by John | Oct 6, 2012 | Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training
Joe Ducosin runs CycleQuest Studio in Eden Prairie, MN with his awesome wife Patti. Joe's great at communicating with his Instructor's and has given me permission to share his “Pre Season reminders for Instructors” with you. You can download a pdf of this here.
I haven't sent an instructor email out in a while but with the weather quickly changing and the attendance at the studio about to pick up I wanted to make sure that all of us are on the same page as to procedures and how we are instructing classes at the studio. I would never tell anyone exactly how to instruct or what type of music to play as the freedom to be creative is so important to being great at your craft, but there are some guidelines that we need to stay within for consistency and a positive experience for participants in our classes. So please consider these tips as we present ourselves in front of the class, plan our playlists, profiles and drills.
Mic up! – I always suggest using the wireless mic because your voice has to compete with music from the speakers, and the music has to be louder to be motivating. With smaller classes you can probably get away without it but the experience when you can be heard throughout the studio is always better for participants, especially those toward the back of the class. Take a class from an instructor that isn't mic'd up and sit further away and you will know what I am talking about. When mic'd up properly you should be able to hear your regular voice through the speakers. If you don't use the mic be careful to pay attention how loud and piercing your voice can be to those close to you in the front row and be careful not to scream to instruct above the sound level of the music.
New wireless mic – The new mic sounds great but needs to be adjusted to fit properly. Take time before the start of class to adjust the ear piece to fit snug on your ear and adjust the length of the boom to be as close to the side of your mouth as possible. The new mic adjustments are a little quirky but proper mic placement is key to your voice being heard well through the speakers. Also throughout the class do a mic check with the person farthest from you in the class.
Music volume – I can't emphasize enough how this is one of the most motivating aspects of indoor cycling. Every song in your playlist will play at a different sound level depending on how it was recorded or copied. You should consistently be adjusting your music volume, turning it down when your instruction or side conversations with the class needs to be heard and back up so the driving beat can be felt.
Explicit lyrics – Please choose the clean versions of songs. If you've played music with explicit language, please remove it from your playlist.
Learn customer’s names – The studio was founded on creating a welcoming fun fitness atmosphere. Learning customer’s names and being personable is key to creating a following and you can't go wrong with the attendance list being online and at the front desk. Introduce yourself to all customers you don't know and identify those new to the studio and make sure they are setup properly on the bike. Explain all options on the computer, your instruction style and what they should expect.
Be enthusiastic and create high energy. Your enthusiasm is infectious and you have to be prepared to bring it every class. Keep your music fresh and vary your drills. Don't just be good, be great every class. What sets you apart from all of the other instructors? Don't teach a class just running through the same motions every week.
Don't leave the class guessing – give specific instruction. If going through the song break let the class know. Tell them how long the interval will be, when the effort will end, how long until recovery and how they should be feeling. Be engaged with the class and aware of how you are motivating with your enthusiasm at all times building up the intensity and controlling every moment with precise instruction to keep the energy created high. Silence in the studio when not recovering or in between a song break is not motivating. Take advantage of all the features on the bike computer to run your drills – watts, cadence, rpm, gear and heart rate.
Get your music going before the official start of class. A lot of customers get to the studio early and motivating music should be playing while they are warming up.
Remind friends that are new to the studio to create an account first to make their check-in at the front desk faster.
Remind participants after every class to gently lower seat and handlebar to the frame and wipe down their bike and the floor and don't forget to wipe down your own bike and floor around the instructor bike.
Inappropriate dvd movies – All movies should be motivating in some way. Be very careful of the language in closed caption, inappropriate sexual scenes and unnecessary violent content. Before playing any PG/PG-13 rated movie during class contact me for approval. Also make sure you have watched the portion of the movie you will be playing so as not to be surprised by something inappropriate.
If you have questions about any these topics or need clarification please let me know. Patti and I appreciate all of you contributing your special talents and being part of CycleQuest Studio and look forward to many well attended fun classes this fall and winter!
Regards,
Joe Ducosin
CycleQuest Studio
Eden Prairie, MN
by John | Oct 4, 2012 | Instructor Training, Music, Spotify
When does 25+25+25 not equal 75?
When you're adding up segments of song segments of 25 secs – the correct answer is 1:15 – but I'm guessing that you already knew that.
I love Spotify. With the exception of downloading Podcasts, I have nearly eliminated iTunes from my life. Beyond not being available everywhere, Spotify has a huge flaw that affects Instructors trying to use it to deliver class music. The Length of Time for any amount over 1 hour is… 1 hour. That is until you surpass 2 hours where is tells you, 2 hours 🙁
If you don't really care all that much, then looking at 10 or 12 tracks and calling it good may suffice.
But when you are trying to get close to the transition times in a virtual cycling DVD, close enough isn't good enough. I
I start a new class tonight and as a treat I'm going to play Pensacola Stage Race which should make for some HIT fun!
But to pull this off the music needs to stick closely to the various sections:
- 5 minute warmup
- 10 minute Road Race
- 10 minute Time Trial
- 30 Criterium
- 5 minute cool-down
In iTunes you can highlight a series of tracks and the time will display, making the process relatively easy. Not so in Spotify. You can highlight song till your heart's content, but you still see; 1 hour. Frustrating.
I have planned to stop the video at the end of the TT so everyone can recover and be ready for the 30 Crit. So my primary concerns are that the first half is in sync and then the thirty five minute second half is right as well.
I spent way too much time on this trying to come up with some clever solution I could share with you, and failed. Turns out that creating two separate playlists was the best option.
But then I was left with the problem of substitutions. I had 6 songs in the first playlist, but the time wasn't quite where I wanted it. If I delete a song (to try something else) and wanted to bring it back I needed to remember it. So I ended up creating a third playlist to hold my alternate attempts.
I really wish they would fix this!
Do you have a suggestion [wlm_firstname]?
I almost forgot > I found this handy online “Time Calculator” that turned out to be quite helpful when I was trying to put this playlist together.
Here's a link to what I'll be using tonight at 5:30. Love to have you if you are near Eden Prairie, MN.
Pensacola Stage Race PRO/Playlist
by John | Oct 1, 2012 | Featured Studios, Latest News, Member Spotlight
I'm a very “random” person – just ask anyone who know's me – in that I'm not one for long term planning. That's why I so enjoy operating ICI/PRO… when I discover or hear something (or someone) that sounds like it would be of interest to you, I post about it or try to schedule an interview.
I find not knowing what tomorrow will bring very invigorating.
Stressful at times to be sure!
But as a whole, watching all the new developments in Indoor Cycling and communicating them to you is very motivating, and the randomness of it all fits my personality.
But I understand that some many of you prefer order – and we are working very hard to bring order to the massive amount of information we have amassed here over the past for years – as of today we have over 1,000 posts published 🙂
Behind the scenes we are developing a new website with our primary goal of making ICI/PRO a better resource for members; i.e. making everything easier to find. Not an easy task to be sure.
For example, this morning I was focused on ensuring that all of our 20+ informative articles about using Spotify were actually findable, if you click on the Spotify category tag in the information at the top of each Post.
They weren't, but are now.
Another part of our planned redesign will be a place to feature Indoor Cycling Instructors and the Studios where they teach. With nearly everyone owning a digital camera, we'd love a short video of you walking us through the place where you teach. Nothing fancy, maybe just a minute or two of you saying hello, telling us the name of your club, where it's located, showing off your studio, introducing us to your boss/manager/club owner, etc…
I'm sending out an email this morning to ICI/PRO members explaining the details.
Stay tuned as we continue to bring order to my randomness.
by John | Sep 28, 2012 | Instructor Training, Music
Mashups – there's a real art to blending two or more songs together into something that's entertaining and enjoyable to play in your class. Some, like the tracks from DJ Lobsterdust that Amy is so fond of, are pure magic – other's, not so much.
So I thought I would share another mashup artist that I have been using (with great success I should add) in my classes recently.
Mashup Germany – and as the name implies, some of their Mashups are of German speaking artists… but not all of them.
Here's a few samples. Some of the download links take you to a Facebook page where, after liking the page, you can download a bunch of excellent Mashups for your next class. Enjoy!
This track isn't ready right now – but hopefully it will be by the time you see this.
by John | Sep 26, 2012 | Instructor Tech Help, Instructor Training, Spotify
Image from houstonpress.com – click to learn 5 reasons not to use IE… beyond that it simply sucks.
After receiving and answering what seems like hundreds of questions that are similar to Kristi's below, I'm offering a radical solution that I feel will dramatically improve your experience using Spotify.
Hi John! Thank you for your quick response…I’m just now finding time to get back to my “spotify training” 🙂
When I click on the first link in your email below, an Internet Explorer dialog box opens and asks if I want to allow the application to open, to which I click on Allow (I’ve also tried clicking on Cancel, and have the same result). Then an error dialog box opens that says : “spotify: user:johnmac11:playlist: {followed by lots of letters and numbers}. Unspecified error” and then another error dialog box opens that says: “Unable to open this helper application for spotify: user:johnmac11:playlist: {followed by lots of letters and numbers}. The protocol specified in this address is not valid. Make sure the address is correct, and try again.”
When I clicked on the second link in your email, the playlist actually opened in spotify!
I’ve never been able to open the link from the ICI/PRO website. I thought it wouldn’t work because I didn’t have the premium spotify account, but now I have a premium account so I know that’s not the issue.
Thank you for your help!!
Kristi
Dump IE (Internet Explorer)
That's it. That's my radical solution.
IMO: IE is vastly inferior to Google's Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox Internet browsers for PC users and the root of many of the problems Kristi describes above. Those links take you to where you can download either (or both) on to your machine.
I primarily use Chrome and never experience any problems opening the links to Spotify playlists. Amy has used Firefox for years (before Chrome existed) and there's no reason for her to switch.
IE comes with any new PC and I've talked with a number of Instructors who were under the impression that they needed to use IE – not true!
BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL MY FAVORITES AND SAVED PASSWORDS JOHN?
Not to worry. Once either has been installed, both will ask you if you want to import all of your IE settings > you'll say yes and that should end your relationship with IE > which will bring a big smile to my face 🙂
Sure it may take you a little while to get used to a new browser, but it will be worth it.
DO IT NOW! If not for yourself… then do it for me. Download and install Google's Chrome or Mozilla's Firefox today.
If you are a Mac user I would encourage you to try either browser as an alternative to Safari – although Mac users report that they are very satisfied with Safari. One advantage to using Chrome – If you are a big user of Google's suite of products like Gmail, Google Docs or Google+, Chrome ties very tightly together with their other software.
