by John | Jun 17, 2014 | Instructor Tech Help, Latest News, Zone based Heart Rate Training
Finally a Heart Rate strap with both Bluetooth and Ant+ connectivity 🙂
I've been using a new TICKER Heart Rate Monitor straps – I'm excited to tell you about them + they'll be awesome used with the new Apple Smartwatch.
The guys at Wahoo Fitness emailed me today about their new line of HR straps that send out both BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and Ant+ frequencies. About time someone thought to offer both in the same monitor strap!Â
Up until now, your decision about what monitor strap to purchase was based on what device you wanted to connect with:
- I want to connect to my iPhone / smart phone = you buy a bluetooth strap. Bluetooth is the only signal your phone can pair with.
- I want to connect to a Garmin bike computer or use the strap with Performance IQ's display system = you purchase an ANT+ strap.
This new TICKR strap has both Bluetooth and ANT+ and it doesn't cost anymore than most single frequency straps – that's awesome in my book!
They've solved a second problem Â
How many times have you felt like saying; “IS THIS DAMN THING ON?
No Heart Rate strap, that I've ever seen, gives you any understanding that it's working. Is the battery good or dead? Do I need more spit to get it connected? I'm seeing that these new TICKR straps have two colored LED lights to show the TICKR’s device connection and heart rate detection – more awesomeness – and no more wasted trips to Walgreen's to buy one of those ridiculously expensive little flat batteries, when that isn't the problem.
I can't wait to try one and will update you once I have.
You can learn more here.
by John | Jun 15, 2014 | Latest News, Your Fitness Business
Click image to visit.
Courtney Lee has me all fired up about Facebook! It occurred to me that there wasn't anything there for owners and managers of Spinning® / Indoor Cycling studios. So we've created the official Facebook Group for studio owners and soon to be studio owners 🙂
www.facebook.com/groups/CyclingStudios/
The group is open to owners, managers and prospective studio owners + industry experts willing to provide helpful information and resources.
If that sounds like you please join (we need to approve your request) and then leave a note about your studio and a fun picture.
by John | Jun 15, 2014 | Latest News
Image from Pear iZumi.
“We'd Like to Thank All the Dads Who Taught Their Kids to Ride a Bike” was the subject line of an email I received today from Pearl iZumi. I'm pretty sure it was the kids in my neighborhood who taught me to ride. I do know for sure that it was my privilege to teach each of these young ladies, now 19 (Carly) and 23 (Abby) – pictured on each other's bicycles in 1997 🙂
I'll never forget running up & down the street with them, holding them by their shirt collars, very glad I had given up my sedentary lifestyle. ICI/PRO members don't forget about your 40% discount on anything Pear iZumi makes. Here's our page http://shop.pearlizumi.com/icipro/ And no your dad won't care if your gift is a little late.
S0 who taught you to ride a bicycle?
by Joan Kent | Jun 9, 2014 | Engage Your Students, Health and Wellness
By Joan Kent –
As you’ve no doubt heard, saturated fats are no longer considered the health problem they once were. It turns out that the connection between saturated fats and heart disease, cholesterol, and atherosclerosis is far weaker than we thought.
These days, everyone is pointing to sugar, and blaming sugar for the very health issues that used to be blamed on fats — the diseases above, as well as hypertension and more. Those health conditions have more to do with inflammation. And sugar and other highly insulin-triggering carbs promote greater inflammation than sat fat.
No argument from me, of course. I’ve been blaming sugar for those conditions for over 20 years and have written a number of posts on those very subjects.
The main difference lies in the huge number of arguments I used to get, compared with how few I hear now. In 1996, for example, I recall participating in what I was told would be a “panel discussion.” (I was lied to about the format. It turned out to be a debate, and I was up first so the other speaker could have the last word. Ah, memories!) Anyway, the other speaker stood up at one point, held out his arms like an orator and intoned in his deepest horror-movie voice, “FATS ARE BAD!”
In the years since, I’ve sometimes wondered if taking such a hard line on a now-disproven point ever made him feel as ridiculous as he looked and sounded with his arms waving as he channeled Vincent Price. But I digress.
Currently, we know that unsaturated fats are associated with numerous health benefits. Omega-3s (polyunsaturates) are known for their anti-inflammatory properties. They’re cited for their ability to reduce the risk of cancer, the complications of diabetes, and the incidence of depression, bipolar disorder, dementia, and more. Omega-9s (monounsaturates) have long been credited with the ability to prevent and even reverse various heart disease risk factors.
Even saturated fats have their benefits. Butter and raw, organic coconut oil both contain lauric acid. Lauric acid has been shown to benefit hair and skin, and to have antiviral, antifungal and antibacterial effects. When it turns to ketone bodies, lauric acid can reduce epileptic seizures in children and improve brain function in Alzheimer’s patients.
There’s an interesting health point, though, that’s less widely known and differentiates saturated and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats have been shown to contribute to weight gain to a greater degree than unsaturated fats.
If weight management were always “calories in / calories out,” that couldn’t be so. All fats provide 9 calories per gram. But this has to do with hormones. Sat fats trigger insulin secretion, and unsaturated fats do not. Insulin is a fat storage hormone. Also, a combination of saturated fat and insulin-triggering carbs will promote a synergistic boost in insulin that neither would generate alone.
Yet to further complicate the issue, coconut oil appears to be associated with weight loss.
So what recommendations can we take from all of this? Well, nothing earth-shattering. If you eat saturated fats, eat the better kinds — organic coconut oil and butter, rather than bacon or battered, deep-fried foods. Let’s continue to go easy on the traditionally bad sat fats and the foods that contain them.
When I was a kid, every baked potato I ate was as bright yellow as a rain slicker because of all the butter I insisted on glopping on it. Sure, it might be less likely to give me heart disease than we used to be told, but it’s obvious that restraint and moderation might still be a good idea. And I don’t know about you, but the older I get, the more my hips and thighs demand that….
by John | Jun 4, 2014 | Engage Your Students, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog, Promote and Build Your Class
I wish I had taken notes or recorded Barbara Hoots' presentation from WSSC last weekend. Â Barbara's session was entitled, ” Studio Design: Creating Emporiums to Increase Profits.” Â The room was filled with eager fitness entrepreneurs looking to open a new studio or remodel an existing one. Â What Barbara said in her introduction was priceless.
I'm paraphrasing her here:
Can we all quit bashing SoulCycle now? Without the excitement they've created, most of you wouldn't be sitting here, energized by the prospect of opening and running your own Indoor Cycling studio.
Now I don't have any firsthand experience with CrossFit, but I do understand that they have been similarly disparaged by various  “fitness experts”, for a multitude of supposed sins toward their members. I came across this article CrossFit Bashers, Can You Be More Constructive? written by Eva M. Selhub, M.D. in the Huffington post today. As I read it, it became clear to me how you could easily interchange CrossFit with SoulCycle.
It opens with…
Apparently people like Erin Simmons, who hate CrossFit didn't read my article on how CrossFit saved my health, nor have they considered the broader implications of how this fitness program may be helping tens of thousands (and maybe more) of people get healthy and happy.
Erin is just one among many who have made headway bashing CrossFit as being a sport that causes too many injuries, is overwhelmed by poor coaching or thoughtless programming, and, oh yes, for being a cult. And though there is some validity to some of what I have read, and I am happy to stand corrected on any point, it seems to me that these opinions are personal, ego-based vendettas written by people who feel the need to shout out warnings on subjects that are not completely substantiated by research or fact.
It's really incredible to me. Really. I've been practicing medicine for close to 20 years and none of us have figured out a way not only to get people motivated to exercise and get fit, but to stick to it. CrossFit is not the problem folks, obesity is. We have an epidemic of obesity that is not only propelling the rising costs of healthcare, but also morbid problems like metabolic syndrome, heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars. The medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.
Dr. Selhub goes on…
Let's start with bashing factor number one: CrossFit (CF) is dangerous because of the injuries:
This seems to be the most popular, though there is no current literature that validates that CF causes more injuries than any other sport. You can get injured skiing, running marathons, playing football and yes, the new research is pointing to injuries from yoga.
I personally am more worried about the broad health implications of the increased morbidity and mortality associated with poor fitness and not being able to get up from sitting on the floor.
Perhaps it is more important to shine a light on the notion that injuries are occurring because people are actually exercising and talking about it? I don't know about you, but in my clinic, I hear more complaints of injuries people are sustaining from walking up the stairs because their knees can't handle carrying the heavy weight of their body.
If people actually like to run, do gymnastics, play basketball or become active in any sport, you are going to see more widespread injuries because being active and inactive come with risks, risks which can be avoided with proper education and learning to be mindful of one's abilities and the body's needs, instead of allowing the ego to run the show.
So if I were to pull out the value of this argument, I would surmise that the real concern is that novices and people who don't know their fitness levels are pushing too hard, too fast and getting injured. It seems to me that the solution is asking people to be more mindful and educated, to put their egos aside and understand their fitness level and set appropriate goals, and take into account that the fitness program also involves days of rest and recovery, appropriate sports and life nutrition, and self-care.
Oh wait a minute, CF already advocates that.
Read the rest here 🙂
by John | Jun 4, 2014 | Best Practices, Engage Your Students
I love to share these short videos from communication expert Alexa Fischer
Picture this… You’re the new guy. It’s your first day. Your heart skips a beat as you enter the front door knowing that everything is new. New people. New desk. New job. Sigh. Now go ahead and switch roles. You are sitting at your desk, clasping your favorite mug, surrounded by the lovely pictures of your family on the wall. At once you notice the new guy heading into the conference room for an orientation meeting. That’s the moment you decide that you’re going to make that guy’s day. No need to wait for an awkward moment in the elevator or a meek hello at the water cooler. You are going to do what you wish others had done for you on your first day of the job.
Here’s how to be a hero to the new kid on the block. Kindness wins every time.
