Credit – Richard Ziade at Basement.org for the complicated diagram.
Are we losing some of the people in our classes with all this talk of; Max HR =bad & Threshold HR = good, T1 & T2, Training Zones, Functional Threshold Power, Watts, Kilo-calories, etc…? Spinning® & Indoor Cycling has been around for over 15 years and yet my perception is that only a minority of our students have embraced Zone Based Heart Rate Training. Now we are introducing Power, with all it's complexities, to studios where less than 50% of the participants regularly use a HR monitor. I'm sure most of us will agree that the move to Indoor Cycling 2.0 will benefit our students, but are they keeping up with the changes?
I've heard that the military will “Stand Down” (cease current operations) when it becomes obvious that something isn't working as intended. When complicated systems seem to break down, the solution may not be to layer on additional technology, information or instruction. Instead what's needed is a return to the basics, which has the effect of getting everyone caught up and back on the same page.
In this PRO podcast Tom Scotto and I discuss some ideas about how you could “Stand Down” and bring a renewed focus to the basics of Heart Rate Training in your club or studio.
What exactly should the “openers” in the warm-up consist of? In Tom's “Getting Started with Intervals” audio profile, he described them as 30 seconds of maximum effort followed by 30 seconds of recovery, which to me sounds the same as the first Muscular Strength interval in this audio profile (30s effort/30s recovery). I would appreciate help understanding the difference.
As always, I greatly appreciate the audio profiles!!! And Marc, thank you for the playlist suggestions!
Kristi
Kristi,
Thanks for you question. It is a good one. Many people don't understand the purpose of openers and thus never do them or benefit from them. Simply, they are all-out, maximum efforts for the prescribed period of time (openers can be different lengths depending on their purpose and what one is preparing for). How do we define the “all-out” maximum effort? Think of it as the most resistance you can use at the highest cadence. I would recommend a cadence of 85 RPM or greater (I personally prefer 100+ RPM). You should find yourself through into the high-end of Zone 5!
So what's the difference between the openers and muscular strength efforts? The muscular strength efforts are limited by the cadence. In order to more effectively develop strength in the legs, the cadence needs to be slower (60-70 RPM) in order to provide the necessary stress (I.e. Force) on the muscle. This in many cases will not produce the highest heart rates (but pretty high). Simply put, what is the most resistance/stress/force I can place on my legs at for example, 60 RPM.
Openers push every limit for a short period of time in an attempt to activate systems such as your anaerobic energy pathway and lactate buffering. If you prepare and active these systems BEFORE the structured part of the workout, the body will not be behind the 8-ball and will respond more consistently and repeatedly.
When a student asks what they should purchase for Indoor Cycling Shoes, what do you recommend? Do you have a place to send them? Does your club sell Indoor Cycling Shoes?
If you're only using them for Indoor Cycling classes, then a shoe with a recessed SPD cleat is the best choice. Often refered to as Mountain Bike shoes, you'll find they are easy to walk on and won't scratch the floor. Every pedal you will find and a studio these days will have a SPD on one side.
Here are links to a number of suggestions at Amazon.com which has as good a pricing as anyone and you can't beat Amazon's easy return policies.
I ride a lot outdoors and prefer a conventional “Cycling Shoe” that has an exposed cleat – I have used Look cleats on all of my road bikes. My feet are very wide and flat. After suffering with ill fitting shoes in a “regular” width for years, I finally broke down and purchased a pair of Sidi Mega Road Cycling Shoes. Yes I know they are expensive. I've had mine for at least ten years and other than looking a bit faded, they are as comfy as ever.
I should add that I wear my Sidi's with Superfeet supportive insoles that prevent my feet from rolling inward, which takes a lot of stress off my knees.
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues. Here is your ready to ride document, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
Last week I was asked to sub a couple of classes for another instructor and friend. It was at a club that I used to teach at and where I still knew a number of the members. I always like teaching at this particular club because the riders throw out some good energy and appreciate a structured workout — my specialty. Since I was going to be covering both the 9:30am and 12:30pm timeslots, I decided to bring my laptop and camp out in the lounge area between classes to get some work done.
The energy of the 9:30am class was great and the room was full. I taught on and off the bike walking around the room to encourage riders I hadn’t seen in a while and meet some new faces. After class, a few people hung out. I also took the time to make a few adjustments to the bike setup of a couple of riders. It was definitely one of those classes that often gives you (the instructor) more back than one feels was given. I left energized and refreshed and was now looking forward to the 12:30pm class.
I settled down in the lounge area and fetched myself a cup of complimentary coffee. As I was checking emails and eating a Pop-Tart (yes, I got grief for that – “What, Coach Tom Scotto is eating junk food”) one of the riders approached my table and asked if she could interrupt me. Sure, I love talking with people at the club and particularly about cycling. These were her exact words: “Your class and workout was great, but your music sucks”. She said it in such a genuine, yet straight-forward way, that I could do nothing but smile. “Wow, that is quite a range of feedback. Would you mind bridging the gap for me? What did you like and why such a strong response to the music?”
She sat down and told me how the workout was perfect and how she felt the exact challenge I had presented during the intro. She remembered each of the drills and told me her heart rate ranges for each. I was quite impressed with her detail and assessment of how she felt during each effort. “So what’s up with the music?” I said. She said it was just awful. “I hate all of that electronic stuff”. Now I was quite certain the instructor I subbed for played very similar music, so I asked what she thought of the music the regular instructor plays. “Oh, his music is terrible too. I can’t stand that electronic junk”. She told me she liked popular music with vocals. I asked her how she was able to make it through the entire class with that brutal noise. She said that, although she hated the music, it somehow fit the flow of the class and matched the workout. “I just focused on what we were supposed to be doing and blocked out the music”.
I thought this was very interesting. How could someone who had such a violent reaction to the music actually enjoy a class — to the point where her overall assessment of the class was “great”. Being a musician, I’m particularly sensitive to music and would find it hard to enjoy a class if I “hated” the music. Her feedback demonstrated the importance of delivering sound training. It is so important that a 50% Great plus a 50% Sucks stills equals “great”.
Now I don’t think she was speaking to the soundness of the “physiological training concepts”, but what I took away from her comments was that she appreciated the thought and structure that went into designing the class. I thought this was great news. As a coach, I have all kinds of workouts just waiting to pour out of my head. The challenge is always the music. It can take me hours to pull together just the right songs. So, as I said, this is good news. It doesn’t mean we don’t have to focus on the music, but if we take the time to put together a sound workout, it can overshadow our music choices.
So what does this really mean for us? It is a call for each of us to take the time to design a solid ride profile. How much time and effort do we take to construct our workouts or rides or whatever we call them? Could your profile stand on its own WITHOUT music? Wow, that’s a challenge! I’m sure there is quite a bit more that we can pull out of this experience, but I’m more interested in hearing your feedback and thoughts?
I’m off to download some new music. Apparently, my tunes suck.
I'm a big Shazamer (not sure if that's a real word) cause I'm constantly Shazaming music I hear throughout my day. Watching TV, in the car, during other Instructor's class – pretty much anywhere. I've even looked into finding a way to create a “hot button” on my iPhone so I could quicken the process of having Shazam start listening with just a single action. I don't use Siri and would love to be able to just press and hold the “Home” button and have it launch Shazam.
But all of this Shazaming created some frustration for me. Once Shazam has identified a track, I still needed to type the name / artist into Spotify search to listen to it or add it to my Future to use playlist.
So I consulted the all-knowing Google and found that Shazam Encore, the premium version of Shazam, offers the option to open a track in Spotify!
Encore has the option to purchase the App for a year ($4.99) or lifetime ($6.99) – I opted for one year plan but that link takes you to the lifetime page – scroll down for options.
Once you have updated to Encore here's how to get a tagged track into Spotify:
Start by creating a special playlist in Spotify for your Shazamed tracks so you have a place for them.
Shazam a song.
Scroll down to see the Spotify option and select it.
Spotify will open in search, so it may gave you multiple choices – Shazam isn't telling Spotify the exact song, just the track name.
To the right of the track name is a circle with ***
Select it and then Add to Playlist > choose your playlist 🙂
There are other advantages to Encore:
No more advertising
It appears to run quicker / answers come much faster – I'm willing to bet Shazam purposely delays it's response so the advertisements are displayed longer.
When a student asks what they should purchase for Indoor Cycling Shoes, what do you recommend? Do you have a place to send them? Does your club sell Indoor Cycling Shoes?
. Yes I know they are expensive. I've had mine for at least ten years and other than looking a bit faded, they are as comfy as ever.
