Free Music Friday 1/25

Free Music Friday 1/25

Free Class Music from ICI/PRO

What constitutes the perfect mid-class recovery song?

For me it needs to combine a mid 90's cadence, something everyone can connect with and a fresh/fun vibe – almost playful maybe?

Nothing too complex, confusing or heady.

A song that says; take it easy, just enjoy your time here right now… because it could will really suck a few minutes from now, once we get into our next effort 🙁

I just discovered this 96 RPM mashup produced by Mashup Germany that combines a very recognizable track Simon & Garfunkel — The Boxer and a song from a band I really enjoy of late The Kooks — Naive.

Let me know if you like it.

Direct download of the mashup Lazy Boxer & Naive Tales or click the Download button on the player to go to their facebook page, like them and download it there.

Free Music Friday 1/25

ICI/PRO Podcast #246 – Amy Macgowan teaches us how to bring a Waltz into our classes.

dancing couple

I've described her at times as the Human Metronome for good reason – the girl knows how to follow a beat.

And yes, when she and I dance, she leads.

As the Senior Group Fitness Instructor here, Amy has skills she's developed from teaching and cuing aerobics classes that can benefit both you and your participants.

One is how she will introduce a Waltz to help those of us who are rhythmically inept learn to hear, follow and pedal to the actual beat of the music.

Here the earlier post Teach ‘em to dance that includes a number of links including this Spotify playlist.

Listen below to Amy explain why a adding a few Waltz tempo tracks to your playlist could potentially help those Laggards in class finally “get it.” At the end we've recorded Amy's actual presentation to her class so you can learn how you might introduce a Waltz to your students.

NOTE: Chim Chim and the two versions of Kiss from a rose we've used may be the most universally known tracks we're aware of.

 

Free Music Friday 1/25

Would you teach for SoulCycle?

SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice

SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice

I'm really curious how you would respond; would you teach for SoulCycle?

But before you answer, imagine you had the following conversation at the end of your last class…

A women approaches while you're collecting your stuff.

“Hi [wlm_firstname].” “My name is Elizabeth Cutler and I really enjoyed your class tonight.”

You respond; “you're welcome Elizabeth.” “I enjoyed seeing your smile there in the back.”

Then she looks you square in the eye and asks a question that could change your life…

“I'm one of the founders of SoulCycle Indoor Cycling and we are opening a new studio near by, later this Spring.”

“Would you consider being one of our Instructors?”

Flabbergasted by her offer, you open your mouth to respond. But before any sounds come out she continues…

“I realize that you have a devoted following here [wlm_firstname] and I'll understand if you say no.

“Before you decide, I'd like to explain that our Instructors earn on average $50,000 per year, many considerably more, teaching 8 classes a week. We really want to keep you once we have you, so we offer a full benefit package that includes excellent health insurance.

“So what do you say [wlm_firstname]?”

“Are you ready to teach at SoulCycle?”

 

Want to teach at SoulCycle? Find Job Listings for SoulCycle, Flywheel, CycleBar and all other cycling studios.

 

What prompted this post is a fascinating article; The Carefully Cultivated Soul of SoulCycle in New York Magazine.

Do you have any participants like this person, who sounds like she's traded one unhealthy addiction for another?

“I would do anything that I could to afford these rides,” says 27-year-old Jaime, who often takes thirteen classes a week (estimated cost: $21,632 per year). She’s arranged her schedule to have Mondays off work so that she can always be at her computer the moment classes are released. She counts her instructors among her closest friends. Her social life revolves around people she’s met at SoulCycle. On the anniversary of her father’s death, her instructor had the class ride to “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot, one of Jaime’s father’s favorite operas. “I’m seven years sober. You don’t really get love and acceptance and encouragement and self-gratification from a cocktail,” Jaime says. “I mean, I … this is what I need in my life, and it just so happened it’s an exercise class.”

Interesting how the founders of SoulCycle split along the lines of Indoor Cycling 2.0 – entertainment based vs. results driven classes.

But as much as the performative aspects keep riders coming back, they have also driven more serious athletes away, often into the open arms of Flywheel, where a metrics-based workout is coupled with more self-restraint. Though Ruth Zukerman declines to discuss her exit from SoulCycle, some chalk it up to a difference in instructor style. “It’s a slippery slope, because sometimes when you build these superstars, it kind of goes to their head and they become divas,” she says. “Yes, be entertaining, be inspiring, but at the end of the day, it’s about the rider. It’s not about you.”

Now I realize that there are many who would recoil in horror at the thought of being affiliated with SoulCycle…

But why?

They're clearly offering people a form of exercise they enjoy and are willing to pay big money to attend. Spend a few minutes looking at the Instructor bios and you'll see most have the same (if not better) credentials than many of the Instructors that I know personally.

Free Music Friday 1/25

Conference Information

Heart Zones Conference

Not an ICI/PRO conference but maybe the next best thing.

Heart Zones and Cycling Fusion have teamed up to create TrainDifferent – what I believe is the very first fitness conference / workshop that offers you three different ways you can attend.

  1. CONFERENCE CENTER LIVE: From Oakmont, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at our Cycling Fusion Training Center, this will be the live conference that will be web-broadcast to the Official Host Sites as well as to the At Home participants. You will be participating and part of the televised audience.
  2. OFFICIAL HOST SITES: Locations across the USA are joining the Conference remotely with a combination of live instructors as well as web-simulcast. This is the best of both using the net and having certified instructors providing you with hands-on learning opportunities. Your workouts will be led by a CHZT, Certified Heart Zones Trainer for the workouts and the keynote lectures and party will be a web simulcast. There are still openings for additional Official Host Sites. Contact Sally Edwards for more information on adding your club or studio.
  3. AT HOME: Participate from your home or any place that has an internet connection. You can attend the Conference as it's happening or watch up to the next 30-days at a time and a place you choose.

HEART ZONES CONFERENCE FACULTY

Sally Edwards, MA, MBA, is one of America's leading experts in business, exercise science, and lifestyle living. In 1993, she created HZT, the Heart Zones Training patented and branded training system and in 2010 she launched the new ZONING Fitness program and brand. Sally, 65 years old, is a professional triathlete finishing over 200 raes and ultra-marathon running champion. She is an author of two dozen books including the popular Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook, the definitive source on heart-rate based training. She is the founder of the Fleet Feet Sports retail stores. Sally is a professional speaker and as she has for the past 22 years, she continues as the national spokeswoman for the Danskin Womens Triathlon Series.

Gene Nacey, MPH holds 2 bachelor degrees and a masters degree in Public Health. A former entrepreneur of the year, Gene spent 20 years building a technology business before his passion for fitness lead him to become a fitness studio owner. His company has licensed the rights to be the official cycling program for Heart Zones as Cycling Fusion. Gene is a certified USA Cycling coach and one of America's premier fitness experts with a specialty in using heart rate and power data for improved cycling. He is the author of the popular ebook Power Training .

Carl Foster, Ph. D. is a Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. He is the co-author of Be a Better Runner, and is a renowned researcher with over 300 published scientific papers to his credit. For the last 20 years he has served as a consultant, faculty member and friend of Heart Zones USA, the training and education company. He continues in that role with the company's new division, ZONING Fitness, asuring that all activity protocols are safe, research-based, and appropriate for individuals.

Where to Attend? Official Host Sites of the remote broadcast are in the following areas: Peachtree City (Atlanta), GA; Bellevue (Seattle), WA;  Boston, MA; Lakewood (Denver), CO; San Francisco, CA; Milwaukee, WI; New York City, NY; Rochester, NY; and Oakmont (Pittsburgh) PA.  More locations will likely be announced, too!  Specific site details are presented below.

 

All the information on CECs, locations, times and delayed broadcasts options is available here.

Free Music Friday 1/25

ICI Podcast 245 – Meet RealRyder’s Director of Education Douglas Brooks Pt.1

RealRyder Douglas Brooks Interview

Depending on which source you use, the definition of persistence is;  noun \pÉ™r-ˈsis-tÉ™n(t)s, -ˈzis-\  perseverance in spite of fatigue or frustration or it could be; the act or fact of persisting. Either way it defines what it took to finally corral an interview with anyone connected with the RealRyder organization.

Well they say good things come to those who wait (or persevere in my case – I've been trying for over two years) so it's with great pleasure that I can provide you this interview with RealRyder's Director of Education Douglas Brooks:)

Douglas is a very interesting guy and he has a lot to offer, so I broke his interview up into two parts.

In part 1 we discuss how he got connected with RealRyder, a funny story about him and Johnny G and the three key benefits he feels RealRyder has over “stationary” Indoor Cycles.

In part two we discuss his method of creating a story/profile based on their unique system – planning to have it out late this week.

As an experiment I'm trying out a Sound Cloud HTML5 player for all of you iPad users.

 

Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe to our free podcast in iTunes.

Viewing this on an iPad or iPhone and not seeing the player below? See this post to fix it.