When you need to conjure up a perfect finish line song, not all students crave the driving force of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army. In fact, many are begging for an uplifting, inspiring arrangement to push their pace while stirring emotion and empowerment. These two FRIDAY FAVORITES are soaring with optimism, and your students will cross the finish line with euphoria. Both can be found on iTunes orAmazon.com
Wonderful by Gary Go (Disney Oceans soundtrack)
If you Believe by Blues Saraceno (Indie Pop album)
John adds: This got me thinking about my favorite uplifting songs. Long forgotten, but hearing Climbing from Lionel Richey again still brings a little shiver as it gets to the finish.
Keeping with inspirational climbing songs, here is your free track for today!
This article from yourlife.usatoday.com says my home town is the fittest and healthiest city in the USA!
The Twin Cities Minneapolis-St. Paul are the healthiest, fittest cities in the USA, followed by Washington, D.C., and Boston, according to a new analysis of the 50 most populous metro areas.
Oklahoma City ranks last, and Louisville is second to last.
The annual American Fitness Index, out today from the American College of Sports Medicine, is based on a number of health factors, including percentage of residents who smoke, obesity rates, percentage of people who exercise and availability of parks, walking trails and farmers' markets.
“It takes a healthy community to produce a healthy population, and Minneapolis-St. Paul is a beautiful place to live if you're interested in a physically active lifestyle,” says Barbara Ainsworth, president-elect of the sports medicine group and a professor in Arizona State University's exercise and wellness program in Phoenix.
Where does your city fall in the fitness rankings?
1. Minneapolis-St. Paul
2. Washington, D.C.
3. Boston
4. Portland, Ore.
5. Denver
6. San Francisco
7. Hartford, Conn.
8. Seattle
9. Virginia Beach
10. Sacramento
11. San Jose, Calif.
12. Richmond, Va.
13. San Diego, Calif.
14. Cincinnati, Ohio.
15. Salt Lake City, Utah
16. Austin, Texas
17. Pittsburgh, Pa.
18. Atlanta
19. Providence
20. Baltimore
21. Milwaukee, Wisc.
22. Kansas City, Mo.
23. Buffalo
24. Raleigh,N.C.
25. Cleveland
26. St. Louis, Mo.
27. Philadelphia
28. Chicago
29. Orlando
30. New York City
31. Jacksonville, Fla.
32. Phoenix
33. San Antonio
34. New Orleans, La.
35. Miami
36. Charlotte
37. Nashville
38. Columbus
39. Dallas
40. Tampa
41. Los Angeles
42. Houston
43. Las Vegas
44. Riverside, Calif.
45. Indianapolis
46. Detroit
47. Birmingham, Ala.
48. Memphis
49. Louisville
50. Oklahoma City, Okla.
Source: American Fitness Index from the American College of Sports Medicine
Among the reasons the Twin Cities ranked No. 1: a lower-than-average obesity rate, an above-average percentage of residents who exercise, a relatively low smoking rate and moderate-to-low rates of chronic health problems such as asthma, heart disease and diabetes. Plus the area has lots of parks and recreational facilities.
Minneapolis was one of the first cities to have organized bicycle trails and to prohibit smoking in public places, she says, and it has many parks and public golf courses. You can read the rest here.
Is it possible – even imaginable – that nearly everyone has been wrong about saturated fat and its connection to heart disease? Brace yourself. Based on a wave of new research, all the dietary admonitions about saturated fat could end up being little more than a huge mistake.
“The question is whether saturated fat is harmful or is just a bystander,” says Ronald M. Krauss, MD, a lipid specialist and the director of atherosclerosis research at the Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute. “Saturated fat may have an effect on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk, but the effect is so small that we just can’t detect it. We shouldn’t be demonizing saturated fat.”
And what did the expert's mistake contribute to society?
Food manufacturers responded by creating thousands of products in which saturated fat and cholesterol were replaced with refined carbohydrates, sugars and trans fats. And therein lies the problem. Not only do trans fats drive bodywide inflammation, but foods rich in refined carbohydrates and sugars trigger sharp increases in blood-sugar and insulin levels, which then set the stage for weight and blood-sugar problems – the leading risk factors for type 2 diabetes and CVD. “Replacing saturated fat with refined carbohydrates and sugars does not decrease CVD risk,” says Krauss. “More and more, the evidence shows that eating more refined carbs and sugars increases CVD risk.”
The late Robert C. Atkins, MD, sounded the alarm about the increase in carb and sugar consumption in the 1980s, when he noticed a dramatic rise in obesity and type 2 diabetes. But his solution, a diet rich in saturated fats, was roundly criticized – mostly because people believed that Atkins advised avoiding all carbs, including vegetables, when, in reality, he meant refined carbs. It took years of research before his approach was eventually vindicated.
This may sound like heresy, but the science behind it is solid. Sabina Sieri, PhD, of Italy’s National Cancer Institute, for example, tracked almost 48,000 people over eight years and found that women who ate more refined carbs and sugars had a significantly greater risk of coronary heart disease than those with a lower refined-carb intake.
It's been easy to blame the food manufactures for the obesity epidemic… but they were simply responding to market forces… that started when the “experts” convinced us that eating eggs and red meat was going to kill us all.
My money is on some future study confirming that stress and anxiety, from from listening to “experts”, is the real cause of CVD.
This week we are taking it all the way back to the 1980’s, and some good old recognizable metal. The band started in 1972 in Pasadena California and is just crazy fun and that is what we have in class- crazy fun when their music comes on.
I got Van Halen’s , The Best of Both World’s two disc CD and it is loaded with all their good stuff. I am going to highlight two songs today, but there are so many more great ones to use in class. “Jump” at 72 rpm and 4:04 is what I am currently
using 35 minutes into class for an out of the saddle climb. Everyone knows it, many sing to it, and we love it. I had forgotten about this song. Here it is:
Not as well known, but distinctly Van Halen, is “Feels So Good”, at 90 rpm and
4:32. It is a feel good flat with a great pause/re-start at 1:53 that I love to cue.
Happy Memorial Day to all in the US. And thank you to everyone that is serving,
or has served!
For your free track – here is a great remix/mashup of John's favorite Van Halen song 🙂
Click the little down arrow on the right to download. HotMaus (Van Halen vs. Deadmau5) by {{well in la}}
Being a sprinter by nature, explosive efforts are one of my favorite topics. It is not too surprising however that this was one of the elements of indoor cycling that made me sit up and think “huh?”. Besides the bad form, lack of any recovery and unrealistic lengths (i.e. 2 minutes), people seemed to fall to one cadence extreme or the other when the instructor yelled “sprint”. Some riders overloaded their bikes with so much resistance that it look as if they were wrestling an alligator to the ground trying to turn the pedals. Others had their legs spinning so fast that their bodies morphed into crazed jackhammers.
Putting the technical and tactical aspects of sprinting aside, sprints are a combination of fast leg speeds and maximal force. To get an idea of leg speed, let’s look at some of my favorite professional sprinters and see how fast they are turning their legs as they charge for the finish line:
Mark Cavendish: 110 — 125 RPM
Tom Boonen: 115 — 118 RPM
Thor Hushovd: 98 — 110 RPM
Erik Zabel: 108 — 118 RPM
Mario Cipollini: 105 — 118 RPM
Now keep in mind that these guys are generating upwards of 1200watts (Cavendish has been said to average ~1600watts). Needless to say, they would have a good amount of resistance on their indoor bikes if they were sprinting in one of our classes. So how do we teach our riders to use a realistic amount of resistance and legs speed? Before I give you a game you can play, remember that sprints (in the cycling world) are maximum efforts. We have a saying “if you’re not going to sprint at 110%, don’t bother”. So that being said, we need to: (1) make sure everyone is using good form so they don’t get injured, (2) have ample time to recover so then can give 110% again and (3) are not asked to sprint longer than 30 seconds (which is a LONG time at “all you’ve got”). Make sure you urge riders to work at their own pace and simply only work on sprinting form if they are not able to push the higher intensities.
How much power can you generate at ______ RPM?
Here is a little game that can be made into a class (providing you have power and cadence displayed on your bike). Have riders hold an 80 RPM cadence and then add as much resistance as they can and sprint without slowing down their legs. This can be done seated or standing. Perform 3 to 4 sprints at 80 RPM (with 2 minutes of recover between efforts) and see if riders can start to figure out which resistance (or gear) combination works best for the most power. Then do another set at 90 RPM and then 100 RPM. What is the most power that can be generated at 90 RPM and 100 RPM? If you are teaching an advanced class or one populated with experienced cyclists, you can attempt 110 RPM and 120 RPM. Just keep in mind that sprints are MAXIMUM efforts and may fatigue your class very quickly.
Not only does a game like this demonstrate the immense effort a true sprint requires, it can help your class become more acquainted with proper resistance and leg speed in general.
Back on ICI Podcast #125 — Barbara Hoots Explains How To Get Your Playlist Order Right, Barbara explained the importance of using recognizable music in your class as an important little detail your class will really appreciate and enjoy. But the solution may not be playing the same old tired version everyone has heard a thousand times. Finding a new version, in the form of a cover, re-mix or mash-up, can really freshen up your playlist and add that special connection we all look to make with our students.
So where do you find these tracks?
Better question; where do you find these tracks and download them for FREE?
Barbara turned me on to soundcloud.com as a fantastic source for music – much of it is not only free, but legal 🙂 Sound Cloud's users are made up of DJ's and Bands that upload their latest creations. Some are available as free downloads.
Like any other music discovery process, navigating through Sound Cloud will take some time. We're all spoiled with by the speed of iTunes' music sampling (I hate clicking and then waiting for something to happen) and I don't think you'll be disappointed by Sound Cloud. Their streaming is very fast and you can click on the music wave form to quickly sample within the song!
Go ahead and create a profile at Sound Cloud
Here's how to search Sound Cloud so you only see tracks that can be downloaded – NOTE: some tracks may have reached their download limit and no longer available. At the top go to Tracks > Search for Tracks and then tick the box for Show Advanced Search Options to see this: (click image to enlarge)
I set the Track/set type to Remix and then add search terms into the Tags/genres box. You may also what to choose the length of songs, long = ~9 minutes or more. Looking for a fun 80's mix? Try this one (it includes promos). Dj Vegaz – In The Lab – April 2010 Eighties Rock by Dj Vegaz
Click the little down arrow on the right to download.
