by Jim Karanas | Jun 9, 2021 | Master Instructor Blog
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
We’re not wired to seek out pain. Human evolution developed and adapted a neurological system and sensory perception for reducing pain and seeking pleasure.
Easy-to-moderate cardio conditioning is of a manageable intensity that feels good. Once someone gets past the initial discomfort of moving the body and sitting on a saddle, riding a bike is pleasurable.
So why do we take our students past that point and encourage them to hurt? And why do we do it ourselves?
There are plenty of good reasons. But the focus of this post is how to encourage new students to recognize the benefits of training at high heart rates and willingly ride into hurt.
Spiritual teachers speak of consciousness, that transcendental thing with the mind that goes beyond the physical universe. What’s interesting is that more and more studies show that the mind relies upon the physical processes of the brain, yet no one knows exactly how.
In Buddha's Brain, Rick Hanson and Richard Mendius describe how human survival strategies have led to human suffering. That’s not the topic of this article either, although it’s a fascinating read. One of these strategies has a direct impact on training intensity — the fact that humans are wired to “hold onto fleeting pleasures and escape inevitable pains.”
Haven't you ever noticed how counterintuitive it feels when you contemplate a training or event that will hurt? The guiding principle in the human body is homeostasis. Exercise in general takes us out of homeostasis, and high intensity will take us far out of it — or, in the case of an ultra-endurance event, for a very long time. You might overlook pain for a while if you see enough ads with models and athletes, or read what celebrities do to stay fit. After a time, though, it all sounds somewhat ridiculous. Yet this is what we tell our students to do.
Understand that this is not wrong. There are many reasons to exercise hard and experience hurt. But hard training becomes exhausting unless there’s a reason for it that goes beyond the usual stuff the industry throws at us — caloric burn, muscle confusion, muscle shock, looking great naked — and the gadgets to make those things happen.
Working with your mind to encourage your body is central to every path of psychological and spiritual development. “Shocking” the body grossly misrepresents the process. There’s no surprise. We willfully take the body into discomfort for reasons that have little to do with how our physiology reacts to the stress.
The physical benefits of hard training are well documented: increased aerobic capacity, improved ability to burn fat, enhanced metabolic boost, reduced risk of diabetes, reversal of Metabolic Syndrome, greater longevity, increased lean body mass, greater insulin sensitivity, and more.
So, physically, it’s good for us to go hard. As an instructor, you can recite the above list of benefits every time you take heart rates up in class. It might start out convincing, but the impact of the list will diminish over time, even though the benefits still apply to your students’ physiology.
Hurt requires a better reason than the benefits list for our students to keep embracing it during training. Again, neurologically, we’re wired to avoid it. That’s why we feel apprehension and anxiety before every hard effort that produces serious discomfort.
You’re on a ride and turn into a stiff, 25-mph headwind that reduces your speed on a flat road to a soul-destroying 6 mph in your easiest climbing gear. You must ride in that direction for another 50 miles. Endurance will not get you through that ride. Strength will not get you through that ride. None of the physical attributes you may have developed through your classes and training will get you through that ride. Only resilience will.
What is resilience? A dictionary definition centers on the ability to recover quickly, to bounce back. In this context, it could be seen as an attitude: ‘It's not that it doesn't hurt. It's just that it doesn't matter.’ More precisely, it’s a non-attitude — a non-reaction to the hurt that then leads to acceptance. Bouncing back would be the result.
The road is the road. Being a cyclist means accepting it without judgment. Facing a headwind for 50 miles might be the toughest thing you’ve ever done, but it's not really good or bad. It's what is.
All the cardio conditioning in the world will not teach you this. You must willingly go into the hurt and discomfort to train yourself to accept what is. The conflict the pain causes you also provides you with the opportunity to overcome it.
The Zen behind it is ‘no attachments, no aversions’. That way, you’re always present in the moment, working with what is, and whatever happens is OK. It’s as applicable in a cycling class as it is on the road. It’s as applicable in life as it is in training.
The question is whether your students would be willing to hurt to develop these things — focus, presence, acceptance, resilience — and whether you’re willing as an instructor to develop them enough to teach them.
That’s why we ride hard enough to hurt.
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Originally posted 2012-06-18 08:23:31.
by Jim Karanas | Apr 28, 2021 | Master Instructor Blog
Update from John: This post was originally published in June of last year, shortly before we lost Jim. I thought Jim's wisdom could add to our current conversation about SoulCycle, so I'm re-publishing this today.
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
Why would anyone want to do it? It’s crazy. What about the bike? Connecting with it. Feeling the road. How can anyone NOT want to feel the road? Rhythm, timing, breathing. It’s in our DNA.
It won’t last. Silly trend. Dance parties on bikes with music videos can’t last. You can’t even call it training. It’s just physical movement, not sure it’s even considered exercise. It’s totally without direction.
There are some heavy hitters out there who will slam Non-Authentic Indoor Cycling and talk about it with contempt. Read the blogs and forums. It’s important to have beliefs — something you stand for that defines you as a professional.
Am I sure? Absolutely not. Is Non-Authentic Indoor Cycling bad for Indoor Cycling? That’s a good question and the topic of this post.
I teach Authentic Indoor Cycling. I ride bikes outdoors and always seek to bring to my students what the road and trail teach me. The bike has taught me many lessons that I’ll share with anyone who wants to attend my classes and has the patience to listen to my rhetoric.
Fitness reached a pinnacle with indoor cycling. Finally, we had a way to communicate fitness concepts that were not based on hype or adrenalin. Eclectic music. Quality training. Depth. Achievement. Millions of dollars in revenue!
It wasn’t only about the money, but do you really believe that indoor cycling would be here today if it didn’t make money? Fitness is a $12.5-billion industry, and indoor cycling helped it get there. Whatever makes money will drive fitness.
Zumba is a classic example and should be a lesson to everyone. It’s simple choreography, not unlike what I used to teach as an aerobics instructor back in the ‘80s, with the addition of a little Latin dance and hip-hop. The instructors don’t even cue. Yet Zumba is a half-billion-dollar-a-year company. Which shows you what dazzling branding, marketing, and a single-minded focus on building a culture can do for a fitness program.
Do you think Zumba is a fad? Not with those revenues.
What about non-authentic indoor cycling? How about SoulCycle? It hurts; it really does. But if you believe that SoulCycle is going to fade away because it’s not authentic, then I believe you’re misguided. The SoulCycle brand is strong, their marketing is incredibly strong, AND they now have strong financial support after having been purchased by Equinox.
Something else: they’re building one hell of a culture. Friends of mine who have never taken my class come up and say with wide-eyed enthusiasm, “Do you know that SoulCycle is coming to San Francisco?” I ask, “Why would you take a class there when you haven’t yet come to mine?” No response.
I believe that non-authentic indoor cycling will become a significant trend in the Fitness Industry. ICG® is an authentic indoor cycling company. We believe in proper training principles and we all ride bikes, yet we’re not blind.
If non-authentic IC is going to make a mark, why not embrace it for what it is — a way to train on the bike that makes (some) people fit and happy? Assuming it’s validated as safe and effective (ICG has already contacted the American Council on Exercise and proposed a study), then shouldn't every indoor cycling education body offer a program on how to teach non-authentic indoor cycling? Why shouldn’t any and every indoor cycling program be taught by those who are truly qualified to teach indoor cycling? That would be the likes of us. We know indoor cycling best. We could create a program — inauthentic fluff, if you will — that’s still authentic in its safety, structure and cardiovascular benefit. Why not?
It need not (and would not) diminish our authentic style of teaching, and it just might make all of us some money.
Originally posted 2014-10-23 04:51:49.
by Jim Karanas | Apr 19, 2021 | Best Practices, Class DVDS & Videos, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
Two things prompted this post. One was John’s post showing video as one more distraction in a distraction-filled studio (see “Virtual Engagement or Virtual Distraction?”, 7/22/12). The other was my concern about what might happen if instructors and students learned about cycling with video under such poor circumstances — and the entire cycling-with-video concept ended before it even began.
Cycling with video has too much potential to allow it to fall victim to that fate. The obvious question is how to prevent that and present video in a way that showcases it as the amazing asset it is, with great potential for increasing ROI. The cycling-with-video concept hinges on immersion, the sense that the scene is real. It just doesn’t work without it. Here’s what needs to happen to create immersion.
First, there’s lighting. If you want the students engaged in the video, the image must be as bright as possible and dominate the room. If distracting sources of light can be minimized or eliminated, so much the better.
There’s also screen size. Bigger is definitely better for purposes of creating immersion and making it seem real. If the screen can’t be big (say, if a TV monitor is used), there are specific ways to maximize presentation of the footage.
Positioning of the screen is critical. It’s important not to place the front row of bikes too close to the screen. It’s important not to place the screen too high or too low on the wall. The actual distances will change, depending on the size of the screen, but precise guidelines should be followed. Finally, the screen should be centered, taking into account the width of the studio and where the instructor will be.
Managing the mirrors is also critical. The photo in John’s post shows mirror reflections coming from several directions and sources. Those reflections will distort, even destroy, the illusion of forward motion and the possibility of immersion. The solution is either to use a non-mirrored wall in that studio — preferably one painted black, gray or white — or to use a large pull-down screen to cover the mirrors on the forward wall completely.
There’s also the matter of where to place the instructor and the A-V equipment. We’re used to being center-stage. ICI-Pro posts have mentioned our enjoyment of that. With video, though, we need to move to one side and let the video get most of the attention.
Last, and maybe most importantly, the video, the projector (or TV), and the screen (or video wall) need to be of high quality.
(For details and specifics on these guidelines, please click here: www.myrideplus.com/Guidelines).
When all of these things are put together in a professional studio prep, the result is completely different from the chaos John showed us in the photo with his post last week. But it’s not always that easy.
So what’s standing in the way? In a word, expectations.
Understandably, the club owner hopes to make the studio video-ready for the lowest initial cost possible. What’s true is that the above preparations can cost thousands of dollars, if done right. But the inexpensive way leads to what John showed us. If the equipment costs relatively little, that leads to an expectation that the entire set-up should also cost relatively little.
It’s a profound understatement to say that a poorly prepared studio limits the students’ experience — and that it clearly limits future ROI.
Here’s where I’ll stir up trouble and state that, in this regard, DVD is actually pushing things in the wrong direction. It’s a halfway measure that’s not impactful enough to create immersion. This “halfway” aspect of it is why club owners resist spending the money necessary to make cycling-to-video happen on an impressive scale.
To get club owners to make the leap to spectacular video, they need to be exposed to a true immersion experience. Then it becomes obvious that there’s no substitute.
Seriously, if you bought a fake “jewel” for a few dollars at a street fair, would you buy an expensive platinum ring setting for it? For a beautifully cut diamond, your willingness to invest in platinum would increase. Please note that I’m talking here not about budget per se, but about the willingness to invest big money to showcase something mediocre versus something spectacular.
DVD is a mediocre medium with respect to cycling videos and creating immersion. As such, DVD may be keeping the new concept of cycling-with-video from moving forward and becoming the fullest experience it can be. Again, immersion is key and happens best when video is done right.
I know these are controversial statements, but they’re true even when the instructor leading the class does a great job with it. John is a superior instructor who does a great job with it. But who or what could compete with the distractions in that studio? It’s simply not set up for … well, what could and would happen if the video were done right.
For one example of “done right”, please click here
Originally posted 2012-07-30 15:05:12.
by Jim Karanas | Mar 26, 2021 | Indoor Cycling Group - Team ICG, Instructor Training
Whenever I teach an Indoor Cycling class, I try to create an experience that takes the students beyond exercise. A class can affect students even more when video is added. So far, though, video has been used in classes more as a backdrop to create atmosphere than to augment the experience.
The trick to teaching with video is to act as if the ride is real.
When we teach, we can make our students feel that they’re somewhere else through cueing, guided imagery and choice of music. When we dim the lights, play the perfect song, and describe riding through the desert under a full moon on a road with no cars, we can immerse the student in that imagery. Whatever doesn’t add to it detracts.
Can you imagine that same scenario with a disco ball? No congruence. The same holds true for leading a ride profile that has nothing to do with the video playing behind you, and never even referencing it. The video grabs the student’s attention from time to time but doesn’t create virtuality on the ride.
To make video more than a diversion or backdrop, we must embrace it. Then we can create an experience in our classes like never before.
John Chambers of Cisco Systems describes “telepresence” as technology that makes us feel present somewhere other than our true location. A popular application is videoconferencing.
Telepresence allows our students to feel themselves in the video. This leads to immersion, where a student’s self-awareness blends into the absorbing surrounding environment.
Video can create immersion in our students. The acronym ‘SIT’ describes the coaching process:
– Simulation references the video as a real-life scenario. “We’re on Highway 89 in the Arizona Desert, heading to Glen Ferry National Park. It’s 95 degrees with zero percent humidity. The road rolls, and we’re moving at 25 mph.”
– Interaction adapts the training directly to the video. “Our next stage is a straight-line climb, averaging 5%. Stay in the saddle and pedal at 70 RPM. Match your pedalling to the beat of the music.”
– Telepresence helps the class feel present in the video through cueing (words and voice), music (genre, tempo, structure), and the workout (cadence, resistance, intensity and choreography). “You’ve ridden hills like this before. Relax. Control your breathing and fall into the tempo of the music. It’s mellow. Let the music carry you up the hill. We’ll peak our HR at the summit of this climb. We’ll ride the first 3 minutes in the saddle and stand for the last 2, increasing resistance every 60 seconds without losing one RPM.”
With this link, (it's a big HD file so you may need to wait for it) you can download a segment of an HD virtual class, created by the Indoorcycling Group of North America, in conjunction with Virtual Active. When we use video this way — selecting words, music and a workout that make sense to us with the footage — our students achieve immersion. Note from John – you really want to watch that video 🙂
The degree of immersion will vary with the club setting and your comfort, which grows with experience. But even instructors with less experience can create immersion. As your coaching develops, your students’ immersion will deepen. The focus is less on the instructor and more on the video and the thrilling sense of forward motion it creates.
Video quality and high-def imagery enhance the forward motion feel, thus immersion. Virtual Active’s video enhances indoor cycling in a way that’s been missing till now.
You are now ready to begin delivering a complete and synergistic experience for your students.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Originally posted 2011-12-12 20:03:15.
by Jim Karanas | Mar 10, 2021 | Master Instructor Blog
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
My thanks to everyone for the numerous responses to my post last week on the Commoditization of Indoor Cycling. As captured by those responses (Chuck’s in particular), differentiation is the strategy necessary for dealing with the commoditized product of indoor cycling.
Through differentiation — or the possibility of it — boutique studios may provide the example for the industry to start caring more about, and again raising the standards of, indoor cycling. Commoditization can thus be seen not as negative, but as a good push, giving the indoor cycling industry a second beginning.
ICG® Academy has just opened at the OMpower Cycle/Yoga Studio in San Francisco (www.ompowersf.com). OMpower, a boutique studio, will be the North American headquarters of the Indoorcycling Group (ICG®) and its premiere showcase facility and training hub on the West Coast of the U.S.
With the opening of ICG® Academy and its newest product, Myride®+, ICG® is differentiating itself in the indoor cycling market. The OMpower studio features an impressive cinematic stage to display ICG’s exciting video-cycling product, designed for use in live and virtual classes. All cycling instructors at OMpower are Team ICG®, certified by ICG, despite other certifications they may have. They are all trained in the use of Myride®+ and teaching classes with video.
The Myride®+ training modules are currently available, free of charge, on the ICG® website. This is an opportunity for any indoor-cycling instructor to differentiate him-/herself from the commoditized market. If Myride®+ successfully integrates into clubs, there will be a demand for instructors who can operate a Myride®+ console and teach with video.
In earlier posts, I’ve written about technological advancements that will happen in 2012, regarding the use of video in indoor-cycling classes: specialized filming, post-production editing, high-def displays, big-screen projection, media consoles that make video flexible and easy to use, compelling “virtual rides” with voiceovers by top instructors. That technology is here and needs to be seriously considered by all indoor-cycling instructors.
View a sample of this breathtaking new technology at: Watch Movie
The two elements that I believe will have the greatest impact on indoor cycling today are power and video. With the steady development of power-based computers, the indoor-cycling community has been buzzing about the benefits of training with watts. I have been a “watts advocate” for many years. However, I think few understand the benefit of this type of training.
Video, on the other hand, is understood by many. Video is slick and exciting, markets well, and offers stronger differentiation in the eyes of the general public than watts. If we want to get the big-box club operators excited about something, I feel they will “get” movies more than power. I also think club members will feel the same way.
Teaching next to the Myride®+ console
What if you could…
- create a video playlist of any length from the most extensive cycling-video library in the world?
- move forward or back seamlessly from any point in a video to another with just a touch?
- organize your video library by terrain type (flat, mixed, climb, descent) and have instant access to any type of terrain with just a touch?
- use cutting-edge technology to make any video fit any piece of music, and vice versa?
- program any type of virtual-cycling class and effortlessly run a 24/7 virtual-cycling class schedule?
- run an indoor-cycling program that keeps people talking, keeps them coming back, and differentiates you from your competition?
So differentiation may apply to us, not just to clubs and products. To stay competitive, we may need to differentiate ourselves by learning the skills that cover the greatest number of possibilities and can adapt to the greatest number of situations.
Teaching with video takes just as much training as teaching with watts, maybe more. As an instructor who can teach with video, you’ll differentiate yourself from the commoditized market. The cool thing is you can even add power-based training to a video class once the video technology is in place. That gives video more possibilities.
If you haven’t considered it, I strongly encourage you to learn to teach with video. In a choice between science only and Hollywood dazzle with infinite potential, Hollywood seems to win. That dazzle and potential are what virtual cycling and Myride®+ represent.
Originally posted 2012-03-05 14:50:27.
