“the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one”.
Trekkies (fans of the old Star Trek franchise) will instantly recognize this quote from Spock, which to many of us makes perfect sense; the needs of the majority of our students should outway the needs of a single individual.
And yet applying Spock's logic in our classes can become quite difficult, if not impossible for many of us.
Many of us have experienced a situation where one person is disruptive in class or acts in a way that requires us to focus on them, at the expense of everyone else.
In his Monday post, Chuck Cali relates a problem he had with his new power program:
In the second class, a 73-year-old woman in Birkenstocks walked in after class had started. She’d heard cycling might good for her and demanded to be shown how. With the CEO looking on, and everyone else looking impatient, I set her up. She disliked cycling and left, wasting almost 15 minutes. Such a disruption to this sort of class is catastrophic.
It's like watching a slow moving train wreck and we've all been there. Powerless (forgive the pun) to prevent what all of us with any experience knows will happen next – this one person will, in some way, negativity affect the entire class.
The answer is NO. As in; “I'm sorry, but for your safety and out of respect for everyone who was here on time, we don't allow people into class after it has begun.” “If you'd like to come back in an hour, or come in ten minutes before the next class, I will be happy to get you set up.” And then you physically turn your body (and attention) back to the class.
Saying NO is hard for all of us. Nobody likes to hear NO. For some of us it's almost impossible to turn someone away or ask that they stop whatever they are doing that causes you to feel you need to focus on them, instead of everyone else.
Ignoring the needs of the manycan does limit the effectiveness of your class and diminishes your rapport and/or authority with your students. I'm using “authority” here to mean your perceived role as a leader and a fitness expert.
What got me motivated to post this was a question I received ICI/PRO member Pat Williams.
Hello John,
Hope you are doing well. Thanks for all your hard work with Indoor Cycling. Our gym is in the process of moving and maybe purchasing some new bikes. We currently have 18 Star Trac NXT bikes and they have served our group well. Trying to stay with current trends, I am interested in bikes that could provide more objective information i.e. power, heart rate, speed, and distance ridden. I know that you are currently riding Free Motion bikes that provide this information. If you were in charge of the world, what bikes would you recommend and what are the pros and cons of your choice? I know there are many choices that are out there. Thanks for your help.
Whenever I'm asked for my opinion about what road bike someone new to outdoor cycling should buy, my answer is always; “you want to purchase the bike that you'll ride… not the one that will collect dust hanging in your garage”.
My objective is to identify whether or not they are willing to commit to the changes in their lives, necessary to becoming a cyclist… or are they simply just in love with the idea of being a cyclist?
The same is true with clubs excited to purchase new Indoor Cycles that include Power indication.
No manufacture makes a bad Indoor Cycle with Power. They're all different and all have their strong and weak points. If you spend any time over at Pedal-On you've maybe read some of the never-ending debates over the fine points of which cycle is better.
Do I have a preference? Sure I do. I have experience riding and teaching on most of them. If Pat and I talked and I learned more about his club's specific needs, I could probable help him narrow his choice down to one or two. But any of the currently available Indoor Cycles; CycleOps 300, FreeMotion s11.9, Keiser M3 or Schwinn AC would be a good choice for Pat's club.
But none of them will guarantee a successful power based program.
I'm hearing, seeing and experiencing studios (like Chuck's) who were in love with offering Power to their students. But unfortunately not all of them are willing to make the commitment to Instructor training and class formatting / programming needed to develop truly effective power based program.
One major barrier to success is an inability to say “NO” to some of their students.
This isn't a new problem.
IMO – the failure of a majority of of clubs to implement effective Zone based Heart Rate training classes in large part goes to a reluctance to say NO to students who aren't interested in wearing a monitor. Instructors feel compelled to teach to the lowest common denominator (the few without a monitor) which effectively waters down the HR Zone class content until many of us have given up on HR training completely. Power based classes aren't any different.
Because Power is so new, I see all of us in a unique position to make the changes needed to establish effective Power based classes. I'm not deluded into thinking I have all the answers, but here are a few ideas that I'd like to see discussed in the future:
Clearly separate Power Training classes from Generic Indoor Cycling classes on the schedule.
Teach these Power Training classes to the many, saying NO to the random drop-in student – after first explaining that our club offers…
Regularly scheduled Introduction to Power classes where students can learn all about Power and can learn their FTP based training zones.
Establish a policy that no one can enter class after it has begun and install signs communicating this on the studio doors.
This Audio PROfile from Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanasmay completely change how you teach… but only if you're open to the challenge to adding some movement to your class.
If you are a straight-up indoor-cycling instructor, and/or a roadie, you are likely never going to attempt to teach a Mountain Rider class. However, if you enjoy the trail as much, or even more than, the road, then I hope these ideas will help you bring the trail to your students.
I recently offered Mountain Rider for the first time in North America at Can Fit Pro in Toronto. I was amazed at how many instructors attended class because (a) they ride off-road, and (b) they wanted the experience of riding off-road. Some were roadies who were actually concerned about their lack of off-road skills — as if I was going to ask them to bunny-hop a log.
Some basic class suggestions will set the stage:
1. Tell your class participants that, for today, they must forget much of what you’ve previously taught them about indoor cycling.
2. Mountain biking does work with energy zones, power, intervals and threshold, but pure, senseless fun needs to be a major part of the class design.
3. Simulation begins with education. Teach them about the trail. Are we on a fire trail or single track? What’s the surface? What are the conditions? In mountain biking, the trail surface and conditions change the experience completely. This needs to be part of your cueing.
4. Introduce and use off-road terminology: fire roads, single track, rollers, washboards, high-side/low-side.
Download the complete Mountain Rider presentation PDF here.
NOTE: To access the videos referenced by Jim – please create a FREE account at http://www.ic-pro.org/en Then, once you are logged in, you can click the link to view the videos – links to each is in the PDF.
Many respondents to the ICI/PRO member survey asked that these Audio PROfiles have additional detail. Let me know if Jim's PROfile has what you were asking for [wlm_firstname].
No real relevance to this post – just thought they were cute.
Today was my scheduled Teach Back and I passed!
If you teach for Life Time Fitness you are required to demonstrate that you understand how to teach a proper Studio Cycle class. Our Teach Back today was to follow our “Speed” profile and we had only about 12 minutes to complete:
I feel having a “Theme” for the class, in this case a metaphor for AT (standing at the edge of the canyon), showed I was prepared and wasn't simply “winging it”.
I came early so I could get warmed up before my turn = it was much easier to talk.
What did I do wrong?
I tried to squeeze too much into the 12 minutes I had available, while wishing I had more time.
Didn't really emphasise that first real time when everyone was supposed to be at AT.
I didn't get off the bike. I had too much profile and not enough time, so my scheduled walk around didn't happen.
My suggestions.
Your GF Dept Head should be sending you a copy of the Studio Cycle Teach Back Evaluation Form. It identifies the 7 Compulsory Elements you will be judged on. Learn them, Love Them & Live Then 🙂
Get there early so you can get warmed up (not have to start cold) and connect with a few of the other Instructors before your turn. That way you will have someone to make eye contact with, making everything go so much more smoothly.
Use four, 3 minute songs. My second song was 11 minutes long. Perfect for the actual class, but too long for the teach back.
Our mission here at ICI/PRO, is to act as a platform to elevate talented people in a way that benefits both them and our members.
We have a number* of new contributors climbing on and joining the ICI/PRO team this Fall.
Let's start by introducing you to Instructor Christine Hawthorne!
I met Chris Chrispins over at Pedal-On… or better put, I discovered Chris by followed a link to her website – chrispins1.wordpress.com and then proceeded to steal a bunch of her music suggestions and use them in my classes 🙂
Pretty soon I was trading emails with Chris and then had the privileged to talk with her about the possibility of joining our team. Beyond Instructing she's a Kindergarten teacher, wife and mother of two boys!
There's a real magic to organizing music in a way that will communicate your passion, while engaging your students. If you are on Spotify you can experience Chris' talents – and understand why I'm so excited to have her on board.
ICI/PRO members can look forward to Chris' first post this week about her earlier experiences with using the Spotify Premium version with her iPhone App.
*Legend to John speak: I tend to use; “a couple” when I mean two, “a few” to describe 3 and “a number” when there's four or more.
Pretending not to hear this won't make it go away 🙁
What would happen if someone were to get hurt in your class tomorrow?
It could be something as simple as a student slipping on a sweat soaked floor and twisting their knee, as they were climbing off at the end of class.
One moment everything is fine. It was a great class, the cool down music is playing and everyone is getting ready to stretch… then everything goes to s**t!
The next moment you have a student yelling in pain, her knee twisted at a very odd angle. Blood is running down their jersey from the gash in their head – she had struck the frame of the bike next to her, as she went down.
What's your personal liability if this happened in your class?
Or someone has an accident on the road during a group ride you are leading?
Are you covered by the club's or studio's insurance?
Does your club or studio even have insurance?
Do you know for sure?
September is back to school month and that means that Amy starts her weekly Pilates class at a local Catholic School. She's looking forward to seeing all of her student's again after the Summer break. But before she can teach her first class she needs to give the school administer a certificate of liability insurance, specifically naming Saint Huberts Community School as an additional insured. If you're curious about what this certificate looks like, you can see one here.
The school asks for a copy from Amy each year for a bunch of reasons; they want to be sure she really has coverage, it will be in force for the duration of the school year and the policy has acceptably high limits.
I'm not an insurance expert, but my understanding is that the reason for wanting to listed as an additional insured is to prevent disputes between Amy's insurance company and the school's. Being listed as an additional insured protects the school in the case where the school's insurance refuses to pay a claim, because Amy isn't an employee.
“Oh sure, we have insurance”, is right up there with “the checks in the mail”. I spent a lot of years selling and renting construction equipment and could tell you stories about contractors who insisted they have coverage, only to find out that the policy had lapsed two years ago and wasn't renewed. More often than not they thought they had insurance that covered rental equipment… when they didn't. Quite a few didn't have any insurance at all, which is why we always insisted on seeing a certificate of liability insurance that listed my company as an additional insured, before any equipment left the yard.
It's easy not to pay your insurance premiums. Companies struggling financially are famous for not keeping up their insurance. I'm aware of a studio who hasn't been paying their instructors (not any mentioned here) and it's an easy bet they aren't maintaining their insurance coverage either.
So what would happen if someone got hurt in your class, but there was no insurance policy in effect to cover the claim? It's hard to say exactly… but rest assured it could be a nightmare for you and your family.
With no insurance company to file a claim against for medical bills and lost earnings, the injured student hires a lawyer on contingency. They agree to split any settlement 70% for them and 30% for the attorney. Next the attorney starts looking for any “deep pockets”, anyone involved with assets that she can sue. That would be the studio owner and, unfortunately, you.
After a few years of depositions and court appearances (where you are accused of negligence), you may get off easy, only spending thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Or you could loose most of everything you own 🙁
Protect yourself and your family – do this ASAP:
Confirm with your club or studio that you are, or are not covered by their insurance.
Ask to see a copy of the current policy.
I wouldn't be afraid to ask to be listed as an additional insured, especially if you teach at a small studio or are leading group rides outside the studio.
Call your homeowner's insurance agent to understand what liability coverage you have and get their advice if you have enough. Be sure to tell them exactly what activities you are involved in and if you are paid.
Act on the information – raise your limits, purchase an Instructor policy or consider adding an umbrella policy on top of your homeowners.
The policy we bought from trainerinsurance.com for Amy was only $175 for $1,000,000 of coverage. If you are an IDEA member they also offer discounted insurance – but I think it's the same $175.
