Welcome to the The Weekly Ride by Cycling Fusion:
Originally posted 2018-02-27 15:16:59.
Last week I was asked to sub a couple of classes for another instructor and friend. It was at a club that I used to teach at and where I still knew a number of the members. I always like teaching at this particular club because the riders throw out some good energy and appreciate a structured workout — my specialty. Since I was going to be covering both the 9:30am and 12:30pm timeslots, I decided to bring my laptop and camp out in the lounge area between classes to get some work done.
The energy of the 9:30am class was great and the room was full. I taught on and off the bike walking around the room to encourage riders I hadn’t seen in a while and meet some new faces. After class, a few people hung out. I also took the time to make a few adjustments to the bike setup of a couple of riders. It was definitely one of those classes that often gives you (the instructor) more back than one feels was given. I left energized and refreshed and was now looking forward to the 12:30pm class.
I settled down in the lounge area and fetched myself a cup of complimentary coffee. As I was checking emails and eating a Pop-Tart (yes, I got grief for that – “What, Coach Tom Scotto is eating junk food”) one of the riders approached my table and asked if she could interrupt me. Sure, I love talking with people at the club and particularly about cycling. These were her exact words: “Your class and workout was great, but your music sucks”. She said it in such a genuine, yet straight-forward way, that I could do nothing but smile. “Wow, that is quite a range of feedback. Would you mind bridging the gap for me? What did you like and why such a strong response to the music?”
She sat down and told me how the workout was perfect and how she felt the exact challenge I had presented during the intro. She remembered each of the drills and told me her heart rate ranges for each. I was quite impressed with her detail and assessment of how she felt during each effort. “So what’s up with the music?” I said. She said it was just awful. “I hate all of that electronic stuff”. Now I was quite certain the instructor I subbed for played very similar music, so I asked what she thought of the music the regular instructor plays. “Oh, his music is terrible too. I can’t stand that electronic junk”. She told me she liked popular music with vocals. I asked her how she was able to make it through the entire class with that brutal noise. She said that, although she hated the music, it somehow fit the flow of the class and matched the workout. “I just focused on what we were supposed to be doing and blocked out the music”.
I thought this was very interesting. How could someone who had such a violent reaction to the music actually enjoy a class — to the point where her overall assessment of the class was “great”. Being a musician, I’m particularly sensitive to music and would find it hard to enjoy a class if I “hated” the music. Her feedback demonstrated the importance of delivering sound training. It is so important that a 50% Great plus a 50% Sucks stills equals “great”.
Now I don’t think she was speaking to the soundness of the “physiological training concepts”, but what I took away from her comments was that she appreciated the thought and structure that went into designing the class. I thought this was great news. As a coach, I have all kinds of workouts just waiting to pour out of my head. The challenge is always the music. It can take me hours to pull together just the right songs. So, as I said, this is good news. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to focus on the music, but if we take the time to put together a sound workout, it can overshadow our music choices.
So what does this really mean for us? It is a call for each of us to take the time to design a solid ride profile. How much time and effort do we take to construct our workouts or rides or whatever we call them? Could your profile stand on its own WITHOUT music? Wow, that’s a challenge! I’m sure there is quite a bit more that we can pull out of this experience, but I’m more interested in hearing your feedback and thoughts?
I’m off to download some new music. Apparently, my tunes suck.
Originally posted 2011-04-15 15:03:17.
I'm a big Shazamer (not sure if that's a real word) cause I'm constantly Shazaming music I hear throughout my day. Watching TV, in the car, during other Instructor's class – pretty much anywhere. I've even looked into finding a way to create a “hot button” on my iPhone so I could quicken the process of having Shazam start listening with just a single action. I don't use Siri and would love to be able to just press and hold the “Home” button and have it launch Shazam.
But all of this Shazaming created some frustration for me. Once Shazam has identified a track, I still needed to type the name / artist into Spotify search to listen to it or add it to my Future to use playlist.
So I consulted the all-knowing Google and found that Shazam Encore, the premium version of Shazam, offers the option to open a track in Spotify!
Encore has the option to purchase the App for a year ($4.99) or lifetime ($6.99) – I opted for one year plan but that link takes you to the lifetime page – scroll down for options.
Once you have updated to Encore here's how to get a tagged track into Spotify:
There are other advantages to Encore:
Originally posted 2013-03-12 08:28:52.
I've always wanted to use this picture – Yes, he landed it
New Audio PROfile from MI Tom Scotto
DESCRIPTION
This class targets the high-end fitness of your riders including their aerobic, anaerobic and muscular capacity — their upmost limits. Although all of their limits are challenged, the greater focus is placed on anaerobic endurance. Specifically, how long can a rider last at an intensity when a great amount of energy must be produced and sustained anaerobically (with insufficient oxygen supply).
Tom is using some custom length songs that prevent a complete Spotify Playlist. Here's a partial list in Spotify and Deezer – you can supplement some short tracks from your library.
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Originally posted 2011-10-31 20:53:51.
I want everyone to meet Steve Frank – Master Instructor with the Indoor Cycling Group/LIVESTONG Fitness.
Steve and I met in Chicago last month at club industry. I knew instantly he would be someone you'd enjoy meeting and a wonderful addition to our ICI/PRO Team.
Why?
I meet a lot of people in the fitness business. Don't get me wrong, many are wonderful people, with impressive titles and accomplishments… it's just that many tend to spend all their time talking about how cool or important they feel they are 🙁
But when I met Steve, his first concern was; “how can I help?” When (in my interviewer mode) I asked to know more about him, he instead talked about his team at ICG – LIVESTRONG. I pushed him further; “what else do you do, besides your roll as a MI?” “I help people become more successful in their personal and business lives”. Steve has a personal & professional coaching business – like many fitness professionals, Steve has more than just one occupation.
I need to tell you how refreshing it is to work with people who are committed to helping other people and not just interested in promoting themselves.
In the course of conducting 140 or so interviews I've learned that finding where someone's passions lie is really important to an entertaining and interesting interview. To find out I typically have a sort of pre-interview with new guests. It's during this time that I'm listening for clues that I will use to steer the conversation.
Listen to this interview I recorded last month with Steve. See if you can tell what where his passion lies.
I'll give you a hint – beyond being part of ICG/LIVESTRONG, it's being part of this Team
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Originally posted 2011-11-03 05:01:16.
Can the sounds of breathing identify the metabolic changes during exercise that are described as VT1 aerobic threshold & VT2 anaerobic threshold?
There's promising research conducted by Breath Research and Dr. Carl Foster at UW Lacrosse. Here's your chance to support this cutting edge technology that could potentially replace conventional metabolic testing, for the purposes of determining Heart Rate training zones.
In an earlier post I asked the question; “Could Breath Acoustics be our answer?” I also promised you an interview with Nirinjan Yee, the CEO and Founder of BreathResearch. Nirinjan's early work in Breath Acoustics (literally recording and analyzing the sounds of breathing) has lead to her Indiegogo crowd-sourcing campaign. Its purpose is to raise the funds needed to fully develop and build the headset microphone worn during exercise.
It's important that Nirinjan reaches her goal of $30,000 by September 29th – not the end date listed of October 29 – because there's a second contest she could win. Phillips Electronics is hosting the “Innovation Fellows” competition and are calling for innovators to submit their #BIGIDEA to address the current innovation gap in the areas of living well, being healthy and enjoying life. With its constant commitment to people-focused innovation, Philips aims to make a difference in people’s everyday lives, and is offering $100,000 of its own money, plus mentoring from Philips leaders, to help the best ideas come to market faster.
This help from Phillips will be huge. So while you are listening to my Interview with Nirinjan, please go to the project page and help her meet her funding goal 🙂
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Originally posted 2013-09-20 08:18:56.