Special treat from Allen Jones at EpicPlanet.tv – 30 minutes of audio from an actual Criterium bike race you can use to add realism to any Race Day profile!
It starts with the Race Director announcing “Cat 4 racers… take your mark, get set, go!!!! Then it ends with the bell lap – simply awesome 🙂
The actual audio is from Allen's latest video; epicRaceDay – Pensacola Stage Race! I had stripped this audio from the 30 minute Criterium race segment, with the idea of adding it to the background of my Race Day Audio PROfile that will be published this weekend.
I've taught a number* of Race Day classes using epicRaceDay – Pensacola Stage Race! and a students have commented that they really enjoyed hearing the actual sounds of a race, over layed with my music. This DVD includes the option to play just the racing sounds. The music system where I teach will play the audio from multiple sources, so I turn up the DVD volume along with the music and off we go!!!!
Then I had an idea. Not everyone has video in their studio to experience this amazing addition to their classes – so why not provide it to our PRO members as an MP3?
So I called Allen to ask his permission to publish this audio as one of our PRO/Podcasts. As you can guess, Allen thought this was a great idea and enthusiastically agreed. So here it is as a direct download (right click – Save As) and it will also show up as an episode of the Podcast.
I left it completely clean, so there's no introduction or anything on the end – just 30 minutes of pure bicycle racing sounds. My suggestion is to burn this to a CD that you can play along with the music from your portable device.
Please let Allen know if this is of value by leaving a comment below.
*I'm teaching this again tomorrow (Saturday 10/20 8:30am) at the Chanhassen Lifetime Fitness. If you're in town I'd love to have you.
Fast forward to the 27:20 mark to hear the finish!
Many factors contribute to osteopenia and osteoporosis in cyclists. Both conditions are associated with low bone mineral density and a reduction in the bone mass that is sufficient to interfere with its support function.
Osteogenic loading refers to the stress placed on the skeletal system in order to produce bone growth. This article may surprise you.
One of the culprits in cycling-related osteopenia or osteoporosis is the nature of the exercise itself. Cycling is a low-impact sport that puts little mechanical load on the bones. That may be helpful for someone who has joint problems, but it's the weight-bearing aspect of exercise that signals bone to create more mass. Without such stress, bones don't get stronger and consequently become more prone to injury.
A recent study in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise found that competitive male road cyclists had significantly lower bone mineral density in their spines than a control group of men who were moderately physically active while doing other recreational activities. The cyclists were also more likely to have osteopenia or osteoporosis than those in the control group.
I recently discovered that commonly promoted exercise strategies for counteracting bone loss have had fairly limited success, particularly regimens that subject the skeleton to only mild activity, such as walking. I had always thought that, if I complemented my daily cycling with walking and modest strength conditioning, I wouldn’t be susceptible to decreasing bone density. I was wrong.
There’s no doubt that mechanical loading of bone has substantial potential to induce bone formation, but the traditionally recommended exercise regimens for cyclists have met with mixed results at best. What I recently learned is that those options are fairly ineffective for increasing bone formation.
The U.S. Surgeon General states that increases in bone mineral density that are sufficient to prevent or reverse osteoporosis are stimulated by maximum loading on the musculoskeletal system. Such loads are normally associated with impact loading, the kind that occurs with gymnastics. Women gymnasts have been found to have much stronger bones than women long-distance runners.
Conventional resistance training does not typically yield loading at a high enough level to produce more than a nominal increase in bone mass. Imagine my chagrin when I discovered that running, walking and resistance training are only minimally effective in staving off the osteopenia that I’m prone to because I love to ride bikes and teach indoor cycling.
Heinonen et al (1996) found that unexpectedly high bone-mineral densities (BMD) occurred in women gymnasts. A typical gymnastic dismount or vault produces enormous skeletal impact (about 18 body weights). Subsequent studies of impact loading showed similar results.
So the research shows — and I haven’t heard this anywhere in the cycling world — that multiples of body weight loaded onto the axial skeleton are what’s necessary to produce significant gains in BMD. Not running, definitely not walking, not conventional strength training, but dismounts off the high bar that slam 18 times my body weight through my skeletal system. That’s what I need to be doing one to two times per week.
Fortunately, as Managing Director for the Indoorcycling Group of North America, I was recently invited to test a new technology at Performance Health Systems in Chicago. It’s called bioDensity™ (www.biodensity.com).
The product is exciting and seems to serve a market need for all indoor cyclists. bioDensityâ„¢ makes possible a safe, self-induced, osteogenic loading stimulation up to many multiples of body weight — the kind of loads normally associated with impact activities, such as gymnastics. DEXA scans have shown an average 4.5% bone mass gain for individuals in the program for 3 years. Regular, proper use of the bioDensityâ„¢ System enables the user to achieve the required maximum loading safely, which therefore helps to combat osteoporosis.
ICG® has no professional affiliation whatsoever with Performance Health Systems. They are producing a product that we feel will help keep our customers healthy.
My sole purpose here was to make you aware of what I was completely unaware of (and even misinformed about by popular literature) and to suggest that you investigate a possible solution that will keep your bones healthy while you keep riding.
“John what is THAT?” Amy was looking at me with a very disapproving look on her face.
“What's what?” I responded as I straightened up from filling the back tire of The Bus – our Tandem bicycle – with 120lbs of air.
“Over the top of your bike shorts… you have a muffin top!”
“I do not!”
“You do too! And I expect you to do something about it, and quick.”
Once I got over my initial defensiveness, I admitted to her (and myself) that after 17 years of being pretty disciplined about both my training and eating, I've allowed myself to slide a bit. OK, maybe a little more than a bit. But hey – I'm 51 years old… don't I get to back off at some point?
“No!” was Amy's response. “You have a lot of people who look to you as an example who will be as disappointed as I am, that you are backing off.”
She was right, as usual… but what to do? As I rode along I realized I had both a short term and long term problem to solve.
Short term – disguise my muffin top ASAP
Long term – re-introduce John to something called self-restraint 🙂
Enter Bib Cycling Shorts; a man's equivalent to Spanx – control top pantyhose! Wasn't there a Seinfeld episode about this?
Secure that I had at least the short term issued solved, I jumped online to see what was available at Pearl iZumi and ended up buying two pairs of their $150.00 ELITE LTD Bib Shorts. Except I didn't pay $300.00. Using my ICI/PRO 40% discount they were only $90.00 each… which saved me more than the cost of a full year's subscription to ICI/PRO.
So if you find yourself facing a similar situation that could be solved (at least in the short term) with some new cycling clothes, join ICI/PRO as an annual member and you get access to everything Pearl iZumi makes at a 40% discount + 12 months of the awesome premium content we've become famous for.
Do you know how train Siri to do a specific task? I've been trying to get her to respond to “Siri, Shazam this” but I'm not having any success. Any ideas?
I was an instant fan of Moby's Extreme Ways the moment I heard it in the movie theater. If I remember correctly, it was actually played during the end credits of the first Bourne series; Bourne Identity from back in 2002 or so. It's a great fast flat @ 100 rpm and it also works well as a cool down, using it just like the producer's did as the endcap of the movie.
Since then I've become a fan of most of what Moby produces. What's fun about him is that he frequently re-mixes his existing tracks.
If you are using Spotify you can sample multiple versions:
In my last post, ‘Why Try Spotify’, I put out a challenge for you all to give Spotify Premium a try. My hope was that you would begin using it to create and share your playlists and deliver music to your cycling classes. Judging from the overwhelming response that I have received here, on my own blog and through private messages, I’d say many of you rose to the occasion.
So many instructors contacted me to let me know that my post had motivated them to either try Spotify for the first time, or to re-visit their existing Spotify account and/or upgrade to premium status (because that IS where the magic happens.)
Many instructors simply wrote to tell me that they have been using Spotify for a while and that they have been very happy with it.
The overwhelming response is that people are extremely pleased with the ease of using Spotify in their classes and with the money that they are saving now that they don’t have to pay for music on iTunes or other music sites anymore.
Along with all of the enthusiasm about starting up with Spotify came A LOT of questions! Most of them were the very same questions I had when I first started using Spotify.
For those of you just starting out, here are a few of the most frequently asked questions I’ve received, along with my answers.
**Disclaimer #1:I am no Spotify expert, nor do I claim to be. I am simply interested in learning as much as I can about using it, so helping others navigate Spotify is one way for me to do that. If my answers don’t work for you, it may be that there is more than one solution. I am simply telling you what I’ve found to work for me.
**Disclaimer #2: All of the questions and answers that I am writing about in this post are directed at the use of Spotify Premium. If you are using Spotify Free of even Spotify Unlimited, some of the tips and tricks will not work for you. (Click here if you’d like to compare features from all three products that Spotify offers. You can see that Spotify Premium is the only choice for use in your cycling classes.)
Can you use a regular iPod, iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle with Spotify?
Yes and no. Mostly, no. Because Spotifiy is a music streaming service, you do need to have an Internet connection to sync your music and stream it on your device. (Exception: sort of-any music that is in your local files, which is music that you already own, can be synced to your iPod, just as with iTunes. Also, any music that you purchase from Spotify can be synced as well.) As far as the music that you are ‘borrowing’, you will need an Internet connection. But you don’t need an iPhone. Click here for a link that lists all of the devices that are compatible with Spotify.
Do you actually own the music that you get on Spotify?
No. Think of Spotify as a huge music library. You are just borrowing the music. But you can use it any time and anywhere you’d like. The great part about that is the songs don’t take up a bunch of computer space, so it’s just as good, if not better than owning them.
Why would I need to take my playlists ‘offline’ and how do I do it?
This is by far my favorite feature that Spotify offers. Before I figured this one out, I was streaming my playlist live during one of my classes and my phone rang, interrupting my connection! ‘Offline’ mode is great for when you don’t have an Internet connection, or you just don’t want your connection interrupted during your class. Here’s how it works: Simply click ‘available offline’ (the box will turn green) at the top right on your playlist page and on your device. **You will also need to go to your phone settings and change to ‘airplane mode’ to ensure your music will remain uninterrupted.
What do all the little icons next to the songs mean?
Did you ever notice that some songs on your playlists have little icons after the album information? Spotify uses icons to identify certain features of a track or playlist. Here’s a link to a chart that will show you what each icon means.
Why does Spotify ‘not allow’ certain songs from my playlist when I sync it to my device?
This one is usually a pretty simple fix. The songs that are ‘not allowed’ are most likely from your Local Files. This just means that these are songs that were already existing in your music library. If you search for the same songs in Spotify’s music library and then replace them in your playlist with the same song from your local file, it should sync.
Why are the songs on my playlist playing out of order?
You may think you are no longer in ‘shuffle’ mode when you actually are. John explains the answer to this question quite well in this post. Thanks for the helpful photos John!
Why does Spotify play only one song and then stop, rather than playing the entire playlist?
My suggestion to this problem was to restart the device. It was as simple as that. I’m not saying this will always work, but it’s worth a try for this particular problem, and probably for a few that I haven’t mentioned. If you seem to be having any connection problems, I would always suggest restarting your device first.
How do I find people to follow on Spotify?
Oh boy, this one is tricky. I have no problem admitting that I have not found an easy way to find people to follow on Spotify. I’m also finding it frustrating that while we can see who has subscribed to our playlists, we really have no way of knowing who is following us or who has added us to their favorites. I have to say that this has been my biggest frustration with Spotify so far. If they were to ask me for my two cents, I would tell them to find a way to make finding and following others more user-friendly.
You know I love a challenge though, so I have come up with a few resourceful ways of finding friends to follow on Spotify, which I will be sharing with you in my next post.
Until then, keep the Spotify questions coming and the tunes flowing!
We've added a new category (which are one of the ways we organize content) called Best Practices – clicking that link will display all posts and Podcasts that we feel are the Best Practices for that particular subject.
One of our objectives here at ICI/PRO is, with the guidance of our very knowledgeable ICI/PRO Team, is to sift through the mountains of information on the Internet tained by; Myths, Misinformation, Self-Promotion, Branding/Sales/Marketing Messages and just pure nonsense. The plan going forward to deliver to information that we feel are Best Practices that you can easily and effectively apply to improving your craft as a Fitness Professional.
But deciding what makes a Best Practice requires some specific guidelines or tests.
First on the list; a Best Practice must be Practical…
…contrasted with just Theoretical.
My first example of a Best Practice, defined by it's practicality, is the Three Heart Rate Training Zone system – 2T/3Z for short. Anchored by Two Thresholds (Lt1 Aerobic and Lt2 Anaerobic) and advocated by no less than; ACEThe American Council on Exercise, Sally Edwards and Dr. Carl Foster, I firmly believe 2T/3Z to be the most practical Zone Based Heart Rate training system available for use in our classes. Here is a series where I lay out my original arguments, and supporting facts, for 2T/3T.
Five or Seven Heart Rate Zone systems, promoted by Endurance Coaches the likes of Joe Friel or Chris Carmichael, may “theoretically” be more accurate than a simpler Three Zone system, but be honest here. How many of your students, with a high degree of certainty, can tell you their Zone 5B Heart Rate? What's the number based on? An estimated Max HR or a field test they completed 4 months ago? If your entire teaching career has been in a little boutique studio, filled with committed athletes, then maybe you'll feel they could. If not, then I'll bet we can agree that cueing a 5 minute interval that starts at 5A and ladders up to 5C isn't very practical. You'll may also agree that a Five or Seven Heart Rate Zone systems fails the second test…
… a Best Practice must be Applicable.
Most of us are instructing a vast demographic of students, that range from; Cat 2 cyclists to four times a week Club Athletes to first-time-to-exercise newbies. I believe that what we do in our classes should be relevant and/or appropriate to the majority of our students.
I'd encourage you [wlm_firstname] to review some of the posts we've now categorized as Best Practices and let me know if you agree. Also feel free to suggest other Best Practicesfor consideration by our team.
Do you know how train Siri to do a specific task? I've been trying to get her to respond to “Siri, Shazam this” but I'm not having any success. Any ideas?
