What a treat it was to learn we have a Sports Psychologist (and former professional bicycle racer) among our ICI/PRO members!
Meet Dr. KC Wilder
KC and I had an interesting conversation about motivating your students that was completely off topic from what we had intended to discuss. Oh, well. I guess I'll have to have her back again.
ICG Master Trainer Jim Karanas presents our latest Audio PROfile. Race-Day rides have been part of indoor cycling since it began. However, few instructors use the profile effectively. The Criterium is the most fun and simplest race to simulate in an indoor environment. Also, you don’t have to have raced a crit to cue this workout. It is, in my opinion, the easiest and most fun race-day workout to offer your students. Here is the PROfile .pdf to download and print.
Here's a fascinating video that may give you some perspective on what goes on during the opening laps of a crit 🙂 Watch the amount of power that's required to stay with this very competitive bunch of Pros and the jockeying that occurs… and then consider they will do this for 90 minutes! This video is one of twelve that you can find here.
Tom Scotto from Stage 5 Cycling joins me as the “pinch hitter” Master Instructor for this weeks Audio PROfile. I'm calling this a sort of Hybrid Audio PROfile/PRO Podcast as Tom goes into a lot of additional detail that you will enjoy learning. Here is the link to the companion .pdf
Here's your Spotify PRO/Playlist!Deezer. We have made every attempt to replicate the original playlist. In some instances the tracks specified were unavailable in Spotify. When necessary we have substituted individual songs of similar length and tried to maintain the Instructor's intent. [/private_PRO-Seasonal] [/private_PRO-Platinum]
Have you every purchased something that seemed really expensive at the time, but years later thought; “I'm really glad I bought these!”
I'm guessing that I bought these Pearl iZumi Lobster Gloves back around 1998. Now, 14 years later, I dug them out of the “Dad's Bike Stuff” box in the front closet, as Maxx and I prepared to tackle our first snow.
Global Warming hysteria was at it zenith during the late 90's here in Minnesota. We were experiencing very warm, near snow-less winters – perfect for Mountain Biking 🙂 “Warm” in the winter is a subjective term. It's still cold. My training buddy Eddy suggested I get a pair of these weird looking gloves after watching me ride one-handed (with the other stuffed in a jacket pocket) at some point. So I did.
I'll never forget chasing my kids around the house with them on, pretending that I was Lobster Man… OK, I guess you needed to be there.
I'm not doing much winter riding now that most mornings are 10°F – but these gloves continue to serve me during my second favorite form of cardiovascular winter exercise; snow shoveling!
Anyway, you can get your own pair here for $75.00 – it looks like they have made substantial improvements over what I bought in 98.
Maxx checking out my work. His jacket says; “BAH HUMBUG!
ICI/PRO Annual members can treat themselves (or finish up their Christmas shopping) while saving 40% here on Pearl's complete line of winter clothing + everything else they sell.
I'll bet Pete Thomas here made a few position changes.
Myth #7 – Once you find a good position, you shouldn't need to change it.
Back in Myth #3 I discussed how your students do want you to make suggestions to their setup, but they may offer some initial resistance because…
People are creatures of habit and routine. We all derive comfort from the familiar. Like robots, we try to do exactly the same thing every time we find ourselves in these familiar situations/places.
For the regulars in your class this means they get to the club at the same time, park in the same general location, attempt to get the same locker, find the same bike and set it up in exactly the same way, every time.
I was referring to making suggestions to students who's position on the bike was less than optimal.
So then once we get them set up correctly we shouldn't touch them, right?
Not always. People can (and do) change – and those changes may require a change in position.
Changes in weight can change more then your belly circumference.
I haven't experienced this personally, but my understanding is that adding some additional body fat can make your pants shorter. True story! Which makes perfect sense. If your butt gets bigger (due to the thickening of the fat layer beneath our skin, more material is needed to circumnavigate cover it, leaving less material in the length of each pant leg. Next people are making jokes about your flood preparations.
The inverse of this is true as well. As we loose body fat, we change dimensionally – hopefully everywhere – as the fat layers become thinner.
Now think about this. Let's say you have a successful student, one who loses a bunch of weight by regularly taking your class this winter. Can you imagine how a lessening of body fat can have an impact on saddle height? [you'd want to raise it]
Or vice versa? [lower it]
The trouble is that weight gain/loss is gradual, so a regular participant will just adopt with the changes.
So keep your eyes open for anyone who's beaten the battle of the bulge and help them celebrate their success by maybe raising their saddle a notch!
