“There must be something wrong with this bike… my wattage doesn't match what I normally see on my road bike with a PowerTap. 🙁
A common complaint that many of us are hearing, now that our clubs are offering power meters.
The answer could be as simple as; “it's because our Indoor Cycles have a different saddle than your road bike.”
Now I'm not saying that that's the only reason for the discrepancy. There are multiple factors that affect how you produce power and what ultimately gets displayed by the console. A few months ago I wouldn't have believed you, if you tried to convince me that (beyond the level of comfort you feel) a bike's saddle design could add or subtract to the power I could create.
I believe it now.
Back in March I had a professional bike fitting on my new VeloVie with none other than the Bike Fit Guru Chris Balser. I figured that I had a few dollars left because of the incredible deal I got and, with one kid graduating for college this Friday, why the heck not?
I was a bit naive about what all was entailed in a 2 hour fitting. I thought Chris would be super focused on getting my seat height exactly right, maybe futz with the tilt of the handlebars. Stuff like that. Nope. For close to an hour we tried out different saddles, 11 in total. That's right, Chris had me ride on a trainer, trying 11 different saddles, to find the perfect saddle that (his words) your ass can find easily. Here's what we finally decided on… a Fizik Kurve.
Impossible to tell just by looking at it – my butt knows where it belongs.
What we were looking for was more than a comfortable place to sit my butt. Actually comfortability was third on Chris' list of criteria for a saddle. The first was; “can your ass find it?” and second was; “how much power do you make with it?”
Both the “find it” and “power” go hand in hand. I've forgotten which number (of the 11 saddles) this Fizik was, but I knew the instant I sat on it… or better said, my butt knew the second it sat down. It just felt right and I wasn't sitting on it, I was kind of in it. That's when I understood what Chris was talking about when he kept saying find it. There wasn't any question where on the saddle I was supposed to sit, I just sat down and I was right where I was supposed to be. No working my way a little forward or backwards. I just sat down.
Once my butt found its home I made more power! The trainer I was riding was connected to a power meter that displayed both my left and right leg's power, on a flat screen hanging in front of me. I was pedaling an easy gear at 90 rpm and making around 40 watts. Each saddle change I road in the same gear/cadence. Chris was watching me to see how stable I was and the balance of power between each of my legs.
The differences we saw were considerable, as much as a 20% or more variance left to right. Once I was sitting on the correct saddle for me I was able to maintain a nice even flow of power with my butt happy that it found its place.
Everything that can be changed or adjusted on my bicycle affected my power. Stem length, handle bar height, saddle tilt, height & fore/aft and cleat settings all made a difference that could be observed. Some were positive and some negative. Chris explained how our bodies adapt to the settings on our bikes. Some changes, that could be ultimately be helpful, often require time as our muscles and the nerves that control them adjust to the new settings. During this adjustment period you could/will appear less powerful.
So it stands to reason that hopping off the bicycle you're ridden for thousands of miles and on to any of the Indoor Cycles with power, you'll see a difference in wattage. The tendency is to blame the accuracy of the power meter – now I understand that there are mutiple other reasons.
A fitting with the Bike Fit Guru is actually split between two days, with a couple of hundred miles in between. Getting those miles has been a challenge with the miserable weather we've had this spring. Part two of my fitting is set for June 10th and I'll be doing a full report on everything I've learned about the correlation between bike fit and power production.
Team ICG Master Trainer Missy Crosson contributes our latest Audio PROfile – Rolling to the Classics.
Profile Description: I created this profile with the sole purpose of letting the music itself create the ride. I wanted the songs themselves to control intensity, cadence, movement motivation, and even position on the bike. Music has a powerful effect on an individuals’ exercise experience. It distracts from discomfort, enhances ones mood, increases ability to endure physical and psychological stress, and may even promote metabolic efficiency.
Last month, a participant in the weight management program for which I’m the nutritionist asked me about cottonseed oil. He was confused because the statements he found were strongly divided between positive and negative. It occurred to me that you might have students who wonder about it, too, so it could be worthwhile to post some information on health factors around cottonseed oil.
Based on the research I was able to do in the time I had available to look into it, I can tell you that the positive comments about cottonseed oil come primarily from companies that make or distribute it. The other sources tend to rate it negatively.
The drawbacks of cottonseed oil appear to fall in different categories. One drawback is its saturated fat component. While other saturated fats have some “redeeming” health value — organic coconut oil and butter, for example, both contain a healthful fat called lauric acid — cottonseed oil has no similarly redeeming nutritional value.
Another drawback involves the pesticides cottonseed oil is likely to contain. They’re there because pesticides are used in the growing of cotton, and regulations for cotton crops differ from those for food crops.
There’s also the fact that, in most cases, cotton crops are genetically modified (GMO). As many of you know, considerable bad news surrounds GMO products, especially when they're eaten, but maybe that’s a post for another week. Suffice it to say that GMO farming is an experiment for which we’re the subjects, and the long-term effects are not yet known. Many countries refuse to sell GMO foods, but the U.S. hasn’t gone in that protective direction.
Because it’s inexpensive, cottonseed oil is used in many products: potato chips, Crisco shortening, cereals, mayonnaise, salad dressings, baked goods, cake frostings, margarine, snack foods, sauces, and the like. The fact that most of these products are on the junky side could be considered another drawback of the oil.
Finally, cottonseed oil is high in omega-6 fats, as well as in saturated fat. Omega-6s have been getting plenty of bad press for the past several years, but, in and of themselves, aren't necessarily bad. However, the products that contain cottonseed oil tend to be highly insulin-triggering, and cottonseed oil would be, as well, since it contains saturated fat, which triggers insulin.
Insulin can affect the body’s enzymes that process the cottonseed oil-containing foods. That in turn could accelerate the formation of series 2 prostaglandins, as described in a previous post. Series 2 prostaglandins are associated with inflammation and other negative health effects. So that’s when and how omega-6 fats become harmful.
Based on these factors, I’d suggest taking a cynical view of the positive reviews of cottonseed oil, as they represent vested interests. Limit foods that contain cottonseed oil whenever possible and advise your students to do the same.
Now I'm not talking about lying to you in a malicious/manipulative way, I have this awesome bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you really cheap – or – she's a real peach, only driven to church and back by the gentlest 80 year old grandmother you've ever met.
What I'm talking about is how people will/do lie to you… if they think telling you the truth could or would hurt your feelings.
Friends can be the worst. And I count a lot of long time members at our club, as friends.
“The truth is always an insult or a joke, lies are generally tastier. We love them. The nature of lies is to please. Truth has no concern for anyones comfort” – Arturo Binewski.”
― Katherine Dunn
Here's a recent example.
Two weeks ago I took over a class for another Instructor. 6:00 am Thursday mornings. The previous Instructor is very solid and she teaches a cycling specific class – I've taken and subbed it multiple times, so I was a good choice to take over her class. Everyone there knows me by name and most I've known for years.
The first week was Spring break = only about 1/2 the normal attendance. It was an endurance day and I thought; “why not run them though some Effortless Exercise intervals?” I lead everyone through a series of ladders where the challenge was to keep your mouth closed (staying aerobic) – while maximising power output. I had them experimenting with different cadences to observe where they each were most efficient.
After class I asked a few participants their thoughts (I try to always ask for questions/comments) and each was positive. But as it turned out, they were lying to me 🙁
This past week was an ugly snowstorm, so again a small class. Wanting to build on the theme we did a bunch of climbing, but stayed down around VT1 = aerobic. I needed to get on the road quickly that morning, so I didn't hang around very long.
Walking to to Amy's class Saturday morning, a member approached me with; “John, you've really got to step it up!” And she proceeded to tell me how such and such's class on Tuesday is really hard and how a number of other members were disappointed by how “easy” my class was.
Finally someone willing to tell me the truth!
I can do hard and these members know it. In fact I'll bet I disappointed most of them. Beyond their (misguided) belief that a hard class always equals a good class, my reputation is that John teaches hard classes. When I didn't meet their “expectations” for hard, they probably felt cheated at some level.
In Krista Leopold's Dear Instructor post, she shared the honest disappointment of Patrick, a frustrated member. He had an expectation that wasn't met that was based on his perspective; the scheduled Instructor is totally capable of coming come to class prepared. I found the very specific honesty refreshing and I'm hoping that this Instructor will appreciate Patrick. He could very well be the only participant in his class that believes enough in him, to tell him the truth.
As a think back through this, I'm realizing that my mistake was not considering that these members would have an expectation based on their previous experiences with me and my class. I had walked in thinking; “these folks need aerobic base training… so that's what I'm going to give them.” When I should have thought; “these folks are probably thinking I'm going to walk in and crush them… so I need to meet that expectation first and then slowly work in the base training I feel they need.” As I type this I'm also realizing that ME, deciding what THEY need, was about ME and not THEM 🙁
This week I'm planning a class that will bracket a long aerobic climb, with two very long/intense FTPish intervals. I'm also going to have everyone fill out this Instructor Evaluation Form that Dr. Haley Perlus had created for us for us a while back.
Do any of your students struggle with motivation? Have any of them missed classes, perhaps several in a row, because they “just didn’t feel motivated”? For a number of years, I’ve been an instructor/nutritionist for a weight-management program that includes indoor cycling. Motivation has often been an issue.
Which comes first — motivation or results? My immediate response to that question was “motivation.” How can you get results if you’re not motivated to do anything?
Still, in another life, I had the fitness job of showing people how to use the equipment, getting their health histories, and starting them on programs. Some came in excited, but others were resigned: “My doctor said I need to exercise to lower my blood pressure.” “My wife told me I have to join the club and lose weight.” Some even seemed resentful that they “had to” be there.
So, clearly, fitness programs don’t all start with motivation. Once these new members started to lose a little weight, though, feel more energetic, sleep better, get a few compliments, that’s when they didn’t want to miss a day. That’s when they put cross-trainers in the trunk because it messed up their plans when they forgot them one evening. That’s when they began scheduling activities around their workouts instead of the reverse.
Apparently, for some people, results precede motivation.
This brings up another question. What’s motivation? Several years ago, in the same weight-management program, we had a behavioral psychologist on staff, who defined motivation in terms of excitement. He’d ask participants if they were still motivated, still excited, as if those were one and the same.
Are they? I feel sure the readers of ICI-PRO are highly motivated. Do you jump out of bed every morning, gleefully anticipating the class you’ll soon be teaching, or your own workout, whatever it may be? Or every single ride? I imagine many of us feel excitement on something of a sliding scale.
The early A.M. gym crowd tends to be quite consistent. As I worked with a client one morning, a man who’s at the gym most days approached us to say hello and added, “I really didn’t want to be here today, but I told myself, ‘Gotta do it.’” It was exactly what my client needed to hear; he usually dragged in, complaining about lack of motivation.
So back to the question of what motivation is. Is it enthusiasm? On any given morning, many consistent exercisers probably feel much the same way as the man who got himself to the club with, “Gotta do it.”
What can we do to help students who struggle to stay motivated? I suggest we start by telling them to accept their love-it/hate-it feelings about the workout. One day, your class will be their favorite thing to do all day. The next, they’ll hate it — and you for being the Cycling Nazi. Embrace the dichotomy.
A Book Of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi holds one (rather esoteric) key. The way of the warrior is death. In a life or death situation, the warrior chooses death, accepts and embodies it so there’s no fear, no desire to back away. Jim Karanas — NO surprise — trained this way for a 24-hour rowing event. Substituting pain for death, he embraced the pain and actually sought it out, rather than trying to avoid or lessen it.
Why not apply this to cycling classes? Accept, embrace and seek out all of the frustrations: discomfort, tedium, sleep deprivation, inconvenience, and more.
Mark Twain said, “Make it a point to do something every day that you don’t want to do.” He claimed it led to the habit of doing one’s duty without pain. I see it as the warrior’s way — saying yes, rather than no, to the pain. Do something each day that you don’t want to do simply to stay on the warrior’s path, to move through and past those who think there’s something wrong with feeling the pain in the first place.
Tell students it’s okay to come in with scowling faces. No matter how much they didn’t want to be there at first, they’ll almost always be glad they showed up.
I’ve pushed through workouts, competitions and stage performances despite injuries, fatigue, boredom, lack of prep time, or simple lack of desire. My decades as a fitness pro have taught me that anyone who wonders why someone would do something unpleasant won’t adhere to a fitness program for any length of time.
Help your students redefine motivation. I read somewhere that a key to happiness is to learn to recognize a neutral state as happiness. The same can be said for motivation — it’s not necessarily enthusiasm, let alone excitement.
Sometimes motivation is nothing more than planning, then getting where you have to be to do what you need to do, so you can get the results you say you want … pushing through obstacles, pain and discouragement, all the way to the goal.
You could call it the dark side of joy.
“Forget about likes and dislikes; they are of no consequence.
Just do what must be done. This may not be happiness, but it is greatness.”
— George Bernard Shaw
IHRSA 2013 demonstrated a major increase in club owners’ interest in virtual indoor cycling classes — rides led by a virtual coach or voice-over using Forward Motion Video (FMV). No instructor present. It was apparent at the IHRSA Trade Show that many club owners are now considering technology-based workouts.
Fitness companies have picked up on the benefits of virtual indoor cycling, chronicled by ICG in past posts. Some companies are investing millions of dollars in creating compelling content, geared to presenting a virtual experience that competes with live instruction. And an increasing number of clubs are realizing the economic benefit of offering and marketing virtual classes. These clubs range from budget clubs that have no intention of hiring instructors to major chains that support strong instructor programs.
Les Mills International (LMI) announced the launch of LES MILLSâ„¢ VIRTUAL at this IHRSA convention. LMI virtual workouts are based on master class content and demonstrated by their top instructors. These workouts will include virtual RPM classes, their brand of indoor cycling. Their filming and editing techniques are Hollywood quality. They have invested a great deal of money in making virtual classes that replicate the actual experience and energy of the master classes they present to their instructors all over the world.
The importance of LMI’s decision to provide virtual classes should not be overlooked. With their move to virtual and the high quality of their production, LMI, the industry leader in group-fitness programming, is indicating a shift in the industry’s acceptance of virtual classes.
Could virtual change the nature and economics of the fitness industry? The technology is fairly simple and getting better and cheaper. The content is improving. And the problems around maintaining an instructor staff are legendary. Ask any Program Manager: training instructors; making sure they stay current, show up on time, and fill out their timesheets properly; and much more. Virtual classes might just work in a major way.
So, speaking as an instructor, what are my options? If I support the use of virtual classes, and they keep improving, I could lose my job to a video of an instructor who’s much better than I am. If I don’t support it, my club owner may think that I’m not staying current in the industry, or that I have only my personal interests in mind. The owner may let me go, thinking I was the kind of instructor he/she wanted to get rid of, anyway. If I do nothing, I may suddenly be faced with a large screen and projector in the cycling studio and told to promote virtual rides to my students. Worse, I may be told that the club is scaling back its instructor-led classes because virtual is the future.
Here are the facts. Club owners see virtual classes as: a cost-effective way to boost class capacity and use the cycling studio at off-peak times; a way for members to fit classes into their busy schedules; a great way to introduce more people to group fitness and grow overall attendance; an effective marketing tool for enticing member prospects to join; a trend that’s here to stay.
To be proactive, I need to keep my instruction better than a virtual class. What can I do that video cannot?
1. I can learn people’s names and compliment them daily.
2. I can introduce them to others in the class and create a sense of camaraderie and group effort.
3. I can change my workouts and music for every class. (Some virtual programs are currently able to do this, but there’s likely to be greater repetition.)
4. I can get off my bike and provide individual coaching during class, as needed by the students.
5. I can improve my skills as an instructor, class leader, cyclist and dedicated employee so that, no matter who’s on the video, my abilities deliver a better class experience.
Having been a Program Director for over 30 years, I know that everything on the list above has been told to instructors in countless ways without large-scale success. The five items make you not only a better instructor, but also a better employee.
The industry is changing. I encourage everyone who is resistant to technology to change quickly. Invest in learning to teach with FMV, power, an iPod, or Spotify. Accept, even welcome, the advent of virtual classes.
Most importantly, do everything you can do to remind the industry that what makes group training most enjoyable is the social atmosphere and human connection that only you, the instructor, can create.
