by John | Nov 14, 2017 | Product Reviews, Zone based Heart Rate Training
I used Epic Planet's video Epic Acadia this morning in a class I subbed. Because these early AM people are very committed and they all understand the value of Threshold based training, I knew I could lead them on a ride that included a 20 minute climb at (or very near) Threshold. The first 30 minutes are a perfect warm up with a number of short climbs I used to bring them to Threshold before we got to the climb. The graphical representation of where you are during the class is the best of any of the DVD creators that I have experienced, although I'm not completely sure what TZ 4-5 means. I assume TZ stands for Training Zone and if we only had a universal standard for what TZ stood for …
UPDATE – Now there are more great videos for running a 20 minute field test for FTP or threshold Heart Rate.
If you are planning a field test this maybe the perfect video to use.
That's the 20 minute climbing segment
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by John | Nov 13, 2017 | Zone based Heart Rate Training
Recently, I found myself at the local big box home improvement store looking for some primer paint. A helpful person asked if I had any questions. I explained that I had some pealing paint that I intended to scrape, prime and repaint. He suggested “brand X” as the best primer that they sold. Before I could ask if it would be possible to have the primer tinted, he moved off to help someone else. Content that I had the right paint, I carried a can of it over to the counter where they mixed custom colors. “What are you using this for?” asked the helpful person behind the counter. I told her the same thing I had told the earlier helpful person and asked if I could have it tinted. “This isn't what you want.” was her reply. She then began giving me a chemistry lesson that went way over my head. I listened politely before explaining I needed a few other things and would be right back.
I left the store with nothing but confusion.
In the survey I asked the question; What would you change, add or implement at your club or studio that you feel will increase Heart Rate monitor usage by members? 61% said they would implement Instructor training so everyone talks the same language.
Have we created a “Tower of Babel”?With 413 responses to the Heart Rate Training Survey it is clear that we have a language barrier that needs to be addressed. I feel the confusion it creates for our students is partially to blame for the low level of Heart Rate monitor usage in our classes.
I respect the fact that people will have their own point of view, i.e… which is the best paint for your house, but do our answers always reflect what's best for the customer?
I needed help making a decision and helpful person #1 gave me exactly what I needed; a simple, confident recommendation. Even though it was based on minimum information, his confidence left me feeling ready to take action… in this case making the purchase.
Helpful person #2, while thinking she was being helpful, did the exact opposite. The confusion she created had me second guessing what should have been a pretty simple decision. So I did nothing… which I'm thinking is what many of our students do every day.
In these three posts I am advocating for a standard method of describing HR training Zones and I would love your feedback.
Why we need a standard method to describe heart rate training zones part 1
Why we need a standard method to describe heart rate training zones part 2
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by Joey Stabile | Nov 8, 2017 | Best Practices, Class Work-Sets, Instructor Training, KEEPING IT FUN, Master Instructor Blog, Training With Power
Welcome to the The Weekly Ride by Cycling Fusion:
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues. Here is your ready to ride document, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
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by Joan Kent | Nov 6, 2017 | Engage Your Students, Health and Wellness
“I don’t understand. She trains well.”
The program manager made that comment when a participant in our weight loss program didn’t get results. I was both an athletic coach and the lead nutritionist.
His comment exasperated me. Of course she trained well. She was an expert at that because of her food issues. She’d junk out, then “train well” to burn off the unwanted calories.
It wasn’t always the same ‘she’ — but she was typically a sugar addict. Sugar addicts don’t necessarily have difficulty training.
Training is the easy part. Early classes at the gym, hitting the weight room, weekend runs, core strength, scheduling with a trainer. No problem.
They don’t refuse to cooperate with the instructor. Workouts don’t threaten their addictive behavior.
The sugar addict wants to eat junk, work out to compensate for it, and keep the addiction going.
Nutrition Rules Push Sugar Addicts’ Buttons
Food guidelines, on the other hand, meet with stonewalling. My nutrition program — highly successful with most participants — annoyed the “resisters.”
I’ve posted about resisting weight loss, but one client kept demanding more and more specific instruction. Our guidelines were never good enough.
First, she claimed not to know what to eat. She wanted menus. When we provided those, she wanted more: exactly which foods to eat, exactly when to eat them, and precise quantities for her calorie and weight-loss needs.
The program manager saw this as our problem. I immediately recognized it as a smokescreen. “Until we provide those things,” he said, “she feels as if her program hasn’t begun.”
His comment was profound — but not in the way he thought.
Registering for a robust weight-loss program looks like a sincere desire to lose weight. Asking for more specifics seems like part of that sincere desire to lose — if you don’t know the games people will play to avoid doing the necessary work.
I’ve been around the defiance of resistant weight-loss clients a long time and see it differently: As long as we didn’t supply what she requested, that was her excuse not to change her eating. Not to give up pizza, margaritas, wine, or nachos. (All of these were in her seldom-kept food log.) Not to move forward — to any degree — until things suited her to a T.
If we had done everything she wanted, she would have had more complaints and more demands.
Bottom line? She saw the lack of personalized info as the chink in the armor, the point of attack. A good friend of mine who works as a life coach said, “It’s better for her if the program fails than if she does. Again.”
This life coach friend disliked many of her weight loss clients because of the games they played. Guess I’m not the only one who has noticed this nonsense.
Not all of you are coaching weight-loss clients, but if you are, here are a few suggestions.
– Encourage them to be honest.
What do they want? Whether their weakness is sugar, alcohol, butter, or something else, their goals should be what they really want.
It’s no crime for them to decide they don’t want to lose weight or end their food addiction.
– See the finish line with no time element.
I learned that from my ultra-endurance athletic coach. Don’t worry about fast results. These days, some people push rapid weight loss. That’s fine if the clients prefer, but there’s no race.
If it’s more comfortable to “set it and forget it”, they can decrease their calories by, say, only 200 to 300 per day. It will take longer to reach the goal, but that’s the only drawback. So what?
They do it daily, forget about it, and let the pounds melt slowly while they go about their business.
– If your client is addicted to sugar or other food, concentrate on the addiction first.
If the client takes on too much at once, it could sabotage the effort. Dealing with addiction first is a strong, solid step toward weight loss. Once eating is under control, the other goals will fall in place.
– Recommend qualified help and a proven system.
Everyone seems to have ideas on how to get rid of sugar cravings, and some of them are almost ridiculous. With the right help, it’s a straightforward process. The wrong advice can make it agonizingly difficult.
Suggest that your clients find a solid system and stick with it.
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by Joey Stabile | Nov 1, 2017 | Best Practices, Class Work-Sets, Instructor Training, KEEPING IT FUN, Master Instructor Blog, Training With Power
Welcome to the The Weekly Ride by Cycling Fusion:
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues. Here is your ready to ride document, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
(more…)
by Jim Karanas | Oct 30, 2017 | Master Instructor Blog
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
The demand for our product is there. The market for our product consists largely of club operators. Yet the factors we believe make our product special are no longer clear to our customers.
The product is Indoor Cycling and all of its trappings: brand, bike, service, ancillary products, training, continuing education — everything in a club's indoor cycling program. At ICG®, for example, we believe we have a great product, and I can tell you precisely why. But all directors will tell you the same thing about their product. What I finally realized is that the things I believe make ICG unique are not generally recognized by the market as a whole.
Indoor cycling has become commoditized. A commodity is “a class of goods for which there is a demand that is supplied without qualitative differentiation across a market.” That means the market treats the product as nearly equivalent no matter who produces it.
Club operators know they have to offer indoor cycling to be competitive. Yet many of the factors that matter to us as instructors don’t necessarily matter to others. Cycling movements. The number of hand positions. Cadence ranges. Beat Match vs. Freestyle. RPE, heart rate or power. And my favorite, Q factor.
The market doesn’t care about these things the way we do. Some of these may influence buying decisions from time to time, but they’re often trumped by sales relationships, service and timing. The club operators want to know if they can get a good product at a good cost, if the company will be there when they need help, and if they can get the product as soon as they need it.
Last week, Team ICG® posted an opportunity for ICI-PRO members to access our online continuing education service. It's free. It will save you money and provide you with a service that improves the product you offer (your class) to your customer (your club's indoor cycling director).
Like it or not, our classes are also commoditized. Do you believe that those who hire us as instructors really care which education curriculum we present? Most indoor cycling instructors present a combination of what they’ve learned over the years. The principles we’ve accumulated have become our own. As long as our employer knows we’re certified under a governing body and presenting techniques that keep the members safe, do you really think they see a difference in which name they put on their program?
If you do, you’ll contradict what I’ve written and won’t believe that indoor cycling is a commodity. You’ll still think differences between cycling programs are more important to clubs than sales, service and timing.
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