Welcome to the The Weekly Ride by Cycling Fusion:
ICI/PRO member Joey, a Cycling Fusion Master Instructor and routine contributor to The Weekly Ride on ICI/PRO, delivers a ride.
What an exciting day, this is our first ride recording. We will certainly get better at the audio, but you should still find this enjoyable. Take a few moments to listen to my ride. The instructions for the audio files are below.
Find the file here:
LINK TO COMBINED MUSIC AND VOICE PODCAST
[plulz_social_like width=”350″ send=”false” font=”arial” action=”like” layout=”standard” faces=”false” ]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
By ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
Many things contribute to a great Indoor Cycling class, but none as much as cueing. Cueing a class is a skill, even an art, that develops over decades. Like public speaking, it’s about more than the words and involves multiple factors.
Cues add depth and color to a class and focus the students on aspects other than getting some exercise. In the class of a Master Instructor, the words flow, go beyond workout instructions, and command attention.
We’re professional instructors, and cueing is our craft.
The Opening
Every class needs an opening. No matter how many times you’ve taught the group, the opening is critical to the success of each class. While it’s OK to greet students personally with just your voice, always open on the microphone. The tone and content of a good opening should be amplified.
When you open, you must do two things: get in sync with the students and grab their attention. If they’re quiet and serious, don't open energetically. Use a subdued tone. Once your energy matches theirs, move them to where you want to take them. Even in a subdued voice, though, you have to get them to listen right away.
Instructors may miss an effective opening by socializing with the students or ignoring them while fiddling with their bike or music. As with any presentation, the opening sets the tone for the class.
“Good morning, everyone. As we start, I want you to focus on what you’re doing and what’s happening. The rollout is a special time in the ride. Let me tell you why.”
Whether you open from the bike or from the floor, your opening depends on that optimal moment that experience helps you feel. It’s the moment when students first direct their attention toward you and are most receptive. Use it as soon as you feel it.
Cueing the Class
The cues for the day should encompass more than ride instructions or motivation. Cues can relate to the Concept, the Workout, Exercise Science, Philosophy, Music, Video, Personal Experience, or Motivation.
The Concept is what you want your students to learn from the day’s class and is more important than the Workout. Your concept can be standard, such as Endurance, or more esoteric, such as Finishing Every Climb. If it’s an endurance class, teach the concept of endurance. There’s the science of endurance (aerobic metabolism, building a foundation, oxygen transfer), and there’s the philosophy (contemplation, discipline, resilience). The more your knowledge and experience grow, the more compelling your cues become.
The Workout consists of the mechanics of the class, which we learn in any Indoor Cycling curriculum: ride positions, hand positions, terrain, cadence, technique, proper breathing and modifications. Many instructors never progress their cueing beyond this.
Exercise Science cues should support the day's concept. If you don't know much about exercise science, read some articles or tap into the wealth of fitness information here for PRO members. Students look to us to explain what’s happening in their bodies through exercise. It’s disappointing when an Indoor Cycling instructor can't explain the physiology of cardio.
Cues around Philosophy take some experience. Yet students may need to hear them to realize what they’re doing transcends exercise (which may become boring). It takes courage to introduce these cues because they can sound preachy. The key is to say them as a student of philosophy who’s still seeking answers — and stick to cycling. When you talk about a philosophical point you’ve contemplated for a long time, it won't sound preachy.
Music and Video are sensory assets that can and should be included in your cues. Why did you select the song you’re playing — the nuance? The structure? Why did you want the class to ride to the video segment you put up that day? These make relevant and interesting cues.
Personal Experience lets your class know that you feel what you’re asking them to feel. Even if you don't ride a bike, years of dedication to your cycling-based workouts are a quality experience. For instance, how did your thousandth class differ from your first?
Last are Motivation cues. These are straightforward encouragement but too heavily relied upon by many instructors. When said time and again, motivational cues lose their impact. “You can do it” is much more effective when used infrequently. Said at the right time with the right tone, though, it can change the direction of a student's effort.
The Close
A close for each class is important and a good time to make a final, perhaps philosophical, point. Students are open and receptive after a hard effort.
Timing
Timing cues properly is one sign of a quality instructor. Timing is your sense of flow, your sensitivity to what’s happening in class, and how you change in the moment to balance and maximize performance.
Time your cues around the vocals in your music; speak in the pauses. Match the video playing. Couple that with tone: Should you be supportive and quiet? Firm and commanding? Never yell.
When you’ve timed your cues well, the class energy will build, and the students will be with you.
No matter how good you are, inexperienced students with less awareness will exercise “unconsciously” and not listen. You’ll need to repeat cues, finding different ways to say the same thing.
If this type of cueing is different from what you do, ease into it. One day, try an attention-grabbing opening that explains the workout, and close by summarizing it. Another day, open with how important cardio fitness is. During the class, explain one physiological point that you know really well. Close by reminding the students of that benefit they just got.
The goal is optimal communication that lets the students walk away with something besides exercise.
This is post one in a multi-post series that will explain how to use and select music to compliment your class. As the series progresses, I will be sure to include the links to the previous posts so that the entire series can be found in the latest post.
As an instructor, music can become the most challenging part of any indoor class; however it can be one of the most important parts of the class. I have heard it said that we are not DJs on a bike, we are cycling coaches. While I may agree with the sentiment, we can not underestimate the importance of music in the delivery of a class. You could structure the most ideal training program with the very best designed drills, but if your music is off and does not match the work, chances are very good that the class will disappoint your riders. While we believe that the class focus and design should be well thought out before the music is added, the addition of music to your drills will truly make or brake your class.
What is it that makes the selection of music so crucial; music is a one of the most powerful mediums. It can facilitate communication that goes beyond words, enables meanings to be shared, and promotes the development and maintenance of individual, group, cultural and national identities. Music can alter movements, moods and emotions. Few other items that you come in contact with can effect such a wide range of human functions and feelings.
So, how do we begin with the so important task of selecting the right music for your class? It all begins with belief. You must believe in your music and your playlist or your class will not believe in it either. While there are seemingly endless types and styles of music and everyone in your class can have a different preference, it is your ability to believe and sell the ride that will matter. To make it a little easier, if you incorporate some basic principles, you will succeed more times than not:
Know Your Demographic
The demographics of an indoor cycling class can be affected by many factors including your club’s location (city vs. suburbs), day of the week and time of day that your class is offered, and if your class is designed around a specific focus or theme. One of the easiest ways to accomplish this principle is to take the time to learn what your riders like by simply asking them. You will never be able to please everyone all of the time, but people appreciate being listened to and will respect you if they believe your are doing your best to give everyone something they enjoy. Please, remember to remind your people that not all great music is great indoor cycling music and that it may take a few weeks to get their requests into one of your rides.
For Foundational classes (beginner), remember the overall focus is to provide a fun environment for people to gain some initial cycling fitness or possibly just fitness in general. With the exception of the warm-up (and possibly the cool-down/stretch), working songs should be music your riders will recognize, and maybe even sing along to. While the beat matching of the ride is still critical, you should take extra time with this group to be sure the music is fun and will keep them coming back for more.
For intermediate and advanced classes, it is critical that the music be beat-matched and of similar intensity to the work that you are asking of the riders. When we ask more of the riders, this also demands more of us as instructors. We need to put in the extra time to find “just the right music” that will not only support our drills, but it will also enhance them. Ideally, the riders should be able to close their eyes, or look away from the cycle display, and still hold the proper cadence by focusing on the beat and feel of the music. Aside from the beat, the intensity is also important: an epic climb demands an epic musical work to help us reach the summit.
One of our foundations at Cycling Fusion is that songs used for the first warm-up segment should NOT have vocals. The warm-up is where you spend a good portion of the time introducing yourself, the purpose of the class and give various instructions such as safety guidelines, proper position and how to gauge the level of effort. It is important that your voice be the only one heard in the cycling studio during the warm-up so riders have a clear understanding of expectations and how to approach the class.
In the next post, we will talk about Pulse, BPM and RPM and how using them will enhance your ride and heighten the student’s experience.
No stunt is too dangerous for extreme motocross competitions.
What caused the SoulCycle phenomenon? Why are their riders so passionate, loyal and willing to spend $34 dollars a class, when clubs and studios had been offering Indoor Cycling classes for 10 or more years – long before SoulCycle's launch in 2007? The research done (and reported here) by future studio owner Callie Bowling finds Cycling Studios that are offering class formats similar SoulCycle's appear to be doing well, but studio startups following traditional / cycling specific formats are struggling. Sadly many have already closed. Why?
One plausible explanation is that for a long time now, Indoor Cycling has been too focused on the negatives, “don't do this [contraindicated] … and don't do that [contraindicated]” while at the same time asserting rules and restrictions on the sport, [if you don't do it outside…]. Now I get that the intent here has been to try and ensure our rider's safety, but could all of these rules/limitations/contraindications be causing unintended consequences?
My theory
So let me throw out a possible theory for you to consider. NOTE: my intent here at ICI/PRO is never to tell you what to think… you're too smart for that. Rather, my hope is that you thoughtfully consider what's written and come to your own conclusions.
Growing up in the late 60's and 70's there were no “Extreme Sports” – although I should probably be dead based on how much danger I was exposed to daily. That is, I enjoyed a lot of freedom as a kid – if you're of a similar age, I'll bet this was the same for you. We spent summer days in the suburbs pretty much unsupervised. Neither my mom, summer sitter, or my neighborhood friend's moms, knew where we were most of the day. We did pretty much whatever we wanted and created our own play. We got everyone together for pickup games of all types daily. Yes we got in trouble on occasion. Yes we got hurt a few times, doing dumb things like falling out of trees we shouldn't have climbed, crashing our mini-bikes without wearing a helmet, etc. We survived. Sure we had youth sports (little league baseball and football) but there was very little parental involvement. I rode my bike to practices/games and, with the exception of my grandmother who seemed to attend every game, my parents were rarely involved in my play while I was growing up.
Everything was different for my two daughters and kids across America, growing up in the 1990's. Amy and I parented like every other parent our age. We knew where our kids were pretty much every minute of the day. “Play time” was often initiated, structured and supervised by us. Why? Because we wanted to ensure our kids safety, based on concerns that I now see were really overblown.
Organised youth sports (soccer and later softball) started at age 5. Games and practices were religiously attended by both parents. I coached both my girls until they were teenagers. As a youth sports coach, I had first hand knowledge (very intense phone calls and on-field conversations) of how incredibly involved and controlling some parents were in their daughters lives.
Thankfully, Amy and I recognised the negative impact our actions were/or could have on our girls and we backed way off. For many who didn't, all of that parental supervision and control didn't end well. Multiple friends of my daughters quit sports completely, having been burnt out by excessive amounts of structured practice. These kids just wanted to play and have fun. But their parents never gave them the chance.
The problem isn't limited to moms and dads. Schools, for a multitude of reasons*, have imposed restrictions and limitations on “play time” during recess to the point where it's hard to believe you actually could have fun. Don't believe me? Try teaching your five year old to follow all these playground rules I found for an elementary school in California. After reading through the very detailed list of playground rules, I'm thinking I would give up and just instruct my child to sit quietly on his hands 🙁 Here's how the list of rules begins:
Playground Rules
Play Structure
Play with SAFETY in mind at all times. Students are always to walk in the playground equipment area. Those running will be removed from the area. No tag games are allowed in the playground area.
Swings:
* Students sit on swings facing the field area
* Students can swing to a count of 50
(1 swing consists of a forward and backward motion)
* Students wait behind the green pole to take turns on the swing
* Students should never be allowed to jump over the swing seats, twist swings, or
stand on swings
* Students must swing independently. No pushing from a friend!
Enter Extreme Sports
It no secrete that youth have a tendency to rebel against authority. Sociologists have figured out that many young adults are acting out their rebellion at the parental and societal intrusion on their play, by participating in Extreme Sports. Now, instead of climbing trees, doing an oly-under while pushing your friend on a swing and occasionally sneaking out at night as kids, we have people jumping off buildings and doing flips with motocross bikes 🙂
I did some research and I found a book that you can read at this link; The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction. The author makes a compelling argument > Extreme Sports are in fact a response to the excessive structure imposed on children's play.
Excerpt from The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction – page 53
So, are people flocking to SoulCycle because it's the alternative to rule intensive Indoor Cycling programs? I believe in part they are. After taking a few SoulCycle classes last fall, I wrote a series of reviews that you can find here, here and here > opens in new tabs. I came away thinking that part of the appeal of SoulCycle is that the class is very challenging physically – and I don't mean just cardiovascularly…
Is there purpose to all of these extraneous movements?
Critics of SoulCycle (and similar) classes point to how non-cycling specific movements; jumps, push ups/rhythm presses, “tap-backs”, figure eights, etc… have no proven training value and/or diminish the potential training value of riding an Indoor Cycle… like an Outdoor Cyclist would. For those reasons, along with perceptions the some of these movements may be potentially dangerous, we’re told we should not include these movements in our classes as they’re “Contraindicated”.
Based on what I saw at SoulCycle (and other similar classes I’ve taken) my feeling is that critics are completely missing the point. IMO these movements are a critical part to the appeal of these classes. It is a thing of beauty, watching a room full of people exactly on the beat and rising and falling in unison. I’ve heard this described as “tribal” behaviour, similar to fans doing the ‘wave’ at a sporting event. It’s a very powerful way to connect a group of people together. And at the same time, these jumps are very challenging to perform correctly — which I feel is another reason for the success of SoulCycle that I explained in this post.
In case you're wondering, what started my thought process here was a provocative post from CB Cycle Barn's Owner Karen Casler. She made a statement, by way of the below image, in this post at the Indoor Cycling Instructors Facebook group. You might be interested in reading the 100+ comments, including mine near the end where this theory first popped into my head.
Are you an independent thinker when it comes to conducting a fun, effective, entertaining and motivating Indoor Cycling class? If so please consider joining us here as an ICI/PRO member where everyone is welcome — no matter where, our how, you choose to teach!
*Yes, I agree that there are a lot of legal liability issues that drive institutional decisions. It's just that I've talked to too many school administrators, who's personal interest in “protecting the children” seemed more important than whether or not the kids will actually have any fun.
Sprints, speed work, accelerations, cadence building drills-whatever you call them, we all use them in our classes. I love collecting songs that have a natural pick up (usually on the chorus) to use for this purpose. Today I'm sharing two of my favorites along with the timing that I use in my classes. I hope you can work them into your next cycling profile!
Both songs are by Danish metal band Volbeat.
2. A Warrior's Call: Accelerations at :41; 1:50 ; 2:50 and 3:50, each of them 30 seconds.