I'm not a Snoop Dogg fan – but there's some awesome tracks this week on Spotify.
This has become an almost regular habit for me. I'll cue up the New Music Tuesday playlist published by Spotify and then drag promising tracks into my Future To Use folder. Some weeks are near complete washouts. This week has what could be a complete class of songs… Oh, what the heck. Here's a playlist of just songs from today (no Snoop you'll notice) that follows my typical Life Time Fitness 45 minute Evolution Class Format – times are approximate and vary dependent on song length:
5 min Warmup – 90+ RPM
5 min Openers – 4-5 accelerations pushing above threshold (your Edge in Life Time speak)
3 min Reset – fun change of pace, but not a full recovery
4 min Best Effort = maximum sustainable Watts / HR
4 min @ VT1 (Aerobic Threshold or top of zone #2) / Base Watts
7 min Challenge #1
2 min Reset
7 min Challenge #2
2 min Reset
4 min Big Finish = a Best Effort / slightly above threshold final effort
5 min Dedication, cool down & stretch[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']
Why do I choose to follow a templated class profile?
Lots of reasons actually:
The Life Time Fitness 45 minute Evolution Class profile is supposed to follow this template format. One of the rare times in my life that I choose to willfully follow directions 🙂
15+ years of experience has me believing my participants enjoy a consistent, predictable class profile. This is especially true for my early AM “A” types. They need to see that I have a plan and purpose for the class. Sticking to a familiar pattern (they know what to expect) appears to be comforting to them + knowing what's coming has them working harder throughout the class.
It helps keep me creative. Knowing WHAT profile I'm planning frees me to play with music that determines HOW I'll lead each segment. The Best Efforts and Challenges are “open” – meaning, if I want to use a big climb for the first Best Effort I can. Just pick a powerful track with a slower tempo and I'm done with that segment. Challenge #1 and #2 can be speed, endurance, strength, etc… and typically a pair of songs.
Knowing in advance, what I'm doing this week, makes life less stressful. Less stress allows me to concentrate on delivering a better class presentation.
Simplifies creating fresh playlists. Because I already know the profile, I can quickly assemble a playlist. Contrast that with not knowing either the profile or playlist. I would have twice the work. No thanks.
[/wlm_private]I'll be using this playlist and profile on Thursday. I'll let you know what their response is!
American Airlines is promoting their new Boeing 787 Dreamliner airplanes. The soundtrack that's part of this promotional video is awesome.
These 787's are actually pretty neat. They have a bunch of innovative features that are supposed to make these a more enjoyable to fly in. The body of the 787 is built of composites vs. aluminium making it stronger. This allows Boeing to pressurize the cabin to what you'd experience at 6,000′ instead of the 8,000′ – 10,000′ pressure = much less ear pain and fewer crying babies. Add that they'll maintain a 15% humidity level (not the 4% desert you fly in today) and this should be a much more comfortable method for travel.
[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']The track their using is Story Of The Whistle from Dance Emperor. The track used in the video is slightly different – but I like it just as well. A fun, aerobic climb, Story Of The Whistle taps out around 70RPM and includes a nice, 20 sec soft spot that comes at the 1:40 point. Perfect for asking everyone to re-commit to their efforts!
Click here if you're not seeing the download link.[/wlm_private]
I got an email question this morning that had me frustrated in my lack of organization here.
Hi John,
Am I remembering right that you use a wireless transmitter for your music? With my classes smaller I thought it would be fun to ride along with my riders and would like to be able to still change the music on my iPhone. I am having trouble finding whatever it is you are using. Can you point me at that article?
There's actually a few articles that describe the Bluetooth wireless receiver I use. Better, I thought we should have an easy to find page here at ICI/PRO devoted to our recommended Tools Of The Trade for Indoor Cycling Instructors.
Tools of our Trade!
Productivity – Professionals value their time. Here's how to save some of yours:
Amazon Prime easily saves me six or more hours a month, gallons of gas and removes my tendency toward impulse purchases. How? By preventing me from wasting time running to the store for little things I don't need immediately and then grabbing stuff I don't need. For example; I noticed that after 20 years many of our door stop springs are bent and missing the little rubber end cap. Instead of running to the hardware store to purchase a few one dollar parts, Amazon Prime delivered a bag of ten to my house in two days, for less than the local store and ZERO shipping costs.
ICI/PRO has helped over a thousand Instructors find a simple answer to; What am I going to teach tomorrow? We have over 65 class profiles and hundreds of articles about effectively teaching a fun and effective class based on Heart Rate or Power + there's a reason many of the major brands are connected with ICI/PRO. We deliver quality information. Spend a short time with us and you'll be the expert at your club or studio. Options for Monthly or Annual (saves $$$) membership.
Class Music Playlist Preparation –
At $19.95 the ClassBuilder iPhone App from Cycling Fusion isn't cheep, but it has become the standard tool for Instructors who want their cues displayed at the correct time on their iPhone. Works with either iTunes or Spotify music and includes the option to connect to your video projector or TV to show your class profile.
Schwinn's free iPhone App is limited to iTunes music – which maybe exactly what you use! Add your time based cues and hit play for a well organised class.
Music Counting Tools
The Windows version Tap-To-The-Beat counter isn’t pretty, but I've used it for years – download it here.
Mixed in Key software identifies the musical key of your tracks, creating harmonically mixed playlists that avoid transitions that “clash” musically – wrecking the energy and flow of your playlist. You can learn more about this advanced DJ technique and find full class playlists that we've mixed harmonicallyin this series of posts.
Class Videos
Here's a list of Wide Screen – HD DVDs and digital streaming videos for your indoor cycling class:
Ride-Fit digital downloads of group cycling at three levels of intensity
Many of these videos are structured rides, some are just pretty scenery, all will add a refreshing element of visual entertainment to your class
Deliver Your Class
This $25 Bluetooth receiver will connect your iPhone/Android device wirelessly to your club's sound system. Then you'll have full remote control of your music from anywhere in the room.
Educational Resources
I frequently recommend Cycling Fusion's online Instructor course and their Power Training eBook for Instructors new to teaching with power/watts. The online Instructor training is a great option for an experienced participant who needs a certification to begin teach at their favorite club or studio 🙂
Fixing & Adjusting Stuff – Actual “tools” and parts to keep everything working correctly.
I'm not a fan of using a Goniometer for bike setup, but this one rocks if you want to own one. I prefer to use the simple technique I learned from Schwinn – perfect every time, works in a crowded studio and you don't have to touch anyone.
Our recommended replacement parts supplier is Sportsmith.com
Sportsmith is also the distributor of the Red Pedal Tool that I invented to easily and safely remove the shoe baskets from the Red Schwinn Triple Link Pedals – sorry, this tool won't work with the Spinning Trio pedal.
There's plenty of times when a fun, lighthearted flat is exactly what your participants (and maybe you) need between a pair of threshold efforts. You'll give everyone permission to recover and lighten up, by offering up a noticeable change in the music, from really intense – to free and easy. You won't have to say a word. Let your music dictate everything and watch as riders relax and smile.
I discovered [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']Tori Kelly and her track Unbreakable Smile while I was doing one of my “power sampling” sessions. It's one of the few multitasking activities I find I can do effectively = bouncing between replying to emails and scrolling through to music, listening for the aha moment; “that could work!” Unfortunately, if you're working one of the Top 50 lists you have to wade through a bunch of foul (this crap is popular?) before you find anything of value.
Occasionally you're rewarded by a real gem 🙂
Don't forget to have a “Future to Use” Folder where you can compile these tracks for your next playlist. Up at the top navigation > File > New Playlist Folder to create an unlimited number. I have sub folders, inside the main folder, based on RPM > Unbreakable Smile is tucked into my 90ish RPM folder!
Over the past few weeks there have been some questions on the ICI/Pro website that gave me the idea for this week's post. One question was about music flow and another was asked which comes first, playlist or profile?
To show one way to make music flow I decided to put together a playlist of songs that are all in the same harmonic key, this is technique is called “Harmonic Mixing” and is used by many of the world's top DJ's. I use a software named “Mixed in Key” (http://www.mixedinkey.com) that automatically analyzes all my music files and determines the key and tempo of each song. Mixing harmonically enables you to create smooth transitions between songs and ensure that all songs sound great together. I put this playlist together without any consideration of the profile. I chose popular, high energy, songs and let the Harmonic Mixing create the flow. This is a playlist that can be used with, just about, any interval based profile where the profile, not the music, is the focus.
Next I put together a killer profile using a technique known as “anchoring time and effort”. This is a very simple tactic where riders should be able push higher intensities as interval length gets shorter. Less Time = More Work.
[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']
You can join my TrainerRoad Team at : http://www.trainerroad.com/teams/2484-dennis-mellon-s-indoor-cycling-team
60 minute harmonically mixed track, to download Right Click > Save As / Save Target As to download. Open in iTunes and then you'll see this in your Spotify Local File folder.
This is just one example of how I put together my classes. Other times I try to match the music and profile exactly and let the music dictate the terrain. I would recommend instructors get proficient at both methods. This way you don’t pigeonhole yourself and you keep your participants on their toes. It also keeps things fresh and exciting for you.[/wlm_private]
This is a great climb song- I think we all want to say sometimes, “Give Me All of You!” with the busyness that seems to surround our lives.
This woman doesn't even have a Wikipedia (what????), but she's awesome. A combo of electric dance and etherial voice in my humble opinion. If you know anything about her, please let me know. A concert would be fun![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']
The original of “All of You” by Betty Who is 3:58 and 67 bpms.
Schwinn's 
Missed you guys…too much traveling!