“the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one”.
Trekkies (fans of the old Star Trek franchise) will instantly recognize this quote from Spock, which to many of us makes perfect sense; the needs of the majority of our students should outway the needs of a single individual.
And yet applying Spock's logic in our classes can become quite difficult, if not impossible for many of us.
Many of us have experienced a situation where one person is disruptive in class or acts in a way that requires us to focus on them, at the expense of everyone else.
In his Monday post, Chuck Cali relates a problem he had with his new power program:
In the second class, a 73-year-old woman in Birkenstocks walked in after class had started. She’d heard cycling might good for her and demanded to be shown how. With the CEO looking on, and everyone else looking impatient, I set her up. She disliked cycling and left, wasting almost 15 minutes. Such a disruption to this sort of class is catastrophic.
It's like watching a slow moving train wreck and we've all been there. Powerless (forgive the pun) to prevent what all of us with any experience knows will happen next – this one person will, in some way, negativity affect the entire class.
The answer is NO. As in; “I'm sorry, but for your safety and out of respect for everyone who was here on time, we don't allow people into class after it has begun.” “If you'd like to come back in an hour, or come in ten minutes before the next class, I will be happy to get you set up.” And then you physically turn your body (and attention) back to the class.
Saying NO is hard for all of us. Nobody likes to hear NO. For some of us it's almost impossible to turn someone away or ask that they stop whatever they are doing that causes you to feel you need to focus on them, instead of everyone else.
Ignoring the needs of the manycan does limit the effectiveness of your class and diminishes your rapport and/or authority with your students. I'm using “authority” here to mean your perceived role as a leader and a fitness expert.
What got me motivated to post this was a question I received ICI/PRO member Pat Williams.
Hello John,
Hope you are doing well. Thanks for all your hard work with Indoor Cycling. Our gym is in the process of moving and maybe purchasing some new bikes. We currently have 18 Star Trac NXT bikes and they have served our group well. Trying to stay with current trends, I am interested in bikes that could provide more objective information i.e. power, heart rate, speed, and distance ridden. I know that you are currently riding Free Motion bikes that provide this information. If you were in charge of the world, what bikes would you recommend and what are the pros and cons of your choice? I know there are many choices that are out there. Thanks for your help.
Whenever I'm asked for my opinion about what road bike someone new to outdoor cycling should buy, my answer is always; “you want to purchase the bike that you'll ride… not the one that will collect dust hanging in your garage”.
My objective is to identify whether or not they are willing to commit to the changes in their lives, necessary to becoming a cyclist… or are they simply just in love with the idea of being a cyclist?
The same is true with clubs excited to purchase new Indoor Cycles that include Power indication.
No manufacture makes a bad Indoor Cycle with Power. They're all different and all have their strong and weak points. If you spend any time over at Pedal-On you've maybe read some of the never-ending debates over the fine points of which cycle is better.
Do I have a preference? Sure I do. I have experience riding and teaching on most of them. If Pat and I talked and I learned more about his club's specific needs, I could probable help him narrow his choice down to one or two. But any of the currently available Indoor Cycles; CycleOps 300, FreeMotion s11.9, Keiser M3 or Schwinn AC would be a good choice for Pat's club.
But none of them will guarantee a successful power based program.
I'm hearing, seeing and experiencing studios (like Chuck's) who were in love with offering Power to their students. But unfortunately not all of them are willing to make the commitment to Instructor training and class formatting / programming needed to develop truly effective power based program.
One major barrier to success is an inability to say “NO” to some of their students.
This isn't a new problem.
IMO – the failure of a majority of of clubs to implement effective Zone based Heart Rate training classes in large part goes to a reluctance to say NO to students who aren't interested in wearing a monitor. Instructors feel compelled to teach to the lowest common denominator (the few without a monitor) which effectively waters down the HR Zone class content until many of us have given up on HR training completely. Power based classes aren't any different.
Because Power is so new, I see all of us in a unique position to make the changes needed to establish effective Power based classes. I'm not deluded into thinking I have all the answers, but here are a few ideas that I'd like to see discussed in the future:
Clearly separate Power Training classes from Generic Indoor Cycling classes on the schedule.
Teach these Power Training classes to the many, saying NO to the random drop-in student – after first explaining that our club offers…
Regularly scheduled Introduction to Power classes where students can learn all about Power and can learn their FTP based training zones.
Establish a policy that no one can enter class after it has begun and install signs communicating this on the studio doors.
Learn from your failures and maybe you'll run on water like these guys.
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Chuck Cali
The standard ‘spin’ class was my comfort zone. I got my energy from my music. My riders got their energy from the music and from me — classic rock, high-energy pop and me, coaching in classic Vince Lombardi style. My classes got good reviews, but, mostly, I was subbing. I wanted my own class.
Opportunity presented itself. My first break from my comfort zone was teaching power. I sold the idea to management, buried myself in preparation, bought the wall charts, put together a training plan and playlists, and printed cards for recording baseline numbers. I practiced.
The program flopped. They thanked me and replaced me, but what I learned was invaluable.
What happened? First, the management of the new facility was not ready for Indoor Cycling 2.0. Second, my desire to have my own class was so powerful that I agreed to anything. Big mistake.
When I pitched the power program, I erroneously believed that anyone with the title Group Exercise Director would understand what it meant to use power as the fundamental training metric. (It’s an Indoor Cycling 2.0 concept.)
My pitch was to open the studio to outdoor riders, many of whom would be non-members. In the bike shops within five miles of the studio, I would advertise a small-group, fee-based program that ran twice a week for 10 weeks and offered a bike, an education, and a shower.
Instead, I slammed head-on into the culture of indoor cycling. (I will cover the “culture of indoor cycling” in a future post.) I was told I could teach power but had to keep it open to all members and only members, with no fee. I agreed.
Crash and burn. Imagine the nightmare of explaining power principles to a group with diverse, even random, skills. Halfway through, anyone who had ever ridden outdoors — or actually understood training with a plan — was gone. I had lost those I most wanted to reach. And my credibility was quickly eroding. All management saw were dwindling numbers.
Worse, the CEO and his lieutenants attended the first few classes. In the second class, a 73-year-old woman in Birkenstocks walked in after class had started. She’d heard cycling might good for her and demanded to be shown how. With the CEO looking on, and everyone else looking impatient, I set her up. She disliked cycling and left, wasting almost 15 minutes. Such a disruption to this sort of class is catastrophic.
The only alternative was to abandon power training (save for a few power comments here and there) for a more standard cycle class. At the end of ten weeks, management wanted to go in a different direction. With a different instructor.
What did I learn?
LESSON 1. Don’t let passion overrule common sense. I agreed to a policy (members only, first-timers welcome) that doomed the program before it started. If outside requirements conflict with, and compromise, a successful outcome, don’t proceed. That’s lose/lose.
LESSON 2. Don’t over-rate your skills. My basic error was thinking that every participant had read the class description and understood it. When that turned out not to be the case, I was unprepared (read inexperienced) to deal with it. This is about improving your craft.
LESSON 3. Don’t forget Chuck’s Rule: Connect With Your Riders. Because this was an open program, every class was an exercise in getting the regulars on their way, while doing bike fits and explaining power training to first-timers. “Frustrating” can’t begin to describe it. I had wanted to get a lot done. But it’s not about me; it’s about them. If I had connected, we could all have had a good laugh, queued up Def Leppard, and poured some sugar on it. So connect — and don’t lose your sense of humor.
LESSON 4. Once you know something you didn’t know, use it. I kept subbing. Many studios had bikes with power. Using my experience, I integrated power (in small steps) into my classes, tested stuff here and there, and learned. Subbing is a great way to try stuff — there’s little to lose and much to gain.
Since then, I’ve gotten involved with some excellent programs and presented to the best public speakers in our industry. Not only have I acquired valuable new skills, I’ve learned how to deliver the message. With team ICG®, for example, I have to lead rides at conferences like IHRSA and IDEA. I did an epic closing ride at IDEA this year.
Today, I’m back at the studio that canned me, teaching two of my own classes for the past two years. They’re almost always full. I incorporate power in my “regular” classes and teach cycling-specific power training only under controlled conditions.
After Tiger Woods’s best seasons, some people didn’t understand why he’d rebuild his golf swing to improve his craft. How could it get any better? Well, neither he nor we can know how much better things can get without making the effort.
Permit me one last analogy. As a flight instructor, I often say I don’t teach students to fly, I keep them from crashing while they teach themselves. They’re learning from failure all the ways not to fly.
At least an indoor cycle is on the ground. How hard can you crash? Learning from failures is a part of life. Do it. Embrace it. Pay the knowledge forward.
Guest post from ICG® Marketing & Product Director Gary Warren
It's just you and the bike.
No carbon fiber to make you lighter.
No high-tech gear shifters to make you faster.
No 29'er rims to roll over rocks more easily, or pro “slick” tires to fast-forward flat roads.
No drafting in the peloton to save you energy and maximize your sprint finish.
No coasting on undulating roads or single track trails with your “free-wheel” drive gear.
No GPS to navigate the fastest route. No tour guide on the trail to give you the best line over the next drop.
It's just you and the bike.
A fixed gear. A fixed altitude. And most true: a fixed attitude of doing what it takes inside to live your life outside.
John Howard (bio’d in Jim Karanas’s post, “Be Your Own Hero”) says it’s “not so much indoor cycling as it is inner cycling.” Not “a poor substitute for” riding on the roads and trails, but a chance to explore technique from a mind/body perspective.
The Indoor Cycle permits training and benefits as nothing else can.
“Why not go indoors,” Howard asks, “for phenomenal cycling efficiency?”
Constant, fluid, nonstop pedaling.
Everyone rides. Safely. Trains together, regardless of skill. Feels the miles disappear.
On a bike that doesn’t answer to temperature, weather, daylight, terrain.
Simplicity. It’s the Indoor Cycle’s greatest gift.
By Team ICG® Master Trainers Jim Karanas and Graham Stoney
Indoor cycling came from road riding and has retained that identity in most teaching systems. The ride positions, the hand positions, the cues and the philosophy follow the “roadie” way of riding. Yet, according to the U.S. Commerce Department, mountain bikes have outsold road bikes for the last 20 years.
So most people ride mountain bikes. But most training programs don’t take that into account when training instructors to teach indoor classes.
It would be understandable — if this were the ‘90s, when indoor cycling was just beginning. Off-road technique is often contrary to what we do on a road bike, so the translation to indoor classes might have been too confusing or challenging to teach. But times have changed.
ICG is a global company with a strong contingent of Master Trainers from Europe, the UK and California, locations where mountain biking is extremely popular. Off-road technique has been included in our education system since the beginning. Our bikes have handlebars that accommodate mountain-bike hand positions, making it easy to highlight off-road riding movements in our teaching. Still, instructors may find it difficult to start introducing mountain biking in their classes.
This article aims to help bridge that gap, no matter which bikes you use.
If the idea of an indoor cycling class is to create an experience, what could be more fun than to take our students on a trail occasionally, as opposed to a road? ICG believes in mountain biking and has dedicated a number of the forward-motion videos on MyrideÃ’+ to trail: fire trails, single track, sand, snow, grass and dirt.
You might be dismissing this idea because your club doesn’t have Myride+. But a mountain biking class is something you can teach without video.
You’ll find that teaching an indoor off-road class is more about your ability to create experience. It just takes the willingness to do something different. Words and music are a good start. Getting your students to “see” the various terrains and road surfaces can add depth, color, even poetry to your classes.
Jim recently presented “Mountain Rider” for first time in North America to instructors at CanFitPro, a major trainer conference held each year in Toronto. The response was overwhelming. Many IC instructors who are predominantly off-road riders showed up to learn how they could share with their students the way they love to ride outside.
Yes, the stunning Myride+ video made the class even more real. The incredible trail footage, accompanied by appropriate cues, brought many of the attendees to the trail for the first time and raised the class to artistry by creating immersion.
But, again, you can run a great class using good cues and music.
We’re going to share some basic class suggestions in this article and follow up with an Audio Profile that Jim is recording with John. The AP will feature a course profile, music and cues via podcast to help you bring off-road riding to your classes.
Mountain Rider coaching points:
Tell your class participants that, for today, they must forget much of what you’ve previously taught them about indoor cycling.
Mountain biking does work with energy zones, power, intervals and threshold, but pure, senseless fun usually supplants that roadie drivel.
Simulation begins with education. Teach them about the trail. Are we on a fire trail or single track? What’s the surface? What are the conditions? In mountain biking, the trail surface and conditions change the experience completely, along with the cues you’ll use and the experience you can create.
Introduce and use off-road terminology: compression's, rollers, washboards, steps, crowns and berms, high-side/low-side.
To begin teaching a class like Mountain Rider, you must move from the mindset of providing a workout to one of having a great time riding the bike. Road riding can be fun but is generally much more serious: grounded in science, training, getting it right in general. Mountain biking is hardly EVER serious. “Feeling alive” on your bike? There’s nothing like off-road.
You’ll want to keep in mind that some standard indoor cycling exercises don’t translate to off-road. You almost never jump, nor do you stand on climbs. This will be covered in Jim’s AP, which will also cover two ICG off-road movements, Wave Riding and Speed Bumps.
Off-road wisdom borrows next to nothing from traditional road-bike discipline. Mountain biking was born in the ‘70s. Hitting the trail with loosened inhibitions affirmed our spirit of adventure. That needs to be emphasized in your class when you go off-road. Well, that and experiencing innocent, down-to-earth cool.
The upcoming Audio Profile will bring life to the concepts presented here.
For an entertaining presentation of the differences between road riding and mountain biking, here are two videos to enjoy, preferably in order:
You can learn to teach MTB free if you’re one of the first 1000 to sign up for CECs on ICG. Take advantage of ICG’s free online CEC offer now.
It’s like herding cats, only the cats are on bikes.
You know, the internet is a wonderful thing. As the thought of herding cats came to mind, I subsequently embellished it mentally with our mode of delivery. I thought to my self…”hmmm I wonder if there are any pictures of cats riding bikes on the internet.” Silly me to even wonder if the absurd would not be just a google away. Indeed it was — just google “images of cats riding bikes” and behold, you even have choices. Gotta love it!
Anyway, yes, the “E” in Evidence Based Cycling is currently being collected by 10 or 11 volunteers, subjects, guinea pigs extraordinaire – call them what you like – but in my opinion, we are all self appointed researchers on a mighty quest for a peak into ourselves, our training and our sport. OK, maybe not so mighty, but a quest nonetheless.
A variety of things have already come up in our first week of gathering data. This is always the case — it’s the “you don’t know what you don’t know” factor that makes this (and frankly all of life) so much more interesting. You can plan for as many variables and issues of concern, but until you get in there and start DOING it — well, it’s all pretty academic. In the section below, I’ve listed just some of the issues that I have come across being both a participant, and as the contact person for my fellow researchers (this is the most appropriate moniker for everyone involved, just less fun than calling them guinea pigs).
Since these issues trickled in throughout the week, this communication will actually be the first everyone as a group will get of said adjustments. So to those of you reading but not participating… you’re seeing us learn and conduct the research in very real time.
Data Collection Adjustments
The Baseline Test. It turned out to be a little too aggressive at 25 Watt increases every 2 minutes, so we backed it down to 20 Watts. We don’t want our performance to be impacted by the element of change itself, and if the change comes too quickly, our response to it may mask the other effects we are measuring (HR, fatigue, etc)
Warm-up Protocol. In most of our baseline tests that involve power, we warm-up, then reset the bike, and start the test. However, in the process the heart rate drops — which is not a problem when the test includes a progressive ramp up. However, in our test, the test begins in mid Zone 3, at a specific cadence, with unspecified power. This means one must “dial it in” to establish a rhythm at that cadence and intensity level.
Consequently, the easiest way to do this was to work your warm-up to that level, and once comfortable (at least 15 minutes in) you would only need to reset a watch or anything with time in order to conduct the stages as originally instructed. There isn’t a need for any averages, so there was no need to reset to zero. We only want to find the muscle/fatigue failure point as it now stands.
Sitting or Standing. I got at least 1 question, and it became apparent to me while riding, that standing would be necessary for some people, despite the fact that most people know that we do almost 100% of our tests in the saddle to control variability introduced with this position.
The problem is exacerbated in this research also because both heart rate and cadence are typically impacted by standing. However, the need to stretch your legs varies by each individual, and truth be told, if the cadence and heart rate combination is what is going to produce the training effect we are looking for (improved muscular endurance), then if we can maintain those parameters out of the saddle, then position should not present a problem. Given the above, here are additional guidelines for doing your 15 or 30 minute M.E. drills out of the saddle:
If you can maintain a cadence between 73 and 77 and keep your heart rate between mid zone 3 and low zone 4, you can do as much out of the saddle as you like. Just keep track of the approximate % of time you spend out of the saddle, in the event there are patterns unanticipated that we might learn from.
If you only need short bouts out of the saddle to stretch, keep them to only 10 to 20 seconds at a time. Don’t worry about either cadence or heart rate, as they will likely not be impacted by such a short period of time.
Zone 3 or Zone 4? In our research protocols I noted that the less advanced or competitive cyclists should stay in Zone 3, while those presumably more accustomed to Zone 4 should target that zone. What I was looking for was really just some consistency in the execution of the weekly regiment of M.E. drills. However, the hypothesis is that the improvements in muscular endurance will occur if you can spend time within a given range of HR/RPM value pairs.
To be more precise, I believe low zone 3 to mid zone 4 is the breadth of the heart rate parameters, and 65 to 85 is the breadth of cadence ranges. However, there was no mechanical device measuring the improvements at 65 vs 85 RPM, nor at a heart rate of low zone 3 vs. mid 4. Yet, we know that the difference in how the legs feel between these bookend cadence and heart rates is absolutely undeniable. Consequently, we need to try and execute our work in a consistent and similar fashion for all data collected if we are going to draw conclusions from the result of our work.
Therefore, it is imperative for everyone involved in the research to be diligent in sticking within the following ranges:
Heart Zones® – 3 BPM below mid zone 3 up to 3 BPM below mid zone 4. That means when you fall outside of these heart rate parameters, you must adjust the tension to get the HR back on track.
Cadences — as listed above — outside of 10 — 20 seconds of stretching every 5 minutes, maintain an average between 73 and 77 RPM for every 15 or 30 minute drill.
Well, that’s our first week’s update. In the next week or two, I’ll begin to receive everyone’s data and I’m sure we will learn even more of what we didn’t know or couldn’t know, or maybe what we should have known… it’s hard to know, you know.
“I'm trained as an Instructor. I've earned multiple certifications, spent thousands of dollars and invested hundreds of hours, all with the purpose of delivering a great class to you today.”
“But many of you will probably judge me by my skills as a DJ… the one part of this class for which I have no formal education.”
It had to be the funniest thing I've ever heard said by another Instructor… well I thought it was funny, and I laughed out-loud when she said it during her opening of class. What made this humorous was a combination of her deadpan delivery and the unexpected honesty of her statement.
Could anything be more true about teaching an Indoor Cycling class?
To paraphrase the memorable line from a TV and radio commercial from Verbal Advantage; People judge you by the music you play…
In past surveys I've done, Instructors have said that they spend more time on music than any other aspect of their classes. I'm not sure this dependency on a great playlist, as the foundation of you class, is entirely healthy. But I can understand how it can become the focus of your class preparations.
So what's my suggestion for ensuring your class will enjoy your music selections?
Steal music ideas from others 😉
Here are a few places you can start:
Rolling Stone's Top 500 Songs of all Time. Especially if you have an older demographic, you can't go wrong with these past favorites. Most are so memorable that you could start a sing-a-long. Here's a link to the list and there's a partial list (385) you can find in Spotify.
Grab our list of the Top 404 Indoor Cycling Songs. These have been hand picked by other instructors and a class playlist created from them is a nearly guaranteed hit.
Subscribe to ICI/PRO where we have over 50 class playlists, created by experienced Instructors. Each playlist is tied to an easy to follow class profile that explains exactly how to teach the class; cues, timing – everything 🙂
Get the Shazam app for your iPhone or Droid and bring it to a popular Instructor's class. Shazam each song they play and the app will keep a list for you to “appropriate” into your playlist. Don't be surprised to catch an Instructor in your class doing this if you've followed suggestion #3
Consider a mixed class music service like indoorcyclingmusic.com A good DJ doesn't have gaps between songs – it wrecks the mood you want to create. If you don't have the hours to spend with MixMeister, this could really simplify your life 🙂
