Master Instructor Joey Stabile from Cycling Fusion contributed his Christmas class profile. If you have a class or two this weekend, your participants might enjoy this structured workout featuring some Christmas tracks to celebrate the season.
Download the profile .pdf to print out here.
Joey has shared his music playlist. You'll find Explosive Strength PRO/Playlist using Apple Music or Spotify
During an office-clearing project, I found an article I wrote years ago about a book by Hirschman and Munter. They advocate 3 rules for approaching food whenever you feel like eating.[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
Rule 1: Ask yourself if you’re hungry.
The purpose of food is to fuel us when our bodies need it. That’s signaled by physical hunger. Asking this question over and over reinforces the critical connection between hunger and eating.
Rule 2: Ask yourself what you’re hungry for, what you feel like eating.
The idea is to tune in to what your body is telling you. This assumes that the body will know what it needs nutritionally. You can then choose in accordance with that.
Rule 3: Stop eating when you’ve had enough.
This also involves tuning in to what your body is telling you and recognizing the feeling of “comfortable fullness” as the right amount of food.
Take it from a sugar addiction expert: these 3 rules could easily backfire when it comes to sugar.
Why Don’t They Work When Sugar’s Involved?
First, clients who eat sugar frequently may not get hungry. As explained in a previous post, my research hasn’t yet uncovered a solid explanation for exactly why that is. Still, too many clients have described this phenomenon for me to think it’s not real.
These clients may even get symptoms (headaches, queasiness, and so on) instead of physical hunger. The symptoms can typically be traced back to low glucose.
Second, it’s not surprising that someone who’s hooked on sugar feels like eating sugar. Frequently.
How can it be helpful to tell someone who’s going through sugar withdrawal — which may include cravings — to tune in to the body and eat what she/he wants?
Third, the comfort stopping point works well only for those who tend to eat to fuel.
It’s not always easy to stop eating sugar at the comfort point if (and when) the client’s “relationship” with sugary foods is based on satisfying a craving or an addictive urge.
Athletic Training Theories Apply To Sugar Addiction?
From my coach, I learned that the purpose of training is to bring consciousness to the process.
When athletes talked about the pain of athletic training, the coach would say that pain stimulates resistance. But through continued training — and by adding consciousness to it — our response to pain changes. We become nonreactive to it.
It doesn’t feel any better, he’d say. It just doesn’t bother us as much.
Once you remove an addictive substance, like sugar, from the diet, the body may start to display different signals. Hunger pangs may return — or show up for the first time — reflecting the body’s needs. Control over food may increase. Appetite may decrease. Awareness may increase and unconscious reactions decrease.
Significantly, over time, we become less and less reactive to external sugar triggers.
The triggers might include the sight of appetizing foods, the delicious smell of baking cookies — or even sounds that bring on cravings. For example, someone fond of candy might have been triggered in the past by the sound of someone unwrapping a candy bar. Once they’ve been “off” sugar for a while, that sound could become less automatic in triggering the desire to eat candy.
It’s not that the foods lose their appeal; it’s just that they bother us less.
These changes may take time, but staying off sugar long-term could be considered continued, long-term training.[/wlm_private]
[Part 2 will cover athletics and sugar addiction.]
SoulCycle is preparing to go public with an IPO later this year.
Indoor cycling fitness chain SoulCycle Holdings LLC has hired investment banks for a U.S. initial public offering expected to come later this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
SoulCycle's IPO preparations underscore the growing popularity of boutique chains that cater to specific workout methods such as spinning, yoga and barre. The chains, which often charge per class rather than a monthly membership fee, have been taking market share from traditional big-box gyms.
SoulCycle has more than 42 U.S. locations, and plans to open 50 to 60 studios worldwide by next year, according to its website.
After watching SoulCycle for years and seeing what a money machine they've become, I'm thinking I will. In fact I'm going to compare them to Starbucks and predict that SoulCycle will make investors a lot of money for the same reason Starbucks has been such a solid investment* > both their customers admit to being addicted to their products.
WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE $16,000-A-YEAR ADDICTED TO BOUTIQUE FITNESS
A few weeks ago, while mindlessly trolling Instagram, something stopped me in my tracks: My friend from high school, Michaela Miller, who is currently working on a master's degree in public administration from NYU, had screenshot her upcoming SoulCycle schedule. “475 rides in 365,” she boasted of her “SOULiversary,” the birthday of her inaugural class. “Stepping it up with an even STRONGER starting lineup.” After gawking at the fact that she was planning a Wednesday triple–as in three, 45-minute classes in a single day–I shamelessly pulled up my calculator app. Some quick math revealed that my friend's dedication to cult-loved $34 spin sessions (before the price of shoe rentals and water) could easily run her $16,000 in a single year.
Despite all the negativeness directed at SoulCycle, they have shown the rest of the Indoor Cycling industry how to be successful. Not to mention positively changing the lives of thousands of participants…
For Miller, the benefits of being die-hard include daily clear-headedness, a built-in support system, and being held accountable. “I'm definitely less flaky as a person,” she says of committing to ten or more classes a week all over Manhattan, New Jersey, and Brooklyn. “I used to be notorious for missing trains, planes, parties, dinners, but since I started doing Soul, I'm early to things. I show up on time. It sounds silly, because we all should do that, but I was late a lot.” To minimize the financial impact (she says she's only on the hook for half of the classes she takes), Miller buys packages and nabs free rides via a group of instructors who now make up her inner circle. She even gave up a pack-a-day habit. “I would never have quit smoking if it wasn't for Soul,” she says with a laugh. “It was between SoulCycle and the cigarettes.”
NOTE: This is not intended as financial advice, only to alert you to this future opportunity.
There was some self-delusion to go along with lots of new fitness products and services.
There were a few things of interest at IHRSA this year that I'd like to tell you about:
NOTE: I completely overestimated my available time to write my review of the Stages SC3 = I hope to have it completed by Sunday… but don't wait for me if you're planning to pull the trigger on a studio > The SC3 is a solid IC option and I wouldn't have any reservations recommending it for your new studio.
This banner was the very first thing you saw walking into the LA convention center. My first impression was; “that's dumb… who would ever want to ride a recumbent bicycle in an Indoor Cycling class?”
As I walked past this display I did a double take and then it hit me > there's a huge population of people who are intimidated by the skinny, little seats on Indoor Cycles. Obese/overweight people for starters and you can't forget Seniors. Together they make up a sizable demographic that we are completely missing. They're two groups who would really benefit from the comfort of riding on a recumbent, with its large seat and easy to step through design.
UPDATE 3/16 – you can hear from a fitness director, who's been including recumbents in her classes with great success, in this podcast.
I talked at length with the representative from Cascade Health & Fitness about helping them establish a few beta recumbent cycling locations. They are very motivated to meet with anyone who's interested. Please let me know using our contact page.
There's a belt hiding in there.
Star Trac has expanded their Black Belt option to the full line of commercial Spinner® Indoor Cycles, including the Blade Ion. But you wouldn't know it just by looking at it. Where the NXT carries the “Black Belt” logo on the frame, the Ion has no markings indicating if it's chain or belt drive.
I rode the Ion briefly and my initial impression was that this belt is both quiet and smooth. Yes you're missing the feel of the chain, but whatever they've done, the Ion didn't have the vague/weird feel some bikes using a similar flat belt have.
I discussed the question of, “why not use the Gates toothed belt?” with Mad Dogg Athletic's CEO John Baudhuin. John explained that they had experimented with the Gates belt years ago. What they found was a drive system that uses a heavily weighted flywheel just works better with the flat belt they've chosen. Which makes sense, the brands using the Gates belt (Schwinn/FreeMotion/Stages) all are using a much lighter flywheel.
Schwinn has completely redesigned their Triple Link Indoor Cycling Pedal. No, unfortunately my Red Pedal Tool won't work with the redesigned shoe basket. This pedal has much larger bearings on both ends for increased reliability + they attach using the Morse Taper that's similar the Spinning® pedals.
NOTE: these can only be used with a new Schwinn AC – older versions use conventional 9/16s threaded pedals. I'm waiting on clarity from Schwinn to learn if this new pedal will be offered in a 9/16 threaded version.
There's another upgraded Mpower Echelon (version 2) console and power meter for the AC performance. They've made a substantial number of changes and improvements to the (previously Red) Echelon console and I'm hoping to have a Schwinn representative on the podcast to discuss all of them soon.
http://icipromedia.s3.amazonaws.com/Keiser_M3.wmv
Refresh your browser if you're not seeing the video above.
Did you know that the new M3i has a stage/interval timer? I didn't until Amy and I spent some time with Dennis Keiser. While we were chatting I made the suggestion; “you know Dennis, I would really like to have the option to record the average wattage during a short interval… you should consider adding that in the future.” Dennis's response was; “we all ready have it.” We all went over to a M3i and Dennis showed us (video above) how easy it is to start and stop the stage/interval timer > all you need to do is stroke the gear-shift lever all the way down and then back up 🙂
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Merrill Richmond with StairMaster | Schwinn send me a press release about how the Schwinn Class Tamer iPhone App had won an Outstanding Achievement Award. Pretty cool:)
Schwinn developed this as their gift to Instructors – and an expensive gift at that. I don't know exactly what they've spent on the design and ongoing maintenance of the Class Tamer App. I have looked into contracting with an App development company, to build something similar and was quoted “around” $40,000.
You can download your own here > and it's completely free.
STAIRMASTER AND PINCKNEY HUGO GROUP WIN INTERACTIVE MEDIA AWARD
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Pinckney Hugo Group, a full-service marketing communications firm, and StairMaster, which markets and distributes Schwinn indoor group cycling bikes to commercial health clubs, were awarded an Outstanding Achievement Award by the Interactive Media
Awardsâ„¢ for the Schwinn Class Tamerâ„¢ App.The Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes that the app surpassed the basic standards of excellence that comprise the web’s most professional work. The app was honored for excellence in the sports category. “It was truly a collaborative effort that led to the Schwinn Class Tamer App,” said Merrill Richmond, vice president of sales and marketing, StairMaster. “Together, with Pinckney Hugo Group, we were able to develop the premier music player for group exercise professionals. It is a tool organized intuitively with large, easy-to-read fonts and controls to help them stay organized while they energize their classes.”
Designed with input and insight from Schwinn’s global team of Master Instructors, Pinckney Hugo Group created the app to serve as the premier music player for group exercise professionals. The app is a one-of-a-kind music player that enables instructors to create and save ride playlists by accessing songs, playlists, albums and artists directly from iTunes. After a playlist is created, the instructor can input a set of commands, cueing notes, music tags and beats per minute (BPM) for each song within the playlist. Playlists can then be saved for future use in class.
The judging consisted of various criteria, including design, usability, innovation in technical features, standards compliance and content. To win, the app had to meet strict guidelines in each area. Other entries in the sports category that received an Outstanding Achievement Award include the NCAA website and the World Anti-Doping Agency — Play True Quiz. Best In Class, the highest honor of the competition, went to ESPN World Cup Essentials, Everton Football Club and Warrior Dash websites.
The Interactive Media Awards is an international awards competition that was started in 2006. Each year the awards honor the best website designs in a multitude of categories throughout the year and are designed to elevate the standards of excellence on the Internet.
This has to be the hardest Indoor Cycling video of all time – ride along on the 13 incredibly steep climbs that make up this annual event on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I like to coach riders to climb each of these hills using a different cadence > but always above the PTP we will establish during the first climb. Crazy fun!
You can purchase the video or you can suffer with everyone in real time by watching the live event. From their press release:
Tune in right here
Here's the trailer from the video – you can order it here.
http://vimeo.com/17949602