The power of presentation is important in every industry, from food to fashion, and learning to present your rides with fresh, creative cues is a skill all instructors should desire. Powerful verbal coaching exudes passion, encouragement and inspiration, and well developed cues help students find the inner voice that keeps them loyal and coming back for more.
The most valuable teaching tool I possess is not my collection of music, but rather a faded, well-traveled, leather bound book filled with hundreds of quotes that have shaped the lives of students worldwide. I’m pleased to share a few of my favorites as we launch a new feature at ICI/PRO dedicated entirely to the art of cuing.
However, we need your help! Join the post and add your own killer cues along with when/how to use them: Warm Up, Strength/Power, Hills, Flats, Encouragement, etc. Together we’ll create an unparalleled source for world’s best cue book.
WARM UP
Hold the bar as if it were something or someone you care about very deeply. Respect your machine — this is your vehicle to fitness
Feel the inertia of the flywheel; unencumbered
Your mind is a clean slate; you’re a blank page riding. Let your body heat up and notice you feel light — floating — effortless; comfortable.
Feel relaxed in your joints and muscles. Enjoy the simple act of pedaling…You know you’re maturing when you can appreciate rolling legs. This is you being comfortable with your body.
You are simmering before the boil.
Patience…be careful what you wish for…..
FLATS
Feel a good, strong flat road but don’t rest; I want you to breathe, taste, smell this ride…….and understand.
There is no deviation; no stalling; perfectly symmetrical and everything is unified.
Add a layer of resistance and put the road on steroids.
HILLS AND STRENGTH
There is treacherous terrain ahead and we are heading to the dark side. The walls will feel as if they’re closing in on you and you can’t find the floor. There is no escape. It’s hard to breathe. Are you afraid to take your body to a place that has no boundaries?
What’s about to happen isn’t pretty….you may shudder. You may tremble……you might even whimper like a little baby girl.
Feel the change in your body as things are heating up now. Get ready to lay down a layer of resistance that makes your body say, “what was THAT?”
If this isn’t a hill for you, then don’t let me hold you back. I CAN’T RIDE THIS FOR YOU…
Do you have the feeling of euphoria? That means you’re on a hill….and if you’re on a hill, why not make it a bigger hill…..so in plain English…just add another gear.
Visualize a treadmill….keep your pace steady, but imagine the incline is increasing. Five changes in the incline are ahead.
EMPOWERMENT
You chose today to do what others won’t so tomorrow you’ll what they can’t.
It’s time to kick in the turbo. This will be your defining moment.
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking….so if you’ve been holding back…ask yourself why? Why are you afraid to take your body to another level?
You can’t exceed your wildest expectation if you don’t even have a wild expectation…what is yours?
Today I want you to pass the limits you’ve put on yourself. You are stronger and faster than you ever imagined.
Where do you go inside of yourself when you need to get tough, when you need a little more to finish what you started? You need to make your way to that sacred place because we’re getting close to finishing what we started.
RECOVERY
Feel the recovery as it fuels your body. This is a gift, so I’d take it whether you need it or not.
Use the tools of oxygen and hydration to saturate yourself in this pool of recovery.
Former Spinning Master Instructor Debbie Miller is the Director of ProjectVisAbility.org, a program designed to assist wounded service people and physically challenged athletes become Group Fitness Instructors. How cool is that?
Working in partnership with Johnny G, Project VisAbility is hosting a Sweat For a Vet, a multi location fundraiser on Saturday November 12th.
The facts and figures speak for themselves… there are a large number of people with disabilities. Those with disabilities have a harder time finding work, earn less, live in poverty more often and experience depression, divorce and staggering suicide rates.
Yet there are those who have overcome their obstacles to lead or return to a fulfilled and active life. What if we could harness the inspiration and leadership of physically challenged athletes who wanted to use their talents and share their motivation with others? With Project VisAbility we can.
Inclusive Fitness encourages the fitness industry to go beyond the minimum levels of accessibility and make fitness environments not just accessible but truly inclusive. We want to take that one step further and enable those with physical challenges to also lead and inspire.
The ability to link job opportunities with capable physically challenged instructors will truly benefit everyone–disabled instructors, health and fitness clubs and members.
When I fired-up my microphone and recorded the very first episode of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast back in August 08, never in my wildest dreams would I have believed this would happen; an Instructor in Staffanstorp, Sweden would be walking into his class with an ICI/PRO Instructor gear bag that I shipped him. No way that would ever happen…
But here's ICI/PRO member Ove Eldstahl in his studio 🙂
I'll be at the Club Industry fitness show in Chicago Thursday and Friday meeting with our new sponsor/contributor LiveStrong Indoor Cycling by Matrix and record a formal introduction to all of you to learn more about them. While I'm there, I will be participating in some virtual rides lead by LiveStrong's Master Instructor and Head of Education, Jim Karanas. Jim's rides will feature some stunning video produced by their partner Virtual Active. I got a sneak peak of these cycling videos while I was in San Francisco last month. The quality rivals anything you've seen in a theater… seriously, they're so good you'll think they were CG (computer generated) and I know your classes will love watching them.
Will you be there? If so I would love to meet you and possibly ride with you at the LiveStrong Indoor Cycling display at Booth # 901 .
Dallas can get hot but has an amazing amount of energy, or maybe Salt Lake City?
We're just not sure…
Two things we do know is that Boston has served us well for the past two years and the North East isn't an optimum location for many of you. Because we are always open to your ideas, we've put together a short survey for you to tell us where you would like to attend the 2012 ICI/PRO Conference.
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.
