Anyone who knew Jim, loved him. He was a very influential part of creation of what all of us recognise as Indoor Cycling today. Jim's knowledge of training was unequaled, as was his wisdom and understanding of what Instructors needed to do, to truly meet the physical and emotional needs and expectations of their participants.
All of us here at ICI/PRO benefitted immensely from Jim's insightful articles and Podcasts. This post of his profoundly changed my perception of my role as an Indoor Cycling Instructor. Three simple concepts that began the slow process of opening my eyes and accepting both the appeal and value of non-traditional forms of Indoor Cycling…
Who am I to decide?
If a workout session has to produce a result, you have a paradigm for unhappiness. Instead, my current approach is to create a training session that allows a person to get whatever he/she needs from the workout without interference on my part.
Just present the opportunity
As an instructor/trainer, my job is to create a situation and an environment in which members can experience the benefits of physical exercise, and nothing more. Which benefits these are will vary with the individual, and it’s important that I never assume what they could or should be.
Then accept their choice without judgement
I offer suggestions but recognize that this is their path. I can't overshadow it with what I think they should do with, or gain from, their training. That’s not my job and would be a misuse of the trainer role.
Shortly before we lost Jim, he wrote Non-Authentic Indoor Cycling. If you haven't read it please take a moment and do so, because it describes his progressive vision for Indoor Cycling and what he felt would be our roles as Fitness Professionals.
If non-authentic IC is going to make a mark, why not embrace it for what it is — a way to train on the bike that makes (some) people fit and happy?
…
Why shouldn’t any and every indoor cycling program be taught by those who are truly qualified to teach indoor cycling? That would be the likes of us. We know indoor cycling best. We could create a program — inauthentic fluff, if you will — that’s still authentic in its safety, structure and cardiovascular benefit. Why not?
Interested in being part of a group of Instructors who believe like Jim did?
I’ll switch gears from my recent posts on using public speaking techniques to enhance our teaching to talk about what we say. In The Art of Cueing, I discussed the use of cues to bring depth to the class and make it more than just a workout. Cues concerning the science, the music, the video, your personal experience, even philosophy can make your class more interesting and more impactful.
Philosophical cues are the most difficult to incorporate. Instructors don’t typically cover philosophy when they teach because they don’t think people want to hear it, or they don’t feel comfortable talking about it. Someone who doesn’t teach might say the first is true. But maybe that person hasn’t yet heard a well-delivered philosophical message and is just uninformed.
I understand not feeling comfortable talking about it and will address that later.
Adding philosophy to a class so it doesn’t sound like preaching is what I call “messaging.” A class without messaging is just a workout. It might even be a good one. But the instructor’s power will weaken over time, just like playing the same workout video over and over. It diminishes with no message. All the public speaking techniques in the world can’t compensate for a class that lacks substance.
Unforgettable lyrics are unforgettable because they send a message. A public address goes viral on YouTube when it sends a message. Messaging will touch a person’s life beyond the great workout you just delivered and compel him/her to come back to your class again and again.
What’s a message? Any life concept that you bring to the class and that can be experienced in the class as result of the training you’re providing. A couple of examples:
Focus
Coaches often tell you to “stay focused” but rarely tell you how. Focus is not simply directing your attention to what you’re doing. That leads to thinking. Thinking will weaken focus. Focus is complete engagement in what you’re doing. A focused mind pays no attention to distractions. Fast descending takes focus. If you’re not 100% engaged and non-reactive to distractions, you might crash. How do you train yourself to be this way — not just during a dangerous descent, but right now, so you get the most from your workout? That’s the essence of our class today.
Motivation
Something that happens outside of you that you consider “motivating” is not a strong incentive. You might see someone overcome great adversity or hear a story that strikes a personal chord with you and feel filled with motivating energy. These external motivations work temporarily, but have far less impact than motivation you generate by yourself. I want you to look at motivation as something personal. Then you have the ability to train and get better at it. You can train yourself to be motivated the way you train anything else.
When you understand how to do this, motivation is endless, limitless. The only time you won’t feel motivated is when it’s a personal choice, and you’ll recognize it as such. You’ll no longer look to me or to anyone else to motivate you to train. You’ll rise to the occasion again and again because you’ve trained yourself to do so. I’ll show you how to do this in today’s workout.
As an instructor, all you have to do now is deliver a physical practice (the day’s ride) that delivers the results you just promised to deliver in your message. If I’ve enticed you, and you want to learn how to focus or be consistently motivated, the solution is simple: Come to my class. That’s the power of good messaging.
The messages you can deliver are many: how to engage fully, how to sense meaning, how to expand your concept of what you can do, how to sense your life energy, how to direct it, how not to react to adversity, how to develop discipline, how to go beyond hope and fear, and on and on.
How do you, as an instructor, learn to deliver these messages, both verbally and physically? First, you must want to. Second, you must become a student of philosophy. You study and you ride, and you bring the lessons that you learn from your study to the bike, and then to class.
I have a small library of what I call my “Life Books”. These are about 10 books that I have found extremely helpful. I’ve read each of them dozens of times. A good philosophical book is one you immediately realize you need to reread. My first Life Book was Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives. It was the first book to encourage me to approach my training from a conscious perspective. I have several copies with dog-eared pages and many handwritten notes throughout.
Physical movement has been part of spiritual training for thousands of years. It was not meant to provide exercise. Daily activity was supposed to do that. Keep a conscious attitude, go beyond the workout, and deliver a message every time you teach.
I know that whenever I'm feeling the need to get more creative, I'll attend someone else's cycling class. Typically Amy's Saturday morning Evolution class at Fife Time. Not having to focus on delivering the class myself, after about 15 minutes I tend to zone-out and new ideas just start coming to me. I know I'm not the only person who experiences this – actually I feel it's pretty common amongst endurance athletes.
I describe pedaling along, blissfully oblivious to what's happening around you (inside or outdoors) as JRA – Just Riding Along. You might call it being in a state of Zen, or in-the-zone or your “happy place”. If you've ever felt you were in a place where time seems to both stand still and fly by, you know what I'm talking about.
Last year I talked about how you, as the Instructor, can distract your participants who are enjoying their time JRA by calling out the equivalent of SQUIRREL.
It turns out that there's a bunch of neuroscience that goes on while we are aerobic. You'll learn a lot about the science of what's happening to your brain during exercise from this video that feature neuroscientist/group fitness instructor Dr. Wendy Suzuki.
Creativity Indoor Cycling?
So if our riders are already benefiting from the mental/creative stimulation that comes from participating our our classes, why not promote this benefit? Better yet, why not structure classes to actually enhance the experience?
The long, steady efforts are magical in their ability to bring on JRA 🙂 If you really want people to zone out and get into their own heads, this 15 minute track from the ZENDURANCE profile is nearly guaranteed to do the trick.
Next I'm thinking I would create a slideshow of random images of interesting geometric shapes and colors. Maybe cool architecture, bridges & buildings, flowers & plants, etc… I don't think I'd include pictures of people or animals that could trigger emotional responses – that's at least my initial idea.
The important part would be that riders wouldn't need to maintain their attention, like you do when you're watching a video. Maybe instead of class > Keeping it Fun, you offer > Keeping it Interesting?
Cuing would be the real challenge. Maybe you don't cue anything beyond the introduction. Or, you might offer a word problem or show a series of brain exercises from Lumosity.com or other online resourse with each song changes.
What ever you come up with, it will be important to properly identify the class format and include its description on your class schedule.
Brainstorming sessions?
Your Creativity Indoor Classes could potentially have value to a local company looking to solve a problem or develop a new product. Bring in a big white board and then team up with a moderator who writes down all the new ideas, while you guide the class. The possibilities are endless and structured properly, could be a very profitable class you could offer.
She has given me permission to republish the complete post for your entertainment and hopefully a little enlightenment 🙂
…SPIN CLASS
Can someone please tell me *what* mother-loving, lactate-burning, Marquis de Sade bitch athlete (ahem, sorry, I don't know what came over me) devised this crazy idea. What–biking on a path isn't enough for you??
I have a friend who is a hard-core athlete. In her spare time she likes to teach fitness classes at a gym. She asked me to go to her spin class the other night. I said “sure”, never having gone to a spin class, but thinking it would be a good workout. Like I said, she is hard-core and very competitive. I should have known that she would teach a class that would not be for sissies.
It started out easy enough: just sit on the bike and pedal. Excellent. Then the music started and suddenly it was all:
Hmm, well ok, I guess I can do that.
Then after about ten seconds I heard it again:
Well hold on now, I thought I just did…say, is there a delayed echo in here?
But, we just…
Um, excuse me? Do what now??
At this point we were about 2.16 minutes (I'm guesstimating) into an hour-long class, and my legs had turned to Jell-O.
I was alternating between turning beet-red
and nauseated-green.
I felt like I was sweating yet I'm pretty sure the flames shooting out of my skin took care of any pesky *moisture* issues.
And then I heard:
Um, no thanks. I was afraid of what would come out of my mouth if I opened it at that moment. It would be either:
OPTION A:
A string of obscenities that would make me sound possessed.
OR
OPTION B:
My lunch.
Or possibly both (there's a visual for ya). So I kept my mouth closed and focused on breathing and staying upright on the seat.
Now, for the more astute readers, you may be saying to yourself: “But Julie (that's my real name, for those of you who don't know me in the real world), you were in a spin class, ergo, you were on a stationary bike,
ergo, staying upright on the seat, a.k.a. *balancing*, should be a non-issue.”
Well, you would be wrong. Or you just wouldn't know me very well.
You see, at well-choreographed points during the class, the teachers (did I mention there were two of them?) would ask us to sit back, take our hands off the handlebars, and…
Now, is it just me, or does everyone's badonk slink forward the second they sit upright on a bike, like yay?
So I was sliding down and hunching over like a turtle so I didn't lose saddle contact, and I was expected to put my arms behind my head.
Riiiight.
I did manage to survive the class *and* not slide off. And, when the teacher asked the class to praise ourselves for something we did well, I was able to come up with two things:
Number One: Not vomiting!
Yay!!
and, Numero Dos: Not Passing Out!
Cue applause.
Oh, and the studio was at the top of the stairs. Since my leg muscles were beyond muscle confusion (let's call it muscle *stupor*), I saw that “walking down the stairs” was not really an option.
Athletic stance to the rescue!! With a bit of a slant.
P.S. I have mad respect for these spinners.
So, do any of you normal people out there go to spin class?
My name is Jay Duplessie and I am a proud Indoor Cycling instructor of almost 20 years. In the spirit of full disclosure, I will tell you that I am not an outdoor cyclist…….but not for lack of trying.
You see something I learned early on was that although I’m addicted to the feeling of a hardcore workout, and I often obsess about getting to the gym, it has never been as much about the physical as the mental. I realized this after a very bad investment in a decent road bike complete with all the bells and whistles. I found that I could stay up late creating playlists for my class, get there early to prepare, and then drive myself crazy with excitement and anticipation to teach. But when I knew I was going to ride this very expensive bike on the paved roads around Denver……well let’s just say I dreaded the thought.
By the end of the summer it was time to sell the bike and to really look at what it was that I was missing. Why was I never able to capture the feeling on the road that I ALWAYS felt in my class? I knew right away what it was and this has continued to be the basis of how I teach. In fact, I hate the word “teach” when referring to what I do in my class.
No one needs to be taught how to peddle a bike. If anything I prefer the word “guide.” My goal every time I step into my class and get onto the bike is to take my class on a mental ride, an emotional workout by finding triggers that push them further than they’d push themselves. Music, imagery, and motivational quotes are the ammo I use when teaching (guiding) my classes. And I am so excited to be able to not only “tell my stories” to you all, but to also just be accepted into a group of likeminded cyclist who understand (as I do) that cycling IS and can be just as powerful in a room as it is for some on a paved road.
All it takes is finding the right emotional triggers, a true inner focus, and a story that ties all of it together. That is what I hope to be to you………a story teller to help connect the dots. Now let’s have fun !!
Triggers
Ralph Macchio, hands up in the air, one leg up at 90 degrees while the other (seemingly broken) is placed firmly on the Matt. Sense’ Pat Morita, and girlfriend Elisabeth Shue on the side lines looking on full of hope. Cobra Kai team-mates yelling “Sweep the leg Johnny” heard as black belt Johnny prepares to take down Macchio. Macchio standing in crane position waiting for the attack. Johnny rushes at Macchio and all of a sudden the “kick” heard round the world (at least for a 10 year old boy like me at the time) takes place to defeat the undisputed Johnny and Macchio wins the match. I’ve seen the movie 20 times, and know how it ends, yet even typing this message I get goose bumps. THAT my friend is a trigger. And it’s the core of how I have always taught all of my classes.
One of the reasons I love “indoor” cycling so much and have a difficult time riding outside, is that I not only love the ability to talk my class through motivational stories complete with triggers to get that extra inch out of them, but in an indoor cycling class we are all able to close our eyes to truly get inside our minds, our thoughts, and feed our emotions (our drive). For me it brings a level of peace and focus that to this day I can’t achieve anywhere else, not even when getting a massage.
The use of music, video, and your words are tools that (in my opinion) mean more than the amount of fans in the room, the type of bike you’re using, the amount they spent on their padded shorts, or even the type of day they had. You take anyone, and I mean anyone, and you present them with a well-structured class and THEN add some triggers, they will find the way to leave your room stronger than when they walked in.
When I teach, I often say that we all have an emotion that pushes us further than we normally go, and it may change from day to day which emotion that is. There are days that happiness is the emotion that will get you that extra RPM during the sprint. Or maybe anger is what it takes to get the extra wattage during a hill climb. And if WE continue to grow our relationship as (writer and reader) what you will learn about me is I’m a pretty deep and emotional guy. I wear my heart on my sleeve and I share my emotions to a fault. So I will share this with you.
Recently divorced, I learned several things about my ex-wife that haunt me to this day. On our fourth and FINAL anniversary she had a “business trip” to Texas.” I went to see one of my favorite bands, the Goo Goo Dolls that night by myself. Turns out she was in a hotel room in Texas with an old boyfriend from college having sex. And to make it worse (as if it could be) that guy had a wife at home with a one year old daughter AND his wife was 8 months pregnant. So while I was listening to one of my favorite bands, they were in bed together. SOOOOO, when I need an extra push during class what I do is play the song “Still Your Song” by the Goo Goo dolls and tell myself this was the song playing on the night that the person I loved and trusted most was destroying everything we had. Now if THAT isn’t a trigger, I don’t know what is. You don’t even have to know me to read that and feel “something” right ? And “feelings” are such a key part to what we use.
I encourage you all to tell stories, even if they are made up. Our clients come to us for a great workout, but they also come to us to help them tap into something that they can’t get on their own out in the cardio room. Tell stories of motivation, tell stories of desperation, tell stories of gratitude, but tell stories !!! Every single one of them wants to be entertained whether they will admit it or not.
We have a society OBSESSED with reality shows yet they are becoming less and less connected to their own real lives. Remind them of the things that inspire them, or piss them off in a way that makes them want to grit their teeth and push their legs until they want to vomit because they will be damned if they are gonna let their ex-wife and some random loser poor excuse of a man is going to ruin one of MY favorite songs without me putting up a fight during that up-hill resistance sprint !!
We are less than 60 days from our ride around the Cabot Trail. The group has been very active – increasing distance to 55 km for morning rides, grades to 7+% for hill repeats and making lots of connections between the indoor and outdoor efforts in my classes.
We closed the opportunity to join us last week so that we’d have a consistent group with whom to train over the next two months. Twelve people will ride the Trail. At a maximum we had 17 people on one of our Sunday training rides. As word got out, friends of friends started to attend and we welcomed their interest. They will be invited to re-join us for some weekend jaunts this fall.
Here are some highlights relevant to the indoor/outdoor cycling interface.
We did a quick reconnaissance of the route last weekend and some of the descents are daunting. As I negotiated the road in a car I became painfully aware that no amount of indoor cycling can help people learn how to descend. We have been working on those skills outdoors but can’t reproduce the Trail experience nearby. I have contracted a Can-Bike educator to give the group a lecture and clinic. Meanwhile we’ll content ourselves with the knowledge that less prepared people ride the Trail every year and none of them have ended up in the ocean.
The transformation of individuals from bikers to cyclists is noticeable. I am most thrilled by Judy who panicked and bailed on her first attempt at a road ride last fall. She was the first to buy a new bike this spring, always turns in her training logs and is now one of our strongest riders. Better yet, when the group organizes its own trips during the week, she consistently chooses the one that will give her the greatest challenge. I am writing up an interview with her which I think will interest you as she describes the indoor to outdoor experience.
I teach in a facility with a mixture of non-power and power bikes. That precludes classes which are entirely focussed on power. Recently, though, I have been able to let everyone re-visit their FTP (60 min). The numbers range from 1.4 to 1.9 watts/lb (measured over 20 minutes and corrected for 60 minutes (x .90)) for the group who is doing the Trail. Remember – these were non-exercisers/non-cyclists a few months ago. They have all seen a huge increase in their power over that period. Better yet, their results are completely consistent with what they see in one another on the road. The power info has really helped the weaker riders understand the connection between indoors and outdoors.
You can read my earlier posts about preparing a group of Indoor Cycling students for our trip to ride the Cabot Trail here.
It was the first book to encourage me to approach my training from a conscious perspective. I have several copies with dog-eared pages and many handwritten notes throughout.
