I call this workout Bad A*s Intervals because it's a hardcore interval workout & it features one of my favorite songs, “Bad A*s”. This is a 3-stage workout where each stage of intervals becomes progressively harder, but each stage also gets shorter (stage 1 is 6 minutes, stage 2 is 5 minutes & stage 3 is 4 minutes). The intervals get tougher because of the changes in the work to recovery ratios – stage 1 are 1:2 ratios (20 seconds on 40 seconds off 6x), stage 2 are 1:1 ratios (30 seconds on 30 seconds off 5x) and the final stage is the mother of all 2:1 ratios, a Tabata (20 seconds on 10 seconds off 8x). This workout is about 30 minutes because it is based on the concept that the higher the intensity the shorter the workout can be. However, you could add a 15 minute stage if you wanted to amend for a 45 minute profile – my suggestion would be a hill or two but it should be placed before the interval work because the last interval set will be about “emptying the tanks” so if you coach it right & your students ride it right, they will have nothing left afterwards.
Rachel is doing a great job promoting herself online. Here are links to her websites:
Here's the Spotify playlist and in Deezer – note: you may want to use a different opening track if your class has “sensitive” ears.
Track # 7 Bad A*s is a remix – download it here (Right Click > Save As) and then add it to your playlist – be sure to set Off Line mode while both your computer and portable device are connected to the same WiFi.
You can listen to Rachel's presentation below or you'll find it in your ICI/PRO member's only feed.
Peloton Cycle recently raised $307,332 through a Kickstarter project to help fund the design and manufacture their new Peloton Indoor Cycle. Awesome on its own, but they also have plans to live-stream digital classes directly to the user's home from the new Peloton Cycling Studio they're building in New York City.
And not just your garden variety Indoor Cycling classes. Nope. Their plans are to employee the very best Instructors on the planet and to recruit them, they're willing to pay these Rock Star Instructors up to $500.00 for each class they teach.
Sound interesting? You can visit their Instructor's Wanted page to learn more.
Here's the promo video they did for their Kickstarter project that explains everything.
Listen to my interview with Peloton's COO & Co founder Tom Cortese below and if you haven't yet, please .
Amy's fitness instructor professional liability insurance renewed this month. I offered to shop around to see if I could find the best / lowest cost annual policy – something more reasonable than the $170.00 per year charged by Markel Insurance who provided her coverage last year.
I did 🙂
We purchased a $3,000,000 Instructor liability policy from HPSO – Healthcare Providers Service Organization for only $112.00!We had a negative experience when we renewed 9/14 and have cancelled our policy with these people. Very disappointed by their customer service. Strongly suggest going somewhere else.
When Amy first started teaching Pilates at a local Catholic grade school, they required her to have a liability policy “just in case”. But in actuality the churches board wouldn't approve of using an outside contractor (Amy) without there being a policy in place that named the church as an additional insured.
That was about 6 years ago. We started with the insurance company recommended by IDEA – Philadelphia Insurance @ $170.00. But there was a catch to get their discounted rate… you needed to be an IDEA member. Fine if you already were, but, not knowing any better, we also purchased a year of IDEA @ $99.00 + the $170.00 for a total of $260.00. That's a lot and as it turned out, it ate up about a third of the potential revenue Amy had forecasted to earn over the winter.
Then we switched to Markel. Same cost, but without the hundred dollar IDEA membership.
Now what we found with HPSO is that she gets the same level of coverage, while saving $58.00. Not a king's ransom, but I know Amy and she'd much rather spend that on some cute yoga pants.
Feel free to share this with your Instructor friends.
*Different states require different types of insurance, as do the different formats you're teaching (at varying costs) so you'll need to check their site for the specific costs for where you live and teach.
Ever wondered why some people have their picture displayed next to a comment… and yours doesn't? It's because they created a Globally Recognized Avatar – Gravatar for short.
Gravatars are images connected to a specific email address. You can quickly and easily get your own at https://en.gravatar.com/ which is run by the same group who provide the free blogging platform WordPress.com.
Start by choosing a square image of at least 250 pixels. The image in this post is 250 x 250 pixels for comparison.
Next you'll need to create a free account at gravatar.com/ and then approve the conformation email you will be sent.
Upload your image and you'll start seeing your awesome image everywhere you post a comment 🙂
Will this $250 computer do everything I need as an Instructor?
At only $250.00 – I've been very tempted to tryout and live with a Google Chromebook. Now I have my chance!
“It looks like you need another new hard drive.” That was the opinion from Dr. Bookem (brother Dan who's the smartest person in our family) after giving my two year old Dell a through examination. Which would be the third hard drive, beyond the original, that this laptop will have needed.
The first sign of trouble was at the San Francisco airport, waiting for my flight back from Jim Karana's memorial service. The thing would freeze as soon as I tried to boot it up. After six tries it finally caught. The next day the same thing. So off to see the doctor. “It will probably run fine forever… if you never turn it off.” Better to replace the drive and have me move (he called it ghost) all my files from the old drive to the new. A new drive is about $100.00 and the typical cost for this service would be $150 ish depending on who's doing it.
That $250.00 also happens to be exactly what Amazon charges for a new Samsung Chromebook. So I hit the buy it now button, along with agreeing to pay the additional $3.95 for next day shipping for Amazon prime members. Next day was really important for me. I'm leaving for LA and the MINDBODY FitPro conference on Thursday and simply can't go without a functional laptop.
I have very little understanding of what I'm agreeing to. Chromebooks don't run any of the normal programs that I'm used to using. No Word, no Excel, no iTunes, no Spotify – but it does of course run the Google Chrome browser. And no DVD drive.
To replace all that software normally found on you computer, Chromebooks run a bunch of free Apps that are based in the cloud.
I have a sort of easy peace about all of this, combined with a slight tingle of fear… do something everyday that scares you 🙂
Stay tuned for this weekend when I report on my early experiences.
