USA Women's Rowing Team – image credit boothbayregister.com/
If you’re about to start teaching a class that includes both cycling and rowing, here are a few tips.
Stay off the bike. To handle all the variables in a cycling/rowing class, you’ll need to be on your feet, moving around the room.
Will you warm up? On-bike stretches won’t work in a split class. Decide whether you’ll begin with a full-class stretch and warm-up, or have the participants take care of that on their own. Active Isolation Stretching is the most efficient in class — it warms the body as you stretch — but they all take up training time.
Pre-plan your trainings. You’ll need a specific and detailed rowing workout, along with your planned cycling workout. They don’t have to run parallel. That is, a 6:00 flat on the bike doesn’t have to run in sync with a 6:00 interval on the rowing ergometer (erg). They can if you prefer.
Feel the differences between the two workouts. Rowing workouts are often rigidly timed. That makes them effective and easy to cue. But some of the most unpleasant cycling workouts I’ve ever done were created by an instructor who was primarily a rower. His classes seemed to be created with a calculator and a slide rule (a what?). Instead, use cycling workouts that are similar to the ones you run now. Then you can mold your rowing workouts without alienating your riders.
Gear your music for the bikes. It’s less important to match music to a rowing drill, so keep handling your music the way you have been. There are exceptions — mostly performance-related — but generally this holds true.
Memorize the steps for setting the erg monitor. Concept 2 Models D and E use a complex procedure for setting time or distance. You’ll have to cue it every time. If you switch mid-workout from time to distance, be prepared to re-cue. Example: “Press Select Workout. Press New Workout. Press Intervals Time. DO NOT set the time yet! Use the Back Arrow to go back to the “tens” column. Set that for 1. Now use the Forward Arrow to get to the “ones” column. Change that to 0.” [At this point you have to cue setting the rest interval.] “Now press the check mark at the bottom of the screen.”
That lengthy description sets the timer for a 10-minute interval. If they set the “ones” column first to 0, it will default to an automatic “:20” (20 seconds). That messes up everything, and you’ll have to spend time changing it.
Note: The above cues are an illustration. You’re not done till you’ve set the rest interval (assuming you want repeating intervals). If you press the check mark midway through the process, you have to begin again. It will happen.
Don’t kill the Concept 2 people. All of the above is why the simple Model C was wonderful, but you’ll get used to the D/E. And you WILL remember the cues. I wrote the procedure from memory.
Always cue the rowers first. Let’s say you’ve decided to run the workouts in parallel format, which is easier for you. Separate the groups on their equipment. Cue the rowers while the riders roll their legs. Tell the rowers what to do during their warm-up (say it’s 10 minutes). Easy warm-up shortcut: Have them press “Just Row”. They row as instructed and stop when the computer clock reaches 10:00. While they row, you run a 10-minute bike warm-up. Once the warm-up is done, the riders roll and recover while you cue the rowing training — and setting the monitor.
This approach syncs the major changes for the two groups. The intervals will be of the same duration, but what the groups do during the intervals can be as similar or as different as you like.
Create a timeline. If you like multitasking, feel free to create workouts that don’t resemble each other at all. You may need some sort of timeline to track what’s happening. If you’re a spreadsheet geek, that approach will be fun for you. If you’re able to keep track of two different workouts mentally with no cheat-sheet, just go for it.
A timeline could be just a basic log with 3 to 4 columns. Minutes (0:00 to 30:00) go in the left column, rowing drills in the next, the cycling workout in the third column, and perhaps notes and prompts for you in the fourth column. Use a stopwatch. You’ll check your watch and know exactly what everyone should be doing at any given minute.
All of this planning makes improvising and modifying a lot easier. You have your plan, yet still feel ready to change whenever time or circumstances call for it.
At the 30-minute mark, switch equipment. The change will take a few minutes, so shorten the warm-up, but give everyone a chance to accustom the target muscles to the new activity for the second half of the class. Re-start your watch and repeat the body of the training.
If you can manage to do all of this AND deliver content — exercise physiology, technique, and training philosophy — your classes will be engaging and informative, and appeal to a broad base.
I hope these instructions are clear. I’d be happy to answer questions.
Growing up cycling and swimming, I never knew that without a flexibility regimen, the muscles would tighten more and more and, cumulatively, end up rigid. Rigidity, in the long run, decreases range of motion, which is detrimental to optimal performance. Performance aside, tight muscles affect how you feel in your body on a daily basis. Overly tight muscles can also lead to associated issues, such as chronic pain and unmanageable stress. All of this is avoidable, however, through integrating a yoga practice into your cardio training.
After swimming competitively in high school without much (if any) stretching, I already suffered from tight muscles by the time I entered college. I was lucky in college to take a jogging fitness class with Olympic runner Jane Kirkpatrick at UC Santa Barbara. Jane emphasized stretching for all her runners, and the benefits were immediately obvious.
It wasn’t till the end of college that I discovered yoga. Once I began adding yoga to my repertoire, my practices really began to bloom. Muscle tightness in the legs was not as severe. In swimming, my shoulders felt more fluid and the “clicking” sounds began to dissipate.
Fast-forward ten years: I find myself professionally offering this practice to casual and serious athletes in the San Francisco Bay Area. I began by teaching early morning indoor-cycling classes, followed by a yoga practice at Club One. (I’m now a RYT-200 Yoga Instructor.) I then teamed up with San Francisco’s first and only dedicated cycling and yoga studio — OMpower, home of ICG® Academy — to offer a class that integrates both practices in a single session. The students who have followed me on this journey all agree: Why haven’t they been doing this all along?!
With modern life crunching the amount of time people can spend away from home or work, a class that more or less offers two practices in the time of one extended practice simply makes practical sense.
Physically, participants receive the cardio boost and strength training for the lower body through indoor cycling, while strengthening the upper body, toning the core, opening the joints, and lengthening the muscle fibers through yoga.
Mentally, students energize themselves through the intensity of the cardio practice, and then relax with yoga.
Spiritually (and yes, there is a spiritual component), trainees push their boundaries and expand with cycling, while rooting and feeling a deep earth connection with yoga.
I could go on and on about the benefits of this practice, but I encourage everyone to take the experiential route. Try it for yourselves. It’s through our own experience that we discover whether certain practices resonate or “work” for us.
But if my experience has shown anything, it’s that this practice is the best balanced of them all.
Elliott Bringman, MA is a San Francisco-based athlete and yogi offering smart cardiovascular training through indoor-cycling, and yoga practices designed to strengthen, open, relax, and detox. Elliott is a Master Trainer with the Indoor-Cycling Group and is the creator of a number of hybridized spin/yoga programs. His welcoming, all-levels classes boost students’ aerobic ability for easy application to any number of high-endurance activities, while simultaeneously working the body through classical yoga-poses to build sustainable strength and flexibility. In addition to the physical, Elliott’s deep knowledge and dedication to both eastern and western traditions make his classes some of the most authentically uplifting and empowering around.
My original concept for the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast back in 2008 was simple and yet unique; use the power of an Internet Radio Show, delivered through iTunes, to provide a platform for the many voices in our industry. The show wouldn't be “about me” or a few self described “experts”, but rather my vision was for a vehicle that would be truly inclusive of the most progressive manufactures and education providers in our industry. ®
Over the past three years we have executed on this vision through partnerships with;
With ICG / Livestrong MI's Dosta Dedic and Kimberly Treadway at Club Industry
To start things off I would like you to meet Jim Karanas, Program Director for the Indoorcycling Group (ICG for short). In this interview Jim and I discuss his 30 year experience in fitness, ICG, their relationship with LIVESTRONG® Fitness and touch on the fantastic FREE continuing education resources available to you from ICG.
The Indoorcycling Group supporting LIVESTRONG® fitness has made a substantial commitment to both sponsor our efforts here and to provide educational articles and Audio PROfiles for our ICI/PRO members. This is going to be a fabulous year 🙂
Meet Instructor Krista Leopold – another of our winners in the Ultimate Instructor Profile contest! Pedal-On members will recognize Krista as GroupFitPower.
Welcome to the Jungle – An introduction to Tabatas is a well thought out profile that you can use to bring this form of very high intensity training (HIT) to your studio.
A little bit about me….
I started in fitness as a group fitness instructor and personal trainer. I've taught nearly every style of group class that has been available in the 13+ years I've been teaching. I also have a dance background and have served as group fitness program director in two of the largest clubs in our area. I live in Charleston, SC with my husband Jason and our two children. When Jason and I were dating, the majority of our “dates” were at the gym, where we'd spend our time together lifting weights. Match made in heaven!
It might not come as a surprise, then, that as a fledgling instructor, my classes fell solidly in the category of “aerobics on a bike.” Fortunately, that attitude didn't last, thanks to the incredible team I joined from the beginning. I credit my turnaround and growth as an instructor to my mentor, Spinning® Master Instructor Luciana Marcial-Vincion. Luciana's patience and example have shown me that there is a much better way to both ride the bike, and to deliver class experiences that students want to be a part of.
I'm now a Star 3 Spinning® instructor with a passion for challenging my students to find something meaningful in every pedal stroke. I regularly schedule event rides that explore the mind-body connection. It seems I'm not the only one on a quest for truth and purity and the bike is a wonderful way to explore these concepts. However, the profile I submitted for the Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest is not one of those rides. The Tabatas profile addresses our students' demands for high-intensity workouts (we have a large Cross-Fit population here in the Lowcountry), but does it in an educational and all-inclusive way. It is exciting and intense and a great challenge for both instructors and students. Just make sure you warn them that it is coming!
As an indoor cycling instructor, you already know that music plays an important part in creating an exceptionally motivating class.
But sometimes, searching for new music and developing playlists can be time consuming and costly. Since iTunes came out with its social network, Ping in 2010, I’ve had great success finding music and sharing songs and playlists there with other instructors. In fact, I may have been happy to stay with Ping forever. Then I heard a rumor that with its new upgrade this fall, iTunes will be dropping Ping. I can neither confirm nor deny that rumor, but it did scare me enough into looking at other music options.
That’s when my search began for a new music-sharing site that would offer me the ease of finding new music, putting my playlists together and sharing them with other instructors. I knew about other social music sites such as MeeMix, , Maestro.fm, and Last.fm, and I had dabbled in Spotify before, even recreating some of my iTunes playlists and publishing them there. I had never really explored Spotify enough to see all that it had to offer though.
With the possibility of Ping not being available to me any more, I knew that it was time to jump in and give Spotify another try. This was around the same time that John contacted me to write some blog posts here at ICI/ PRO. I mentioned to him that I was dabbling in Spotify, and he said it would ‘change the way I use music in my indoor cycling classes.’ As music ‘junkie’ and someone that had become pretty adept at creating playlists, sharing them and using them in my classes, I was sure that he was exaggerating.
As the next few weeks went by, I continued to explore Spotify, upgraded to ‘premium’ membership status and gained more confidence using it. I also installed the Spotify app on my new iPhone. In that short time, I have almost completely stopped purchasing new music in iTunes and cancelled my $12.99/month eMusic account. I’ve also begun to stream my playlists in my indoor cycling classes through my phone. Amazing, really, if you stop to think about it. I’m still working out the kinks in this area, but overall I’d say it’s going quite well.
To say that this was a challenge for me would be an understatement, because I consider myself just a bit technologically challenged, and I will admit that I found Spotify difficult to navigate at first. I am not someone that picks things like this up easily. I’m guessing that a lot of you reading this are in the same boat. I’m still working on learning how to use Spotify to it’s fullest potential. While I know that I am only using a small part of what’s available to me as a premium member, I’ve already decided that John was right. It already has started to change the way I’m using music in my classes.
Let me begin by telling you a few of the things that I already love about Spotify:
It’s inexpensive. I know what you’re thinking. How is $9.99 a month for a premium membership inexpensive? Here’s how: You don’t have to purchase music anymore. You have thousands of songs available for you to use. Between my monthly eMusic payment and my iTunes purchases, I was spending well over the $9.99 that I am paying per month for Spotify.
It’s simple to create playlists. This part of the process is actually very similar to iTunes, only much simpler. You can browse new music, see what others are listening to and create your own playlists in less time than if you had to download them and drag them into your playlists. In just a few clicks, you have everything you need at your fingertips.
You can share your playlists: Kind of like sharing playlists on iTunes only you can actually sync an entire playlist to your device and use it in your own cycling class. Sure, on iTunes you could purchase entire playlists easily, but it would cost you anywhere from fifteen to twenty dollars or more. With Spotify, you have access to thousands of songs and playlists and you can use as many as you’d like.
While I’ve learned a lot about Spotify in the few short weeks that I’ve been exploring it, I still have so many questions about it. I’m quite certain that I have not even scratched the surface of all that it has to offer me as a cycling instructor.
For example, here are few things that I’ve struggled with continued to struggle with:
I’m finding it hard to find other people to ‘follow’. One way to find people is to log in through your Facebook account and follow your Facebook friends that are on Spotify, but I am specifically looking for other instructors and people with good musical taste. No offense to my Facebook friends, but most of them don’t fit into either category. It’s not as simple as ‘searching’ for people by name.
I’m still learning the whole ‘online’/’offline’ thing. Do I want to stream my music via the Internet, or take it ‘offline’, which is a feature of the premium membership? One lesson I learned: when you are ‘online’ and your iPhone rings during class, your music will pause until you dismiss the call, unless you switch your phone to ‘airplane’ mode.
My goal until my next post is work out some of these kinks and share more of my Spotify experience with you. I would love it if I didn’t have to take this journey into the great unknow alone, so In the meantime, I will put this challenge out to those of you not yet using Spotify premium:
At the very least, try the free membership to see how you like it. If you ‘re ready to make the jump, I promise you that the premium membership will be worth every penny. I would be more than happy to entertain any questions that you may have about starting up with Spotify. If I don’t know the answer, I’ll try to find it for you.
Until then, keep the music flowing!
We were saving Kim Moody's profile; “The Gate” until it was closer to Halloween – and here it is!
Kim was one of the winners to the first Ultimate Instructor Class Profile contest as we really appreciated her take on creating a holiday based ride theme.
This profile is based on the urban legend, “The Gate,” in Libertyville, IL. One can find more information about this frightening place by going to www.hauntedusa.org/thegate
For this Halloween mixed ride, I wanted members to visualize the dark and desolate location so I began the class by retelling excerpts from the article to provide some background information and imagery material.
