John had Pandora on one day in the office and I was mesmerized by the song that was playing. It had a great vibe and I really wanted to use it in a class, so here it is for today’s Friday Favorite. The first 15 seconds start out with simple guitar, but the 63 rpm beat is nice and strong and firms up with keys and drums 15 seconds after that. Snow Patrol’s “Shut Your Eyes”, from their two disc Up To Now album is one of those songs that I ask my students to shut their eyes to (if they are comfortable doing so) and feel their body as they ride up the climb. I only wish it was longer than 3:18! The tune will stick with you for a while. It’s catchy.
Here's a slightly longer (4:07) cover of Shut Your Eyes as your free track.
New ICI/PRO feature will make teaching even easier 🙂
To celebrate the start of year 4 we are introducing PRO/Playlists, a new benefit for our ICI/PRO Yearly Platinum Members that will make your annual membership an even better value.
By design, the primary benefit of ICI/PRO is saving you time [convenience]. We try to make it easy for passionate, yet busy Instructors to quickly find what they need to teach an awesome class.
Only ICI/PRO delivers Audio PROfiles effortlessly to your computer / iPod device via iTunes. A few clicks and the complete profile can be printed so you can Grab It, Go, & Teach a Great Class!
Perfect – except for the class music playlists… they haven't been as simple, easy or convenient as I would like. Sure, we always include a suggested playlist for every PROfile, but it can be a real time suck searching for each track, purchasing it, building the playlist and then transferring it to your iPod.
Not to mention expensive 🙁
With ten or more songs in each playlist you may be spending $20 – $30 a month on music.
That's all going to change with PRO/Playlists…
Look for ICI/Podcast #168 explaining everything on Sunday 8/7
Experts say that once a business or organization has completed it's third year, the potential for success goes up exponentially!
Well, today, August 2nd 2011, is the 3 year anniversary of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast and www.indoorcycleinstructor.com
And to think that when I started, I was concerned that we would run out of ideas for new posts or Podcasts 🙂
It all began with this post which introduced my method of organizing music in iTunes based on the concept of Training Rates. Since then we have published an enormous amount of digital content in various forms; 167 Podcast episodes, 44 Audio PROfiles, dozens of videos and over 900 individual posts / pages. They have been viewed or downloaded a crazy number of times.
How crazy? Here are some of the numbers*
~ 750,000 – The number of times the “digital” Amy has told a listener; “Hi, this is Amy, the senior Group Fitness Instructor at the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast…”
~ 300,000 – Total hours spend by Instructors listening to the Podcasts
~ 33,000 – Average number of downloads we deliver each month
* It wasn't until September 2009 that I began using a service that would give me accurate data on the number of downloads we deliver each month. It's also important to understand that even though we have over 160 episodes, only the last 80 are available through iTunes.
We do have very accurate data on traffic to indoorcycleinstructor.com starting from day one. These numbers are even more crazy:
170,000 unique visitors came to the site
The made 333,647 visits (how many were yours?)
16,156 of this visits were on a mobile device
They viewed 923,484 pages
4,074 of those page views were through a dial up modem – really?
They're visiting from every continent on the planet (I'm still looking hear from my visitor in the Falkland Islands)
I appreciate your time here with us and I'm firmly convinced that we couldn't have done this without YOU!
Here's to year #4 !
John
P.S. Please don't send gifts. If you want to do something special for me (and YOU) let's celebrate together register for the conference and I can meet you for real – or – become a Monthly or Yearly ICI/PRO Member and we can celebrate virtually 🙂
Heart Zones Master Instructor Laura Sachs contributes our latest Audio PROfile.
Laura recently published an article about heart rate training in the June IDEA Fitness Journal. Here's an excerpt and you read the whole article here.
Heart Rate Monitor Benefits
If an athlete wants to train rather than just to work out, using a heart rate monitor to zone in on the right intensity can help track the workout in an intelligent way. Quantifying an activity makes it possible to plan a course of action based on the outcome measurements and the monitoring of that activity. Clients can use a heart rate monitor to gain an accurate picture of workout intensity, putting absolute numbers such as 160 beats per minute (bpm) into relative numbers or percentages of maximum or threshold.
For example, if the number for a client’s low threshold (the first metabolic shift from increased intensity) is 140 bpm and the maximum heart rate (HRmax) from a field test measurement is 160 bpm, then the relative number (or percentage) is about 88% of HRmax (also referred to as Zone 3: Aerobic Zone). “Low threshold,” or “first threshold,” is referred to as T1 (Foster & Procari 2010).
Edwards has identified five heart rate zones, providing a simple way to set training zones based on participants’ specific response to exercise intensity.
For decades, fitness enthusiasts have used the 220-minus-age formula (age-adjusted maximum heart rate formula) to mathematically calculate HRmax and thereby derive cardiovascular training zones. According to Carl Foster, PhD, FACSM, professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and past president of the American College of Sports Medicine, “The formula’s 220-minus-age is useless. There is no scientific validation for it.” To replace this generalized formula, Edwards has developed a half-dozen user-friendly field tests to determine both maximum and threshold heart rates that result in personalized zones for each individual. “The only way to safely and accurately estimate maximum heart rate,” she says, “is to take a submax field test. We can no longer rely on equations that were fabricated and invalid.”
After reading it I asked Laura to record this some of this as an Audio PROfile.
Here's your Spotify PRO/Playlist! Deezer. We have made every attempt to replicate the original playlist. In some instances the tracks specified were unavailable in Spotify. When necessary we have substituted individual songs of similar length and tried to maintain the Instructor's intent.
Today I am featuring a cover by a Canadian-American, singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer and actress. It is a rare day when I like a cover as well as the original,
but this 53 rpm climb at a total of 3:41 rocks. Seal’s “Crazy” mixed up by Alanis Morissette is great. She opens up her vocals and gives it a whole new feel. The
beat stays steady throughout and I use this 45 minutes into class when energy may be waning just a bit. It tends to pick class right up again.
Update: this was a very popular track and we reached the download limit much quicker than normal. In it's place please enjoy this remix of another great Seal song – Amazing
We are very excited to have Keiser Master Instructor Karen Lanman as a presenter at the conference this year. Karen will be presenting two sessions that you can look forward to: Powered Up:
Are you ready to power up your indoor cycling classes? By understanding how to utilize power measurements in your class, you can help your students understand how hard they should be working and when. In this class you will experience drills specifically designed to be used with power. You can then incorporate these ideas by instructing your students to use speed, resistance and intensity to power-up your next indoor cycling class.
Geared Up:
This action-packed class will utilize numerous cycle training techniques taken straight off the road and into your classroom. Ride away with a stronger understanding and how-to application of cycling elements such as time trialing, drafting, pedal stroke and more. Connect your cycling experience to the world of outdoor cycling, bringing your indoor cycling experience to a whole new level.
