My article about teaching a Cycle Sculpt class, that included using weights on the cycle, brought out a lot of strong comments on my Facebook. Understandably many of the commentators expressed concerns about safety:
I think the rub for me John is safety. Weights on a bike is an accident waiting to happen. I don't think it is responsible for me to put anyone in my club in a position where I can't keep them safe.
... but I do it safely & never use weights on the bike.
Strength train OR spin. Never both together. Lifting weights on a spinner is unsafe.
All perfectly valid concerns based on each person's perspective of what's safe and what is not safe, in an Indoor Cycling class.
We all don't have the same perspective of safety.
There's a couple in their middle 50's who've taken mine and Amy's classes for years - I will call them Doug and Linda.
Doug enjoys riding outdoors and he often joins us on group rides. He's a reasonably strong rider, with good cycling skills and I enjoy riding with him.
Although she has the fitness, Linda refuses to ride on the road - "too dangerous" she'd tell you. She'll ride in the neighborhoods and sometimes venture out on one of the many biking trails we have here. But that's it. No riding on the road for her.
So who's right here? Doug? or Linda?
A valid argument can easily be made by both. Doug may site thousands of incident free miles - does that make him right? Or if he crashed on his way down of the driveway tomorrow, would that have Linda correctly telling him "I told you cycling is dangerous"?
Is the perception of safety based on the potential of injury?
Crashing a bicycle hurts... a lot. Trust me when I say; I know exactly what it feels like to roll across the pavement at 20 miles per hour, wearing nothing but a helmet, a nylon jersey and Lycra bike shorts. There's a very real potential for serious injury every time I go on a ride. I have had friends hit (and yes unfortunately even killed) by cars/trucks and other cyclists while riding on the road.
Having intimate knowledge of the potential for getting hurt, I still head out on my road bike without a second thought. It's even worse for Amy on our tandem. She has absolutely zero control from her place as Stoker. She has to sit behind me and trust completely that I'll bring us to the finish safely. Amy has seen first hand what can happen riding with a fast group - when things go terribly wrong and next she's dialing 911 - 3 times to date. She's also the first person to ask; "are we riding tomorrow"? Oh, and Amy likes it when insists that we're leading the fastest group on the road, during any charity ride we're on.
Linda's position would be that Amy and I should stay home and take up gardening - or some other safe activity. Our response would be; while we recognise the possibility that we could get hurt, we still choose to ride outdoors. Basically we accept the potential risk and believe in our own abilities as cyclists to participate safely, in an activity that others would view as too dangerous.
But the comments weren't about your safety John, their concerns were for the safety of the participants in the class.
I've been a sort of evangelist for cycling outdoors, for years. I talk frequently in my classes about how enjoyable it is to get out and ride. I show videos of beautiful cycling destinations in almost every class. I've lead group rides consistently since the late 90s. Dozens of cyclists have been personally mentored by me, as they learned to ride properly in a group. Amy's no different. Give her the chance and she'll tell you endless stories about how much she enjoys riding our tandem with our cycling group.
Based on her perception that outdoor cycling as unsafe, couldn't Linda easily say that Amy and I (and maybe you) are promoting an unsafe activity?
As you can guess, my answer would be a firm NO!
I don't share Linda's perspective that cycling is inherently unsafe for myself, Amy or others who I encourage to take up the sport. Why? Because I have years of direct experience that cycling on the road can be safe, if done safely. Is there crazy, stupid stuff that you can do to make cycling unsafe? Of course there is - I choose not to do them, instruct those who I ride with not to do it and am the first (or second as Amy is pretty quick to voice concerns) to reprimand someone who's behavior is endangering themselves or others.
Your thoughts?
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Originally posted 2013-12-03 08:04:37.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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John what went on with your facebook post is key to why facebook stock never skyrocketed like many over valued Silicon Valley companies did.
Your post was an honest description of your experience. And while I think you expected some push back from those that spend way to much time on FB, what you got were some judgmental instructors who likely teach one empty class per week at a community center someplace.
From scriptures; judge not lest yes be judged.
Our instructor certificates don’t say OMNIPOTENTLY certified. We cannot begin to know what others need or think is safe. But it is safe to say they keep coming to that class because they believe in the instructor to get them to the other side of the workout.
Unfortunately we are a fear driven society. Perceived notions of risk should not automatically override any activity. The correct questions to ask are:
– Are there benefits to this activity? (whatever they may be)
– If so, how can we best execute this activity?
Safety should be one of the factors considered while evaluating any activity, but not the only one.
I for one don’t see the point of cycle sculpt, perhaps because I am a cyclist and indoor cycling is a complement of my outdoor cycling activity. That statement does not make spin sculpt automatically invalid. One should always try to keep an open mind.
While I was quite taken back to see the article you wrote John, I read it, digested, it, saw your POV and it’s not one I care to share.
You explain all your points rather well. . I do understand that going to a class to sub where this was the norm and expected left you with some options. For me, my options would have be (taken from experience):
1. Find out beforehand what the class are used to (I usually do)
2. Not sub knowing what it was that was done or
3. Having worked in various chain gyms and having to cover a great deal of classes – do an interval session or intermittent on the bike / off the bike work.
I just don’t see validating doing this because of the trend shift in Indoor cycling. It feels a bit sheepish to me and a real easy way out. I do comprehend what you are saying though.
I would strongly disagree with Chucks comment along the lines of people making comments are probably instructors teaching once a week in a community – he knows that’s not the case at all . We are all passionate and can get heated on this topic. When doing my masters degree full time and doing an internship, I was teaching 20 classes a week and didn’t do anything that involved equipment on the bike. What I did do though was work hard on building my own community. I got to know all those coming, smiled, was really human with them, made a group on the web, got nights out where we could all get together – all the people from different facilities. Your attitude makes and brakes it here. I like to be really creative in some classes and make them interactive without needing any equipment. I like that element of challenge.
And now i teach in a studio where my regular slots are full and I am putting some extra on again because I worked hard on making them part of a community and making things really individual for them. It has been really hard work for me, but I love it. Then again, maybe people in Ireland have different levels of cultural acceptance? I doubt it 😉
Another point raised – the issue of safety. Chuck mentions the issue that we do not know another persons limit or evaluation of safety. Valid point but doesn’t my and Chucks insurance mean that in my interest and those in the class have a general group limit of safety? I mean, it is my responsibility as the one at the top of the room to use my eye to acknowledge individually what is safe and not safe Need and think with regards safety are two completely different things. Let’s be careful of that.
Like I said, I enjoyed reading your article John, I understand where you were coming from and I let it digest. Not my cup of tea, I prefer the harder challenge and inflict a little more human personal touch into my presentations of what I do, but that’s just me and there is a market for that type of indoor cycling. Just not my interest in product feature function for me and I really see it as the easiest, fastest, least creative way to do this job.
Regardless, I read with interest and am always interested in reading the reposes and thoughts of others.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Guys.
Richard it sounds like you received all this in the manner I intended 🙂
Are you familiar with the “Strengths Test”? Here’s more info https://www.gallupstrengthscenter.com/
This test helps you identify your personal strengths, my #1 is Ideation = the process of creating new ideas. This has me constantly asking questions and challenging the conventional wisdom.
I would never think to compare myself to him, but Steve Jobs was also someone who looked at things and asked; “why is this… this way?” Is there a reason it’s like this… and not like this?
A very small example is the tool I developed to remove the shoe baskets from Schwinn Triple Link pedals. I watched Instructors fight with them for years until I finally asked myself, why isn’t there a tool to safely remove them?
It is important to note that asking why is something is the way it is, necessarily means it’s wrong and I’m right. I have a basement filled with prototypes of dumb ideas.
That was my motivation in large part why I’ve conducted this exercise. There are those who have been very critical of these class formats, and yet they’re becoming very popular. I couldn’t help myself and had to ask; WHY? Who’s right? Are they really as bad as “They Say”? Or asked the other way, can these classes be conducted with a reasonable amount of safety?
To Alan’s point: “Are there benefits to this activity?” I would say no and yes.
No – I don’t see much of a benefit as an effective form of strength work.
Yes – It’s bringing people into studio’s who may never have considered participating in the past. So that’s a benefit as I see it.
Circling back around to Jim Karanas’ point; if these classes are going on the schedule, who better to be teaching them than us?
Witnessing all of this unfold is always amusing to me. I am pleading the 5th on this one because it’s much more fun that way, but I will say that the Strength’s Finder 2.0 assessment is fabulous and we even promote it in the Stages 2-Day training as a way of getting to understand where your participants are coming from and how to communicate more effectively amongst your instructor team . Interestingly John, Ideation and Learner are my top 2 🙂 I hope your “controversy” has at the very least led to increased site traffic. Haha!
Cameron that’s probably why we’ve never had “short” conversations 🙂
You see this as a “controversy”?
I see understanding the various formats of Indoor Cycling as one of my primary roles here at ICI/PRO:)
Many of us are excited about Power. We forget that there are plenty of Instructors who feel that the addition of any form of metrics diminishes what was the original Johnny G “Mind Body” Spinning experience.