ICI/PRO Member Chris Nielsen contributes today's guest post and the picture was taken by one of Chris's friends.
How many of you read the ‘Tri-ing to be Athletic’ and ‘Revenge of the Friend’ posts here on ICI/PRO and quietly cringed or even got a little steamed at the behavior of the instructors in the stories? What did you do about it?
How many of you have endured the “My friend took one of those spin® classes. It was brutal – she never went back.” stories while in line at the grocery store? What was your reply?
John has invited me to write this post because I spoke up about the pieces on ICI/PRO in private emails to him. My thoughts were as follows.
We ignore descriptions of IC such as those above at our peril. The naive reader/listener may believe that they are accurate descriptions of the classes that are available to them. As I told John, I was particularly alarmed that those posts appeared on a site devoted to enhancing the professionalism of IC instructors – without comment a reader might believe that we endorse the instructors’ decisions. We need to speak up to change that impression.
How we speak up will say volumes. As instructors we ARE indoor cycling – we are its public face and we are its future as a safe, enjoyable and productive exercise alternative. We must approach public interactions carefully as a representation of our respect for the activity, our students and our fellow instructors.
What is the best way to deal with stories such as those that appeared here recently? Picking at those elements that we perceive to be ‘wrong’ just plays into the stereotype of the tough, punishing IC instructor. As an alternative, can I suggest selecting a core concept in each story and initiating a discussion about ways in which we, as IC instructors, might constructively deal with a challenge in our classes. For example, the Revenge story raises the question: “How do we deal with personal bias when dealing with our students?” I am sure that many of you have strategies which help you get through some awkward moments. Personally, I try to redirect my bias into reinforcement. I have a ‘target’ number of reinforcers which I try to deliver to each student in each class. I double that number for the student who I find challenging. The effort of finding positives (however small) in his/her form, performance, attitude distracts me from my ‘negative’ thoughts. How do you handle similar situations?
What about the interactions you have as you are out and about in the community? It’s tempting to tell that person in the grocery store that their friend’s class was bad and unsafe. Believe me, I sometimes want to stamp my foot and say NEVER ever go to a class like that. Instead I say “There are other ways to learn about indoor cycling. Here’s what we do when someone new arrives at my class.” I then give them a two or three sentence description of what we focus on and how I want someone to feel at the end of their first class. It’s not a sales pitch – it is a calm and reasonable statement of fact packaged in normal conversational style. What words do you choose in a similar situation? Whatever you do – please speak up for respectful, reflective and responsible instructors and their classes.
Moving this conversation forward – what else can we do to offset the stereotypes about IC that circulate in the general and fitness communities? I’d love to see a list developed that can be used as tools by other instructors. Here’s something that I do – I realize that it’s not feasible for everyone. I insist that facilities where I teach offer half hour introductory classes. I have made a financial arrangement which means that I do not take payment for those classes unless the fees paid by the participants meets or exceeds my wages for that half hour. The intro classes ensure that I can do the best possible job of introducing new people to IC with a focus on technique and measured effort. The unique nature of my arrangement makes the half hour classes stand out to the people who do the marketing.
The move to indoor cycling 2.0 provides us with exciting opportunities for education and outreach. I look forward to learning more about those here on ICI/PRO.
This may be of value to you and those training endurance athletes in your class. Triathlon coaching legend Joe Friel, author of The Triathlete's Training Bible, gives you essential tools to have Your Best Season Ever.
Topics in this presentation include- Goal Setting, Season Planning, Periodization, Self-Analysis, Workout Optimization and much more.
Don't miss this free sample of Joe Friel's comprehensive triathlon clinic. Joe's wealth of knowledge will take you to your peak performance potential.
You can download the complete 75 video presentation here.
Julie Erdmann from Tri-ing to be athletic.blogspot.com is back with another entertaining picture-post about her second Indoor Cycling class – Send the Men in the White Coats
I have gone back to spin class. Twice. And let me just tell you, it has *not* gotten easier.
The 2-minute “warm-up” is really nothing more than a way to weed out the wussies (and I totally want to wuss out but the bikes are in a circle so everyone would see me leave.)
Now, if you decide to stay for the rest of the class, you are in for a treat an hour of pure torture.
Amy and I went down to this year's Life Time Fitness Ride of a LifeTime big group ride at the Saint Paul River Center. You will see how much fun we have seeing our students and friends at this event. At the end of the video Amy challenges all of us to do whatever you can to promote Indoor Cycling.
After more than 6 years operating a 46-bike cycling studio in the suburbs of Boston, I have seen a ton of instructors come and go. We’re not a big health club, we are a dedicated indoor cycling studio, so the survival of our business depends on our instructors abilities to fill up classes. Because we have no other source of income for the studio, our definition of a “good” instructor has to be quite pragmatic: If you fill up classes (and don’t do anything unsafe or stupid), you are by definition “good”.
This may sound mercenary, but in fact the instructors that are able to fill classes are the ones who are adept at a) engaging their students and b) providing expert guidance towards a fitness objective. They use a wide range of tools including music, imagery, language and cuing and
all the best ones have a natural ability to vary their workouts. Variety is indeed the spice of life (and of indoor cycling classes)
At our studio, the great instructors are not all alike. In fact many have vastly different styles, and while there is no sure formula for creating an experience that keeps indoor cyclists returning, I have noticed one thing all our best instructors do intuitively: they believe in variety: Variety within a class and variety from class to class.
Everyone knows the benefits of exercise, so what is the one reason we hear again and again why people won’t commit to regular workouts? “It’s boring”. What is the single biggest complaint we here about an instructor that is not drawing in our studio? “They’re boring”. A great instructor’s class is not boring, and one of the primary reasons is because they know intuitively to commit to variety.
Easier said than done of course, but here are some examples of variety from the top-drawing instructors at our studio:
Vary playlists. Never, ever, use the same playlist twice in the same month. Not only because your regulars will notice, but also because your own energy is not as sharp. If you want to use the profile again, find substitute songs.
Vary counting and intervals. If you are doing intervals, vary the length or at the least vary the way in which you count them up or down. (i.e. instead of counting down from 20 every time, try counting “one, two, one, three, one, four, etc. etc.” It’s a small thing but it keeps students mentally engaged.
Vary genres of music. You may love techno or classic rock or pop….but I guarantee someone in your class does NOT. If you play only one genre, you are likely to annoy someone totally. Mixing genres is a great way to assure you find something powerful for virtually everyone and they will tolerate the stuff they’re not crazy about.
Vary positions: most drills can be done, and most heart rates can be achieved…in or out of the saddle. Technically there is really no reason to ever come out of the saddle — other than the fact that the variety of moving in and out is appealing in an indoor cycling class. Students love it…..but they will get bored with too much work, in our out of the saddle.
Variety is simply more interesting, and more fun. It is an antidote to the worst enemies of working out: drudgery and boredom. What are some other examples of variety you use? I’m hungry for ideas!
John and I had the opportunity to take a Saturday cycle class at the Scottsdale Life Time Fitness this past weekend. I always learn so much when I take another instructor's class and this was no exception. It was a super high energy class with a very interesting playlist- consisting of YouTube videos…David Bowie (one of John's favorites), Pat Benatar, Poison, Brittney Spears, Usher, you name it. What a great idea! I also picked up some great cueing verbage along the way.
But what really hit me came after class was over. We liked the class, and the instructor, so much that we wanted to talk with her when it was over and possibly interview her for ICI/PRO (we haven't been turned down yet!) She was busy talking with people after class and had others waiting, so we (along with two members) just hung out and waited….and waited….and waited…you get the picture. The two members left and then finally we did to when we saw she wasn't going to disengaged herself from the original people she was talking to.
The “take away” from this is that we need to be very aware of who is waiting to talk with us after class and manage our time so that we can acknowledge each of them. We never know what opportunities await!
