The holiday season is fast approaching and finding the perfect gift for the athlete on your list can be quite a challenge! The sheer volume of fitness gadgets, gear, and gizmos is enough to overwhelm even the savviest of shoppers! But fear not. Take a deep breath and relax because I’ve compiled a list of incredibly cool gifts for your favorite fitness enthusiast. Got great ideas of your own? Post ‘em here…Santa can always use a little extra help!
BIKE TUNE-UP – If the cyclist on your list is a recreational rider or isn’t particularly skilled in bike maintenance, wrap up a gift certificate for a bike tune-up. The price typically runs about $50.
iMUFFS – What’s exercise without music? Wireless workouts will be appreciated by any athlete! Wi-Gear’s new iMuffs are sleek, wireless headphones designed to work with iPod, Bluetooth and Skype. Check them out at www.wi-gear.com.
REFUELING BASKET – Put together a basket filled with everything from Clif Bars to Gu packets. Throw in some homemade trail mix and a few pairs of new socks and you’re golden.
RUDY PROJECT RYDON PERFORMACE SUNGLASSES – Rydon’s come in a wide array of lenses with polarization, color, and prescription options. They are lightweight, anti-fog, anti-slip, and provide maximum UV protection. Find them at cycling stores or online at www.E-Rudy.com.
PERSONAL TRAINING/GYM MEMBERSHIP – Create a winter fitness package that includes personal training sessions, massage and even tanning! Many gyms offer a three month membership which is perfect for the off-season months. If your athlete is already a gym member, consider buying a punch card for yoga or Pilates classes since many gyms charge extra for these. Bundle the package in a spiffy new gym bag.
GET THEM OFF THE COUCH — If your friend or loved one doesn’t exercise, they may actually resent a gift of fitness. So how do you get them started on a healthy program? Make a gift certificate that reads, “I’ll meet you every Saturday morning for a 60 minute walk.” Your time is the most valuable gift they will ever receive.
SOCCER BALL CONTACT LENSES — Has a coach ever told you to keep your eye on the ball? It would be impossible NOT to with these contact lenses! The manufacturer, German optician Stephanie Berndt, produced these visual aids to celebrate the World Cup of Soccer. www.cococontacts.com/search_results.php?keyword=soccer.
PRIVATE CYCLING COACH — Hire an expert. Even if only for a month, there’s nothing like working out one-on-one with a professional coach to vastly improve a rider’s ability at any level.
YOGA MAT WITH AN ATTITUDE — In the sea of ubiquitous yoga mats, inject a dash of humor in your practice with a Photo Series mat by Plank Designs, Inc. Featured in Shape, Women’s Health, and a gazillion other magazines, you’ll find fun yogi gear at www.plankdesigns.com.
PROFESSIONAL SKIN CARE — An athlete’s skin is exposed to sun and environmental pollutants that can damage your skin. Turn back the years with a collection of skin care products by Obagi®. According to Joy White, skin care specialist and half marathoner at Belle Meade Dermatology in Nashville, Tennessee, Obagi® Foaming Gel Cleanser, Healthy Skin SPF35, and IS Clinical Vitamin C+E are products that flat out work. Joy also recommends a water resistant sunscreen such as Blue Lizard Sport if you sweat. Purchase products through your dermatologist or online skincare sites.
INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEOS — Education is the gift that keeps on giving. For the Indoor Cycling Instructor on your list, go to www.globalride.net for some of the best teaching DVD’s ever produced. “Climbing Sufferage in Italy” and “Speed & Power in Italy” are both exceptional.
CARBON DIOXIDE TIRE REPAIR KIT — Priced around $10, the beauty of this gift is that everyone gets a flat tire at some point in time and this gadget will inflate a tire a flash! No more struggling with a small frame pump to get enough pressure in a road tire. Pick up a few spare cartridges as well; they don’t go bad. Kits are small enough to fit in a jersey pocket.
EBOOK: Keep It Real In You Indoor Cycling Classes – If you haven't yet added this ebook to your cyber library, then you might want to put it on your own Christmas list, or buy it for your favorite co-instructor. It's one of those “must-haves” for all Indoor Cycling Instructors!
ICI/PRO TEE SHIRT — Hey, John! Where’s the ICI/PRO stuff? We want hats, sweatshirts, tees, and even socks with this cool logo. C’mon, guys, let’s inundate John’s mailbox with requests and maybe he’ll get the hint…..post away…..you have my permission….hehehehe…….They're coming soon Barbara. John
After an exhausting but exhilarating week of grand opening festivities, I’m thrilled to unveil the new Spinning® studio at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN.
Transforming a basketball gym into an indoor cycling studio was challenging, but with the help of a passionate Student Activities Staff and talented Theater Department, the facility unfolded on schedule, came in under budget, and the final result was simply breathtaking. Students and faculty members were thrilled to return to campus to discover indoor cycling had arrived!
Kick off week included team teaching with five classes daily, self-guided scenic rides projected on a large movie screen, interviews with local newspapers, and best of all – athletic coaches began their spring training in the new Spinning® studio!
If you’d like to spice up your health club’s indoor cycling studio and create a wave of fresh excitement, try a few of these simple design elements I implemented at Lipscomb University.
I had been to plenty of cycling classes before this one. I had sat through the militant instructors, rigid with instruction. I had pedaled through classes where the coach was crouched, hidden behind his music. But here I sit, perched on a bike in the center of the back row, vowing to myself that this would be the last instructor that I tried out. And in she walked–her confidence and comfort oozing out. I could tell, even from my seat in the back row and only from her entrance, that she was the instructor that I had believed existed only in myth. But there she was.
​Over the next few months, I attached myself to her classes and finally realized what it was about her that drew me in. It was her ability to blend the gentle with the firm. Before class started, she would move throughout the room, helping people set their bikes up properly, almost whispering them the instructions, making each person feel like they were the only rider in the room. This was the gentle–the ability to quietly coach in the time before the first beat dropped out of the sound system.
And then there was the firm. Once she was in the saddle and the pedals started to fly, her ability to coach and cue the ride was unmatched in the local market. Her vocabulary was rich with adjectives, and her verbs were more than variations on “be.” So, “You are climbing a mountain” becomes “You grind and claw your way up the jagged side of an almost vertical slope.”
Once the ride was over, she met each of us at the door to offer, again, almost-whispered encouragement. So, if I were to offer advice on captivating your audience, I would have to say that it starts before class, and it extends well beyond the cool down. And it is all about the balance.
When the world markets were crashing in 1929 and the American economy was in ruins, Angelo Siciliano, an Italian immigrant, saw opportunity in the face of darkness. In the midst of financial despair and against all odds, Siciliano pioneered the fitness revolution as we know it today.
As a young man weighing only 97 pounds, Siciliano was at the beach with his girlfriend when a bully kicked sand in his face. Humiliated, he began doing numerous exercise routines and became obsessed with strength. According to Siciliano’s memoirs, he was at the zoo one day watching a lion stretch when he thought to himself, “Does this old gentleman have any barbells, any exercisers?” Siciliano concluded that lions and tigers became strong by pitting muscle against muscle. He changed his name to Charles Atlas and in the midst of economic turmoil began offering bodybuilding courses through a mail-order fitness program. Advertisements soon appeared in comic books and magazines, and this was the beginning of Charles Atlas Ltd., the fitness industry phenomenon. According to Atlas’s 1982 biography, “Yours in Perfect Manhood,” his company did so well that it emerged from the stock market crash unscathed.
Before the Great Depression lifted, Jack LaLanne, often called the Godfather of Fitness, also influenced millions of lives by teaching people to eat right and exercise regularly. LaLanne, who died last January at the age of 96, opened the first American health club in Oakland, California in 1936. LaLanne spent decades spreading the physical and mental benefits of exercise and designed the world's first leg-extension machine which is now standard in the industry.
Neither Atlas nor Lalanne were personal trainers but rather shrewd businessmen. Both saw a hunger for people wanting to escape their financial woes and feel good about themselves. While others laughed at the notion of opening a business during an economic meltdown, Atlas and LaLanne created a multi-million dollar fitness empire.
Is something similar brewing? Despite the sagging economy and rising unemployment, several recent polls indicate that tough financial times actually encourage people to redirect their expenses toward health-conscious pursuits while traveling and dining out less often. While some may suggest that dropping your health club membership along with cable television is the right thing to do in a troubled economy, you should never give up your membership in ANY economy. Your gym membership is an incredible value for these 5 reasons:
1. On average, a single meal out costs well over half what your gym membership costs you.
2. Working out regularly keeps you mentally and physically balanced. Enough said.
3. No matter what gym you belong to, it’s a community. Enjoying like-minded individuals is good for the soul.
4. Your health club is a safe harbor. No matter how hectic your life becomes with interruptions, knowing you have a bike waiting in the 6:00 cycling class provides a constant in your daily schedule.
5. Exercise boosts self-confidence, and this is important if you’re dealing with the negative effects of a recession or your confidence is down due to a job loss.
Just like Atlas and LaLanne, studio owners have an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive by promoting fitness as a way to survive financial hardships. While it’s true that money can’t bring happiness, good health most definitely can.
Barbara Hoots is a long time contributor at www.indoorcycleinstructor.com and you can read her other articles here. Considering a new studio? Visit spinroomdesign.com to learn more about designing the perfect Spinning Studio.
There is no way we can comprehend the tragedy of Jeff Wimmer's death, and it's left us searching for answers that might be difficult to ever find. In these darkest hours, the pain touches us all in the indoor cycling community, and I mourn this loss as if it were my own.
Jeff was the silent force behind the success of my studio in south Georgia. With a high jobless rate in this indigent community, Jeff donated many bikes over the years without question or expectation of anything in return. The white NXT's that fill our studio, given out of generosity and love, are a tribute to his memory. The legacy of his warmth, tenderness and talent will endure forever.
Barbara Hoots
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John's Note: Jeff Wimmer and his company StudioCycles was a fixture in Indoor Cycling pretty much from the very beginning. I remember him telling me how Johnny G used to purchase bicycle parts from Jeff, all the stuff that Johnny used to build the first prototypes of the Johnny G Spinner.
Jeff brought an incredible amount of passion and professionalism to Indoor Cycle maintenance and the refurbishing of used cycles.
I had the privilege of interviewing Jeff back in 2009. If you haven't heard Jeff before or would like to learn some of the early history of the Spinning program, it maybe fun for you to hear this.
Barbara Hoots wasn't the only person Jeff has helped. You can listen to Studio owner Michael Stadvec describe how Jeff's contribution of bikes made his event; The Tour de Pier a success, in this interview from last spring. I'm going to guess that Barbara and Michael weren't the only two people Jeff has helped over the years.
BIKE TUNE-UP – If the cyclist on your list is a recreational rider or isn’t particularly skilled in bike maintenance, wrap up a gift certificate for a bike tune-up. The price typically runs about $50.
iMUFFS – What’s exercise without music? Wireless workouts will be appreciated by any athlete! Wi-Gear’s new iMuffs are sleek, wireless headphones 
designed to work with iPod, Bluetooth and Skype. Check them out at www.wi-gear.com.
lightweight, anti-fog, anti-slip, and provide maximum UV protection. Find them at cycling stores or online at www.E-Rudy.com.
SOCCER BALL CONTACT LENSES — Has a coach ever told you to keep your eye on the ball? It would be impossible NOT to with these contact lenses! The manufacturer, German optician Stephanie Berndt, produced these visual aids to celebrate the World Cup of Soccer. www.cococontacts.com/search_results.php?keyword=soccer.
by Plank Designs, Inc. Featured in Shape, Women’s Health, and a gazillion other magazines, you’ll find fun yogi gear at www.plankdesigns.com.
ICI/PRO TEE SHIRT — Hey, John! Where’s the ICI/PRO stuff? We want hats, sweatshirts, tees, and even socks with this cool logo. C’mon, guys, let’s inundate John’s mailbox with requests and maybe he’ll get the hint…..post away…..you have my permission….hehehehe…….They're coming soon Barbara. John
After an exhausting but exhilarating week of grand opening festivities, I’m thrilled to unveil the new Spinning® studio at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. 
As a young man weighing only 97 pounds, Siciliano was at the beach with his girlfriend when a bully kicked sand in his face. Humiliated, he began doing numerous exercise routines and became obsessed with strength. According to Siciliano’s memoirs, he was at the zoo one day watching a lion stretch when he thought to himself, “Does this old gentleman have any barbells, any exercisers?” Siciliano concluded that lions and tigers became strong by pitting muscle against muscle. He changed his name to Charles Atlas and in the midst of economic turmoil began offering bodybuilding courses through a mail-order fitness program. Advertisements soon appeared in comic books and magazines, and this was the beginning of Charles Atlas Ltd., the fitness industry phenomenon. According to Atlas’s 1982 biography, “Yours in Perfect Manhood,” his company did so well that it emerged from the stock market crash unscathed.
