by John | Sep 10, 2012 | Big Box Instructor
No real relevance to this post – just thought they were cute.
Today was my scheduled Teach Back and I passed!
If you teach for Life Time Fitness you are required to demonstrate that you understand how to teach a proper Studio Cycle class. Our Teach Back today was to follow our “Speed” profile and we had only about 12 minutes to complete:
- A short warm-up & introduction to the class
- Have everyone qualify AT
- Teach a short segment
I taught the intro of my Grand Canyon ride (link to the Audio Class PROfile)
What did I do right?
- I feel having a “Theme” for the class, in this case a metaphor for AT (standing at the edge of the canyon), showed I was prepared and wasn't simply “winging it”.
- I came early so I could get warmed up before my turn = it was much easier to talk.
What did I do wrong?
- I tried to squeeze too much into the 12 minutes I had available, while wishing I had more time.
- Didn't really emphasise that first real time when everyone was supposed to be at AT.
- I didn't get off the bike. I had too much profile and not enough time, so my scheduled walk around didn't happen.
My suggestions.
- Your GF Dept Head should be sending you a copy of the Studio Cycle Teach Back Evaluation Form. It identifies the 7 Compulsory Elements you will be judged on. Learn them, Love Them & Live Then 🙂
- Get there early so you can get warmed up (not have to start cold) and connect with a few of the other Instructors before your turn. That way you will have someone to make eye contact with, making everything go so much more smoothly.
- Use four, 3 minute songs. My second song was 11 minutes long. Perfect for the actual class, but too long for the teach back.
Here's my playlist in Spotify.
Good luck with yours!
by John | Aug 11, 2012 | Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog, Music
“I'm trained as an Instructor. I've earned multiple certifications, spent thousands of dollars and invested hundreds of hours, all with the purpose of delivering a great class to you today.”
“But many of you will probably judge me by my skills as a DJ… the one part of this class for which I have no formal education.”
It had to be the funniest thing I've ever heard said by another Instructor… well I thought it was funny, and I laughed out-loud when she said it during her opening of class. What made this humorous was a combination of her deadpan delivery and the unexpected honesty of her statement.
Could anything be more true about teaching an Indoor Cycling class?
To paraphrase the memorable line from a TV and radio commercial from Verbal Advantage; People judge you by the music you play…
In past surveys I've done, Instructors have said that they spend more time on music than any other aspect of their classes. I'm not sure this dependency on a great playlist, as the foundation of you class, is entirely healthy. But I can understand how it can become the focus of your class preparations.
So what's my suggestion for ensuring your class will enjoy your music selections?
Steal music ideas from others 😉
Here are a few places you can start:
- Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs of all Time. Especially if you have an older demographic, you can't go wrong with these past favorites. Most are so memorable that you could start a sing-a-long. Here's a link to the list and there's a partial list (385) you can find in Spotify.
- Grab our list of the Top 404 Indoor Cycling Songs. These have been hand picked by other instructors and a class playlist created from them is a nearly guaranteed hit.
- Subscribe to ICI/PRO where we have over 50 class playlists, created by experienced Instructors. Each playlist is tied to an easy to follow class profile that explains exactly how to teach the class; cues, timing – everything 🙂
- Get the Shazam app for your iPhone or Droid and bring it to a popular Instructor's class. Shazam each song they play and the app will keep a list for you to “appropriate” into your playlist. Don't be surprised to catch an Instructor in your class doing this if you've followed suggestion #3
- Consider a mixed class music service like indoorcyclingmusic.com A good DJ doesn't have gaps between songs – it wrecks the mood you want to create. If you don't have the hours to spend with MixMeister, this could really simplify your life 🙂
by John | Jul 21, 2012 | Big Box Instructor, Latest News
Image from www.inquisitr.com
You may have heard this recent storyabout Triathlete Leah Shianne Prudhomme who was attacked by an otter, while on a training swim in Northern Minnesota. The theory is that Leah swam a little too close to this mother otter's pups and she (the otter) bit Leah 25 times in her zeal to protect her young.
A Minnesota swimmer had to get rabies shots after she was bitten 25 times by an otter while training for a triathlon in a lake near Duluth.
The Duluth News Tribune reports 33-year-old Leah Prudhomme had just finished swimming around an island and was heading back to shore when she felt fangs pierce her leg.
She struggled to get away as the mystery attacker bit her 25 times, leaving puncture wounds as deep as two inches on her legs, arms and back.
“It just kept coming after me,” Prudhomme told The Duluth News Tribune. “You never knew where it was going to bite next.”
Prudhomme told the paper she was shocked when the animal's head popped out the water and she realized she was being attacked by an otter.
“I couldn’t believe Duluth had an otter,” she said.
I had heard the story but hadn't paid much attention to it. But today, while I was researching a new company who provides virtual training systems, Leah's name popped up. Digging a little deeper, I realized that she's one of us 🙂
I found her Blog and she has an amazing life story; battling both cancer and Malaria, while being a mother to her two kids + competing as a professional cyclist and Ironman Triathlete.
I've reached out to her and with any luck I'll have her on the Podcast to tell her story.
by John | Jul 10, 2012 | Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog
“It's gorgeous outside, why are you here?”
“Your class is a lot more efficient workout for me, than riding outdoors.”
My question was directed at my class in general, but I was looking at Jim, a buddy of mine when I said it. Jim is a member of what I called the A-Team, the regular participants to my Monday 5:45AM class. Jim is a typical A-type personality; a high-powered attorney who has more money than time. If you spend a few minutes talking to him you'd realize he's pretty much a no-nonsense guy and I'm guessing Jim had some court date or other appointment that morning. Otherwise he would normally be out on his bike.
Are your students looking for efficiency in your class?
I'm going to start by suggesting that the time of day your class occurs attracts a specific type of person:
- Early morning classes, in my opinion, are filled with people looking for efficiency. Like my friend Jim they want to go in, work out and get off to work at a set time. We (I'm including myself in this A-Team) are very structured in our schedules. Every Monday morning as I leave the club I hold the door for another friend, Dr Block, who's just arriving to the club… every Monday this happens without fail.
- Midmorning classes tend to be social events, attracting a large number of women… which is why many of us call these housewives classes.
- Noon classes are back to efficiency… Students want to get in and out within the prescribed length of time.
- Evening classes seem to be a hybrid of both efficiency and social. If you teach evening classes you may recognize members who appear to have nowhere else to go at the end of the day… and those who blast off 10 seconds after the end.
So if you're teaching either early morning, or noon classes I feel it's important that you recognize your student's need for efficiency and deliver on it.
Here are a few suggestions from a habitual early a.m. Instructor:
- Start on time. I've been in a lot of morning classes where it's obvious the instructor is expecting a number of late arrivals. Teach to everyone who's there on time!
- Demonstrate discipline as the Instructor. People looking for efficiency tend to be well organized themselves. If you are stumbling around, with no clear sense of direction, you'll frustrate your students.
- Keep your communication clear and concise. As I discussed in an earlier post where the microphone had quit early in class, because I had already laid out the class plan students new exactly what to do.
- Encourage early arrivers to lead themselves through a self-directed warm-up.
- Minimize the duration of your planned warm-up. I'm not suggesting you yell GO! at 5:46 am and then pound them for the next 60 min. But rather impress upon everyone, in the spirit of efficiency, to increase their work-load as quickly as they can comfortably do so.
- Teach long efforts near threshold. My experience is that people want to feel that they've time in class has been productive, but not feel trashed at the end of an early a.m. class. Despite everyone's best efforts, we're still warming up 30 min. into class. Long efforts give your students a chance to adapt, as their bodies allow.
- Minimize recovery between efforts. I rarely take my students above threshold in the morning class… but I may keep them just below it for 20 or more minute. I'll described it as riding in your Performance Zone â„¢ where I encourage students work as hard as they comfortable, for the specified length of time.
- Discourage the chatter. Efficient people do not appreciate distractions, while they are focused on a task. Believe me, many of the your students look at their participation in your class as a task to be completed within the specified length of time. Long efforts up near threshold, with minimal recoveries in between, will keep most everyone focused and above the Chatty Zoneâ„¢.
Did I miss anything [wlm_firstname]?
by John | Jun 3, 2012 | Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog
I don't know about you [wlm_firstname], but one of my biggest challenges when I teach is getting accurate feedback that I'm being understood.
Teaching with power has me off the bike a lot more than I had in the past – which was almost never. Now, multiple times during class, I'll explain a new Stage and get them started on the effort. Then I'll hop off and begin working my way through the room, asking students directly; “does this make sense?” or “are you following me?”
Dumb questions as it turns out… the answer was always “yes”… did I really think someone would say “no”?
Once I realized what I was asking dumb questions, which resulted in worthless responses, I was a bit ashamed of myself. As a 30 year sales guy I know better than to ask on question that can be easily answered “yes” or “no” when I'm trying to get an understanding of what a potential customer is thinking. These easily answered questions don't offer any context. Context that would come from a more detailed answer, that reflects a true understanding of the concept I'm trying to communicate… an echo of what I said.
In a previous post I talked about asking proper questions. I was trying to help future instructors understand the proper question isn't “where do I get certified?” but rather; “how do I get a scheduled class at a local studio?”
Once I recognize my error, I changed the questions slightly by adding what are called “opener words” in a conversation. Essentially these are words added to a sentence that don't allow for simple yes or no answers. They encourage more detailed and satisfying discussions.
My favorites are; Where, When, What and How.
- Where is your heart rate? I'm at one 153
- When will you be recovering? It looks like we have 1 min. and 30 seconds left.
- What zone are you in? I'm at the top of zone three.
- How much longer is this effort? I think I missed that… how much longer do we have?
Notice how each response reflects an understanding of my description of the effort or, If the student is unclear, it causes them to respond with a question. Either way we're communicating.
Asking the right questions also had an unintended result. Knowing I was expecting a more detailed answer than “yes John” appeared to have the effect that everyone pays more attention to my directions – which is similar to what I remember teachers doing in school 🙂
So [wlm_firstname]:
- Where else could you implement asking proper questions?
- When would you feel they would fit best in your class?
- What could you do to remind yourself?
- How many times would you try this in a normal length class?
[plulz_social_like width=”350″ send=”false” font=”arial” action=”like” layout=”standard” faces=”false” ]
by John | May 22, 2012 | Big Box Instructor, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog
What's your strategy here?
It's a beautiful sunny Minnesota summer day here and I was enjoying it out on my old mountain bike. One of the reasons Minneapolis is as such a bicycle friendly city are the trails running everywhere. I really enjoy these smooth gravel paths because I can spend a couple hours JRA – Just Riding Along – link to a full description without any real conscious effort of watching for cars or the other things that tend to consume you when you're out in traffic.
I used JRA to describe that first ventilatory threshold, VT1. It's the place; above chatty yet below focused effort, communicating the VT1 to the students in my class. It's a wonderful place to spend a few hours and when I'm here, working aerobically, my creative juices really start flowing.
So I'm JRA, when I came upon the sign alerting me that the trail was underwater. “Oh great, now I'm going to get all wet,” I thought. If you spend any time on the road or on a mountain bike, you know that a wet stripe up your back or soaked feet doesn't really add to an enjoyable time outside 🙁
I've ridden this trail for years. I realized that “trail underwater” typically means there's two or 3 inches of water from the surrounding swamp (I refuse to call it a “wet-lands”… it's a swamp), covering the trail. And I was right.
There are two strategies you can use to cross these little mini rivers, while staying as dry as possible; If the water's only a few inches deep the trick is to peddle as slowly as possible, minimizing any spray up your back. A little deeper and you'll be pedaling your feet through water, so you'll sacrifice I wet back to keep your feet dry. This requires a bit more finesse and can challenge your bike handling skills. You accelerate to the speed that you think you're going to need in order to coast all the way to the other edge, keeping your feet level, up and out of the water. Doesn't always work perfectly. You sometimes stall before the end and wind up doing a sort of rocking motion with your feet, engaging the freewheel through a small segment of the circle, hoping to propel your self forward, while keeping your feet out of the water and not falling over – which would defeat the whole exercise.
The challenge is going just slow enough.
After successfully navigating the water hazard and resuming JRA, I was thinking about how we're always talking about the maximum in class; the highest, what's your threshold heart rate, find your FTP, how long can you sustain this, etc. But we rarely try to define the other side of it… how slow or low should you go?
If you've taught for any length of time you've experience the “spinner”. That person who seems to think they're accomplishing something while furiously pedaling with no resistance. Having indoor cycles with power changes that. As part of my initial orientation I give a new student, I'll have them peddle with no resistance and watch the display. On the FreeMotion bikes no resistance equals no power. And it's a wonderful illustration to help people understand the futility of peddling and not really accomplishing anything of value.
[wlm_firstname] I'm not sure that I have the whole answer here so feel free to share your ideas.
I'm a big believer that every minute of class should be of value. Just as there are times outdoors when you have to go slowly, you are being productive… still moving yourself forward.
I try to communicate this need for productivity in every class I teach. I'll frequently lament the fact that I only have them for an hour. 60 min. isn't really that long, so let's not waste our time doing nothing.
How I cue this is easier with power, but the feeling is the same. I'll have everyone start the class with zero resistance. I'll ask everyone to find a comfortable cadence and begin adding resistance. I'll explain that productivity for each of us is different, and yet if were honest with ourselves we understand when we're there. My morning classes are typically a bunch of “A” types and I'll make the comment that busy work is not the same as productive work. “Just going through the motions may give the appearance of work to others, but deep down you understand whether you're truly being productive or not.”
My feelings are that riding “productively” should bring everyone to a HR near to or right at VT1 / base of Zone three in a five Zone system.
I reinforce the need for productivity at the end of the long interval. Recovery should be productive. I'll suggest to everyone that once they have recovered to the point where they feel some calm in their breathing, they need to return to that place of productivity – catching their Heart Rate at VT1 / JRA.
There'll be plenty of time, to fully recover, once we've crossed to the other side.[plulz_social_like width=”350″ send=”false” font=”arial” action=”like” layout=”standard” faces=”false” ]
