Do you look up at a room full of smiling, fit, self-directed, endurance athletes?
Or does your class more closely resemble the population where you live?
In Part 1 I shared survey results that showed that a 20 Minute Threshold Field Test isn't realistic (maybe practical would be a better word) for where most of us we teach – which is primarily large health clubs.
I also stated that;
It’s well documented that a 20 minute Threshold Field Test is effective in determining an Athlete’s T2 (Anaerobic/Lactate Threshold) or FTP (Functional Threshold Power).
Are we training real Athletes in our classes?
I now see that asking an additional question on the HR training survey regarding class makeup would have been helpful in getting a true understanding of class makeup. So please permit me to make this assumption based on personal experience of 15 years teaching (and attending classes) at small studios, large “Big Box” clubs and conversations with hundreds of Instructors; the majority of our students are what could be described as “Club Athletes” who attend class or workout 2-4 times a week. My observation is that a very small percentage <15% are true endurance athletes. Of course every class or club is different. Class format and the time of year has a large bearing on class composition. For example my 90 minute endurance classes in the winter are > 70% endurance athletes… but then that class is designed specifically for them.
The purpose of a 20 minute field test is to determine an accurate Threshold HR for the purpose of setting HR training zones. These HR zones will be used to structure training intensities for weeks or months in the future.
In an early post I talked about using your Heart Rate Monitor as a GPS instead of a Speedometer. I was trying to reinforce something that you already know; maintaining an effort at, or very close to, Threshold for any length of time is painful and difficult for anyone. Like you, Amy and I fall somewhere in that upper 15%. If we choose to, we could ride at a consistent RPE that we feel is our threshold for 20 minutes, for the purpose of determining our Threshold HR and be pretty close.
But what about the other 85% of the students in our classes? How many could maintain a true Threshold RPE over a 20 minute Threshold Field Test?
What happens to the accuracy of the test if your students are finding, over the course of the 20 minute test, a HR average that's somewhere in the middle of T1 & T2?
Fast forward a week, post field test.
All right class, You tell them, I want everyone to build their intensity to Threshold and we will keep it there for 4 minutes. Those students who made it to your Field Test last week are watching the numbers climb on their monitors to their newly determined Threshold HR. Except they find after a few minutes, they aren't really feeling the Threshold signals you are describing. Do they:
A. Ignore the physical clues (RPE) and go with the HR number you told them was their tested Threshold HR?
or
B. Ignore the Field Tested HR and instead push harder till they are feeling the physical Threshold clues you described?
As I see it:
Option A. Has them under training = missing out on potential fitness improvements.
and
Option B. Causes confusion and has some questioning why they took the test to begin with.
I am continually fascinated at the results of the Heart Rate Training Survey over 600 of you completed.
It's well documented that a 20 minute Threshold Field Test is effective in determining an Athlete's T2 (Anaerobic/Lactate Threshold) or FTP (Functional Threshold Power). In the past I've played the cheerleader for using 20 minute Threshold Field Tests in class…
Except for one problem… I can't offer them to my class where I teach… and based on what I'm seeing in the survey results, neither can (or do) most of you 🙁
Which makes sense. The majority of us teach at a large club and the option to schedule and conduct a special Threshold Field Test class really doesn't exist. I know from experience that trying to do something “special” is very difficult to get approval for, from management. Digging a little deeper into the survey shows me that of the 5.6% who report conducting a regularly scheduled Threshold Field Test, the majority teach at a small independent studios. Instructors at small facilities also report a much higher ability to effect changes in class formats and schedules.
Now contrast that with what looks to me as a very high percentage of us who teach with an emphasis on Heart Rate.
What this shows me is that there is a big discrepancy between our intent to help students train effectively with Heart Rate vs the realities of using a 20 Minute Threshold Field Test to help these students determine some Metabolic Marker they can use to accurately set their HR training zones.
Could you ever hear yourself saying this? Don't worry if you missed the Field Test last week Linda… we'll be having another one in six months 🙂
Some anonymous responses to the HR survey:
I personally hold Threshold test 2X year.
We do a threshold test twice a year. I include the zones when I teach and they follow The other instructors do not use it.
FTHR testing is done every 6-8 weeks and we throw in LT rides to give them a sense of what this feels like. They are told specifically, “if you haven't done the FTHR ride, please go off of the RPE scale of 1-10.” I qualify LT as a 5-6.
Wouldn't this be of more value to your students?
Every class I try to establish where LT/AT is, how it feels to be at, below, or above it, and how to move around them. Executed through a combination of speaking, cuing, and guiding them through it as the class goes on.
Forget to sync your iPhone or Droid and don't have the latest episodes of your favorite Podcast? Like they say in Jamaica, No Problem – Mon 🙂
Go and get the Stitcher SmartRadio App that streams Podcasts directly to your Smart Phone. It's completely FREE and is one of the few Apps that I see using more than once or twice.
Here's why.
I'm very excited to announce that The Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast has been selected to be part of this exclusive network. We join a number of other excellent Fitness Podcasts like; Keith Burnage's Cadence Revolution, The Get Fit Guy Ben Greenfield, The Fred Cast + all the big name news outlets like CNN and the Wall Street Journal.
Currently only the free version of the Podcast is available. The way their system is setup only new episodes, starting with #157, are available. I see that Stitcher supports a number of Premium (paid) services and I have contacted them to see if ICI/PRO members will be able to stream Audio PROfiles in the future.
Those of you who don't regularly update your device will find this very helpful.
We are seeing and hearing a new emphasis on studios offering Beginner or Introduction to Indoor Cycling classes. The idea is really very simple; provide new students with a safe and inviting class, teach them the basic techniques, let them develop their fitness and then graduate them to more intense classes when they are ready to be successful.
Programs like Cycling Fusion have learned that these beginner class are most effective when offered over a series of classes, where concepts like fit, form, technique, cadence, power, Heart Rate training zones and others can be introduced gradually.
I love the concept because I see it as an excellent way to reach people who, for multiple reasons, refuse to set foot in an Indoor Cycling class. I also see this as having huge potential to build your class numbers 🙂 Companies like Curves have built very successful fitness businesses based on providing Safe and Inviting facilities.
Beginner class aren't (and shouldn't be) dumbed down classes and to that end ICI/PRO, starting today, will begin to offer members Audio PROfiles that will prepare you to competently teach this class format.
In this latest Audio PROfile Master Instructor Tom Scotto walks you through a 30 Min intro class designed to help your new students Explore their Aerobic Fitness.
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.
Every once in a while, an artist comes along that blows me away…grabs me with their extraordinary talent and I cannot get enough of them. That describes this week’s artist from Fargo, ND (although I like to consider him from Minneapolis – that's where his band and first album release is from). His voice is rich like none other and his guitar solos are smokin’, which also happens to be the name of his first album.
Two tracks from Jonny Lang’s most recent CD Turn Around are today’s Friday Favorites. “One Person At A Time” is a great climb at 60 rpm’s, 3:03. The lyrics are great, Jonny’s voice is gravelly and he rocks the guitar as usual. Here is a live video from the Des Moines Rib Fest, but his studio track is much better:
I then roll right into “The Other Side of the Fence”, which is the next track. At 80 rpm’s, I ask my riders to hold the resistance/load they had while they were climbing to “One Person At A Time” and go anaerobic for approximately 3 minutes. The song is 3:04. Here is another live video, and again, the studio track is much better and the CD is well worth the money! I hope you love this guy because I will be featuring him again down the line. He is just so good and started the music scene at age 15.
Who said the Midwest doesn’t make Blues musicians?
I came up from the “Man Cave” (my office) and heard cheers of approval and encouragement coming from our TV. I had been preparing for an interview with a nationally known Nutritionist who has some interesting ideas on how we should be communicating to our students. “What are you watching Abby?” I asked my elder daughter. “Man vs. Food” she replied. “It's a show where this guy is challenged to eat these impossibly large meals in a race against the clock.”
Maybe it's just me, but I started to getting really angry watching this very over weight show host stuff his face with a mountain of food. It took me a minute to understand where my anger was coming from, and it wasn't caused by the host.
What I was reacting to was the crowd behind him and how they cheered his destructive behavior. I couldn't help but think of similar self-destructive people like John Belushi or Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame who resort to self-deprecating humor as a way to seek approval of others. How pathetic.
Please watch this and tell me if I'm alone here.
Listen for the money quote;and then like an idiot, I dig in.
Which calls to mind a line from John Belushi's biggest movie Animal House (but he doesn't say it and it's directed at the Bluto – the stereotypical dumb fat guy) Have you no self respect, man?
