I had forgotten how challenging it is to teach a completely naked Indoor Cycling class!
I'm in Jamaica with Amy this week, teaching at Couples Tower Isle on a working fitness vacation. Jamaica is well know for sun, rum, Red Stripe beer, the clear blue ocean and a very carefree lifestyle. Jamaicans use the word Irie to describe the constant state of bliss you experience on this beautiful island.
My week-long teaching gig has me scheduled for two classes a day; 9:00am and 5:00pm and that presents a unique set of challenges for me:
NO TECHNOLOGY – beyond a somewhat weak sound system, I've got nothing additional to work with here; no video, power meters, cadence… nothing.
NO BLUETOOTH – I had no idea how dependent I had become on the Bluetooth receiver I use with my iPhone.
NO REGULARS – Each class had a least one guest who had never experienced an indoor class.
NO BIKE SHORTS – My classes typically involve a lot of Saddle Endurance. I needed to modify and give everyone plenty of time off the seat as no one (but me) had anything remotely resembling padded shorts.
It's actually been very refreshing to teach like we all did 10 years ago 🙂 Once I accepted the limitations I was working with, I went back to the basics of; terrain, cadence, intensity and imagery and we had a great time each class.
And yes, everyone was wearing clothes – what were you thinking I meant by naked?
I hate math, especially when I'm forced to do quick calculations in my head.
Figuring (forgive the pun) that many other people dislike math, I won't ask anyone to do any calculations in my classes. For example, I would never cue something to the effect of;now I need everyone at 85% of AT for one minute… and then we'll push up to 95% for the final 30 seconds! Against a background of loud, pounding music, at that point I've got my head up and I'm mouthing to you:
Wait… what are you asking me to do?
Won't do it. Instead I base my Life Time Performance Cycle classes on two numbers; PTP (Personal Threshold Power) and JRAP (Just Riding Along Power – AKA > Base Watts > VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold Power). From these two rider identified threshold wattages, we can construct three meaningful power Zones;[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Recover zone – watts below JRAP
Perform zone – watts between JRAP and PTP
Improve zone – watts above PTP
That's all I need to coach and cue an easily understandable class, to a variety of riders. Regulars include committed endurance athletes, Cat 2 cyclists (A group riders), weekend warriors (B group) and lots of; “I'm not training for anything John… I just like your class” regular folks.
Using these three simple zones makes the cuing each task much easier to communicate and, without a lot of numbers and percentages flying around the room, much more actionable by my riders.
Now I need everyone in the upper part of their Performance Zone for one minute… and then we'll push up to the Edge of your threshold the final 30 seconds!
This is an expanded version of Dennis Mellon's Below/@/Above threshold cues he uses and similar to the well documented heart rate based concepts that makeup the Zoning Program.
Using this system to cue wattage intensity, I've successfully taught this class for past two years – this is our third on the FreeMotion S11.9 Indoor Cycles. We do not have a Display Training system like Performance IQ or Spivi to project rider metrics on a screen and/or do the “math” for you to display percentage based power zones. The numbers on the console are what we have to work with.
Over this times I have had numerous (dozens maybe) participants thank me for NOT using percentages of “something” to communicate intensity levels of heart rate or wattages. That makes me happy and it really simplifies my job as the Instructor/Coach > Coach is a much better description of my role in these classes training sessions as I will typically ride side by side with them, rather than up front in the normal Instructor position.
NOTE: I still have control of my music when I'm riding with the group. See this post about using an inexpensive bluetooth receiver so your iPhone is wirelessly connected to the sound system.
Today's 75 minute session > Pinning Down Two Numbers
I you look at the song lengths of my playlist you'll quickly understand the class format >
A long (9-13 minute) song where we play around finding JRAP / Base Watts
Followed by a short (3-4 minute) track where we explore PTP
Rinse and repeat
The first track is of course a warm up that includes 3-4 x 30 second accelerations / openers near the end to get everyone ready to work.
Track #2 – the first PTP track is important. We'll use this average wattage for each of the four PTP efforts to follow. Everyone seemed to enjoy Billy Idol — Rebel Yell – 1999 – Remaster – maybe suffered a bit as well. At 4:47 there's plenty of time to explore PTP. We use the Stage button to reset the averages at the beginning of what I describe as; Your Best Sustainable Effort. It's normal for riders to miss-judge where they should be, so I'll often have everyone make needed adjustments and hit the Stage button again to reset the averages.
Track #3 is for finding JRAP / Base Watts. The very recognisable Peter Frampton — Do You Feel Like We Do – Live is perfect for this. We used the first few minutes of the long track to recover and then begins of dialing in the wattage that has everyone at JRAP/Base Watts. It's fast @ 108 RPM – I don't demand they follow it exactly, encouraging cadences above 90RPM. With one hand on the resistance knob, we add / subtract load in small increments… and then wait for our breathing response. I cue the feeling where you're just above “chatty” = you are first noticing you'd prefer breathing through your mouth.
My own unscientific research has be seeing JRAP / Base Watts ~ 65-70% of PTP. Sorry, there are those damn percentages I hate > I offer that just for your perspective.
If using VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold Power or heart rate is new for you this series of posts have a bunch more detail. This video from ACE does a great job demonstrating VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold.
I get questions; John, they're talking about heart rates here, not power, so how does this apply?
Heart Rate BPM's are just an indication of effort (how hard you're working). Watts are the same. You work “X Watts” hard, it feels like “Y RPE” and your HR is “Z BPM”. Does that make sense? It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. Remember, I hate math 🙂
Rinse & Repeat
Self direction is a key component of how I coach my Performance classes. After all, I'm not going to be there with them on the road. So once everyone understands the drills and what what they're supposed to accomplish, I pretty much turn them loose.
Please let me know if you use this > or your questions.
Cyclists can be real fussy about their bike setup. In this video I show how you can bring some consistency to the saddle fore/aft adjustment between different bikes.
I need to publicly thank both Cameron Chinatti, the Education Director for Stages Indoor Cycling along with Marketing Director at Foundation Fitness & Stages Indoor Cycling, Laurel Mylin for believing in ICI/PRO and co-sponsoring our conference this year.
Cameron will be conducting the Stages Essentials Instructor Certification as a Pre-Con on Friday 9/30 and will also be presenting four sessions during the conference.
Of course this turns our conference planning on it's head. I plan to have the final registration details completed by Monday 5/9 night for ICI/PRO members to make their selections.
I have opened early registration for those of you wanting to get a jump on everyone else. This year we are offering you the chance to make multiple payments, rather than one lump sum. Here is the link to register.
Last year the hotel sold out. Even if you are thinking about sharing a room I would suggest that you reserve a room here’s the phone number to the hotel 978-750-7987 and tell them you are in the Indoor Cycling group. We will be helping connect those looking for room-mates. NOTE: Our block of reserved rooms extends from September 28th to October 4th for those of you wanting to come early or stay a day or two longer.
Listen to the Podcast below for more information about Stages Indoor Cycling and their participation in the conference.
In our latest Audio Class PROfile, USA Cycling Coach Robin Robertson suggests we all get back to the basics of form fundamentals.
From time to time it is always good to get back to basics with form fundamentals. Form is often overlooked and not practiced enough. This workout takes you back to 5 fundamentals: independent leg work, pedal stroke, smooth transitions in and out of the saddle, the elements of adding and releasing tension through rolling hills while maintaining intensity, and a long seated & standing climb that gets progressively steeper.
Focus on fundamentals will help each rider to get more power out of every pedal stroke and to become more efficient on the bike, whether indoors or outside.
This is an ideal class for everyone — teaching beginners good form and reminding veteran riders of how to get more out of every pedal stroke. The overall intensity is moderate to heavy with the end climb. The focus is on good form!
The cuing for this class includes both indoor stationary cycles and bikes on trainers. This is the kind of class that is perfect for those who enjoy cycling outside because the drills practiced are directly transferrable to outdoor riding.
