You need to exhale all those fat calories away! Image credit www.wikihow.com/
I'm constantly on the hunt for clever ways to encourage my class to focus (a polite way of saying SHUT UP) and work hard. Over the years my best success has come from equating the work we're doing to weight loss. After all, interest in burning calories is universal – doesn't matter who it is (cyclist, club athlete, new mother, etc..) everyone in my class is interested in either reducing or maintaining their body fat percentage.
I've learned a new one today and can't wait to give it a try:
OK – you two talking in the back. Do you realise you're preventing fat from escaping your body?
It might sound crazy, but it's true. Science has shown that when you burn body fat, after giving up it's energy, fat is converted to CO2 (carbon dioxide) and H2O (Water) and leaves your body when you exhale.
We talk a lot about dieting and burning off fat, but we actually have a lot of misconceptions about weight loss. Some people think fat is converted into energy or heat–a violation of the law of conservation of mass–while others think that the fat is somehow excreted or even converted to muscle. I was told early on that you can never lose your fat cells (adipose) once you gain them…they just shrink if you work it off.
Well, according to Andrew Brown from the University of New South Wales and Australian TV personality (slash former physicist) Ruben Meerman, when you lose weight, you exhale your fat. Their new calculations, based on existing knowledge about biochemistry, were published in the British Medical Journal this week.
A little research on the subject lead me to this excellent video from ABC.net.AU that describes the process of converting Fat to energy in a way that you'll be able to share with your class.
So I might be taking some technical liberties here, by saying that talking is preventing fat calories from escaping. I'm willing to distort the science a little if it gets the larger point across… which is:
If you're talking you're not working as hard as you should and not burning the calories you could!
I'm not a Snoop Dogg fan – but there's some awesome tracks this week on Spotify.
This has become an almost regular habit for me. I'll cue up the New Music Tuesday playlist published by Spotify and then drag promising tracks into my Future To Use folder. Some weeks are near complete washouts. This week has what could be a complete class of songs… Oh, what the heck. Here's a playlist of just songs from today (no Snoop you'll notice) that follows my typical Life Time Fitness 45 minute Evolution Class Format – times are approximate and vary dependent on song length:
5 min Warmup – 90+ RPM
5 min Openers – 4-5 accelerations pushing above threshold (your Edge in Life Time speak)
3 min Reset – fun change of pace, but not a full recovery
4 min Best Effort = maximum sustainable Watts / HR
4 min @ VT1 (Aerobic Threshold or top of zone #2) / Base Watts
7 min Challenge #1
2 min Reset
7 min Challenge #2
2 min Reset
4 min Big Finish = a Best Effort / slightly above threshold final effort
5 min Dedication, cool down & stretch[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Why do I choose to follow a templated class profile?
Lots of reasons actually:
The Life Time Fitness 45 minute Evolution Class profile is supposed to follow this template format. One of the rare times in my life that I choose to willfully follow directions 🙂
15+ years of experience has me believing my participants enjoy a consistent, predictable class profile. This is especially true for my early AM “A” types. They need to see that I have a plan and purpose for the class. Sticking to a familiar pattern (they know what to expect) appears to be comforting to them + knowing what's coming has them working harder throughout the class.
It helps keep me creative. Knowing WHAT profile I'm planning frees me to play with music that determines HOW I'll lead each segment. The Best Efforts and Challenges are “open” – meaning, if I want to use a big climb for the first Best Effort I can. Just pick a powerful track with a slower tempo and I'm done with that segment. Challenge #1 and #2 can be speed, endurance, strength, etc… and typically a pair of songs.
Knowing in advance, what I'm doing this week, makes life less stressful. Less stress allows me to concentrate on delivering a better class presentation.
Simplifies creating fresh playlists. Because I already know the profile, I can quickly assemble a playlist. Contrast that with not knowing either the profile or playlist. I would have twice the work. No thanks.
[/wlm_private]I'll be using this playlist and profile on Thursday. I'll let you know what their response is!
There was an interesting question asked at one of the Facebook groups;
If you were to tell a New Instructor to master one thing as an Indoor cycling instructor . What would it be ?
There were a plenty of great responses that included; learn musicality, cuing, be prepared, be yourself, project confidence/control your class (very important) and other suggestions that focused on education. All important for sure. Mine was short – Smile. Pretty simplistic I'll agree – but when you consider that your ability to connect with the riders in your class is crucial for building and maintaining a full class, regularly smiling at people can really add to your overall presentation.
My response was directed at a long running frustration I have. Over hundreds of classes I've taken or observed, I've seen very few smiling Instructors. Lot's of serious Instructors. Instructors who scowl, grimace and a few who look bored… but not many who offer a genuine smile. Sure you'll find pictures of smiling Instructors posted on Facebook or instagram > they're smiling because that's the natural response most people have when having their picture taken. On the count of three I want everyone to Smile. One, Two, Three…
You can make me feel good [wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
I like it when someone smiles at me. Do you? Dumb question, of course you and everyone else I know enjoys a smile. A warm/real smile communicates an enormous amount of goodwill, acceptance and affirmation between two people. Who can forget a smile from someone of great importance? Maybe it was a crush you had in highschool. When he/she smiled at you it validated you as important to someone else. Or maybe you received a smile from a person in authority that said “well done” and boosted your self confidence in a way words never could?
Why so serious?
I do tend to see Instructors with super serious faces. You know, that stern face that conveys concern as they scan across the room. Realising many of us take our role as that of a concerned watchdog, I get how it's important to be watchful of everyone.
I few years back Cycling Fusion ran a contest to find great Instructors. There were quite a few videos submitted, each demonstrating different/unique Instructor styles. Watch a few minutes of the video below to see if you have the same reaction I had > Keith's “persona” is very intense – nothing wrong with that. Can you see how his class presentation could be improved if he just smiled occasionally?
Consider for a moment you're a participant. Better yet, you are a brand new rider – this is your very first class. So there you are, riding along and feeling pretty good about your success so far. Then you happen to raise your head and see the Instructor looking directly at you with a super serious face…
Why is she looking at me like that? Crap. Am I doing something wrong? I mustn't be pedaling right… are my hand in the wrong place? Sit up straighter… yeah that's it, I need to sit up straighter. Oh good, she's looking at someone else now. She can tell I'm not very good at this…
The goal is to mask your concern/focus/intensity with a friendly & inviting smile.
Pick someone to smile at, using your eyes
In this article about eye contact, I described an Instructor who looked at everything in the studio, but never at me. Or it at least felt that way. He would get close to looking at me; above my head, to the left, right and at the floor. Never once did he make eye contact with me… and it was kind of creepy.
Notice in the video where Kevin looks while he's teaching? Straight ahead and somewhat down, at a place just in front of him, right? It doesn't appear to me that he's looking directly at the riders… and he's certainly not making eye contact with anyone. How do I know that? Because most people's expression will change when they connect with another person who's across the room. There are riders facing him, but I don't see any reaction that shows he's connecting with any of them.
What to do?
We've encouraged Instructors to record the audio of their classes. So they can hear exactly what their class hears.
Are my cues clear?
Am I talking over and/or competing with the lyrics?
Do I talk too much?
Not enough?
What tone do I use?
Does it communicate energy and various emotions – or am I monotone, without any vocal inflection?
Listening to your class presentation can identify any issues/weaknesses. Just like improving your fitness (if you can measure it… you can improve it) being aware of small things that detract from your presentation is the launching pad for improving your presentation skills.
Moving beyond audio, I'm thinking your class presentation could be improved if you were to film yourself. Then you'd see;
Am I smiling?
What's my expression when I'm not smiling?
Am I making eye contact?
Does my face show a reaction of connecting with others?
Do I scan the room? Or focus in just one place?
It doesn't need to be anything fancy – only you will be watching this. Most phones have excellent video capabilities. You could probably craft a simple stand using a chair and a folded up towel. Get there early, set up you camera, turn it on and then hopefully you'll forget it's running – remember everyone smiles when they know they're being filmed. You want a candid video of the real/natural you.
Important note: try to resist the natural self-criticism that comes from watching yourself in a video. You're only looking for signs of connecting with riders and projecting positive vibes. Unless the class you teach is filled with experienced cyclists, your participants aren't nit-picking how you're ride the bike.
Wishing all our ICI/PRO members who are Moms a very special Mother's Day! You do the most important job there is and it's fitting that there's a day to celebrate you.
American Airlines is promoting their new Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes. The soundtrack that's part of this promotional video is awesome.
These 787's are actually pretty neat. They have a bunch of innovative features that are supposed to make these a more enjoyable to fly in. The body of the 787 is built of composites vs. aluminium making it stronger. This allows Boeing to pressurize the cabin to what you'd experience at 6,000′ instead of the 8,000′ – 10,000′ pressure = much less ear pain and fewer crying babies. Add that they'll maintain a 15% humidity level (not the 4% desert you fly in today) and this should be a much more comfortable method for travel.
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']The track their using is Story Of The Whistle from Dance Emperor. The track used in the video is slightly different – but I like it just as well. A fun, aerobic climb, Story Of The Whistle taps out around 70RPM and includes a nice, 20 sec soft spot that comes at the 1:40 point. Perfect for asking everyone to re-commit to their efforts!
Click here if you're not seeing the download link.[/wlm_private]
