Special treat from Allen Jones at EpicPlanet.tv – 30 minutes of audio from an actual Criterium bike race you can use to add realism to any Race Day profile!
It starts with the Race Director announcing “Cat 4 racers… take your mark, get set, go!!!! Then it ends with the bell lap – simply awesome 🙂
The actual audio is from Allen's latest video; epicRaceDay – Pensacola Stage Race! I had stripped this audio from the 30 minute Criterium race segment, with the idea of adding it to the background of my Race Day Audio PROfile that will be published this weekend.
I've taught a number* of Race Day classes using epicRaceDay – Pensacola Stage Race! and a students have commented that they really enjoyed hearing the actual sounds of a race, over layed with my music. This DVD includes the option to play just the racing sounds. The music system where I teach will play the audio from multiple sources, so I turn up the DVD volume along with the music and off we go!!!!
Then I had an idea. Not everyone has video in their studio to experience this amazing addition to their classes – so why not provide it to our PRO members as an MP3?
So I called Allen to ask his permission to publish this audio as one of our PRO/Podcasts. As you can guess, Allen thought this was a great idea and enthusiastically agreed. So here it is as a direct download (right click – Save As) and it will also show up as an episode of the Podcast.
I left it completely clean, so there's no introduction or anything on the end – just 30 minutes of pure bicycle racing sounds. My suggestion is to burn this to a CD that you can play along with the music from your portable device.
Please let Allen know if this is of value by leaving a comment below.
*I'm teaching this again tomorrow (Saturday 10/20 8:30am) at the Chanhassen Lifetime Fitness. If you're in town I'd love to have you.
Fast forward to the 27:20 mark to hear the finish!
This obviously is not OK – spend some time with Yelp to correct it.
Teaching a great class is important to building your attendance numbers, but new students need to first find your studio. Mobile search has become very important with 10's of millions of smart phone users and we've talked here before about the need to claim and update your Google Maps/Places listings.
But everything changed with Apple's iOS 6 update for iPhones and iPads. Apple no longer uses Google Maps data, replacing it with their own mapping system that appears to rely heavily on Yelp for business listings.
A Best Practice for studio owners and managers is to confirm that your facility is correctly listed and displays properly on both iPhone and Android devices. The easiest way to do this is grab one of both types, stand in the parking lot and search for your studio using the Maps function.
My recommendation is to search by:
Your business name
Your speciality; Spinning Studio, Indoor Cycling studio, Fitness Club, etc…
Common Keywords; Spin, Cycle, Fitness, weight loss, etc…
If you aren't showing up on an iPhone running the new iOS 6.x (Apple's new Map App shows a “3D” tab in the bottom LH corner) it's time to add or update your Yelp Business Listing. Follow that link to create a free profile and then search for and claim your listing, if you haven't already.
If you've spent time with Google Maps you may be frustrated by how limited Yelp is, when it comes to categorizing your business. My suggestion is to fully develop the Bio's of each Instructor and manager. It's in these descriptions where you can reinforce specific keywords that will hopefully help searchers find you and your class 🙂
“John what is THAT?” Amy was looking at me with a very disapproving look on her face.
“What's what?” I responded as I straightened up from filling the back tire of The Bus – our Tandem bicycle – with 120lbs of air.
“Over the top of your bike shorts… you have a muffin top!”
“I do not!”
“You do too! And I expect you to do something about it, and quick.”
Once I got over my initial defensiveness, I admitted to her (and myself) that after 17 years of being pretty disciplined about both my training and eating, I've allowed myself to slide a bit. OK, maybe a little more than a bit. But hey – I'm 51 years old… don't I get to back off at some point?
“No!” was Amy's response. “You have a lot of people who look to you as an example who will be as disappointed as I am, that you are backing off.”
She was right, as usual… but what to do? As I rode along I realized I had both a short term and long term problem to solve.
Short term – disguise my muffin top ASAP
Long term – re-introduce John to something called self-restraint 🙂
Enter Bib Cycling Shorts; a man's equivalent to Spanx – control top pantyhose! Wasn't there a Seinfeld episode about this?
Secure that I had at least the short term issued solved, I jumped online to see what was available at Pearl iZumi and ended up buying two pairs of their $150.00 ELITE LTD Bib Shorts. Except I didn't pay $300.00. Using my ICI/PRO 40% discount they were only $90.00 each… which saved me more than the cost of a full year's subscription to ICI/PRO.
So if you find yourself facing a similar situation that could be solved (at least in the short term) with some new cycling clothes, join ICI/PRO as an annual member and you get access to everything Pearl iZumi makes at a 40% discount + 12 months of the awesome premium content we've become famous for.
Do you know how train Siri to do a specific task? I've been trying to get her to respond to “Siri, Shazam this” but I'm not having any success. Any ideas?
I was an instant fan of Moby's Extreme Ways the moment I heard it in the movie theater. If I remember correctly, it was actually played during the end credits of the first Bourne series; Bourne Identity from back in 2002 or so. It's a great fast flat @ 100 rpm and it also works well as a cool down, using it just like the producer's did as the endcap of the movie.
Since then I've become a fan of most of what Moby produces. What's fun about him is that he frequently re-mixes his existing tracks.
If you are using Spotify you can sample multiple versions:
We've added a new category (which are one of the ways we organize content) called Best Practices – clicking that link will display all posts and Podcasts that we feel are the Best Practices for that particular subject.
One of our objectives here at ICI/PRO is, with the guidance of our very knowledgeable ICI/PRO Team, is to sift through the mountains of information on the Internet tained by; Myths, Misinformation, Self-Promotion, Branding/Sales/Marketing Messages and just pure nonsense. The plan going forward to deliver to information that we feel are Best Practices that you can easily and effectively apply to improving your craft as a Fitness Professional.
But deciding what makes a Best Practice requires some specific guidelines or tests.
First on the list; a Best Practice must be Practical…
…contrasted with just Theoretical.
My first example of a Best Practice, defined by it's practicality, is the Three Heart Rate Training Zone system – 2T/3Z for short. Anchored by Two Thresholds (Lt1 Aerobic and Lt2 Anaerobic) and advocated by no less than; ACEThe American Council on Exercise, Sally Edwards and Dr. Carl Foster, I firmly believe 2T/3Z to be the most practical Zone Based Heart Rate training system available for use in our classes. Here is a series where I lay out my original arguments, and supporting facts, for 2T/3T.
Five or Seven Heart Rate Zone systems, promoted by Endurance Coaches the likes of Joe Friel or Chris Carmichael, may “theoretically” be more accurate than a simpler Three Zone system, but be honest here. How many of your students, with a high degree of certainty, can tell you their Zone 5B Heart Rate? What's the number based on? An estimated Max HR or a field test they completed 4 months ago? If your entire teaching career has been in a little boutique studio, filled with committed athletes, then maybe you'll feel they could. If not, then I'll bet we can agree that cueing a 5 minute interval that starts at 5A and ladders up to 5C isn't very practical. You'll may also agree that a Five or Seven Heart Rate Zone systems fails the second test…
… a Best Practice must be Applicable.
Most of us are instructing a vast demographic of students, that range from; Cat 2 cyclists to four times a week Club Athletes to first-time-to-exercise newbies. I believe that what we do in our classes should be relevant and/or appropriate to the majority of our students.
I'd encourage you [wlm_firstname] to review some of the posts we've now categorized as Best Practices and let me know if you agree. Also feel free to suggest other Best Practicesfor consideration by our team.
Do you know how train Siri to do a specific task? I've been trying to get her to respond to “Siri, Shazam this” but I'm not having any success. Any ideas?
