by Joan Kent | Jan 17, 2021 | Instructor Training
Let me start with a clarification. This post is not about missed business opportunities or client fees. It’s about the disappointment of not getting to serve prospective clients with needs that were tailor-made for my expertise, for one reason or another.
Helping people get results is something I’m committed to doing. Not to be able to do so when I know how effectively my guidelines and suggestions could turn things around for them is disappointing, even frustrating.
Here are a few examples. Maybe you have a few similar examples of your own, participants who dropped out before they could benefit from your program.
Missed Client #1
A self-described sugar addict contacted me to schedule an appointment. During the appointment, she revealed her health and mood issues. She had many.
In general, clients like this don’t actually have 100 things wrong with them. More typically, they have one or two underlying problems that may manifest through multiple signs and symptoms. In this woman’s case, it seemed obvious that how she was eating was the cause of virtually all of her problems. I was certain we could have effected a dramatic change in her health and wellbeing.
The appointment was scheduled for an hour, but I let it run about 45 minutes over that because she seemed to need to talk. By the end, I was quite pressed for time, so I made a single, easy-to-follow food suggestion. I then sent her a carefully outlined plan of how we’d work together.
Her reason for not working with me was the cost, no chance to discuss payment options.
Missed Client #2
Clients who’ve had success with my system refer others to me, which I greatly appreciate. Yet sometimes I don’t get a chance to work with those referrals.
One successful client was able to bring his diabetes, erratic glucose, high triglycerides and high blood pressure under control by following my guidelines.
He wanted his friend, also diabetic, to get similar benefits, so he told the friend about me. Unfortunately, he added, “She’ll tell you to stop eating sugar.”
The friend’s response was, “I’m not ready to do that,” and that was the end.
In actuality, I would never tell a new client to stop eating sugar. There are quite a few steps I’d have him or her take first before we even looked at any sugar problem.
Could I have helped this diabetic gentleman? I have absolute confidence that the answer is “yes.” But I never even met him so it was a non-starter.
Missed Client #3
Carol (not her real name) recently signed up on my website for nutrition coaching. She described her problem in ways that I knew would respond to my system:
– negative reactions to sugar and white flour
– powerlessness over those foods
– a pattern of skipping meals till she was starving
– symptoms of ADD, anxiety, persistent fears, negative thinking, irritability
– a possible learning disorder.
“I always feel like I’m hanging on by a thread,” she wrote. “I’m 49 and OVERWHELMED.”
The items on her list would have responded extremely well to changes in food — and the results could have been life changing. I contacted her initially by email, and followed up with a phone call. She never replied.
These are only a few examples out of many, sparked by year-end ruminations. If I hadn’t had such success with other clients this year — and believe so strongly in what I do — it would matter far less.
Maybe you specialize in power training, or functional strength training on the bike. Maybe you’re a superb personal trainer in addition to being a superb indoor cycling instructor. Maybe you’ve had similar disappointments with some of your participants.
End-of-year disappointments aside, what’s great about what we do is the number of people we do get to help — and that, of course, is the best thing to focus on for the holidays, and going forward into the new year.
Originally posted 2015-12-22 08:22:19.
by Joan Kent | Nov 21, 2020 | Master Instructor Blog
By Team ICG® Master Trainers Joan Kent and Jim Karanas
The training adaptations that derive from indoor cycling are well documented and ubiquitous. Still, when we speak with new instructors, they seem to appreciate hearing the information. Also, everyone describes the benefits slightly differently, and a change can help students understand.
So even though this is review for most of you, we thought a list of aerobic training adaptations, as we describe them at ICG®, would be worth covering. Some are cardiopulmonary, some vascular, some muscle-specific, or other.
Increased Tidal Volume Improved aerobic conditioning moves more oxygen to the working muscles. The first adaptation is breathing capacity, called tidal volume. The volume of air the lungs can move with each breath increases with aerobic training due to improved diaphragm strength and breathing technique. Higher tidal volume has also been associated with longevity.
Increased Blood Volume Blood is actually an organ that responds to training by increasing in volume. With increased cardiovascular training, the body produces more red blood cells and blood to increase its oxygen-carrying capacity and oxygenate body tissues. Increased blood volume also increases the capacity to remove metabolic waste, improve recovery and sustain a greater muscle mass.
Increased Stroke Volume Stroke volume, the amount of blood ejected by the heart per beat, increases. This adaptation tends to occur at “slower” heart rates, or at least at rates less than 160 bpm. Increased stroke volume indicates improved heart function. When people talk about “strengthening” the heart, this comes the closest to being the underlying mechanism. In pumping more blood per beat, the heart moves a greater workload. The strength-training equivalent would be using a heavier weight and slow repetitions, versus pumping a lighter weight quickly.
Enhanced Capillary Network* Capillaries are blood vessels with walls only one cell thick. They surround the muscle cells and deliver oxygen and nutrients. The capillary network becomes denser with aerobic conditioning. This results in a greater available surface area for the transfer of oxygen to the mitochondria within the muscle cell.
Increased Mitochondrial Size and Density* Aerobic training results in an increase in both the size and density of mitochondria. Mitochondria are subcellular structures that convert fuel to energy aerobically. They are the receptor sites in muscle cells for the molecular oxygen needed to power the Krebs, or citric acid, cycle and produce ATP. Mitochondria are the only sites in the body that burn fat — with the exception of the heart, which can and will use whatever it gets, including lactate.
Increase in Type 1 Muscle Fibers* Aerobic conditioning also increases the sensitivity of working muscle to the effects of insulin, in part by promoting the development of Type 1 muscle fibers. Type 1 fibers are high-endurance fibers that respond well to insulin. (Type 2b are better for explosive power but less sensitive to insulin.) Everyone knows that cardio training can reduce the incidence of heart disease, hypertension, stroke, diabetes, cholesterol problems, and more. Improved insulin sensitivity is a significant mechanism in that, because insulin resistance underlies these conditions. (More about insulin resistance in a future post.)
Increase in Fat-Burning Enzymes This applies specifically to hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which moves fat from storage to bloodstream for utilization. HSL is activated when the body needs to mobilize energy stores, and responds positively to catecholamines and ACTH. It’s inhibited by insulin and activated by the removal of insulin's inhibitory effects.
Items with an * are peripheral adaptations, specific to the working muscle. Thus, upper-body cardio training, such as arm cranking, will increase mitochondria, capillarization and development of type-1 fibers in the upper body in the same way that lower-body training affects the lower-body muscles involved.
Adaptations without an * are central adaptations that impact the entire body. Central adaptations permit a “transfer” effect, i.e., aerobic training with the upper body can improve aerobic performance using alternate muscles (in this case, the lower body). This was covered in Jim’s post on “The Best Cross-Training for the Indoor Cyclist.”
It’s important to address the impact of aerobic training adaptations on weight loss, because it’s a primary goal of many who attend our classes. A distinction should be made between aerobic training and cardiovascular training generally.
In cardiovascular exercise, the heart, lungs and vessels of the body work at an accelerated rate to sustain exercise. It includes aerobic training. Aerobic training adaptations improve the body’s ability to move oxygen to burn fuel for energy. Aerobic exercise has limited impact on weight loss because its built-in intensity ceiling becomes a limiting factor in several ways, the low calorie expenditure being only one. That’s why anaerobic training is also necessary.
A major benefit of aerobic conditioning with respect to weight loss is that it supports the body’s recovery from intense training. Trainers advocating only anaerobic work for weight loss often miss this point. Furthermore, as covered in many previous ICG® posts, training is about much more than weight loss.
Regardless, when it comes to the sheer pleasure of riding your bike, indoors or out, a well-developed aerobic system makes you feel fantastic.
Originally posted 2013-01-07 09:28:53.
by Joan Kent | Oct 25, 2020 | Engage Your Students, Master Instructor Blog
USA Women's Rowing Team – image credit boothbayregister.com/
If you’re about to start teaching a class that includes both cycling and rowing, here are a few tips.
Stay off the bike. To handle all the variables in a cycling/rowing class, you’ll need to be on your feet, moving around the room.
Will you warm up? On-bike stretches won’t work in a split class. Decide whether you’ll begin with a full-class stretch and warm-up, or have the participants take care of that on their own. Active Isolation Stretching is the most efficient in class — it warms the body as you stretch — but they all take up training time.
Pre-plan your trainings. You’ll need a specific and detailed rowing workout, along with your planned cycling workout. They don’t have to run parallel. That is, a 6:00 flat on the bike doesn’t have to run in sync with a 6:00 interval on the rowing ergometer (erg). They can if you prefer.
Feel the differences between the two workouts. Rowing workouts are often rigidly timed. That makes them effective and easy to cue. But some of the most unpleasant cycling workouts I’ve ever done were created by an instructor who was primarily a rower. His classes seemed to be created with a calculator and a slide rule (a what?). Instead, use cycling workouts that are similar to the ones you run now. Then you can mold your rowing workouts without alienating your riders.
Gear your music for the bikes. It’s less important to match music to a rowing drill, so keep handling your music the way you have been. There are exceptions — mostly performance-related — but generally this holds true.
Memorize the steps for setting the erg monitor. Concept 2 Models D and E use a complex procedure for setting time or distance. You’ll have to cue it every time. If you switch mid-workout from time to distance, be prepared to re-cue. Example: “Press Select Workout. Press New Workout. Press Intervals Time. DO NOT set the time yet! Use the Back Arrow to go back to the “tens” column. Set that for 1. Now use the Forward Arrow to get to the “ones” column. Change that to 0.” [At this point you have to cue setting the rest interval.] “Now press the check mark at the bottom of the screen.”
That lengthy description sets the timer for a 10-minute interval. If they set the “ones” column first to 0, it will default to an automatic “:20” (20 seconds). That messes up everything, and you’ll have to spend time changing it.
Note: The above cues are an illustration. You’re not done till you’ve set the rest interval (assuming you want repeating intervals). If you press the check mark midway through the process, you have to begin again. It will happen.
Don’t kill the Concept 2 people. All of the above is why the simple Model C was wonderful, but you’ll get used to the D/E. And you WILL remember the cues. I wrote the procedure from memory.
Always cue the rowers first. Let’s say you’ve decided to run the workouts in parallel format, which is easier for you. Separate the groups on their equipment. Cue the rowers while the riders roll their legs. Tell the rowers what to do during their warm-up (say it’s 10 minutes). Easy warm-up shortcut: Have them press “Just Row”. They row as instructed and stop when the computer clock reaches 10:00. While they row, you run a 10-minute bike warm-up. Once the warm-up is done, the riders roll and recover while you cue the rowing training — and setting the monitor.
This approach syncs the major changes for the two groups. The intervals will be of the same duration, but what the groups do during the intervals can be as similar or as different as you like.
Create a timeline. If you like multitasking, feel free to create workouts that don’t resemble each other at all. You may need some sort of timeline to track what’s happening. If you’re a spreadsheet geek, that approach will be fun for you. If you’re able to keep track of two different workouts mentally with no cheat-sheet, just go for it.
A timeline could be just a basic log with 3 to 4 columns. Minutes (0:00 to 30:00) go in the left column, rowing drills in the next, the cycling workout in the third column, and perhaps notes and prompts for you in the fourth column. Use a stopwatch. You’ll check your watch and know exactly what everyone should be doing at any given minute.
All of this planning makes improvising and modifying a lot easier. You have your plan, yet still feel ready to change whenever time or circumstances call for it.
At the 30-minute mark, switch equipment. The change will take a few minutes, so shorten the warm-up, but give everyone a chance to accustom the target muscles to the new activity for the second half of the class. Re-start your watch and repeat the body of the training.
If you can manage to do all of this AND deliver content — exercise physiology, technique, and training philosophy — your classes will be engaging and informative, and appeal to a broad base.
I hope these instructions are clear. I’d be happy to answer questions.
Originally posted 2014-07-14 10:24:52.
by Joan Kent | Oct 7, 2020 | Instructor Training
New Year’s Resolutions are upon us, but that doesn’t mean clear sailing. Things that can waylay resolutions are everywhere. Christmas candy will be on sale till early January, when the Valentine candy goes out and will be on display till February 14. February 15 it goes on sale. That brings us to March, when the Easter candy appears — even in years that Easter is late in April. And so on through the year.
Everyone offers tips for sticking to your resolutions. Ideas for quitting sugar, for example, may include (Don’t take notes here!) having fresh fruit instead of juice or dried fruit; flavoring plain yogurt with fruit or honey; using artificial sweeteners; switching to dark chocolate from milk chocolate; limiting sugar to desserts only; weaning yourself off desserts by reducing the weekly number; substituting wine or spirits for high-sugar mixed drinks.
Those tactics don’t — and can’t — work for those of us who have a sugar addiction. Here are a few suggestions — and some of them are just common sense.
1. Keep sugar and other junk food out of the house. Totally. Don’t buy it and tell yourself you won’t eat it. Don’t buy it and tell yourself you’ll have just a small portion. Don’t make your kitchen a binge blowout waiting to happen. Just don’t.
2. Stop putting your willpower to the test. I keep reading that we have only limited conscious self-control, limited willpower — and it certainly appears to be true. Instead, look for ways to change the situation. Ask the waiter to remove the breadbasket from the table. Don’t even ask for the dessert menu. Reread Suggestion 1. The fewer willpower tests you have each day, the fewer lapses you’ll experience later that day.
3. Train yourself to end a meal without dessert, no matter what time of day it is, no matter what everyone else is doing, no matter what others think, no matter what other say, no matter what habits you learned as a child. It takes practice, but it’s worth it.
4. Lie. (That’s fun to say because it grabs attention.) Don’t worry — I’m definitely not telling you to become untrustworthy and lie for no reason or about important matters.
But, seriously, sugar is a need-to-know issue. Does everyone at the dinner table need to know that you’re turning down dessert because you’re addicted to sugar? Or trying to lose weight? Both reasons will bring out every form of sabotage your “friends” can serve up:
“You’ll eat less tomorrow.”
“You’ll work out harder tomorrow.”
“Just a little can’t hurt.”
“But I made it myself.”
Harsh as it may seem, anyone who sabotages you is not a friend. If you have to pretend to want the food, claim to be full from the terrific dinner and ask for a doggie bag. On the way home, stop at the nearest trashcan and dump it. Don’t take it home and tell yourself you’ll make it last several days. Reread Suggestion 1.
5. That brings up another important point, covered in a previous post: Learn to throw away food, especially stuff that’s not really food, but junk. No compunctions here. The U.S. overproduces food significantly, and on a daily basis. Tossing the junk is survival, NOT a sin, as you may have been taught.
6. Little things add up. Focus on short-term actions — what you can do right now to avoid sugar. A recent study showed this approach — versus thinking about the long-term goal — was better for weight loss. It works for quitting sugar, too. Plan your next meal: how can you make it healthy? Buy nutritious foods when you shop. Develop an end-of-day ritual for the first 20 minutes after you arrive home to keep you out of the kitchen.
There won’t be any sugar in there, anyway, right?
As I’ve written in previous posts, motivation is not necessarily enthusiasm. It also tends to fade when daily life presents its daily challenges. But using these suggestions consistently can be transformational.
Enthusiasm is entirely optional. In fact, it’s often the result of consistent action.
Please feel free to share this article with riders and friends!
Originally posted 2014-12-29 09:20:32.
by Joan Kent | Oct 1, 2020 | Master Instructor Blog, Zone based Heart Rate Training
Bill Pryor's Spynergy Studio
By Joan Kent
Indoor cycling classes have become inextricably linked with dim lighting, and I’ve never understood why. Personally, I’m not crazy about training in the dark and will tell you why in a moment.
Studio lighting is one of the factors involved in creating the best class environment, along with music, video, voice, tone, cueing and more. Here are two scenarios from my teaching experience, in which the lighting differences span the spectrum.
In Studio A, the lights are always on and always bright. There’s no on/off switch in the studio because the lights go on when the club is opened. The master switch controls all.
In Studio B, the lights can be brought all the way up to a bright level, but the previous instructor, who had a huge following (okay, it was Jim Karanas), liked to keep the lights dim by flipping only the middle switch on the 3-switch panel. Needless to say, whenever I subbed for him, I made sure the lighting matched what everyone was accustomed to in his class.
The dimmer lighting was okay, but periodically one bank of lights, often on the far side of the room, would burn out, leaving everything on that side of the room just plain dark. It wouldn’t affect the participants close to the door because light outside the studio shines in on the near side of the studio.
We’d notify the front desk staff about the burned-out bulbs, and a short time later, we’d have lights — until they burned out once more.
By my last observation, though, that infamous bank of lights was out again and had/has been for a long time. It made me think about this topic. Apparently, no instructors have reported it to the desk. Apparently, no one has complained.
That last fact amazes me. Because of Jim’s teachings, everyone in the class uses a heart rate monitor (see How to Get Your Students to Wear Heart Rate Monitors). I always train with a HR monitor, mainly because of what I learned from both Johnny G and Jim.
So here’s the thing. In this studio, the bikes don’t have computers that light up and display HR. It’s virtually impossible to see a HR monitor on the far side of the partially lit studio. I’ve seen riders hold up their HR monitors, twist them around to catch available light, and keep track of their heart rates that way. What’s wrong with this picture?
Now I happen to find it difficult to train extremely hard in the dark. For a club anniversary one year, the theme involved decorating the studio like a spooky forest and turning out almost all the lights. Several people did complain that they felt nauseated. Guess I tend to feel that whenever I’m training really hard in the dark.
I had hoped the current instructors might take notice (read ‘take the hint’) when I started bringing a small flashlight to class with me to light my HR monitor on days that I ride on the far side. No such luck.
I have a feeling I’m in the vast minority on this — indoor cycling is almost always taught in dark rooms. Of course, in studios with bike computers that light up, much of this is solved. Still, if I had to choose between the glaring lights of Studio A and the darkness of Studio B, I’d go for the glare. I can monitor my HR easily and definitely feel better physically.
How do the rest of you feel about lighting? Which is most important to you — the atmosphere that goes with dimmer lighting, tracking heart rates, other factors? Please let us know, and thanks.
Originally posted 2014-02-13 10:09:37.
