Welcome to week two of Music to Mention. This week's music to mention is my new favorite finish. It incoporates cadence work, speed and we go both in the saddle and out of the saddle. The key to making this work is to have your riders add enough resistence to keep it challanging. I usually give them a few ranges in terms of watts: 80%-100% (of their body weight in watts), 100%-130% or 150%-175%, and then let them choose how hard they want to work today. If you bikes do not have power, you can always go with moderate, hard and very hard. I do not take my classes to breathless often, but this is one song where I will. Please, caution the riders to work at their own level.
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues. Here is your ready to ride document, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
This week's music to mention is one of my favorite tracks. I often use it as a finisher and I love that it has two passes at the same “type” of drill that I love to run differently. I like to run the first half as a hilltop race finish, then take advantage of the brief rest. The second half I like to cover up the monitors and run this by rhythm with the accelerations happening by feel rather than by the numbers.
Have fun with this song and enjoy the ride. It is a great closer and will allow your class to leave with an amazing sense of accomplishment even though the tank is empty.
As Instructors, our riders will often asked us questions about: insert topic here.
Where we can get into trouble is by launching into a short/long/epic dissertation on the subject, often without fully understanding the whole question.
My first sales job out of school was selling motorcycles. For someone like me, who at 22 couldn't be around them enough, it was the perfect job. Being the new guy, I asked a bunch of questions to the other salespeople (there wasn't any real training) and I was told to study up on all the different models. That year Honda had 52 different bikes – we had decks of playing cards with a different model on each card. I was very familiar with many of the models – I had put myself through school working as a motorcycle mechanic, so I felt like I could answer just about any question anyone would ask. I was ready to hit the sales floor and show everyone I was a born salesman.
Does this bike have a really powerful engine?
I've forgotten many of the details, but I'll never forget the gentleman's question or my response. He was looking over a new model Honda and after our introductions he asked; Does this bike have a really powerful engine? I couldn't believe my luck. I knew every conceivable specification and had nearly memorized the latest magazine test results.
Sir, you're looking at the most powerful motorcycle in its category.I told him proudly. Then (I'm sure I was trying to impress him with all my product knowledge) I launched into what had to be a 10 minute explanation of the 0-100 mph times, rev limits, performance tires, how it will smoke any other bike on a race track, etc… The man stood and listened politely until I came up for air. He then thanked me and walked out the door.
I saw the man later in the week. He was taking delivery of his new motorcycle – a much less powerful model than I had shown him. After he drove out I grabbed the other salesman and asked what had happened. I showed him a new Interceptor, what's he doing with that low powered bike? You idiot, you completely missed his question! Was his response. We're lucky he came back here at all… he bought that bike for his 17 year old son. He didn't want anything with too much power. Lesson learned.
Have you ever been in a situation like that? You're considering making a major purchase (or need personal advise) and were at first a bit nervous, anxious or guarded? So the question you asked was an abbreviated version, one that didn't exactly communicate your specific question?
What would you want to hear next?
Let me see if I understand your question…
Each of the The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People can beapplied to our fitness profession. Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood rings the loudest for me.
Use empathic listening to be genuinely influenced by a person, which compels them to reciprocate the listening and take an open mind to being influenced by you. This creates an atmosphere of caring, and positive problem solving.
It doesn't matter if you're selling motorcycles, toasters or advising members about fitness, people want to feel like they've been heard & understood before communicating openly. The simple act of reflecting a question back conveys empathy and will go a long way to build trust.
Imagine if I had reflected back the question in the opening example; Are you looking for a very powerful motorcycle? My potential customer would have instantly responded; NO! This is for my 17 year old son. Then we would have been communicating and I could have made the sale.
Who knows. Maybe some day you'll be asked a question where you resist the temptation to educating and instead reflect back to them in the form of a question. Can you see how you might gain their trust and gather a better understanding of what's being asked? Wouldn't you be surprised to hear the unguarded response; I'm really hoping this class will build up my skinny chicken legs 🙂
My biggest mistake with sugar was actually a series of several mistakes. Are you making them, too?
First was my Mindset Mistake: I resisted the idea of having to give up sugar. Yes, I knew I was addicted to it but was sure I wouldn’t have to quit.
Second was my Approach Mistake: I started looking for loopholes. Believe me, no one ever looked harder for a sugar loophole than I did, so I can say with confidence there isn’t one. But I didn’t believe that back then!
Third was my Behavior Mistake, which of course was a direct outgrowth of the first two: I used Sneaky Sugars. A new and popular item at that time was “all fruit” jelly – as if that wouldn’t have an addictive effect on me. I’d buy and eat it by the jarful. Another was a fake ice-cream-type dessert that had me at “hello” – hooked on the first spoonful.
Yikes.
Many trending sugars are available now, showing how sneaky the food industry can be, along with some old faithful entries: agave, coconut sugar, maple syrup, honey – and Organic Sugar. ‘Cause that doesn’t affect the brain; it’s organic….!!!!
If I could start all over, I’d be more Zen about sugar: No attachments. No aversions.
I’d accept that my addiction meant needing to give up sugar – and give it up much sooner.
I’ve never regretted quitting sugar but do regret the time I wasted – and the frustrations I caused myself – by not facing my addiction to it for real, once and for all. No one knew this stuff back then.
If you’re somewhere in the sugar Mindset / Approach / Behavior labyrinth and would like some help, perfect! That’s what I do. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching and request your free Last Resort Nutrition® Consult. Find out how easy it can be to get on track and move toward better health, more energy than you’ve imagined – and a life without cravings.
In the somewhat belated – but always relevant – spirit of Independence Day, what’s your freedom worth to you? Freedom from sugar and from cravings may be the greatest gift I can give you. Just go here.
You'll be able to ride longer with less fatigue. You should have your feet attached to the pedal (either with toe cages or clipped in) to ride at 90 RPM comfortably if you are not used to this pedal speed.
Here's the Science:
90 RPM recruits more Type 1 (“slow twitch”) muscle fiber which generally use aerobic forms of energy (stored fat for fuel) and allows you to cycle for longer periods of time without getting fatigued.
Pedaling slower, say 60 to 80 RPM, tends to recruit the Type 2 “fast twitch” muscles (ironic, right?) which are larger and more powerful. Because of their high demand, Type 2 muscle fibers tend to use anaerobic energy production (glycogen stores) for powerful bursts of speed.
Glycogen stores are limited, fat is not. Let's use more fat and pedal at 90 RPM.
I'll add that most people whom I've worked with who have never had any cycling training start out pedaling slower, say at 60-75 rpm. I think this is because…
1) No one has taught them good pedal stroke (how to pull back, up, and over the pedal in addition to pushing down).
2) Their feet are not attached to the pedal – it is hard to impossible to have a good pedal stroke when your feet are not somehow attached to the pedal (cleats, toe cages).
3) No one has explained the whole idea of pedaling faster to conserve energy. And they haven't practiced it to make it smooth and comfortable.
4) No one has explained that pedaling slowly into a hill will only S L O W your pedal speed even more – and maybe you'll end up walking up the hill. If you head into the hill at a faster cadence, then you have more room to slow your pedals as the hill gets longer or steeper. (Don't forget to shift or reduce resistance!)
How to Count your Cadence – Watch the video below
Does your Indoor cycle or bike monitor show RPM or Cadence? (by the way, RPM – Revolutions per Minute – and cadence mean the same thing)
If not, here is how to count your RPM:
* Take a 15 second count
* As you pedal, tap your right knee each time at the top of the pedal stroke, count how many times you tap.
15 taps = 60 RPM
17-18 taps = 70 RPM
20 taps = 80 RPM
22-23 taps = 90 RPM
25 taps = 100 RPM
27-28 taps = 110 RPM
Here is a video to show you exactly how to do this: How to Count your RPM
Happy Tapping!
Coach Robin
CEM (Chief Executive Mole)
www.powertopedal.com <= We teach you about pedal stroke and speed in these videos!
