This cute kid found something good – image from http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/09/24/gluten-free-apple-crisp-fall-away-from-tradition/
The posts with more than a couple of comments always catch my attention. It shows a hit on a subject that interests people enough to share their thoughts. I have always considered this forum's primary objective to do just that. Light a fire so-to-speak.
That said, the post on Single Leg Pedal Drills got me thinking. They are a staple of my classes. I teach on both magnetic as well as friction resistance bikes. Like Doug (Yo Doug good to hear from you) I cue the riders to “let one leg go along for the ride.
The term ‘contraindicated' has – over the years — been associated with these drills when the rider has been instructed to ‘unclip'. And I agree though I see the risk as minimal. Even on bikes using MR we have a few ‘bouncers' — those that will just never put the kinds of resistance we instructors are trying cue — and as such are at risk for getting a pedal in the back of their leg. So I just don't do it.
Yet, what I liked most about John's post is that he has come back around to an important issue. It clearly got us talking with our fingers which means — hopefully — we gave it some thought. We don't always need to be finding something new so much as reinforcing something good. And that got me thinking.
As I have moved from beginner to journeyman to experienced to grizzled veteran, I've learned a few things.
Embrace and learn from those that take the time to compliment you/your class. Lately there have been many more of my riders — some regulars some new — that have taken the time after class to come to me with an acknowledgement of well delivered class. “Your best yet” said one just yesterday. The irony was that I'm doing nothing really new. In fact I used a playlist favorite of mine that has been collecting dust in my iPad for a while. When I think about it I've not really put anything new together in quite some time. Oh, I've got a pile of audio podcasts printed out waiting for me to take action. But I believe the truth is that the riders in my regular classes are enjoying my growth as an instructor far more than hearing Katy Perry's new tune. Or another way to climb.
People resist change. We already know we cannot please everyone in class every time. So if you are committed to bringing new everything to your class, every class, you may be setting yourself up for failure. Your regulars have an expectation of what you're going to deliver before they walk into the studio. Try your new stuff out when you sub.
You are who you are. If you have been teaching well attended, prime time classes then it is very likely that your success has more to do with you, than what you play and cue. While I don't recommend getting stale I do strongly urge you to stay true to your style.
I will use John as an example of what I mean. Recently he posted about a technology, Harmonic mixing, that blends tracks of the same musical key. His frustration was that others could put together better mixes than he. Ok, I guess. First, that is his opinion of his playlists and probably not an issue for his riders.
Next, while his integration of harmonic mixing may have a subtle effect (positive or negative) on what the riders hear, John is teaching to full room because he is John. A great smile, always happy to see his riders, has a plan for the workout and best of all, his voice over the mic during his cues are about the best I've heard. Right up there with the late Jim Karanas. Which segues nicely to.
Know your strengths and play to them. Maybe wife Amy and Chris Hawthorne put together mixes that he thinks flow better. Good for them, that is their strength, among many others, 🙂 not his. We all chose to get to the front of the room. On stage is what I call it. So face it, you like the affirmation. What gets you applauds is what your strengths are. If you are a new instructor then you may still be searching for key performance parameters. I use the word performance intentionally because that is what we do. It's not just about the workout but how you deliver it. Your performance.
One last thought on strengths. The best of the best are quite adept at getting their riders attention and holding it. I cannot stress this enough, go watch them. How? Maybe at your club there is the one instructor that ‘packs em in'. Attend conferences. IDEA here on the left coast is dedicated to instructor continuing education. SCW has monthly conferences around the country. Find one near you.
Know when to say when. If you are teaching more than an average of a class a day it will be very difficult to keep the fire burning hot. Motivating ain't easy. If you are teaching your third class of the day it will soon become obvious to your riders that you are not feeling the love. Teaching indoor cycling for living is tough and — in my opinion — not sustainable at pro levels. Unless teaching that many classes is standing between you and the street, consider what your optimum number is per day as well as per week.
Do continuing education. You can always get better. Our craft is one of caring, connecting, nurturing, prodding and sweating. But none of that is possible if you don't base it on sound fundamentals. Indoor cycling is about doing cardio vascular training on an indoor cycle. Knowing as much as you can about training both, will never hurt. Add your personality, a touch of some stuff you picked up from the pros and you've got a winning recipe.
We don't always need to be finding something new, so much as reinforcing something good.
Make sure you add the – spotify:user:__________ part or it doesn't work
She was close to yelling when I walked into the studio. “I'm so excited you came back John!” “I haven't been able to find you on Facebook or Spotify, so I wasn't able to find the playlist you used the last time you were here…”
I subbed last night at the Life Time Fitness corporate HQ club. This participant was there the last time I had covered this class for a friend. I remembered her instantly and how she had approached me after class, asking for the names of two of the tracks I had used. “Are you a Spotify user?” I had asked her. She responded that she was just getting started with Spotify, so I suggested to friend me on facebook and I would show up on her Spotify.
Perfect plan… until she remembered my name as John McCowan and couldn't find me on Facebook 🙁
Which got me to think about an old post I wrote back in 2008. In it, I suggested that Instructors carry and handout a business card (I called it a class promotion card) and showed the card that Amy and printed online. They included our email addresses and class schedules. They worked like a charm, until our classes changed that is.
There are a bunch of websites online where you could quickly create a simple Spotify/Promotional card that you could have available to hand out. I ordered mine through www.vistaprint.com and paid $15.95 with shipping. Because my schedule changes so often, I choose not to include it – but you could easily add yours to the back.
ICI/PRO member Zack, a Cycling Fusion Master Instructor and routine contributor to The Weekly Ride on ICI/PRO, delivers a ride. THIS IS THE COMBINED FILE THAT INCLUDES THE MUSIC AND THE VOICE. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON ITUNES.
“I am very excited to be releasing an audio version with my ride this week. You get to really feel how i intended the song to be felt then. Notice the shorter than usual notes this week to really make you listen to the delivery. As always my rides can suit all riders and ill be sure to highlight that verbally. So listen up and enjoy!” Zack
I love having a full class of students. But first they need to know my class exists. I'm continuously frustrated with how poorly my own club promotes the Indoor Cycling classes we offer. Based on comments offering similar frustrations, I'm guessing that I'm not the only one.
So why not take a few minutes to do a little self-promotion?
The other day a received a request from an ICI/PRO member to join FourSquare, the social media site where you can check in, so other people know where to find you. Like Yelp, FourSquare acts as a search engine to find where there friends are, in the hope to meet up with them. You can also leave and read reviews there. I hadn't spent any time there so I decided to check it out to see what I could do with it to promote my class. At first I thought that only actual businesses could create a listing. Instead I discovered you can create a listing for anything that is an actual place, even if you don't technically own or manage the facility. I saw listings for specific seat rows at a concert, events in a local park and even a listing for a specific airline flight to Europe – maybe they were interested in who they would be sitting next to for eight hours.
In the name field I suggest; Your Name, Time/Date and theKey Words that describe your class.
In the address field; Club Name and address.
Then fill out the other fields – you may want to use the club's phone number.
Click save when completed.
You will then see your new listing. Check that the marker on the map is in the correct place. If it's not you can click and drag it to the proper location.
Now when anyone searches for a Spin class near Minnetonka, MN they will find:
As a long time educator, I’ve learned some lessons that have been very valuable to me as I added ‘Cycling Instructor’ to my resume. One of the things that I’ve learned over my years in education is how much my students and parents appreciate being connected to what’s going on in the classroom. In addition, my students are made to feel like they are a part of a family. Getting to know each and every one of them on a personal level is a goal I have in my classroom each school year. It builds camaraderie and it lets them know that I care. In return, I’m greeted with happy parents and almost 20 beautiful smiling faces every day.
This concept can be translated into your indoor cycling class in several ways. Connecting with your students can be as simple as sending out weekly emails. Or if you’re really ambitious, you can connect by blogging or through your own personal website. Your options are limitless!
How many times has a student come to you after class and asked you , “Now, which days/times do you teach”? Even though it’s surely posted on every wall in the facility. How often do you hear, “Wow, I loved that one song, what was it”? Or “I wish I had known class was cancelled-you added a class-you were subbing for so and so.”
Your students want to know what’s going on, and the easier you make it for them to get that information, the more they are going to appreciate it. In return, you WILL see your class size grow.
If you have a computer and five minutes a week, you’ll be off to a positive start. Here are a few simple ways that you can connect with your students:
Weekly Emails:
Bring a sign up sheet on a clipboard with you to class and ask your students for their email address if they would like to receive updates and important information regarding your class.(Of course let them know that you would never share their information with anyone first.) As new members join and become consistent in your program, they will appreciate the connection, so keep that clipboard in your gym bag at all times. Every so often, make an announcement to see if anyone would be interested in receiving emails. If a member comes to you with a question about your classes or teaching schedule, suggest that they join your email list.
Send out a mass email once a week. In the email give your students information about any closings or cancellations or special classes that you might be teaching that week. Your students will also appreciate the heads up when you’ll be subbing for another instructor or if another instructor will be filling in for you.
If it’s a slow news week in your cycling world, add in a link to a good article about indoor cycling or a funny clip or picture.
If you have your weekly playlists on iTunes or Spotify, add a link so your students can have a listen.
It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but I promise you-your students will appreciate you for it!
Connecting Through Facebook:
Facebook Groups
You can easily create a group through Facebook where members can post, share and ask questions about your indoor cycling program.
Creating a Facebook ‘Group’ is really pretty simple. If you have a Facebook account, click on ‘Groups’ under the ‘Applications’ menu on the left side of your home page. Enter your group information and invite members from a list of your Facebook friends.
You have the option of keeping your group private or open to the public. Facebook members that are not already your ‘friends’ can search your group and request to be added to it.
You can customize who can post on your group page, but it’s fun to keep it open for all group members to post.
You can add photos and links to your Facebook groups. This is a good place to post your cycling playlists for your students to view.
Facebook Pages
A Facebook ‘Page’ differs from a Facebook ‘Group’ in that it allows only the page administrator (you) to post. It is open to the public and anyone that ‘Likes’ your page can see your updates on their newsfeed. It is not as interactive as a ‘Group’, but still a great way to get information to your students. Page administrators (you) can also track your page’s activity.
To create a Facebook ‘Page’: Go to this link which will take you to the Facebook page wizard. It will lead you through the steps and you will have your very own page in no time! You can view my Facebook page here.
If you’re feeling ambitious, here are a few other ideas for staying connected:
Of course you could always create your own blog or website. I originally created my blog, Chrispins, with my students in mind. And while they still check it out, it has really blossomed into place where I communicate with other instructors around the globe.
If you’ve never checked out FitGuru, it is a good (free!) tool for communication with your students as well. It takes a little bit of time to set up, but once you have it rolling, it is quick and easy to maintain your site. It allows you to easily email all of your members with the click of a button and you can post your teaching schedule there along with important news.
If you are not already connecting with your students in some way, give one of these ideas a try and see the difference it can make in your classes.
How do you communicate with your students? Are you already using some of these methods or do you use a method that I did not mention?
If you are interested in improving your class numbers or making your studio more profitable, I feel Chef Ramsay could help a lot… let me explain.
On the remote chance you have never seen his TV show (he must have over a dozen to date) Chef Gordon Ramsay is a very successful and very foul mouthed Celebrity Chef who makes his on-screen living criticizing other Cooks, Chefs and Restaurant owners. He's also very successful restaurant owner in real life. I'm certain that the producers of any show he appears need to hire an extra hand, who's sole job is to hit the “Bleep” button until their index finger is bloodied and bruised.
And yet his shows are very popular and have been for years. I have to say I find Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (either the BBC or US versions) very entertaining once you understand his objective for each episode of the show; saving a troubled or near bankrupted restaurant from failure through brutal honesty. NOTE: The BBC versions are a little lot more foul than those produce for the US markets. Language Warning on the video below
Each episode of Nightmares follows the similar ebb and flow of most any dramatic TV show or movie for that matter:
Intro: Chef Ramsay is called in save some floundering restaurant and his first action is to sit and be served as a normal customer. Inevitably he finds his meal un-editable which sets the stage for…
Initial Confrontation: Ramasy confronts the Owner, the Chef, wait staff and anyone else he can find over the poor quality of the food + (take your pick) the service, decor, prices, etc… His next step is…
Observation: “Let's see this F*&#&^% place in action” has Ramsey observing the operation of the kitchen and dining room service to get an understanding of where the problems lie. This tends to be one of my favorite parts of the show, especially when he finds rotting food in some dark, walk in freezer.
Candid summation of the problem: Like many reality shows, Ramsey appears outside the restaurant and speaks directly to the camera, offering what is clearly visible to all of us watching… “The place is all F$%#@& up” delivered with a very sullen expression and a less than an optimistic appraisal of his chances for turning the business around.
After watching a half dozen or so shows, it's obvious that the problems the restaurant is experiencing fall into one these general catagories:
Owner/Chef Un-Professional Arrogance – “I serve my customers what I want to serve them.”
Owner denial – “problem? I don't have any problems…” as he or she stands in an empty dining room at half past 12:00.
Lack of business / managerial experience – being a good Chef doesn't make you a good business person.
Not truly understanding and then delivering what customers want – typically based on what can only be described as willful ignorance
Proposed Solution: Here Ramsey lays out his proposed solution. It maybe a new menu or cooking method that he feels will address the problems that he sees. In most episodes everyone seems to agree, which sets up the…
Second Confrontation: Whether by design, or simply human nature, someone refuses to go along with the suggested changes. This is by far my favorite part, but it typically includes a lot of Bleeping. Here Ramsay gets to the real reason for most, if not all, of the what's causing the trouble in this business. Time and time again, what Ramsey has to shout, swear and yell his way past is the defensiveness of the person who needs to give up the excuses, swallow their pride and accept responsibility for the current state of the restaurant.
Acceptance of the Solution: After Ramsey has successfully broken down the walls of; arrogance, insecurity, stubbornness, etc… that are ruining the business, everyone is finally on-board with his new changes.
With the new menu and other changes in place, Ramsey stages an event to “Re-Brand” the restaurant to the community. This is crucial to a profitable future, as the success of any local business is word of mouth! There's a very good reason no one is eating there and bold action is needed to inform past customers that there have been substantial changes. “Please try us again!”
Rebirth of optimism: It worked! The atmosphere in the restaurant is buoyed by a now full dining room of happy customers and a till full of money. Better days are ahead as Ramsey makes one final statement to the camera before walking off to save another restaurant.
Happy (sometimes) Ending: Much like a recovering alcoholic who's fallen off the wagon, the strong personality of an entrepreneur is difficult to change and then maintain, without slipping back into old habits. This sets up a whole other series of shows where Ramsey returns to steer the business back on course yet again.
It took me a while to understand why I (and obviously quite a few others) like Chef Ramsay. Despite his foul mouth, abrasive personality and endless arrogance he demonstrates a refreshing belief in the capability of the people he's trying to help. Every expletive laced criticism, accusation or heated confrontation he delivers is based on his honest belief that the recipient can do better.
By now, I'm guessing that you have figured out where I see a potential similarly between a struggling restaurant on Kitchen Nightmares and a class or studio with consistently low attendance. Winter is coming for many of us and your chance to Re-Brand your class if necessary is right now! If you are frequently looking out over a room with empty cycles, can I suggest that you watch a few episodes? Chef Ramsay doesn't just show up by accident, someone sent out a request for his help. Pay attention to the disconnect between the reality of the situation and the early behavior of the business owner. And then decide if any of this could apply to your situation.
I'm going to follow this up with a few ideas on how you could find your own version of a “Chef Ramsay” next week.
ICI/PRO member Zack, a Cycling Fusion Master Instructor and routine contributor to The Weekly Ride on ICI/PRO, delivers a ride. THIS IS THE COMBINED FILE THAT INCLUDES THE MUSIC AND THE VOICE. IT IS NOT AVAILABLE ON ITUNES.
