I've described her at times as the Human Metronome for good reason – the girl knows how to follow a beat.
And yes, when she and I dance, she leads.
As the Senior Group Fitness Instructor here, Amy has skills she's developed from teaching and cuing aerobics classes that can benefit both you and your participants.
One is how she will introduce a Waltz to help those of us who are rhythmically inept learn to hear, follow and pedal to the actual beat of the music.
Listen below to Amy explain why a adding a few Waltz tempo tracks to your playlist could potentially help those Laggards in class finally “get it.” At the end we've recorded Amy's actual presentation to her class so you can learn how you might introduce a Waltz to your students.
NOTE: Chim Chim and the two versions of Kiss from a rose we've used may be the most universally known tracks we're aware of.
SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice
I'm really curious how you would respond; would you teach for SoulCycle?
But before you answer, imagine you had the following conversation at the end of your last class…
A women approaches while you're collecting your stuff.
“Hi [wlm_firstname].” “My name is Elizabeth Cutler and I really enjoyed your class tonight.”
You respond; “you're welcome Elizabeth.” “I enjoyed seeing your smile there in the back.”
Then she looks you square in the eye and asks a question that could change your life…
“I'm one of the founders of SoulCycle Indoor Cycling and we are opening a new studio near by, later this Spring.”
“Would you consider being one of our Instructors?”
Flabbergasted by her offer, you open your mouth to respond. But before any sounds come out she continues…
“I realize that you have a devoted following here [wlm_firstname] and I'll understand if you say no.
“Before you decide, I'd like to explain that our Instructors earn on average $50,000 per year, many considerably more, teaching 8 classes a week. We really want to keep you once we have you, so we offer a full benefit package that includes excellent health insurance.
Do you have any participants like this person, who sounds like she's traded one unhealthy addiction for another?
“I would do anything that I could to afford these rides,” says 27-year-old Jaime, who often takes thirteen classes a week (estimated cost: $21,632 per year). She’s arranged her schedule to have Mondays off work so that she can always be at her computer the moment classes are released. She counts her instructors among her closest friends. Her social life revolves around people she’s met at SoulCycle. On the anniversary of her father’s death, her instructor had the class ride to “Nessun Dorma” from Turandot, one of Jaime’s father’s favorite operas. “I’m seven years sober. You don’t really get love and acceptance and encouragement and self-gratification from a cocktail,” Jaime says. “I mean, I … this is what I need in my life, and it just so happened it’s an exercise class.”
Interesting how the founders of SoulCycle split along the lines of Indoor Cycling 2.0 – entertainment based vs. results driven classes.
But as much as the performative aspects keep riders coming back, they have also driven more serious athletes away, often into the open arms of Flywheel, where a metrics-based workout is coupled with more self-restraint. Though Ruth Zukerman declines to discuss her exit from SoulCycle, some chalk it up to a difference in instructor style. “It’s a slippery slope, because sometimes when you build these superstars, it kind of goes to their head and they become divas,” she says. “Yes, be entertaining, be inspiring, but at the end of the day, it’s about the rider. It’s not about you.”
Now I realize that there are many who would recoil in horror at the thought of being affiliated with SoulCycle…
But why?
They're clearly offering people a form of exercise they enjoy and are willing to pay big money to attend. Spend a few minutes looking at the Instructor bios and you'll see most have the same (if not better) credentials than many of the Instructors that I know personally.
Depending on which source you use, the definition of persistence is; noun \pər-ˈsis-tən(t)s, -ˈzis-\ perseverance in spite of fatigue or frustration or it could be; the act or fact of persisting. Either way it defines what it took to finally corral an interview with anyone connected with the RealRyder organization.
Well they say good things come to those who wait (or persevere in my case – I've been trying for over two years) so it's with great pleasure that I can provide you this interview with RealRyder's Director of Education Douglas Brooks:)
Douglas is a very interesting guy and he has a lot to offer, so I broke his interview up into two parts.
In part 1 we discuss how he got connected with RealRyder, a funny story about him and Johnny G and the three key benefits he feels RealRyder has over “stationary” Indoor Cycles.
In part two we discuss his method of creating a story/profile based on their unique system – planning to have it out late this week.
As an experiment I'm trying out a Sound Cloud HTML5 player for all of you iPad users.
Like a good man-a good flat is sometimes hard to find 🙂
Got one for you this week though. Daughter Abby (our oldest) is STILL home from college and asked me to listen to this artist, as she is going to her concert in February.
She reminds me a bit of Alicia Keyes. Lots of soul and great musicality. Quite new to the music scene, her first album was released in October 2012, so you might not have heard of her… yet.
My latest profile is 3 climbs to AT with a flat in between. We are not recovering on the flats, but simply going back to ‘base’ watts at high zone 2/ low zone 3, which we established early in our ride. I have been using ‘Til the Casket Drops’ by ZZ Ward for one of the flat roads in between the climbs. At 3:06, and 88 rpm’s, it is the perfect back-to-your-base motivational flat road tune.
This won't replace Spotify, but if you enjoy a steady stream of background music, that's geared to your activity or mood, Songza maybe something you'll enjoy.
Available in the USA and (if you can believe it with their very restrictive licensing) Canada, Songza is the latest of the free streaming music services following Pandora, iTunes and Spotify.
Songza has been around for a while and appears to be gaining peoples attention and influence, but there isn't much press about them. I did find this article from CNBC.com
Songza is a music streaming service that aims to provide what Roman calls a “soundtrack for your life,” matching curated playlists to the time of day, day of the week, your taste in music and what you're doing while you're listening (i.e. waking up, working out, eating dinner, etc.).
Working? Relaxing? At the gym? Songza plays you the right music at the right time.
What makes Songza different is how they've created playlists based on common activities. Doing some housework? You can cue up one of more than two dozen different playlists. Working at home and would prefer music without lyrics? They have a bunch. Making out? At a formal dinner party? Shopping at a vintage store? All covered + over 30 more.
I wasn't much of music background person until Amy bought us this Sony RDPX200iP Docking Stationfor us for Christmas. So it's very cool for me to have either Spotify or now Songza playing while I'm doing whatever. Only trouble is that then I don't have Shazam available if I'm using my iPhone – but Songza will also play from your computer, so it's a great discovery tool for finding the perfect track for your next class. Get the free app for iPhone/iPad or Android.
Think your latest playlist is the bomb? You can even contribute your work to Songza – but for licensing reasons you can't listen to it yourself.
NOTE: while I was experimenting with Songza it occurred to me that there's no way to prevent Songza from using your 3g/4g data service unless you place your iPhone on airplane mode and then turn the wireless back on = no phone call from Ed McMann telling you that you've won the publisher's clearing house sweepstakes or from one of your college students that it's time to pay for another semester. Not finding an answer on their support page, I sent and email and will follow up when I know more.
Myth #8 – Adjusting bicycle shoe SPD cleats correctly is hard/confusing/frustrating/impossible and should be left to professional bike fitters or the guy at the local bike shop.
Amy's Shoes are now perfectly adjusted!
This actually wasn't a myth (as far as I was concerned) up until yesterday. Properly adjusting cleat position can be a maddening process to get right. So I wouldn't have included this in my 10 myths of Indoor Cycle Rider Setup / Bike Fit, but I can now after the UPS guy delivered this amazing $25.00 Ergon TP1 Bicycle Pedal Cleat Tool yesterday.
If you've ever tried to adjust the cleats on your own shoes you're probably nodding your head in agreement to how difficult this is to get right.
First; with your shoes on, find the joint of your big toe it's under the fleshy bump on the inside of your foot – the widest part – and mark it's location.
Then loosely attach the cleat.
Move the cleat to what looks like the right position and then tighten the two screws securely.
Clip the shoe into the pedal to see if you got it right… you didn't?
Note the change(s) needed and un-clip.
Flip the shoe over and prepare for the inevitable confusion; I want the shoe to go forward and in and rotate out a bit more… but everything is backwards so I should move the cleat back, out and rotate it in… but this is the left shoe so it goes; down, over and in?
After a dozen or more attempts you throw up your hands and declare; this just isn't so importantand call it good, wherever it ends up. You then vow to ignore any feelings that your feet aren't quite right while riding, choosing instead to get used to it 🙁
So it would make perfect sense that you would shy away from offering to adjust one (or both) of your participants cleats.
After trying out this new tool last night, I found myself rummaging around the house for every old pair of shoes I could find, so I could adjust their cleats. It was so easy (and efficient) to use that it became like a sort of therapy for me. I was actually enjoying adjusting cleats! In mere minutes I was able to adjust both cleats properly; ball of the foot over the pedal spindle, Q Factor and rotation all perfect – and perfect mirror each other's settings.
Notice in this before picture how both Amy's shoes are rotated inward = her knees would need to move out to compensate, not good.
Here's a short video showing how simple this tool is to use.
for us for Christmas. So it's very cool for me to have either Spotify or now Songza playing while I'm doing whatever. Only trouble is that then I don't have Shazam available if I'm using my iPhone – but Songza will also play from your computer, so it's a great discovery tool for finding the perfect track for your next class. Get the free app for 
yesterday.
Here's a short video showing how simple this tool is to use.