Many instructors tell me that teaching indoor cycling has ruined their appreciation of music. They say that once you become an instructor music comes in only two genres, can be used in class or not. This is sad but true. I have been experiencing a different problem since I started using video in my classes. Now when I watch YouTube videos they are put into the same categories. I am stuck in the never ending quest for the best videos to use in my classes. Every once in a while someone posts a gem that magically appears in my Facebook News Feed, this week the gem was posted by non other than our very own John Macgowan.
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I hope you like it and I wonder what would happen if the bike stalled?
Kickstart My Heart by Motley Crue is one of my favorite indoor cycling songs. It's my first choice whenever a profile calls for a Tabata interval. A Tabata interval is simply 8 max effort 20 second intervals with only 10 seconds rest between each.
If a Tabata interval done to Kick Start My Heart while watching a big wave surfing video doesn't get your rider's heart pumping, nothing will.
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This is an exciting time in the world of indoor cycling! Bikes with power meters are becoming more common place, big box studios are getting a makeover and are more than just echoey converted racquetball courts, small private studios are carving out their own niche and giving riders an “experience”, not just a workout. Many facilities are also using video to help motivate their class participants.
I've been using video in my classes for about 5 years and have put together an extensive video library the includes music videos, concert footage, mountain and road biking videos, extreme sports videos and just about anything I think will motivate my riders. I've decided to start sharing this library with the members of ICI/Pro. Each Thursday I'll post a new video that will be available for download. Over time I hope build an extensive video library that will help ease ICI/Pro members through the transition of using video in their classes.
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The gold standard of benchmark testing in indoor cycling is the FTP (Functional Threshold Power) test. I'm a huge fan of this test and perform it with my classes on a monthly basis. In a perfect world every rider would know their power and/or heart rate thresholds and have personalized training zones that are percentages of these values. We don't live in this perfect world and in any given class there will be many participants who have never performed a FTP test and have no idea how to determine their threshold metrics. I deal with this dilemma by beginning every class with a proper warmup followed by a benchmark interval or set of intervals.
My benchmark interval or set can last anywhere from 5-12 minutes depending on the type of class and length of intervals being performed that day. For example if I'm teaching an “@” threshold class with longer intervals I'll do a longer benchmark interval set but if I'm teaching an Above Threshold class I'll do a shorter benchmark interval. These sets or intervals should be be performed at the same intensity that is expected for the main sets of the class and an average HR or wattage should be determined and used as a guide for future intervals in that day’s workout. It is important to cue how the benchmark interval should “feel” especially for new riders who may not have previous rides to base their HR or wattage numbers on.
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Now that each rider has a metric to aim for during each interval or set the instructor can set realistic and attainable goals.
3 song 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.
In many of my “The Power of 3” posts I have written about the importance of “anchoring” time and effort. In it's most basic terms this means that the shorter the interval the higher the effort. If you instruct on bikes with power, then a higher effort should also translate to a higher wattage. This “anchoring” concept holds true as long as riders are given appropriate rest or recovery after each interval or hard effort. If riders are not given enough recovery between intervals their effort may still be high but their output or wattage will start to drop as fatigue increases. The ability to see this phenomenon is one of the most “powerful” features of a bike with a wattage meter.
The theme for my Above Threshold classes this month is to show my participants the importance of recovery. Over the last few months I've been using a lot of interval sets where I decrease the interval time from interval to interval and I expect to see a higher average wattage for each interval. For example I may have my participants perform intervals of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 minutes, each interval is followed by a 2 minute recovery, with the goal of increasing average wattage for each interval. This month I'll have my riders perform the same intervals, but I plan on reducing the recovery time to as low as 30 seconds between each interval. At the beginning of the month I expect to see wattage drop from interval to interval, as the body fatigues from lack of recovery. In the middle of the month I expect the see wattage held steady from interval to interval and by the end of the month, as the body adapts, I hope to see wattage again increase as the interval time decreases.
The body is truly an amazing organisms and it adapts to the stresses it faces, be patient and enjoy the process.
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The Power of 3 – “More Rest = More Work”
“Without You (Sample Gee Remix, Melker Edit)” by David Guetta vs U2
“Pompeii (Audien Remix)” by Bastille
“The Monster (eSQUIRE vs OFFBeat Remix)” by Eminem & Rihanna
3 song 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.
Before I was an ICI/Pro Contributor, or Master Educator, before I spent every weekend coaching whatever sport my kids were playing at the time, back in what feels like a different life I was and Ironman triathlete. I spent close to 10 years in pursuit of that coveted Hawaiian Ironman spot, only to see my competition get faster and that spot get farther and farther away. I may not have made it to the finish line in Kona, but the journey I took in pursuit of that dream has made me the person I am today.
People often ask me if I miss Ironman training and racing and I can honestly say I don’t. At that time in my life it was my identity, it was what I lived for. Today I have a wonderful wife and two great 15 year old boys. I would much rather be riding the lifts of Vail, with them, then base training for next year’s races. I may race again some day, but for the next few years I would rather focus on raising my boys, they are my identity, they are what I live for now.
The one thing I miss most about Ironman training are the long training workouts. I loved to train alone. There is no better place to find the answer to any of life’s questions than on a 4000m swim, 5 hour ride or 3 hour run. The rhythm and length of these workouts gave me a chance to quiet my mind and listen. I don’t know where the answers or ideas came from but they just came. Many people call this Flow or being In The Zone.
Flow is a mental state in which a person is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, wellbeing and enjoyment in the activity being performed. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy while.
Many people find the flow accidentally, without thinking about it or trying, all the conditions of a workout magically come together and work feels effortless, time flies by and your body feels like it is working perfectly. This flow state is like a drug, once you have had it once you want more of it. Luckily, finding The Flow can be practiced and perfected.
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The controlled environment of an indoor cycling studio is the perfect place to practice and perfect finding the flow state. I’ve been incorporating one flow state song per class for the past few months and my riders love it. When cueing a flow state song I ask my riders to focus on the beat of the music, or their cadence or the rhythm of their breathing. They need to focus on something rhythmic and hypnotic. The intensity needs to be below threshold, burning legs and lungs will pull them out of the flow. The most important and probably hardest thing for an instructor to do during a flow state song is to BE QUIET. Your riders need to focus on the rhythm of THIER bodies, the sound of your voice will pull them out of this flow state every time.
I have gotten more positive comments about this addition to my profiles then anything I have ever done. I would recommend you add it in during one of your recovery songs, this way the volume or intensity junkies in your class don’t feel like they are missing out on any of the “quality” of the workout.
If you listen to my recorded classes below, see if you can find any “Soul Cycle” influence, no I have not added weights.
3 song 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.
