We're seeing a crazy number of new small/independent/boutique studios opening all over the world – which is awesome. I love being part of a growth industry, not to mention how all these new studios need Instructors!
But what's driving all this growth? I know that a whole bunch of studios have opened, who's owners will tell you that their initial motivation came from hearing my first interview with Bill Pryor/Spynergy Consulting; Start Your Own Indoor Cycling Studio from 2010.
But there has been another force at work in our industry; SoulCycle.
Google Trends is an interesting service where you can observe the popularity for a particular subject over time. The data is based on mentions in prominent media and Google searches. You plug in a few search terms and Google displays a trending line to show the popularity of the topic and easily compare with other searches.
So here's a comparison between the search terms; Soul Cycle and Spin Class – with apologies for omitting the ® which isn't normally used in an article or search.
Through the wonders of technology, Google makes it possible for you to see and interact with the results.
Admittedly, I needed to try a few different search terms before I found this one that I feel most accurately reflects the impact SoulCycle has had on the popularity of Indoor Cycling. “Spinning” alone doesn't work as there are too many uses of the word that don't apply. I did try to add Flywheel into the mix, but there are very few mentions of searches.
Google's data only goes back to 2004 – it would make this more interesting if we could see back before then. The graph does show “Spin Class” as relatively flat until the first mention of SoulCycle in the fall of 2005. I'm not sure we can draw a direct correlation (but I'll try anyway) to the noticeable uptick around the time we launched ICI/PRO in the fall of 2009 and then again around the time of Bill's interview in 2010 🙂
Love them or hate them, SoulCycle has had (at least by this method) a hugely positive effect on the visibility of Indoor Cycling and small studios.
I attended Club Industry last week. The show was pretty small this year, compared with my last visit in 2011. There were no rides being conducted this year and only Star Trac, Schwinn, Keiser and Matrix had Indoor Cycles on display – only a few each.
Here's what I saw that was new, dumb or otherwise note worthy.
“The 1990's called and wants it's Maximum Heart Rate chart back.” I was in too good a mood to confront explain to this vendor as to why the promotion of discredited myths, like age predicted maximum heart rate charts, is a real detriment to our industry.
I’m not sure peddling this nonsense is in any way creative 🙁
Tae Yoo from Performance IQ was exhibiting with Schwinn. His system connects wirelessly via Ant+ with the AC Performance's M-Power console and displays it on the screen.
You wouldn't have noticed it walking by, but this AC Performance Plus has a Gates carbon drive belt. Not sure when it will be available – you'll need to check with your distributor if you're planning a purchase. In case you're wondering, this belt system (same as on the FreeMotion S11.9) would be my choice if I was considering either brand of Indoor Cycles.
Matrix was displaying the new version of the ICG Indoor Cycle. It was kind of sad not to have Jim Karanas there to ask him about it. There's a bunch of changes, but I couldn't get anyone's attention to explain them to me…
And last, but not least… how about taking a class lead by a Holographic Instructor? I took some pictures of a scaled down display of a company called HolograFit, but they didn't turn out. Keying off the “Virtual Instructor” craze (which I'm not seeing as being overly successful so far for anyone) HolograFit's display system projects a holographic 3D image in the front of the room, for everyone to follow. Like multiple other virtual Instructor systems, they provide a catalog of classes that can be shown between live classes or some enterprising studio owner could purchase the $80,000 system and eschew Instructors all together.
Now showing total time + hours and minutes beyond one hour!
Hi John! Have you heard the news? Apparently the Spotify timer is back. I have yet to receive the update but many instructors are already enjoying it!
Chris
Sent from my iPhone
It's about time 🙂
If you joined Spotify recently, you've had to live without any playlist timer. A major inconvenience when you want an accurate listing of total time.
Those of us joined a bit earlier enjoyed the playlist timer and were pretty frustrated when they removed it for no understandable reason. It wasn't perfect. A playlist of over 60 minutes displayed: Over One Hour, which wasn't much help when you were constructing a 90 minute endurance ride. I was creating two separate playlists; Part 1 & Part 2 so I could see the time, then combined them before class.
This new Spotify playlist timer showing both hours and minutes is a very welcome update.
To control the load on their servers, Spotify rolls out update notifications sequentially. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if they update their premium users first. If you're not seeing the new timer, I would first try closing Spotify if it's sitting open for a while. If that doesn't help you'll need to sit tight and wait until you see the update notification that will show on the top of Spotify page.
Studio owner Paul Harmeling joins me to discuss Full Psycle Indoor Cycling Studio that he owns with his two other partners (Shelly Scott & Kris Pennell) in Orange County, CA.
I observed two classes when I visited and was very impressed by the diversity of the participants in attendance; from a bunch of teenage girls to professional athletes. Fantastic!
Paul Harmeling is a Co-Founder, Instructor and the President of FULL PSYCLE. If the number of fights breaking out at front desks over admission to classes is correlated with popularity, Paul is one of Orange County’s most popular cycling instructors. With a genetic predisposition for group exercise gained from his mom Kathy, a prodigious aerobics and step instructor, and a life-long love of exercise and coaching, Paul made the move from the back of the cycling studio to the front in 2008. The upbeat, motivating music and intense, endless energy in Paul's class most resemble those commonly encountered at a Vegas pool party, with bikes and sports bras supplanting bottle service and bikinis. His class will take you to the brink of collapse and leave you in a state of euphoria. Paul has taught previously at Equinox and 24 Hour Fitness, and in 2012 was one of six instructors in Southern California selected to instruct at the Challenged Athletes Foundation’s Tour de Cove. Paul has a degree in Biology from UCSD and Masters Degrees in Engineering and Business from MIT and UC Irvine, respectively.
Studio details:
FULL PSYCLE 230 E 17th St., #100 Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Phone: (949) 631-2222 Email: info@fullpsycle.com
Indoor Cycles: Spinner® Blade Ion
In class display system of rider performance metrics: Performance IQ
Listen to Paul's interview below (Free or ICI/PRO Registration Required) — Click Here. Opens in a new tab.
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ICI/PRO member Karin contacted me via email:
John, I still haven't gotten around to learning how to use Spotify so I'm not using the profiles yet. Is there any chance you will have a short training call to teach those like me?
Wishes for healthy & compassionate living,
Karin
Yes Karin, we will 🙂
Last fall we helped a bunch of Instructors skip the frustration of learning another new software program and quickly get comfortable using Spotify – which has become the choice of thousands of Instructors for delivering their class music.
I few will even tell you that Spotify has changed their lives!
Now that we have so many Instructors using Deezer, we'll be covering that service as well in separate training sessions.
We've created a special email list where you can receive notifications about upcoming live online training sessions.
Peloton Cycle recently raised $307,332 through a Kickstarter project to help fund the design and manufacture their new Peloton Indoor Cycle. Awesome on its own, but they also have plans to live-stream digital classes directly to the user's home from the new Peloton Cycling Studio they're building in New York City.
And not just your garden variety Indoor Cycling classes. Nope. Their plans are to employee the very best Instructors on the planet and to recruit them, they're willing to pay these Rock Star Instructors up to $500.00 for each class they teach.
Sound interesting? You can visit their Instructor's Wanted page to learn more.
Here's the promo video they did for their Kickstarter project that explains everything.
Listen to my interview with Peloton's COO & Co founder Tom Cortese below and if you haven't yet, please .
