by John | Sep 13, 2019 | Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog, Your Fitness Business
This morning I read how Soul Cycle has been banning fitness instructors (from competing studios) who try to attend their class.
About 10 days after hitting a SoulCycle class on a recent day off, Barry’s Bootcamp owner Joey Gonzalez got a phone call. It was a lawyer for the mega-popular cycling brand issuing a message: don’t come back.
“He essentially said we have a policy at SoulCycle where instructors at other group fitness studios are not allowed to take class,” Gonzalez says. “He seemed half embarrassed.” We reached out to SoulCycle’s public relations team for comment on the policy but did not hear back.
Gonzalez took to Facebook with the news, and his post went viral. (At time of this writing, it had 158 comments and 14 shares.) Other popular fitness instructors, like Natalie Uhling, Darryl Gaines, and Lindsey Clayton weighed in to say the same thing had happened to them. Flywheel instructors jumped in to invite trainers from other studios to come take their classes (“#team”), and tons of people weighed in to rail against the lack of “soul” the policy stood for.
Then I dug in to this story a bit more. The article references this post from rateyourburn.com addressing the same issue. They begin with listing a few reasons why it maybe OK to limit the access of Instructors from competing fitness clubs. I see it as incomplete… in fact, I feel they are missing the real concerns of Soul Cycle completely.
IS IT OKAY FOR FITNESS STUDIOS TO BAN INSTRUCTORS WHO WORK FOR THE COMPETITION?
Why do studios ban instructors employed by competitors?
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Trade secrets. We suppose the primary reason studios do this is to prevent competitors from coming in and spying on their ways of business, copying them or stealing their methods.
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Exclusivity. Perhaps some studios want to create a country club bubble, where only approved members are allowed within their establishment.
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To ward off studio-bombing. On rare occasions, people do show up just to cause trouble. In our opinion, bad behavior is the only justifiable reason to ban a paying client.
Limiting access to your “Tribe”
Paul Harmeling from Full Psycle Studio really opened my eyes about what makes Soul Cycle so successful – how good they are at cultivating a “team” or “tribe” of passionate people who are united by their participation in class. This sense of community isn't just between the customers and Soul Cycle or the Instructor. There are a lot of relationships, both personal and professional, being made between the riders.
You've probably seen this at your club. It's no secret that common interests and activities build trust between people. That trust can lead to relationships that extend beyond the club. Over the years my family and I have chosen to do business with people we've gotten to know at our club;
- Claudia is Amy and my financial planner – she's also been a longtime regular in our classes.
- Amy first met Craig at the club. He later hired her and we've been friends of Craig and his wife Julie for 15 years.
- Morry (another regular) arranged for daughter Abby's interview, which resulted in her current job.
- Richard is an Instructor at our club. He's also a C level employee at a company where younger daughter Carly would like to have a summer internship…
I can easily understand why Soul Cycle (or your club for that mater) would want to limit access to their Tribe of passionate, fitness minded people who have the financial wherewithal to pay for premium classes.
Wouldn't these same people be prospective customers for any fitness business – especially a competitor located near by?
Soul Cycle's “Tribe” is really their brand, the “special sauce” that makes them unique and profitable. Using attorneys to protect a brand from competitors isn't really any different from how Mad Dogg Athletic will do the same thing to protect the Spinning® brand from improper use.
I don't know anymore than what's been written, but I would venture this guess; Soul Cycle was concerned that Mr. Gonzalez was recruiting customers for his boot camp business. Neither of the articles, nor the Facebook post, explains how Soul Cycle's attorney would know Gonzalez was an Instructor… unless someone (maybe a class participant?) informed management.
What would you do in this situation?
Originally posted 2014-05-05 09:15:44.
by John | Sep 9, 2019 | Instructor Training
The TRX Suspension Trainer and Indoor Cycling look like they were meant for each other. Check out this video from Instructor – Personal Trainer Pam Leno where she demonstrates the Cycling/Strength fusion class she calls: Buff, Bike & Balance!
Here is a link to learn more about the TRX
If this is interesting to you you may want to listen to Amy's interview on Group Fitness Talk Radio with Fraser Quelch from Fitness Anywhere. Episode #4 – Group Exercise with the TRX Suspension Trainer
Save
Originally posted 2017-10-09 09:00:01.
by John | Sep 7, 2019 | Spotify
What Rocket Scientist at Spotify thought this would be a good idea?
What the @#$%^& was Spotify thinking by removing the total playlist time in the latest update? The number of followers has zero value to me when I'm building a playlist.
Last week my Spotify displayed this message offering to update, which I regrettably did.
Don't upgrade Spotify if you want to keep your playlist timer.
Now I have no clue about the total length of the playlist. Chris Hawthorne and I are trying to find a work-around, but for now I suggest using the little X in the right hand corner of the update notice if you haven't updated yet.
Originally posted 2013-03-17 09:35:00.
by John | Sep 7, 2019 | Free Podcasts
The Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast is now available in the itunes Podcast Directory!
You can subscribe by clicking the orange chicklet below.
Subscribe in a reader
New to Podcasting? What's with this Subscribing thing?
Once you subscribe, iTunes will check each day to see if I have posted a new Podcast. If I have, iTunes will automatically download it so it's ready for you to play or transfer to your iPod. It's easy.
Originally posted 2008-08-05 20:45:07.
by John | Sep 2, 2019 | Class Work-Sets, Instructor Training, Training With Power
Week #2 of my Performance Cycle class and I introduced the concept of using your stage average watts as a “riding buddy” today + had a nice email when I got home.
Hi John-
Thank you so much for the great class this morning. I took a picture of my results when I was finished. My avg watts was 148, not 212. I have no clue where I got that number. 😉
I also took your advice and upgraded my membership, so if it's ok with you, I would like to take advantage of the class next Sunday as well. Do I need to come early to be tested or will this take place during your class?
My goal is to get strong and gain endurance. I have an Ironman in 2014 that I would love to CRUSH! 😉
Thanks again for the great morning!!
Tina (Smiley, Orange Shoes girl)
This gal is an animal – the 212 watts she refers to was her average for both of the 10 climbs we did, with only a minute of recovery in between them. Here's the picture she took.
Those are awesome #s for anyone.
Now to the Riding Buddy
Pictured on the right is a Garmin 810 cycling computer. Beyond measuring and displaying all the typical stuff; RPM, MPH, Distance, Time elapse, etc… these computers allow you to race against a Virtual Partner, which is yourself previously riding over a known course. Racing against yourself is a fascinating concept which allows you to compare today vs last week or last year. Are you getting stronger/faster/fitter? Yes? No?
http://youtu.be/o8YhrAAvh7w
After all, it's just you, who you're really racing against.
I use the stage average timer in class as a sort of Riding Buddy, comparing a specific intervals against earlier efforts. Asking; are you keeping up? Yes? No?
Today's class followed Spinervals Competition 41.0 — Ascending Mountains in Leadville, CO
Class length 75 minutes + Cool Down
Spotify Playlist 12-29 Performance Cycle class
Warm Up — 10 minutes. 5 minutes of gradual increases in wattage. During the second 5 mins. we’re finding the wattage where everyone is first noticing a change in breathing; VT1 / Aerobic Threshold = the top of the Recover Zone shown above. This establishes a rough understanding of a base wattage that we use throughout the rest of class.
3 x 30 sec. Hard / 30 sec. Easy – Openers to AT/LT. I cue these by first having everyone find the amount of load @ 70 RPM that has them feeling they should (not just could) come out of the saddle. The 30 sec. Hard is then simply accelerating to 90+ RPM which results in some pretty impressive power numbers. The 30 sec. Easy is back to 70 RPM — many will stand during the Easy portion.
3 minutes rest – I encourage riders to focus on their recovery. Once they feel calm in their breathing, bring back the Base level work wattage.
5 min. Short Hill — Here's were we do our 5 min. “Best Effort” to establish a benchmark PTP Personal Threshold Power (top of the Perform Zone) or ride at 110% of FTP if known. It’s very helpful to riders to have that understanding of their personal upper wattage number. The “Best Effort” Threshold # + the Base Threshold # we found earlier form the three Power working zones I use in class.
– 1 min. build at preferred cadence (suggested as 85-95 rpm) — press the Stage Button to reset the averages.
– 5 min. “Best Effort” This should hurt, but be do-able. I ask everyone to observe their average at the end and then…
2 minutes rest
3 x 5 min. Medium Hill @ 1 min Rest – Now that everyone knows how hard they can go for 5 minutes, we worked at ~90% of PTP on each of the three, five minute climbs. The recoveries and transitions back to climbing are simplified by leaving resistance where it is and do what I call Walking. Have everyone stand and pedal slowly “walk” for a minute. Load should be too high for seated soft-pedaling. Then accelerating up to preferred cadence brings everyone back to ~90% of PTP.
3 minutes rest
2 x 10 min. Long Hill @ 2.5 min. Rest – the songs I used were a little short so I had everyone up to RPM/Watts before starting the songs and hitting the Stage button to establish averages. I prefaced the first climb with; “As Endurance Athletes, you recognize that you get stronger as the class goes on.” Here's where I got a few smiles and hoots… “so my expectation is that you can all climb this at your PTP (5 min. Best Effort wattage)” and we did 🙂 The Spinervals profile calls for near constant changes in gears and cadence, which is easy to do on a bicycle… not so easy on an Indoor Cycle. So instead we made 3-4 changes in load/RPM + alternated in & out of the saddle.
Here's where I was cuing everyone to focus on their Riding Buddy. No matter the change, it is imperative that you keep your instantaneous watts at or above the average, so you keep up with your Riding Buddy.
5 minutes at Base wattage @ 90RPM – which becomes a recovery > step down in intensity while we stay aerobic.
Cool Down
I'm very excited to be able to teach these Performance Cycle classes – they fit me and my personality perfectly and we have an excellent group of athletes to ride with.
Next Sunday 1/5 is the official kickoff of the winter training program > FTP assessment day. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to ride with us.
Originally posted 2013-12-29 16:27:31.
