I've used Cirque Du Soleil DVDs in classes in the past with very good results. Participant's seem to really enjoy them and the original soundtrack is often perfect for a “and now for something completely different” class.
Amy saw Cirque Du Soleil: Worlds Away on RedBox and brought it home Sunday night. The visuals are amazing and I could easily see using this in a class.
From its Wikipedia page:
Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away is a 2012 3D film directed by Andrew Adamson. The film premiered on October 20, 2012 at the Tokyo International Film Festival,[1] and it was released theatrically in the United States on December 21, 2012, the same day Jack Reacher was released.[4] It was released in 2D and 3D. It stars Erica Linz and Igor Zaripov as the main characters and incorporates acts from the seven Cirque du Soleil shows running in Las Vegas in 2011: O, Mystère, Kà , Love, Zumanity, Viva Elvis and Criss Angel Believe.
If you're not familiar with Cirque Du Soleil check out this video trailer.
Not only are they beautiful to watch live (or on video), but the sound tracks are performed live, incredibly well done and many are perfectly suitable for use in a class.
Cirque du Soleil — Alegria is probably the most popular. Amy and I have used it after first hearing it at a show they performed here in Minneapolis in the late 90's.
Finding music that encourages faster pedal speeds for endurance classes, can be a real challenge 🙁
Spend some time in Spotify Cirque du Soleil and you'll find a gold mine of potential tracks you could string together – or just click play on one of their albums and add some occasional cues for a quick, entertaining class!
Or better, click play on a Cirque video and turn up the soundtrack – I've never have a negative response to using these in a class. Our public library has a number of these DVDs available so that could save you from the expense of buying them – or check RedBox to see there's one near where you live.
If you are a group fitness instructor my discovery could save you some money.
My ACE cert is due for renewal this Summer and I need .6 ACE continuing ed credits, and quick. I looked at the ACEfitness.com site for some online CECs and found two courses that I thought would be interesting; Nutrition Strategies for Fitness and Performance $59.95 (.3 ACE CECs) and Flexibility Training Specialist$69.95 (.4 ACE CECs) $130.00 total.
The weather is supposed to be crappy this weekend. I figured I would hunker down and go through these two programs so I could have the privilege of sending ACE more of my money and keep teaching for two more years.
I asked John for our business credit card so we could expense my training. He looked over his readers and asked; “why would you pay for CEC's when ICG has them available for free?”
Good question. I wasn't aware that ICG had free CEC's and it turned out that they offer 12 different online courses that are approved by ACE. I found two similar courses that would get me my .6 CECs. Total cost will be ZERO.
Do you know about Spotify's Collaborative Playlist feature? It's a great way to share playlists with friends, fellow instructors and even members at your gym or club. When you use this Spotify feature, others can share, edit and add to your original playlist.
Sound interesting? It's really pretty simple. Just create a playlist in Spotify as you normally would. Then, right click (control+click if you're a Mac user like me) and you'll see a drop down box like this:
Choose Collaborative Playlist.
You can now find your collaborative playlist on the left sidebar of your profile screen with a green music note next to it. The playlist will not, however appear on your Spotify profile page. As far as I can see, there is no way to add a collaborative playlist to your profile. I believe this is because these playlists are always changing and therefore never really complete. If you figure out a way to publish them and still allow them to be collaborative, please share with us! Because the playlist does not appear on your profile, you need to invite others to see it.
Inviting others to join your collaborative playlist is as simple as sharing the link. You can do this by right clicking (control+click on a Mac) and choosing any of the options shown here:
Now you can share your playlists by email or social media sites. Here are a few things to keep in mind when creating collaborative playlists in Spotify:
Anyone that subscribes to your playlist can add songs, delete songs and change the order of the songs in the playlist.
Everyone that subscribes to your playlist will see these changes.
You can turn off the collaborativity of the playlist the same way you turned it on.
Anyone that gets the link to your playlist can share the link with friends.
ICI/PRO has several collaborative playlists that you can access here.
I've recently created my own collaborative Spotify playlist: St. Patrick's Day for Indoor Cycling. I hope you find some inspiration here for your St. Patrick's Day ride this week! Please subscribe and share your favorites!!
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.
When I first upgraded to Spotify Premium back in August, I was excited to try something new, but a little disappointed and apprehensive because it wasn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be. Change is never easy. But I kept at it and now I think I’m able to navigate it quite well. Creating and publishing playlists is the easy part. Muddling through all the little glitches with the system was a little tricky, but once I was able to figure them out, I rarely run into problems anymore. The difficult part, for me anyway, was finding people to follow and finding new music.
I don’t know about you, but I could spend hours listening to music and deciding if I think certain songs should earn a spot on my next playlist. When I first began using Spotify, I really didn't know where to begin. It wasn't like iTunes, (which I had been using forever), so I knew that I needed to find an easy way to use Spotify to get access to music that I could use in my classes. I didn't want to be tied to my computer all night searching for music because I couldn't navigate my way through this new terrain. I wanted to be able to easily find new releases and I wanted to see what other instructors were using in their playlists. So I set a goal to find some easy and time-saving ways to search for new music. I think I succeeded. Here are few tips to add to your arsenal or to help you if you’re just getting started:
Find people to follow and subscribe to their playlists. I explain this in detail in my last ICI/PRO post.
Don’t overlook the ‘What’s New’ Tab at the top left of your main sidebar on your profile screen. Click on this tab and you’ll find a customized page for you with new releases, top playlists, top tracks, trending playlists, and featured Spotify apps.
Subscribe to playlists that ‘refresh’. I have found a few playlists to subscribe to that help me to keep up with the best new releases as well as the hottest songs in the country at the moment. Here are a few that I subscribe to: Billboard Hot 100; New Release Tuesdays and New Releases on Spotify
And speaking of new releases, if you like to use them in your playlists, learn to love Tuesdays! Most of the new releases come out on Tuesdays, so check for updates on your main page and be the first one to listen!
‘Like' Spotify on Facebook. You'll get really great updates on new music and bands, helpful tips and general updates.
Sign up at Sharemyplaylist.com. I have not used this service as a means of sharing my playists (yet), but they DO email me a newsletter every week with seven of their top playlists, all of which have been published in Spotify. So with the click of a button, you can listen and subscribe. I can't say enough about this resource. I always find a TON of great music here.
In addition to the ideas mentioned above, I think in the not too distant future you may see some changes over at Spotify that will make your music discovery a little bit easier. Not only has Spotify overhauled their website, but they will very soon be unrolling some new and exciting changes. If you used iTunes Ping, you may find this to be a good replacement. See what it's all about by clicking the photo below:
How do you find music to use in your classes? If you have a great resource, please share in the comment section.
As promised, here is part 2 of my interview with Schwinn Master Trainer Jay Blahnik – for ICI/PRO members.
In part 1 Jay briefly describes what he sees as the three different segments of people (Instructors and participants alike) that you will probably encounter when introducing Power.
I convinced him to stick around for another half hour and really drill down on his strategies for bringing all three of these groups on board – if possible.
[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']
Jay describes the three segments as:
Those that reject measurement and Power.
The 30% who are engaged, but don't know quite what to do with it.
Then there's people like me (you too?) who loved it from the start 🙂
You can listen to this interview below and you will also find it in your ICI/PRO Super Secret iTunes Feed – instructions are here if you haven't set your's up yet.
