Master Trainer Jim Karanas from Team ICG® joins me on this episode to discuss both Jim's and my concerns that those of you who are heading outdoors this summer, do so safely!
Although it was hard for him to talk about, Jim's wife (and long time riding/training and racing partner) Angela was involved in a horrible accident last Fall. It happened during a large cycling event and together we discuss some strategies you can use to ensure any cycling groups you are leading remain safe and enjoyable! This post offers some additional thoughts on leading outdoor group cycling rides.
We also used this episode to announce that Chuck Cali has joined his ICG® Master Trainer Team – Congratulations Chuck!
Nothing brings me more pleasure than seeing talented Instructors take advantage of the platform we provide here at ICI/PRO 🙂
If you are interested in learning more about the ICG® online Indoor Cycling certification and the free CECs they offer, you can learn more at www.indoorcycling.com
I'll be releasing the winner's names of the Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest later today… I'm very curious to see where each of these Instructors will be a year from now – stay tuned.
Just wanted to follow up to say thank you for the tips, advice, music suggestions and everything pertaining to Life Time Fitness audition preparation which you obviously spent a good deal of time putting together and posting for all of us in need.
Susan Pshevlotski , the GFDH here in Indianapolis, was incredibly helpful and supportive and a great ambassador of Life Time Fitness. Anyone out there moving to the Indy area, I encourage them to contact the Life Time Fitness Director at the Castle Creek Parkway location.
All went wonderfully well and I must say thank you to ICI and others for the learning and growing I've made as an indoor cycling instructor these past few years as I certainly put my membership and education to excellent use and it showed based on the complimentary letter I received on Mon. There was even a comment about my ICI Jersey that I proudly wore.
My audition was here in Indy and Susan sent my information immediately onto the GFDH in Florham Park, NJ where I am relocating next month with a high recommendation for an instructor position, as well as the possibility of Cycle Club Coordinator. Not sure I'm ready for that one. I will hopefully fall right back into the saddle.
Whew, a lot happening quicker than I imagined but all fun and good thanks to this wonderful and supportive group in this professional forum.
All the best.
Renee
Ride Safe, Ride Strong
Congratulations Renee and I'm going to pass along your comments to Jen Ryan – the National Group Fitness Operations Manager at Life Time Fitness.
“So Joel, how do you know who to listen to and who to shut out?”
“I try to only listen to those whom I’m confident are on my crew…”
My question came during a conversation I was having during coffee with Joel Johnson, the pastor of my church. Joel had recently officiated the wedding between Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries- the Humphries family are long time members of the church and his parents were at one time frequent participants in my Indoor Cycling Classes, until switching locations.
If you follow the tabloid’s you know that the marriage was dissolved, almost before Kim’s bouquet of flowers had wilted, with Kim profiting to the tune of $17.9 million. As you can imagine, the drama surrounding the whole event within our church was immense and the criticisms of Joel were brutal. Lots of “I told you so”, “you should have never done the wedding” plus no shortage of destructive gossip going on between church members.
“We were getting so many calls and emails that I had to seclude myself and only engage with the people who continued to demonstrate that they were on my crew.”
“I’m not sure exactly what you mean by; on my crew?” I told him.
“Let me show you…”
Joel grabbed a napkin and drew this simple diagram.
And then he explained to me that you can assign the people in your life/church/business/community/etc… into one of the four quadrants, each being similar to the roles of the people you would find on a seagoing ship.
Your Crew
Your Passengers
Pirates
Stow Aways
Joel then described his drawing (which he told me he learned from someone else, but I can’t remember who) and how it identifies:
Involvement — is the person directly involved in your enterprise, Yes or No?
Vision — does the person believe in your vision for the enterprise, Yes or No?
Placed in the context of your Fitness Business:
Your Crew – Involved and believe in your Vision. The loyal Instructors, employees and vendors who work for you. Ever faithful, the people on your Crew are actively (and selflessly) involved in helping you create and maintain a successful business. As the term “Crew” conveys, these people are Team Players, the “life blood” of your business, embracing your Vision and demonstrating it toward your customers and the other members of your Crew. They are the people you can count on. The person who jumps in when something needs to be done or when an emergency sub is needed. Crew members put the needs of the team ahead of their own, working continuously to promote the studio and other Instructor's classes.
Your Passengers — Not Involved, but believe in your Vision. Satisfied, regular customers who believe in your Vision and participate in fair exchange with your business*. They bring their friends and speak positively about you to others — while communicating concerns directly to you. Passengers add value to your business both financially and through the positive energy they bring to class. *Fair Exchange is a concept I learned from Dr Shannon years ago, where two people exchange value for something. As long as each feels the exchange is “Fair” then it's all good 🙂
Pirates — Involved, but don't believe in your Vision. Trouble makers who use the word “ME”, instead of “WE”, demonstrating a belief that it’s “all about them”, instead of your Team. Pirates can be Involved in your business as Instructors or employees. They contribute to your business, while promoting their own agendas, instead of (or at the expense of) your Vision. They may try to encourage your customer's to attend classes they teach at other locations and may be heard cutting down another Instructor's class. They may be so bold as to sell merchandise out of the trunk of their car. Pirates think nothing of showing up late, being unprepared or calling in sick on short notice. Pirates are very selective of which classes they would consider subbing and will use the opportunity to promote themselves.
Stow Aways — Not Involved nor believe in your Vision. The customers who take advantage of your good will. They insist on free/discounted classes and complain frequently. Stow Aways are the participants who show up late, do their own thing (complete with iPod/earbuds), disrupt class or may even be disrespectful to your Instructors.
“Joel, what do you do with the Pirates and Stow Aways once you identify them?”
“You need to decide if they are worth keeping around. And if not, I bless them, thank them and say good bye.”
He is after all a Pastor.
____________________________________
What prompted me to write this post was an episode of Kitchen Nightmares , a show I love and feel teaches some valuable lessons that you can apply to your Indoor Cycling Class and/or Fitness Business. The story line had the head chef (a Pirate) ruining the restaurant's reputation and yet the owners felt powerless to fire him, because they didn't think they could survive without him. I've seen (and heard of) similar situations at studios with a prima donna Instructor. Very popular with clients, the Pirate's destructive behavior may have you questioning whether or not you should keep them on your Instructor team.
Have you experienced Pirates or Stow Aways at your studio?
“In the field” bike fits can lead to uncomfortable situations like this!
Coming Home
Recently, during a visit to my parents, I had the urge to visit my old High School. Upon arriving, Track was in session, so I took a walk down glory lane as memories of my High and Long Jumping career came rushing back. Surprisingly, all 3 of my track coaches were still there, 20 years post graduation. Before long, I was mentoring up and coming high jumpers from 7th to 12th grade.
Coach Caroll, my head coach, was off at the discus cage working with a special student athlete. Tim recently had a bout with cancer, and though now cancer free, was blind as a result of the cancer medication. It was quite something special to see Coach Caroll verbally instruct to this athlete the technique of throwing the discus. Tim was well humored considering his misfortune, but was also clearly frustrated. After a failed throw he said “I just want to throw like a did before.” Coach didn’t miss a beat and said, “with out form, you got nothing…no speed, no distance, no power.”
Discussing form in cycling, we are usually referring to how we pedal, with force and cadence. But form can also refer to how we are positioned on the bike. In the discus event we can have great power, force and speed with the throw, but if our footprint is off, it won’t matter. In cycling our starting position or “footprint,” determines how we interact with the bike and in-turn (pun intended), improve our ability to have success.
How Class Begins
It is Monday night 5:29, 1 minute before go time. Your pre-class music is playing, there is excitement in the air with student banter, and the room is almost filled to capacity. The regulars are way set up, and have been turning the pedals for 10 minutes, eager to start the best part of their day. You strap on your mic, mount your stead, and one more person sheepishly walks in. They find an open bike and look at it like a foreign object. Then, they find the courage to look up and ask, “can you set me up?
That first 5 minutes is so important as it lays down the groundwork. Yet, this person is a fragile egg. It took everything they had to enter the room for the first time. You have an obligation to keep everyone safe with proper bike fit, and create a positive open environment, not a clique of local fitness heros. If they don’t have a good first experience, they will never come back. Remember regulars were first timers once too.
Though there is no audible sound, you sense the rooms displeasure as you step down. The Hammers are giving you and newbie the evil eye. You pinch yourself between bikes and rush nervously through the fit. Getting knee over pedal is almost impossible without shoving your spandex into some else’s personal space.
As you finish, the dominos start to fall. “Can you set me up too? Yeah me too!” 5 minutes late now and into your second song(which you spent 20 minutes picking out as the perfect progression from intro/warmup), you frantically try to get back on track. Your bike fits were sub par, attitudes are everywhere, and the mojo is gone. We have all been here, pulled in every direction. What can you do to end this tug of war between punctuality, safety, and success?
Empower Your Students!
What we need is a way to empower our students to fit themselves. We need to be just like Coach Caroll and verbally give a set of descriptive, yet simple instructions, so that any one can achieve a solid bike fit without an instructor manually turning knobs, raising and lowering saddles. At Stagesâ„¢ indoor cycling we have this simple, clever, package of verbal instructions called FastFitâ„¢.
Here is one example of our instructions that you can adapt for your own use. “Raise your saddle to the top of your iliac crest. Run your finger across from your navel to your side. Then go straight down until you reach the crest of your hip bone. Bring your saddle to this land mark.”
Will it provide the ideal fit? I can see all of you bike fit gurus scoffing and shaking your heads. I know what you are thinking. Bike fit is sacred ground, there is 3D imaging, plumb bobs, goniometers, and scientists performing this critical component. However, they are not doing this at 5:32PM, in a packed house, with minimal space. Our goal is to get people in a safe range while “in the field.”
Hannah, more than likely needs a more precise “hands on” approach for ideal bike fit.
If you walk into any cycle room it is almost guaranteed that someone will be riding with a saddle too low. However I can also almost guarantee that no one is riding with the saddle too high. Why? First, the rider will feel their foot disconnecting from the pedal at the bottom of the downstroke which is unsettling. Second, without getting too explicit, lets just say the pressure and movement on the saddle in THAT region will rub you the wrong way. Third, the rider will give a look of, “I don’t think so” based on the first two sensations. The iliac crest method, if it is to fail, will set the saddle too high. This is quickly and eagerly remedied by the student and a quick cue of:
“The saddle should be as high as comfortably possible while still allowing a flat foot at the bottom of the pedal stroke, a slight bend in the knee, and minimal hip rocking.”
Will this work for everyone? Our system achieves success with 90% of the population, and I will fully admit the seat height landmark did not work for myself (my iliac crest is mad high). But, I have seen our FastFitâ„¢ 5 step system, designed by Stagesâ„¢ Indoor Cycling and specifically for Freemotionâ„¢ S-series bikes, achieve a safe set up 9 out of 10 times through many trainings.
I encourage instructors to develop their communication skills and design a set of instructions that works for their particular bikes. Can it replace a hands on approach with fitting tools and working space for observation? Of course not. It will however, quickly create an indoor cycle experience, where comfort is king, the fit will allow for safe and effective mechanics, and the room mojo will remain high.
In my post yesterday about auditioning as a Life Time Fitness Instructor, if I only had three minutes to show my stuff… what music would I use? I suggested that you should use a track that you enjoy teaching to. Now I'm re-thinking it…
I actually auditioned at two Life Time clubs and both times I taught a whole class – and yes, both times I was hired 🙂 My audition wasn't part of an open Instructor call, rather both department heads had recruited me (they both initiated the auditions) to teach as a result of some Guerilla Marketing I had done, once I had decided I wanted to teach for Life Time.
I don't remember exactly what music I used, but I do remember that it was completely wrong for the second audition. It was a 9:30 AM class filled with middle aged women (what I affectionately refer to as a “House Wives Class”) and here I go cranking up Stranglehold by Ten Nugent. Stranglehold, all 8:33 of 74rpm of driving, climbing Nirvana, was not appreciated by this group who were used to their normal Instructor's dance/pop/club music. The old Bowie I'm prone to use probably didn't help either.
If I had it to do over again, and only had three minutes, what music would I use?
I'd use someone else's music. Here's why:
The objective of any audition or interview is to get the job. Period. It's your chance to give the interviewer (or the class) what they're looking for, it's not your time to give them what you want to give them. That comes after your have nailed the audition and secured a class on the schedule. Does that make sense [wlm_firstname]?
So the music I would use would be from a resource that has an understanding (or reputation) for good music to use in an Indoor Cycling class, designed to appeal to a broad audience and is typically the result of a collaboration between multiple Instructors. I few suggestions would be to find a track you like from one of the Spinning CDs, a track from one of hundreds of CDs from any of the fitness music sites or if you are an RPM Instructor you would of course use a track from their catalog.
My point here is that I don't feel many of us, especially new Instructors, can remove enough of our own personal bias in our choice of music. So for something as critical as your 3 minute audition, I'd suggest yielding to the expertise of other's.
If you are using Spotify Mad Dogg Athletics has a bunch of playlists you could choose from. I like this track Various Artists — African Move which has a lot of energy + an International / African sound which I feel would be enjoyed by many. I would cue it up at the :30 mark and run with it 🙂 I can't find a legal free remix but you can get it at Amazon.
For your free track might I suggest using a remix from another popular artist; Robert Miles, who ends up on many playlists. The track Children is very recognizable.
Functional Threshold Power, better known as FTP, is the basis for establishing individual training zones using power/watts. Now that I'm teaching power based classes I've developed some questions about FTP and asked STAGES Indoor Cycling's Cameron Chinatti to answer them and give all of us a better understanding of Why is FTP Important? What exactly is FTP? and How can I help my students discover their individual FTP?
We are planning to have Doug Rusho (another Power expert) in the show soon to give all us Big Box Instructors an abbreviated version of an FTP assessment -OK not FTP exactly, but some benchmark that we can use during a typical class – giving our students some understanding of of where they should be working. Stay tuned 🙂
