Between sessions last weekend Master Instructor Cameron Chinatti took me aside and told me how impressed she was with the quality of Instructors at the conference. Wanting for you to hear it first hand, I invited Cameron back for a post conference interview for the latest episode of the ICI Podcast.
We also discussed Cameron's BIG RIDE where she had everyone working together as teams of 4 on the new FreeMotion S11.9 Indoor Cycles with Power.
Coming to ICI/PRO Members Oct 10th – Cameron and I recorded a special PRO Podcast where she explains how she uses this format to introduce Power in a fun and inviting setting.
ICI/PRO members will be able to download Cameron's complete PROfile.pdf so you can introduce this class to your club or studio as early as next week.
Guest post from ICI/PRO Member / Contributor Christine Nielsen
HEAR – SEE – FEEL
There are many models which attempt to explain and categorize the ways in which people learn new material. Most of them are very arcane and debates abound in the academic community about their validity. Through years of teaching and coaching I have found that using Fleming's VAK/VARK model has translated into real world changes in my effectiveness.
In this model learners are categorized into three groups:
Auditory in which a person learns through listening…
Visual in which ideas, concepts, data and other information are associated with images…
Kinesthetic/tactile in which learners absorb information best by doing, experiencing, touching, moving or being active in some way.
We assume that most of our learners are auditory. They must be since we talk to them all the time, right? Wrong. Auditory learners are only approximately 30% of the population. Thus, while we must continue to refine our verbal cueing skills we must also find ways to make information accessible to the other learners in our classes.
Visual learners make up almost 60% of our classes. What changes have you made to your presentation style to accommodate their needs?
Here are a few of the things I do:
A head on view of the instructor is virtually useless to a visual learner for many of the topics we discuss. For that reason I often turn my bike almost sideways – 75 degrees or so – which allows people to see exactly what angles my body is making, where my weight is located, what my pedal stroke looks like. I sometimes then do an exaggerated version of the “wrong” shape/form and then “correct” my form. I started doing this in intro classes but I actually find it more useful and instructive with advanced students because they are more attuned to the nuanced changes I am asking them to make. I don't leave the bike turned for an entire class – usually for less than five minutes during a relevant drill.
I use my hands – a lot. As I talk about HR or the profile of the ride or form/mechanics I illustrate those points with my hands. I show decreases/increases with hand gestures that accompany my words. I form a foot, ankle, shin and knee with my hand, wrist and forearm. I move my hands apart and together again to show changes of effort/resistance. I rarely give an instruction without some kind of accompanying gesture.
I keep a white board in the room where I teach. I often make diagrams before I start to complement points I will make during a ride. But more often I hop off my bike when I see confusion in someone’s eyes and draw something simple to make my point. Believe me – I’m no Leonardo da Vinci. But I can draw stick figures and graphs and I am willing to try and try again until I see that a learner has got the point.
I teach in a lighted room most of the time. While I enjoy the benefits of a few darkened rides, I think too many of them shortchange the visual learners.
I make sure that many of my verbal cues incorporate visual imagery that can become mental pictures for some of the students.
I think my visual presentations add value for everyone in the class. Auditory learners get an opportunity to match my words to the images I present while visual learners start to make a better association between my standardized language and the “pictures” I have drawn. In addition, I need to be slightly less concerned about the effect of voice and music volume on the people at the back of the class. They are receiving two streams of information from me at any time.
Kinesthetic learners make up 5 – 10% of the population. In my experience, they are often the first to frustrate (their educational experience has always been challenging) and I suspect we lose many of them. If you can help them settle and learn the material they will become your most enthusiastic advocates.
Here are a couple of my tricks for dealing with this learning style.
I physically move a rider’s limbs and torso to the correct position and remain at the bike for some time with a very light touch on whatever body part I am adjusting. You can communicate an enormous amount by increasing/decreasing the pressure. When the position is correct the rider should not be able to feel your hand. Note: I always ask for permission before I put my hands on a rider’s body even if they have given me permission on previous occasions.
I let riders put their hands on my body – feet, ankles, knees, lower back, shoulder blades, shoulders, elbows and hands. I don’t put them in the awkward position of touching my hips. The advantage of having them lay hands on my body is that I can exaggerate “right” from “wrong” and they can actually feel bones and muscles move.
I have developed a couple of techniques to help people feel the concept of resistance. They involve them pushing back against me. When all else fails, I get on their bike and set it to a resistance that I think is right for them at that time.
If you have not given this topic any thought, I encourage you to start waving your hands in your next class. You may see some light bulbs go on. That will help you identify the visual learners and you can make sure that you direct your visual teaching to them in the future. If you have someone who just doesn’t seem to “get it”, consider the possibility that they are a kinesthetic learner and brainstorm with them to develop ways to help them feel the points you are trying to make.
I've got a powerful teaching trick for you [wlm_firstname], on this first day of September.
If you want to make a long lasting impression on your students, that has you standing out from all the rest and has them remembering YOU – then there's just one little thing you need to do…
Surprise 'em
It doesn't matter if it's a big or small surprise, anything will work.
It's really all about delivering the unexpected to your class
Think about your day. Ever notice how much of it is on automatic?
A typical greeting at work:
“How are you today?”
“I'm good John, how are you?”
“I'm good, thanks.”
You're heading out the door from home:
“Love you”
“Love you too.”
In any relationship, it's not the routine, but the unexpected things that we remember. You may hear “How are you today” or “I love you” or some other greeting a thousand times, but the day someone compliments you on your new shoes 🙂 – or tells you “you're looking good” – anything unexpected – is what you (and they) will remember.
The usual and the expected don't make as big of an impact.
What could you do today, that would be totally unexpected?
Here's a few ideas to get you thinking…
Show up early and bring your bikes outside for a class in the Sun
Wear a gaudy, brightly colored, jersey
Just show up early 🙂
Bring some simple treats or have a party
Teach from the back of the room
Bring a second bike up front and team teach with a student… leave them in charge while you work the room.
If your class is very structured – throw on some music and just play with it.
Invite a Yoga or Pilates Instructor to interrupt your class at the end for a completely different post ride stretch.
Share your ideas and experiences for others to use.
“All you've got, all your brand has got, all any of us have are the memories and expectations and changes we've left with others. It's so easy to get hung up on the itinerary, the features and the specs, but that's not real, it's actually pretty fuzzy stuff. The concrete impact of our lives and our work is the mark you make on other people. It might be a product you make or the way you look someone in the eye. It might be a powerful experience you have on a trip with your dad, or the way you keep a promise. The experiences you create are the moments that define you. We'll miss you when you're gone, because we will always remember the mark you made on us. There's a sign on most squash courts encouraging players to wear only sneakers with non-marking soles. I'm not sure there's such a thing. If you're going to do anything worthy, you're going to leave a mark.” – Seth Godin
The spin bike becomes your carbon fibre machine, the participants around you become your “pack”. Imagine riding in a single pace line towards a steep ascent, a deep pulsing rhythm surrounds you, the driving beat becomes your road. You're on Jeannette and Vic's wheel, he's the captain she's the stoker. They're on a red tandem. Pedal strokes fully synchronized to the rhythm, fluid and powerful, two cyclists as one in a coordinated effort to conquer this climb. You hear Jeannette's breathless encouragement in Vic's ear. “Faster, pedal faster, we can do this.”
Jeannette and Vic Geiger, a couple in their early 50's, overweight and ready for a change embark on their first spin class. They fall in love with it. They never miss a class and the weight drops off as their self esteem flourishes. Their love of the ride prompts their instructor to ask, “have you ever thought you might like riding outside?” “Not a chance”, was the reply. Jeannette was born with a genetic condition, Stargardt's. She has no central vision, she can only see peripherally. Riding a bike outdoors is an impossibility for her. Their instructor, suggests a tandem (a bicycle built for two), Vic can be her eyes. Months later, on a red tandem, Vic and Jeannette Geiger train for and complete a 140 kilometer ride raising funds for Cycle for Sight. The sense of accomplishment is palpable as Jeannette talks about “the freedom of movement and the wind in her face”, something she could never have accomplished without her captain and without the seed of possibility planted by her instructor.
Lisa Didus of Active Journeys heard a voice in her ears during a 7 kilometer climb on the way to Ravello in southern Italy. “I could hear a voice in my head, ‘smooth out your cadence, drop your shoulders and relax, loosen your grip on the handlebars', these weren't my words, but the words of my favorite spinning instructor. She was in my head, encouraging me forward, telling me how awesome I am and somewhere in my mind, I believed it too.”
The impact we have as indoor cycling instructors is vast. Every day, in every class we have the opportunity to truly touch someone. To really make a difference. To connect. An ordinary spin class is a great way to workout. An extraordinary spin class creates opportunities that define us as instructors, as coaches. An ordinary spin class leaves a temporary puddle of sweat on the floor. An extraordinary spin class leaves a mark on your soul.
I look forward to Julie Erdmann's emails alerting me that she has a new Picture – Post up at Tri-ing to be Athletic blog. Julie is a triathlete in training and incorporates spin classes in her training. Her blog chronicles her experiences, offering us all a unique view from our student's perspective.
If you missed them, here are the other two posts Julie shared.
In this story More observations from our students the author states that he's one of few, if any, men in the classes he attends. The classes I teach and attend appear to be an even split… except for a few of the 9:30am (forgive the expression) House Wives classes I've been to.
