by Jennifer Lintz | Jan 23, 2013 | Latest News
As PRO Member Soigneur, one of my responsibilities is the care and feeding of our members. I assumed any “feeding” that took place would be strictly informational, but I’ve actually got something edible (and free) for you to try. A company called Good Greens has a variety of superfood-rich bars — made with the health-conscious consumer in mind — and is offering you a free sample.
The short, fast way to understanding the company and its products is to watch this 30-second clip. And, just because it's neat, be sure to do some clicking and scrolling through the rest of their site.
Even though the founder created Good Greens with his daughter in mind, the bars make a great option for anyone in need of a quick, healthy snack. In my opinion, nothing will ever replace the simple goodness of fresh fruit and vegetables, but for folks who are running short on time — or maybe just don’t care much for the real stuff — Good Greens provides a nice solution in a wide array of tasty flavors.
Interested? Request a sample at this link. Just click on “Free Sample Sign Up,” select the flavor you'd like, enter your shipping information, and you're set!
If, after enjoying a free sample, you decide you want more, use their store locator to see if the bars are sold anywhere near you. Boxes can also be purchased in their online store and shipped directly to your door.
by John | Jan 20, 2013 | Engage Your Students, Featured Studios, Instructor Training
SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice
I'm really curious how you would respond; would you teach for SoulCycle?
But before you answer, imagine you had the following conversation at the end of your last class…
A women approaches while you're collecting your stuff.
“Hi [wlm_firstname].” “My name is Elizabeth Cutler and I really enjoyed your class tonight.”
You respond; “you're welcome Elizabeth.” “I enjoyed seeing your smile there in the back.”
Then she looks you square in the eye and asks a question that could change your life…
“I'm one of the founders of SoulCycle Indoor Cycling and we are opening a new studio near by, later this Spring.”
“Would you consider being one of our Instructors?”
Flabbergasted by her offer, you open your mouth to respond. But before any sounds come out she continues…
“I realize that you have a devoted following here [wlm_firstname] and I'll understand if you say no.
“Before you decide, I'd like to explain that our Instructors earn on average $50,000 per year, many considerably more, teaching 8 classes a week. We really want to keep you once we have you, so we offer a full benefit package that includes excellent health insurance.
“So what do you say [wlm_firstname]?”
“Are you ready to teach at SoulCycle?”
Want to teach at SoulCycle? Find Job Listings for SoulCycle, Flywheel, CycleBar and all other cycling studios.
What prompted this post is a fascinating article; The Carefully Cultivated Soul of SoulCycle in New York Magazine.
Do you have any participants like this person, who sounds like she's traded one unhealthy addiction for another?
“I would do anything that I could to afford these rides,” says 27-year-old Jaime, who often takes thirteen classes a week (estimated cost: $21,632 per year). She’s arranged her schedule to have Mondays off work so that she can always be at her computer the moment classes are released. She counts her instructors among her closest friends. Her social life revolves around people she’s met at SoulCycle. On the anniversary of her father’s death, her instructor had the class ride to “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot, one of Jaime’s father’s favorite operas. “I’m seven years sober. You don’t really get love and acceptance and encouragement and self-gratification from a cocktail,” Jaime says. “I mean, I … this is what I need in my life, and it just so happened it’s an exercise class.”
Interesting how the founders of SoulCycle split along the lines of Indoor Cycling 2.0 – entertainment based vs. results driven classes.
But as much as the performative aspects keep riders coming back, they have also driven more serious athletes away, often into the open arms of Flywheel, where a metrics-based workout is coupled with more self-restraint. Though Ruth Zukerman declines to discuss her exit from SoulCycle, some chalk it up to a difference in instructor style. “It’s a slippery slope, because sometimes when you build these superstars, it kind of goes to their head and they become divas,” she says. “Yes, be entertaining, be inspiring, but at the end of the day, it’s about the rider. It’s not about you.”
Now I realize that there are many who would recoil in horror at the thought of being affiliated with SoulCycle…
But why?
They're clearly offering people a form of exercise they enjoy and are willing to pay big money to attend. Spend a few minutes looking at the Instructor bios and you'll see most have the same (if not better) credentials than many of the Instructors that I know personally.
by John | Jan 20, 2013 | Calendar of Events, Certification
Not an ICI/PRO conference but maybe the next best thing.
Heart Zones and Cycling Fusion have teamed up to create TrainDifferent – what I believe is the very first fitness conference / workshop that offers you three different ways you can attend.
- CONFERENCE CENTER LIVE: From Oakmont, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at our Cycling Fusion Training Center, this will be the live conference that will be web-broadcast to the Official Host Sites as well as to the At Home participants. You will be participating and part of the televised audience.
- OFFICIAL HOST SITES: Locations across the USA are joining the Conference remotely with a combination of live instructors as well as web-simulcast. This is the best of both using the net and having certified instructors providing you with hands-on learning opportunities. Your workouts will be led by a CHZT, Certified Heart Zones Trainer for the workouts and the keynote lectures and party will be a web simulcast. There are still openings for additional Official Host Sites. Contact Sally Edwards for more information on adding your club or studio.
- AT HOME: Participate from your home or any place that has an internet connection. You can attend the Conference as it's happening or watch up to the next 30-days at a time and a place you choose.
HEART ZONES CONFERENCE FACULTY
Sally Edwards, MA, MBA, is one of America's leading experts in business, exercise science, and lifestyle living. In 1993, she created HZT, the Heart Zones Training patented and branded training system and in 2010 she launched the new ZONING Fitness program and brand. Sally, 65 years old, is a professional triathlete finishing over 200 raes and ultra-marathon running champion. She is an author of two dozen books including the popular Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook, the definitive source on heart-rate based training. She is the founder of the Fleet Feet Sports retail stores. Sally is a professional speaker and as she has for the past 22 years, she continues as the national spokeswoman for the Danskin Womens Triathlon Series.
Gene Nacey, MPH holds 2 bachelor degrees and a masters degree in Public Health. A former entrepreneur of the year, Gene spent 20 years building a technology business before his passion for fitness lead him to become a fitness studio owner. His company has licensed the rights to be the official cycling program for Heart Zones as Cycling Fusion. Gene is a certified USA Cycling coach and one of America's premier fitness experts with a specialty in using heart rate and power data for improved cycling. He is the author of the popular ebook Power Training .
Carl Foster, Ph. D. is a Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. He is the co-author of Be a Better Runner, and is a renowned researcher with over 300 published scientific papers to his credit. For the last 20 years he has served as a consultant, faculty member and friend of Heart Zones USA, the training and education company. He continues in that role with the company's new division, ZONING Fitness, asuring that all activity protocols are safe, research-based, and appropriate for individuals.
Where to Attend? Official Host Sites of the remote broadcast are in the following areas: Peachtree City (Atlanta), GA; Bellevue (Seattle), WA; Boston, MA; Lakewood (Denver), CO; San Francisco, CA; Milwaukee, WI; New York City, NY; Rochester, NY; and Oakmont (Pittsburgh) PA. More locations will likely be announced, too! Specific site details are presented below.
All the information on CECs, locations, times and delayed broadcasts options is available here.
by John | Jan 13, 2013 | ICI/PRO Community, Latest News
I'm very excited to introduce you to Jennifer Lintz the latest member of the ICI/PRO Team!
Jennifer's official title is PRO Member Soigneur and she's available to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have – but no, she isn't available for post race massages.
A Registered Dietitian, Jennifer is currently serving on the team of Group Fitness Instructors at Mayo Clinic’s Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center. She also works as a Freelance Writer for Indiana University Health’s Team: Bariatrics Blog.
She is an AFAA Certified Group Exercise Instructor, ACE Certified Personal Trainer, and Mad Dogg SPINNING® Instructor. Jennifer completed her Dietetic Internship at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview. She has worked as the Healthy Kids Act Co-Project Director for the Iowa Department of Education and also as a Health Screener/Coach and Seminar Presenter for HealthSource Solutions.
Professional cycling teams have one or more Soigneurs. These personal assistants are dedicated to looking after the needs of each rider. In case you're wondering; “how exactly do you pronounce Soigneur” like I was, this video from Team Jelly Belly will be of help.
I've known Jennifer for a number of years and interviewed her back on podcast #169 after she had completed her Spinning orientation. You can read her past articles here.
I'm very excited to have her on board here at ICI/PRO to assist both of us! I have her working on a number of enhancements to ICI/PRO and you will begin seeing them starting today.
by Jim Karanas | Dec 17, 2012 | Engage Your Students, Master Instructor Blog
Does hosting an Indoor Century appeal to you?
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
Using power/watts conventionally in indoor cycling improves students’ fitness. But it’s the tip of the iceberg, a small projection of the immense power below the surface. Consider, instead, introducing the concept of effortless power in your classes.
Without the inner aspect, indoor cycling can limit students’ imagination, causing confusion and disappointment when progress wanes. The inner factors — center and intrinsic energy — provide controlled determination, calm, clarity, and an extraordinary source of power.
To get students to look at power abstractly takes patience. Pursuit of an ideal may not lead to measurable results, but enhances understanding and engages you for life.
Experiencing effortless power is possible, albeit challenging, in daily classes. Students won’t prepare adequately because outside preparation is necessary. An in-house event enables you to coach outside aspects of their lives. I like to use a 5-hour indoor century, during which the students must maintain a certain power output to cover 100 miles in 5 hours. If they don’t complete it in 5 hours, they keep riding until the odometer displays 100 miles.
During the event, minimize time off the bike. No breaks are scheduled; the goal is continuous effort. The event can be a fundraiser, but focus on preparing the riders to maintain a specified power output the entire time.
Some students will consider 5 hours impossible. Others will gear up and train for competition. Both perspectives miss the point. It needs to be viewed as a training session that reveals potential that’s difficult to realize in daily classes riddled with schedules, distractions and unconsciousness. Five hours allows students to detach from what they think is (im)possible.
A key to experiencing effortless power is being centered. Finding center requires Life Balance, which is coached pre-event. It has little to do with training.
Life Balance
Many of us experience life as hectic and frenzied. The experience of effortless power isn’t possible unless chaos becomes order, and motion comes from stillness. When coaching this, one-to-one conversations may be necessary, as individual circumstances vary. Balance needs to start with Lifestyle, then move to Nutrition, and finally to Training.
Your Lifestyle must be in order as you approach the event. Does your spouse support the time you need to train properly? Does your job allow for adequate recovery? Does your schedule permit adequate sleep? Do you have time to sit quietly and contemplate?
Nutrition follows Lifestyle. Do you have time to prepare healthful meals? Are you able and willing to remove alcohol, caffeine and sugar from your diet?
Last is Training. Is your training schedule regimented? Have you made time for ancillary training off the bike, including necessary recovery therapies?
Effortless power comes from balancing and coordinating intrinsic energy, not from endless training. On average, students won’t make all the necessary concessions, but a coach needs to move them toward simplicity and order. My experience has been: the greater the sacrifice to bring balance, the greater the experience of effortlessness.
Coordinating Intrinsic Energy
Daily workouts prepare the body for the rigors of the event. They’re also what the students are used to doing. Below are six effective trainings to help students achieve effortless power while riding. Introduce them sparingly and practice them yourself, so you can teach from experience. Some may resemble exercises you currently use. The shift lies in the intent behind the exercise and what you want the students to accomplish. Build in more of these concepts as you approach the event.
1. Ride position. Grace always accompanies effortless power. Whichever ride and hand positions you use, emphasize the discipline of maintaining proper position and transitioning fluidly. Coach conscious awareness of riding technique: Straight back. Soft elbows. No sitting up or standing unless coached. One hand on the handlebars when drinking water. Fluid transitions from one position to the next. Seated Flat Road at 90 rpm for 32 counts (use Beatmatch: match cadence to the music); 32 counts of Seated Climb at ~75 rpm (use Freestyle); 32 counts of Standing Climb at ~60 rpm (use Freestyle); 32 counts of Standing Jog at 90 rpm (use Beatmatch). Find a 90-rpm song that’s about 10 minutes long. M’Bali Jo by Pili Pili works well.
2. Pedaling technique. To promote awareness, start each class with 10 minutes of soft-pedaling at <50 rpm, with light resistance. Use ambient music to avoid emphasizing the downbeat, such as The Flow of Let Go by Anugama. Independent crank arms work wonders on technique but aren’t available on indoor cycles. The KRANKcycle by Matrix is an effective substitute. Through kinesthetic awareness, you’ll develop leg control by training your arms with independent crank arms. Master and perfect smooth rotations by using the Split, hands exactly 180 degrees apart. Rotations (arms or legs) must be slow (<50 rpm), with little to no resistance. Most students will become frustrated with this exercise.
3. Cadence and power ladder. 20-minute ladders (80, 90, 100, 110 rpm), 5 minutes at each cadence. Power output ladders up, as well. Identify the specific power output (or HR) for each cadence and keep it constant. Intensity is easy to moderate. Use four songs, and Beatmatch each cadence. The following playlist works well: Salt Water Sound by Zero 7 (80 rpm), Whole Lotta Love by Vitamin Dub (90 rpm), When You’re Falling by Afro Celt Sound System (100 rpm), and Reckoner by Radiohead (110 rpm). Cadences don’t need to be exact but should show a definite progression in speed.
4. Breath/cadence integration. After warm-up, perform 20 minutes of one ride movement and hand position (Seated Flat Road is best) at easy-to-moderate intensity. Don’t change position for 20 minutes. Keep power output (or HR) constant. Keep the diaphragmatic breathing pattern (number of pedal revolutions between exhalations) constant. Keep one hand on the handlebars when drinking water. Kanga by Professor Trance (80 rpm) is perfect for this exercise. Use fast, forceful exhalations, pulling the navel to the spine, and relax the abdominals while inhaling every 4 beats. You’ll breathe 20 times per minute for 20 minutes. 400 conscious breaths is a powerful meditation. Students who stay engaged could well experience effortless power during this exercise.
5. All-terrain cruise. After warm-up, vary ride and hand positions for 20 minutes. Change cadences while maintaining a consistent power output (or HR). Select easy-to-moderate wattage or HR and keep it constant, regardless of the terrain changes. Any combination of songs is appropriate for this exercise. Don’t allow students to fall into a rhythm. Use Freestyle more than Beatmatch.
6. Limited recovery with breath/cadence integration. 30 minutes in the saddle at a constant cadence (80, 90 or 100 rpm), using two distinct power outputs or HRs (upper threshold and slightly below). Alternate 5 minutes at each power output. This is a high-intensity effort. The limited recovery should enable students to repeat the high threshold effort. Specify a breathing pattern (number of revolutions per exhale) for each effort level. You’ll need six 5-minute songs at the selected cadence (Beatmatch works best). The cadence need not be exact, but keep it the same throughout. The breath integration described above is necessary, although the rhythm might be different at this higher intensity.
Special trainings help to move students toward effortless power during the 5-hour event. One example is “90 at 90”: 90 minutes at 90 rpm at one specific, moderate power output, using integrated breathing. The discipline is not to change ride or hand positions. Drink water with one hand on the handlebars. The students’ breathing pattern, coordinated with their pedaling, will get them through this exercise with minimal adjustments. Although not mandatory, it will help students to realize effortless power on the day of the event.
The Event
Divide the 5 hours into ten 30-minute segments. Have only one instructor. Each segment should have a beginning, a close, and a defined playlist. Don’t actually break between segments, but allow students to sit up and relax, without disengaging. Quickly bring them into the next 30-minute sequence.
Video
The benefit of Forward Motion Video in this event can’t be overstated. The sensation of forward movement will better enable students to channel their intrinsic energy. That, accompanied by a change of location every 30 minutes (e.g., World-Tour Challenge videos on Myride®+), will dramatically impact students’ sense of effortless power.
This 3-part article challenges conventional thought on power in indoor cycling. Its current use solely for measurable fitness results is not sustainable long-term. Power measurement can instead develop inner balance and the awareness, and coordinated extension, of intrinsic energy, resulting in effortless power.
To learn more, read Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
and Zendurance: A Spiritual Fitness Guide for Endurance Athletes
– both cited in earlier posts.
