I see a big part of growth (both personal and professional) is being willing to take risks in your life. When I first started the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast there were probably a hundred reasons why it was a bad idea… but I chose to ignore them.
A little over 60% of ICI/PRO members are women. Does it make sense to include content here that only applies to them?
As an experiment Amy has written an article about another passion in her life. It's one that she feels is very applicable to the presentation skills she needs to teach an engaging and effective Indoor Cycling Class.
Let me know.
John
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“Do you really wear lipstick when you teach?”
Amy's alter-ego as a Lancôme makeup artist
My answer to that question is yes.
Always.
There are a number of reasons why, but it truly started years ago when a member asked me, “are you feeling okay?” I felt great… but apparently didn’t look it 🙁
After class, I looked in the mirror and tried to be objective. What had she seen that would cause her to ask me that? There staring back at me was a harried mom of two young children who had rushed out of the house with her hair scraped back in a ponytail and not a stitch of make-up on, in the dead of a MN winter. I looked rather, well, cadaver”ish” if I do say so myself. It wasn't the face of an instructor who looked well prepared for her class, even though I really was – having spent hours the night before putting my ride and play list together. It was then and there that I decided I wanted to look as well prepared for my classes as I actually was.
Flash forward a few years…my kids are now 20 and almost 17. I still love teaching and I also love my job as a make-up artist. My passion for helping women use make-up to enhance their natural beauty may have started that fateful day at the gym. I do not go into class in full make-up artist regalia. But I do take just a couple minutes to apply a bit of mineral foundation- it is long wearing and water (read sweat) resistant, a little bronzer and blush (remember, I live in MN and am MN pale) and some relatively tame lipstick. I stay away from the “Burlesque reds” while teaching. I also make sure to put lotion on my Minnesota dry – flakey legs. That’s all I do.
Then I feel ready to teach.
I was in a training session a long time ago that described teaching as being “on stage”. I couldn’t agree more. This little make-up regimen prepares me for my own “on stage” time. I think of it as putting my best “work-out” face forward. We are in front of people, usually with some sort of lighting on us at some point during the class and a darkened room. Actors/actresses would not think of going on stage without make-up. I wouldn’t either anymore. I feel more confident with a minimal amount of make-up on and it helps me communicate the fact that I am well prepared, inside and out.
John and I had the opportunity to take a Saturday cycle class at the Scottsdale Life Time Fitness this past weekend. I always learn so much when I take another instructor's class and this was no exception. It was a super high energy class with a very interesting playlist- consisting of YouTube videos…David Bowie (one of John's favorites), Pat Benatar, Poison, Brittney Spears, Usher, you name it. What a great idea! I also picked up some great cueing verbage along the way.
But what really hit me came after class was over. We liked the class, and the instructor, so much that we wanted to talk with her when it was over and possibly interview her for ICI/PRO (we haven't been turned down yet!) She was busy talking with people after class and had others waiting, so we (along with two members) just hung out and waited….and waited….and waited…you get the picture. The two members left and then finally we did to when we saw she wasn't going to disengaged herself from the original people she was talking to.
The “take away” from this is that we need to be very aware of who is waiting to talk with us after class and manage our time so that we can acknowledge each of them. We never know what opportunities await!
Everyone listened to squeak – squeak – squeak, from one person in the front row, for the entire two hour endurance ride Amy and I taught on New Year's day. I knew exactly what was causing it and it was everything I could do not to go down and ask this person to leave. It was driving me crazy!
The culprit; worn Look cleats 🙁
After class I explained to him that the trouble was his cleats were worn out. I asked that he replace them before the next class. His response was that he thought it was something with the bike. I told him how I have used Look pedals for years and the squeak they make when worn out was unmistakable.
“I'll spray them with something… so they don't make noise.”
While this sounds like a reasonable solution, I advised him against it telling him it's a real safety issue. You never want to spray a lubricant on Look cleats because:
They release very unpredictably, often with only a small percentage of the twisting force needed when “dry”
Hardwood floors and slippery shoes don't mix 🙁
They need to be replaced, so why delay the inevitable?
While I'm on the subject: when was the last time someone tested and adjusted the release tension on the bikes in your studio? SPD cleats, while not having the wear issues of Look cleats, still need to be checked for the proper release tension. I have found that the easiest way to do this is to take a shoe with new cleats and, holding the shoe with your hand, test that they engage and release with a reasonable amount of effort. Try it on a few and you will quickly learn what feels right.
It just may prevent an injury during one of your big sprint finishes!
One last thing … for years clubs using the Schwinn Triple Link pedals (the Red Pedals with the removable shoe baskets) purposely set the release tension very low. This was so Instructors could remove shoe baskets without hurting themselves but in the process created a potential safety hazard. Now that my Red Pedal Tool for Schwinn Triple Link Pedals is available there is no reason not to set these pedals correctly.
I found that SportSmith.com has the best pricing on indoor cycling bike replacement Schwinn Triple link Pedals
We had a near disaster at this years conference that could have been easily prevented. Without using any names, one of our scheduled presenters contacted us three days before the conference to tell us her computer's hard-drive failed and she lost her presentation power-point + everything everything else on her computer. The last time she had backed up her computer was many weeks before the failure and now she was looking at $500.00 or more to have a service “recover” as much data as possible. She had to literally reconstruct her entire presentation using her handout.
Had she subscribed to an automatic backup service like Carbonite this would have been a minor inconvenience, instead of a major panic.
I talked about this during my presentation on using iTunes and explained how I had a similar hard-drive failure last year. Because I use Carbonite, I was able to purchase a new hard-drive locally (about $70.00) and with a few clicks restored everything in just a few hours. I lost nothing.
Did I mention she uses a Mac? She could have easily borrowed someones computer, downloaded the files she needed and be ready to present in about 5 minutes.
Don't be foolish. It's less than $5.00 a month. Sign-up now.
Not ANGRY like; “I want to punch your lights out!” More like; “there comes a time where you want to turn the pedals with anger.” I like to use songs that communicate this type of intensity in my class when I'm looking for a very focused, very determined effort.
Here is a good example of what I mean:
Do you have other suggestions? Leave them as a comment so we can build a list for others to use.
We had a near disaster at this years conference that could have been easily prevented. Without using any names, one of our scheduled presenters contacted us three days before the conference to tell us her computer's hard-drive failed and she lost her presentation power-point + everything everything else on her computer. The last time she had backed up her computer was many weeks before the failure and now she was looking at $500.00 or more to have a service “recover” as much data as possible. She had to literally reconstruct her entire presentation using her handout.
