We are now offering both ACE and AFAA CEC's at the ICI/PRO conference and Zoning Fitness is providing Blink Heart Rate Monitors to the next 75 Instructors who register to attend the conference.
MyZone displays your students Heart Rates on a screen during class… and a lot more. Listen to my Interview with Steve Newell from MyZone and learn how their system will have your students coming back to your studio – not your competitors 🙂
RACE DAY was another winner of our Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest from Instructor Mark Peterson!
For the love of the Road Race! The inspiration for this ride was the recent Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado but the ride is generic in the sense that you could do this ride as a stage of any Cycling Race. The objective of the ride is to educate my students on the sport of Bike Racing, entertain and to provide some of those moments of lung splitting, leg busting intensity that is Road Racing!
Mark is a detail guy and what made his contest submission unique is that he created it using the ClassBuilder iPad/iPhone App from Cycling Fusion.
The graphic at the top displays during the entire class. A marker moves along on the screen, helping everyone understand where they are and more importantly, what's coming next.
This was Mark's second visit to the Podcast. You can listen to ICI Podcast #190 — Virtual Class Ride Prep to learn his tips and trick to effectively using video in your class.
Here in the USA we're big on parades, especially in smaller towns and around the Fourth of July. They make the perfect venue to promote local business and that includes Indoor Cycling Studios!
Melissa Spredemann is opening Velocity Cycling Studio, a new Spinning Studio in Mequon, Wisconsin in August.
There's a recurring issue that keeps popping up on Facebook and Pedal-On forum:
Does anyone have a suggestion about to do about the consistent talkers in my classes? They're really disruptive, but I don't what to offend anyone. What should I do?
What follows are a series of well meaning suggestions from other Instructors; turn down the music, make a light joke – you don't want me to have to split you two up, do you?, stand between them, etc.
Others state something like; it's their ride, they're the paying customer, so I let them talk.
I don't feel any of these simple solutions are directed at the real problem or identify the real cause. In many cases there are no “simple” solutions. There will be a number of you won't be comfortable with the solutions I do plan to share. But before I go any further, I'd like your responses to what you see as the fundamental difference between these two scenarios:
Scenario #1
Breathless Betty and Chatty Cathy are long time fixtures at your club. They are inseparable and always ride the same two bikes (second row from the front, just off center) they have for years. They're talking as they come in and continue, non-stop, through your's (and everyone else's) class. Betty spends much of the class sitting up, soft pedaling, while looking and listening to Cathy. Cathy from a distance appears to be following the class, but never shuts up.
You've tried everything you can think of and have even asked them both privately to please stop talking in class. They don't. To make matters worse they've complained to the GM how they feel you've embarrassed them.
Despite your best efforts to ignore them, the negative affect these two have on you is wearing. Rather than being excited about teaching, you feel anxious, powerless and your class presentation suffers – resulting in fewer participants.
Scenario #1
You are super excited! You've staked out two great bikes (second row from the front, just off center) for Josh Taylor's Fighter Pilot ride at WSSC. Joining you for the ride is your dear friend Susan, who you only see once a year when you're together in Miami. You both laugh about how expensive this ride is, but agree that it will be so worth every penny. Josh mounts his custom Blade Ion. The lights come down. And with the start of the music, Josh launches into the ride.
Ten minutes in Susan looks over at you and asks; “so… how are your kids?” You're shocked in disbelief; doesn't she realize where we are? Without even thinking you turn to Susan and place your index finger across your closed lips > the universal sign for “Be Quiet”. Susan gets the hint immediately and you sense her embarrassment. The two of you ride in silence for the remaining time of the ride.
So what's the difference?
Why do Breathless Betty and Chatty Cathy not behave the same way that you and Susan did at WSSC?
In part two we'll explore what I feel is the answer to this and why, exactly, this happens.
“Because that's where the money is…” was famous American bank robber Willie Sutton's reported answer to the question; “Willie why do you rob banks?”
I can imagine a similar conversation with an upscale restaurant owner; “so why do you cater to business people?” “Because they regularly entertain important clients and pay with expense accounts!”
Now that business people (and their prospective clients) are moving away from the two-martini lunch and adopting a more healthful lifestyle, expense accounts are paying for fitness classes.
Wall Street’s salesmen and dealmakers, whose expense accounts help fill downtown chophouses and box seats at ballparks, are now treating clients to a different kind of entertainment: high-end workouts.
Pre-dawn and afternoon classes at Manhattan fitness studios SoulCycle, Barry’s Bootcamp and Flywheel Sports are growing popular with bankers who want to bond without loading up on liquor and fatty foods, according to traders and salesmen. John Abularrage, head of Tullett Prebon Plc’s Americas unit, takes clients to 5 a.m. sessions at Barry’s Bootcamp in Tribeca, where they run on treadmills and lift weights to thumping dance music.
…
Bankers who sell stocks or bonds have long plied mutual-fund traders and hedge-fund managers with tickets, meals and drinks in the hopes that friendship — or at least familiarity – – will lead to more trades. Health-conscious clients increasingly view steak dinners as “three-hour ordeals,” said Chelsea Kocis, a 26-year-old former equity saleswoman.
“‘Let’s meet at 5 for a workout,’” she said, describing the way she’d invite out traders. “‘You can be home before your kids go to bed.’ That’s an enticing thing for a lot of people.”
New Yorkers have been wooing clients and forging business relationships in yoga classes and locker rooms for more than a minute, but after the New York Times introduced the term “sweatworking” to the public at the end of last year, the concept entered the serious spotlight.
And at the center of it all was Sarah Siciliano, an advertising production executive who has turned sweat-working into a branded business. Siciliano now has a website and a group of clients who work out with her two or more times a week. They spin, stretch, and make business deals.
CREATING BUSINESS CONNECTIONS OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE HAVE BECOME TOO MUCH ABOUT EATING AND DRINKING, OFTEN TO EXCESS. THE CONCEPT OF SWEAT-WORKING IS THAT EVEN BETTER, MORE MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS CAN BE FORGED WHEN A GROUP OF LIKE-MINDED PEOPLE WORK TOGETHER TO IMPROVE THEIR MINDS AND BODIES. IMAGINE IF ALL THE TIME WE INVESTED IN NOISY, CALORIE-LADEN, ALCOHOL-SOAKED NETWORKING EVENTS WERE PUT TOWARDS INVIGORATING, CLARIFYING, ENERGIZING ATHLETIC CLASSES AND EXCURSIONS.
Now you don't have to wait for someone like Sarah to organize a group of like minded people and have them meet regularly at your club. You could do it yourself by using a free service like www.meetup.com.
I encourage you to visit meetup.com, search by your studio's Zip Code and scroll through all of the results. I did a quick check for groups located within 5 miles of ICI/PRO member Joe Ducosin's CycleQuest studio and found these groups…
Would any of these groups be interested in holding a meeting at your studio? I have no idea, but the group leaders are easy to contact.
Another option would be for you to form your own networking group that meets after your class for coffee. What types of business are prominent nearby? Who's already in your class that would benefit from meeting more people?
Joe has a huge (6,000 employees) new health care provider moving in just up the road. I'll bet there will be a steady stream of sales people visiting who may appreciate a sweat-working opportunity at his studio – and will pay for the privilege with an expense account 🙂
Exciting News!
