Our first Tele-Seminar!

Jennifer and I thought we would let everyone get the chance to listen to the recording of our first Tele-Seminar. The next one is scheduled for November 1st.

[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/063_October_4_Seminar.mp3]

ICI Podcast #60 – Teach a few classes in exchange for a week on the beach in Jamaica.

This year is going to be different! You see for years Amy and I have traveled with FitBodies Inc. We could because Amy is an ACE Certified Group Fitness Instructor, which is the primary requirement to participating in this fabulous program: teach a few Group Fitness classes each day in exchange for a free stay at an All Inclusive resort in the Caribbean. Everything changed when Suzelle Snowden, the owner of FitBodies, Inc send me an email that said they now have openings for Indoor Cycling Instructors!

Read more…

ICI Podcast #58 – Do you ride at the same intensity as your class?

Jennifer Sage and I discuss whether or not it is proper for you to use your Indoor Cycling class as your workout.

Added Bonus for ICI/PRO Members and Visitors!

Raise your hand if you are guilty of using your class as your personal workout. Mine is up. Be sure to listen all the way to the end when Jennifer absolves me (and you) of committing this particular sin.

And no, you can’t get absolution from those the other guys, they just pour on the guilt
Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/058-Intensity.mp3]

ICI Podcast #55 – The Big Announcement Podcast!

In this episode of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast Jennifer Sage and I have lots of news to share!

• New contributors, it’s not just “About Me” anymore
• Jennifer resigns from her position with Spinning – Mad Dogg Athletics. She has a full explanation at her blog.
  
• We announce our new Indoor Cycle Instructor/PRO Membership Service that opens on September 12th

Subscribers to our newsletter will receive all the details of the Indoor Cycle Instructor/PRO Membership Service later this week.

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
[audio:http://indoorcycleinstructor.com.s3.amazonaws.com/055_bigannouncement.mp3]