“Bone Thugs-N-Chili Peppers” by The Melker Project
“Vertigo (Redanka Power Mix” by Peter G ReWerk
As many of you know, I live in Colorado and skiing is one of my family's favorite winter activities. Every year we used to look forward to the release of the latest Warren Miller ski movie as the unofficial start of ski season. It became a family tradition to get tickets to the Friday or Saturday night showing at the Paramount Theater in downtown Denver. The later the show the rowdier the crowd, everyone was so amped to get the ski season started. I also knew that the new release meant fresh ski footage and music for my video cycling class. Over the years the footage has remained top notch, but the music has gotten worse and worse, it has gotten so bad that we stopped attending the show two years ago. That year the music was so bad that I wished I had brought my ear buds so I could have put together my own playlist, on my phone, while watching the movie.
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
This got my sons, Seth and Christian, and I thinking that we should start using the awesome ski footage that is available on the internet and put it together with music that people actually listen too. Over the years we have created quite a library of ski videos, many that I use in my indoor cycling classes, that we believe is like Warren Miller, only better. I hope you enjoy the work we have done and let me know what you think.
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.
As a nutritionist, I hear many clients say they want to lose weight — to look better, have more energy, improve their health. But losing weight can also help you increase your power on the bike.
Ratios intrinsically provide two ways to improve the ratio — by manipulating either variable. The results of improving both variables can be dramatic.
As covered in a previous post, efficiency — the ratio of work output to expended energy — can improve with increased work output or decreased energy expenditure (or both).
In the same way, your power-to-weight ratio on the bike (measured in watts per kg) can improve with increased power or decreased body weight, or both.
Power is itself another ratio, of work to time. If work increases or time decreases, the result is greater power. ICI/PRO is currently covering this topic in depth.
So that provides 3 variables in the power-to-weight ratio: increase your strength (work), increase your speed, or decrease your body weight (or all of them).
Why Lose Weight?
Even if you’re not overweight, weight loss may improve your power-to-weight ratio. It need not — and shouldn’t — involve a strict “diet” that leaves you hungry most of the day.
It does involve careful monitoring of your numbers — how many calories you burn (using your power meter or, preferably, a wearable calorie counter 24 hours a day), and your calorie intake.
The goal is to eat fewer calories per day than you burn, but not by much, just 150 to 300 calories. If that feels too restrictive, drop the deficit to 100 calories. The result would be a slow decrease in weight that you can stop or reverse at any time.
These days, the general recommendation for weight loss is rapid loss. (Is that to match up with HIIT and the shorter-and-harder approach to fitness, I wonder?) Rapid weight loss is said to keep the “loser’s” motivation high.
Yet gradual weight loss — while also training for power — has the advantage of maintaining fat-free mass (FFM) so you won’t lose strength, an important variable in the power ratio.
Holding On To FFM
Weight loss often decreases muscle mass, especially rapid loss. But in the long-running (13-plus years) weight-loss program for which I was both the nutritionist and a training coach, we typically saw steady or increased FFM while the participants lost weight at a slow, sustainable rate.
That helped them maintain strength and power so they could do the training, which was frequently high-intensity. The intense training, of course, was designed to increase strength and power.
Maintaining FFM also prevented participants from having to drop calorie intake more and more (and more) for continued weight loss.
Don’t Bonk
Make sure you don't restrict calories on the ride itself. Whether you’re riding outdoors or doing tough power training in the studio, under-fueling before or during the ride could cause you to bonk.
Even without bonking, you may still feel week and have difficulty working up to your capacity — the power you’re trying to improve. Fuel as usual while riding.
Keep the calorie restriction small. Cut back a little more on days that you’re not training hard, or at least save the restriction for after the ride. If your power ride is late in the day, early A.M. calorie cutbacks may work. Just keep your pre-ride meal about the same as usual, and eat or drink whatever you need on the bike.
Be strict about post-training refueling (covered in a previous post) so you can train well the next day.
Technique and Efficiency
In all of this, don’t forget that better technique on the bike will help you waste less energy by reducing the energy needed for pedaling, reducing energy lost as body heat, and retaining more energy for your next pedal stroke. Your functional strength, a power variable, will increase.
Combining good technique, all the power training tips you’re currently getting here on ICI/PRO, and gradual weight loss will help you dramatically increase your power-to-weight ratio on the bike.
What would it be like to be losing both your vision and hearing?
Can you even imagine how challenging it would be teach?
I just had to know more about Instructor Rebecca Alexander and then share her very inspiring story with you. Rebecca currently teaches at Equinox in New York City and has taught in the past at New York Sports Club, New York Health and Racquet and SoulCycle.
Rebecca has written the book Not Fade Awayabout her challenges with Usher Syndrome III, a disease that is slowly robbing her of both sight and hearing.
It was a delight for me to interview Rebecca – please enjoy our last podcast of 2014!
After listening to Rebecca's story, I encourage your to purchase and read her book using the link below. You can learn more at her websitewww.rebalexander.com
Also, if your family tithes annually like ours, and you're looking for a place to make a last minute donation, please join Amy and me in contributing to Rebecca's Usher III Initiative. Donation information is here.
I don't know about you, but the holidays for me are spent rushing around, trying to get everything done… which can result in a few activities getting pushed off until the next day 🙁
The word I like to use is “frenetic” to describe the feeling. It's when I still feel that I have a bit of control over my life and schedule vs. that feeling of CRAZY when I've exceed it!
There are times when I want to introduce a feeling of frenetic activity into my classes; a long, downhill attack is a good example. The best way I know is to use a track that communicates that feeling > like this remix of the track Lonely People from Orla Gartland. No Spotify link available.
I plan to use it at the end of a 70ish RPM PTP climb. The increase of both tempo (87RPM) and the frenetic energy hits immediately. This should have everyone accelerating without me having to say much of anything.
Looking at the sound track profile below you'll see that there are two ~ 1 minute sections that you can use to cue some awesome surges!
If you aren't seeing a free download link you can get it here. Right Click > Save As.
This morning at about 5:30, as is my normal routine, I check to see that my playlist is ready for my 6:00 AM class. The frustrating notice above appeared when I clicked one of the local tracks in my playlist.
I've seen this before
Amy has been having this same problem with her iPhone 6. Best we can tell, this started after she updated to the latest version iOS 8.1.2. Playlists that have worked perfectly in the past now have local tracks that won't play.
But not all local tracks are MIA – which is very confusing to me. For some I figured out that Spotify was substituting one of their tracks. Others work just fine. When I checked the folder location on my computer and compared working tracks vs. nonworking tracks – I can't find any difference. Unfortunately many of the remixes Amy and I like to use aren't available to use with Spotify = we're SOL.
So far I don't have a solution
We tried everything we could think of on Amy's iPhone; rebooted the phone, checked for a Spotify update, copied all the tracks into another playlist, toggled the Available Offline off and on multiple times… nothing has worked.
Some riders are present to train and give 100% every class. Many, however, are present simply to be…present.
Through The Customer’s Eyes
When was the last time you really looked at the Indoor Cycling experience you offer through the eyes of your customer?
The riders who consistently attend your classes relate to you. But … have you taken the time to consider how a first time rider relates to you and your teaching style. Have you taken the time to
walk in a first time riders’ shoes or ride in their saddle. If you have had new riders in your class who chose to not come back, have you asked yourself…
Am I current and relevant to today’s customer?
Keeping up with our customers’ evolving WHY means accepting the radically different concept that an increasing number of riders don’t care about the workout. It means embracing riders who are more concerned with recovery from daily stress than recovery from working effort. It means delivering a fun, safe, and effective class to riders who train for LIFE alongside riders who TRAIN for the road or for a specific event. It means making them feel safe the moment they walk through the door.
Have you ever considered that the rider on the end in the 3rd row may be…
Overwhelmed by numbers, spreadsheets, and thinking in general
Or … Suffering from an eating disorder and low self esteem
Have you ever considered that the rider in the back row, 2nd bike in may be…
Training for the Special Olympics…grateful for a 2nd chance at life
A parent whose child recently tried to commit suicide
A rider whose spouse committed suicide
An ex college athlete whose body feels older than his years…
who rides for the non impact cardio, weight loss, and because he can escape
A verbally abused housewife who quietly arrives late and leaves early every class…
not wanting to be recognized and grateful to be alone for almost an hour
A recovering addict who rides to get high…and to stay sober
A military wife who misses her deployed husband
A depressed teenager who doesn’t seem to “fit in” anywhere.
A mother battling post partum depression
A parent of a Marine that never came home
A 50 year old father with 100lbs to loose before walking his daughter down the aisle
Or … A veteran who feels lost and unappreciated.
Have you ever considered that the rider directly in front of you …worries about losing their job?
Each one of these riders is real and has a name.
Each one of these riders wants to escape, to check out, and to get lost in the music.
Accept … Don’t Judge WHY
Welcome every rider free of judgment and celebrate that they have a WHY that is different.
Accept that a rider may not want to push outside of their comfort zone. That’s OK!
It doesn’t mean they are “lolly-gagging,” “wasting an hour,” or “need to leave if they aren’t going to make an effort” because they aren’t working as HARD as you are asking them. That’s not WHY they are there. For them, it was HARD WORK, just getting there.
For these riders, the CardioTherapy benefits of Indoor Cycling outweigh any interval or strength training benefit. These riders and countless others stepped out of their comfort zone simply by walking through the door. If we, as instructors are current and relevant to their WHY … these riders have a better chance of returning. Make them feel SAFE and FUN follows. If we are doing our job correctly, EFFECTIVE falls into place and riders see results … mind, body, & spirit.
Accepting and understanding that every rider is not in your class to TRAIN like an athlete is the first step to delivering the ultimate Indoor Cycling experience, to every rider in the room, every time … regardless of their WHY.
