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Where are all the young fitness Instructors?
It's a great question. I thought Stages Indoor Cycling's Master Educator Dunte Hector may have some understanding of the perception the fitness industry has among college students. After all he's only 23 and is very active at Texas Tech University.
Before we recorded his Race of Truth Audio PROfile, I asked Dunte to share his ideas and observations about the opportunities for young people in fitness in this episode of the Podcast.
If you have or know someone who's considering a fitness career – this interview may be of interest to them.
I feel like a PRO talent scout and I just completed signing day with the NFL (National Football League). All my big stars have committed to contracts with our team!
Starting Quarterback from the University of Alabama has signed with …
Well actual I feel I am a sort of PRO talent scout… one of my greatest pleasures is giving experts in our industry a platform, letting them show their stuff and watch as their stature and authority within our community grows from obscurity to WOW – DID YOU SEE WHAT HE POSTED? 🙂
I'm very excite to tell you that the ICI/PRO team has signed some very impressive talent for 2012!
ICI/PRO contributors who are contractually committed to ICI/PRO for 2012 are:
Indoor Cycling Group (ICG) / LIVESTRONG Fitness – weekly articles and monthly Audio PROfiles
Master Instructor Jim Karanas,
Master Instructor DR. Joan Kent
Cycling Fusion – weekly articles and monthly Audio PROfiles
Spynergy Indoor Cycling Studio Consultants – monthly articles
Studio Owner and Startup Expert Bill Pryor
But I'm not done by any stretch. There are a few holdouts (you know who you are) who I'm still negotiating with and whom I feel will add even more value to ICI/PRO – helping our members thrive as Indoor Cycling Instructors over the next year!
And contrary to the NFL – we have no salary cap to limit our talent here at ICI/PRO!
Look forward to additional signing anouncements shortly.
Which also happens to be the National Flag of Romania
PROFILE DESCRIPTION
This profile is an introduction to effort management that can be delivered by any indoor cycle instructor simply by relating effort to a color through the use of verbal descriptors.
OBJECTIVE
This profile introduces to our riders the concept that heart rate and breathing change with exercise intensity. That these changes are sensed by comparison to verbal descriptors and are related to a simple color coded three zone aerobic exercise system called ZONING.
Recently John posted another excellent piece related to the power of three. He concluded with ICI/PRO’s own version of three-zone power training. I applauded him in the comment section thanking him for getting back to basics.
As a primary facilitator of ZONING (a two threshold three zone heart rate training system) with Sally Edwards I couldn’t agree more with John’s support and suggestion that our club athletes don’t need more.
Yet as an instructor who been teaching daily (M — F) for some time now, I’m convinced that few if any riders in ‘spin classes’ theses days are there for structured training. Three, five or seven zones, they could mostly care less. They don’t want any zones. They want to feel like they worked out and it wasn’t so bad. Heart rate and power were not at the top of their minds when they walked through the door.
And yes, I called it ‘Spin Class’. Like John, I’m getting back to basics. We’re looking 2014 square in the face. I think it is time we regard what we do in the context of what our paying customers call it. It is time to understand that just keeping it real is making it boring. We can offer sound training without our riders even knowing about. In fact I say don’t tell them.
Our riders come to Spin Class and I’m all about my riders! Thanks to Johnny G., we have Spinning. Spinning is what they come to do. No I don’t mean the Spinning most of us learned during our certification though spinning is still the number one certification out there.
I mean the fun spinning classes that everyone was raving about not that long ago. The community of fun, energetic sweat filled rooms that SoleCycle copied, repackaged and gave back to us at four times the price. Three zones not required.
So when I talk about coming back to basics I’m not kidding. The goal is still well attended popular classes. That is what management is looking at. More than you think. And let’s face it; teaching to a full room is cool.
So apply the following rule of three for sustainable well attended popular classes:
LEARN, LOVE AND BE LIVELY
LEARN as much as you can about indoor cycling, (as it pertains to the indoor bikes you teach on) cardiovascular training and outdoor riding. Just don’t try to sell it to your riders.
LOVE. Show up for class in time to make a friendly connection with your riders. Stay connected during class. See my post on connections.
BE LIVELY. Play music relevant to your plan for the class, which should be, to use your extensive cardio/bike riding knowledge and experience to give your riders a sense of community, some fun, and a good workout that DOES NOT include lessons on road riding, power or heart rate training.
Please understand I am in NO way suggesting we all abandon the sound fundamental principles we’ve championed here for so long. I’m recommending that you use all of it. Just don’t tell your riders.
Indeed my choice has been to cover it all up with a laugh, music playing somewhat louder than I would listen to in my car and cues that make sense to regular people. People coming to your class because they know it’s good for them and they can count on you to help them through on those tough days when they’d rather be somewhere else.
This Podcast is was originally published on February 22, 2009, I have updated it with our new Podcast host information and I am representing it now. I hope you enjoy it, Joey
Keiser Master Trainer Suzette O'Byrne and I discuss the initial response to their new correspondence Indoor Cycling certification course. Keiser has recently introduced their new M5 elliptical trainer and have created a certification program so you can bring the cross training benefits of an elliptical trainer into your class. Update: here is a video of the M5 in action - http://www.keiser.com/m5/
149 Keiser® Striding and Cycling: An Indoor Collision
Workshop PREMIERE (Description from IDEA's site) Suzette O’Byrne and Krista Popowych Group elliptical classes are HOT in Europe! Now you can be among the first in North America to experience “striding” in combination with indoor cycling in this fun and innovative workout format. First, we will cover striding foundations and teach you how to use the on-board computers so you may monitor your progress. Next, discover how you can implement a variety of training methods (i.e., interval drills, speed drills, hiking drills, recovery drills, etc.) for ultimate fitness. Finally, get information on how to develop a class that blends these two formats into one amazing workout. Repeated as sessions 209, 249 and 309. Listen to the Podcast below or subscribe for free using iTunes or Zune.
