As promised, ICI/PRO members will enjoy hearing part 2 of my interview with Lawrence Biscontini where he describes the importance of a scripted transition, as part of “Scripted Starts and Flawless Finales”.
I didn't address this during the interview (but it is obvious when you hear him speak) – Lawrence must be a Mensa Candidate. His website lists that he teaches and presents in; English, Spanish, Italian, and Greek – which amazes me as I struggle with just plain English.
This Podcast is was originally published on December 30, 2008, I have updated it with our new Podcast host information and I am representing it now. I hope you enjoy it, Joey
Welcome Spinning News Readers!
Would a mentor have helped you when you first started teaching Indoor Cycling? Or are you interested in developing a mentoring program for your club? Jennifer Sage and I discuss the benefits of mentoring with Bob Rebach, or SpinBob as he is known on the forums. Bob has written two articles for the Spinning Newsletter about mentoring; Overcoming Uncertainty: Finding a Mentor and an upcoming article Starting a Mentoring Program in your club. Link to article.
I woke up this morning to two emails, prompting this post.
The first was a notification of a question asked on Pedal-On.com
Does anyone know of regular continuing education events that make their way to Montana? Pickings are pretty slim here.
I responded to the post asking if they had any experience as a Group Fitness Instructor. If so, an online certification would be a potential solution. If you've ever driven through Montana you realize they are about as remote as you can get in the lower 48 states.
Second was a followup to an exchange I'd been having with an experienced PT & Group Fitness instructor located in Pleasant Prairie WI – which is between Milwaukee and Chicago.
Hi John,
I was hoping to have a Stages training at our facility but we only have 4 people. We have the Free Motion cycles. I contacted Anne again, last week, to see if she had any people from the Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison area, but have not heard back from her yet. It looks like I may do one of the online certifications. Which one do you recommend?
This Instructor missed the initial training Stages Indoor Cycling provided a year earlier. She contacted me last month looking for options so she could get her certification and start teaching. I suggested she try and find a group of interested future Instructors and then host a live certification at the RecPlex Fitness Center where she's currently training clients. Each education company has a threshold number of participants = enough to cover the costs for bringing in a Master Trainer to conduct the training. That number varies, so contact each to find out the details.
She's obviously a good candidate for an online certification, if she isn't successful finding additional people.
I am a personal trainer, yoga instructor, and teach strength based fitness classes – TRX, Free Motion, etc
There are a few online certifications out there – no the one promising; Risk-Free. Pay Only If You Pass! isn't real and doesn't count. I'd start by checking out this Online Indoor Cycling Instructor Certification program offered by Cycling Fusion.
When I take off my instructor hat and walk into a class as a participant, I have two expectations beyond the obvious (getting a good workout):
1. The class will start on time.
2. The class will end on time.
I understand there are exceptions to every rule and occasionally instructors get started a little late or run a bit long, but in general, I think it is important that we make a concerted effort to stick to the official schedule.
Why? For me, it comes down to being respectful of people's time and making sure members' expectations match up with reality. If the schedule says class will run from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m., folks probably anticipate a 45-minute class that starts at 5:30 p.m. and ends at 6:15 p.m., and they should! There may be participants like the one in Krista's recent post who take extreme measures to be at class early. There may also be people who feel bad about leaving “early” in the event that class ends late. Straying from what is expected increases the likelihood that participants will leave feeling disappointed, frustrated or annoyed.
Whether you are a hyper-prepared instructor or a professional improviser, there are several things you can do to ensure you start on time and end on time. Below are my thoughts regarding time management in the cycle studio.
Arrive 15 minutes early. I don't just mean walking into the building 15 minutes before class starts; I mean walking into the studio dressed and ready to teach 15 minutes before class starts. This will give you time to get your music ready, test the microphone, adjust your bike settings, greet members, answer questions, and assist new participants with bike setup.
Read announcements before class starts. I typically turn on my microphone to make announcements 1 to 2 minutes before class begins. That way, when 5:15 a.m. or 5:30 p.m. hits, I am ready to push play and teach immediately. Every minute counts.
Have a plan. I don't like to feel unprepared and I also don't like looking at the clock, so my profiles are planned out down to the minute to avoid both of those situations. Preparing a thorough class plan allows me to focus on my participants instead of the time.
Be consistent with cool down. If you teach every Thursday from 5:30-6:30 p.m., pick a time when you will start cool down and stick with it. That way, even if you improvise in your classes, you know that when 6:25 p.m. (or whatever time you choose) rolls around, you better start slowing things down.
Stay focused. Talking too much can throw a wrench in class plans; I know, because it has happened to me. I can recall multiple occasions when I had to shorten hills or alter drills because I was long-winded with a story or something that was on my mind. Being conversational has its positives, but it is also important not to get too carried away.
Thank You to the 354 of you who have completed our survey!
It is greatly appreciated. Because I chose to keep the survey anonymous, if you asked me to contact you I don't know who's who. Please contact me directly.
My goal is to collect 1,000 responses. If you haven't yet, so please take two minutes to share your experiences. Click here to take the survey
This jumped out at me right away. 61% of respondents are reporting that the primary reason people aren't riding and training with heart rate monitors is that they don't see or understand the value.
Click image to enlarge
Which begs the questions; why not? and as Instructors and Studio Owners is there anything we can do to correct or effect this in a positive way?
My Grandfather loved this quote from Albert Einstein: The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. John Sr. (I'm actually the third John in my family) would typically remind me of this concept when I would come to him with some problem I had identified. I was interested in his ideas for creating an “Invention” that would be seen as the ultimate solution.
Back in the 90s I was coaching my daughters youth soccer teams. I, like most of the other dad-coaches, was going crazy trying to coordinate which player on the team played when, at what position and for how long. The basic requirement was each kid get equal playing time. With some help from another Dad, I had devised a rather complicated spread sheet at home. I was so proud of my solution 🙂 Now I'm prepared I thought. But when I would get to the game, someone would always be late, or wouldn't show up at all, messing up spreadsheet to the point of being useless. I then resorted to just randomly assigning players during the game. Inevitably some player (or parent) would feel that they weren't treated fairly… not good. I needed a solution and went to John Sr. looking for help.
After discussing and brainstorming solutions, we applied Einstein's thinking; where was my current thinking possibly preventing me from finding a solution to this problem? My desire to treat all the kids on my team fairly made sense and it was the leagues policy that each player receive equal playing time. So we decided that wasn't it. Maybe I could demand that parents have their kids there on time? I'd already tried that without success. How about my need to be prepared before the game? What if I could find a way to create the spread sheet a few minutes before the game actually started? No way. This was years before laptops were popular. What we decided I needed was some type of chart, where I could add the names of the players who were there on time, right before game time. It would also be necessary for me to adjust for players who showed up late or needed to leave early. The end result was the FairTurn Coaching Tool U.S Patent #6,260,845 which I have since sold to another company.
My goal with this survey was to begin applying this process of creative problem solving to the issue of why our students don't see the value of wearing a Heart Rate Monitor. The first step is understanding what we and our club's are doing now. Then we can step back to see if there is anything we are or are not doing currently, that could be contributing to this problem. The next step will be to think differently, in search of some potential solutions. Stay tuned.
When I take off my instructor hat and walk into a class as a participant, I have two expectations beyond the obvious (getting a good workout):