Have you ever watched a commercial and wondered, “What’s that song?”. I’ve seen this Diet Coke commercial dozens of times and every time I see it, I find myself humming this song for hours. I googled it, but could just have easily Shazamed it if I’d had my phone next to me. (If you’re not Shazaming, you should definitely try it! It’s a great way to find and save new music to use later in your classes!)
If you like to use Christian Rock (or even if you don’t) in your classes, this one is perfect. Check out these lyrics:
Brave Fight like a soldier Brave Rise like a warrior Brave Won't stop till the final day Brave I want to be stronger Brave Gonna be bolder Brave
And last, here’s a favorite that I used in this week’s playlist by one of my favorites, Haik Naltchayan. I used it as a long, steady climb in and out of the saddle:
I woke up one morning thinking; the appeal of SoulCycle to women is eerily similar to golf's appeal to men.
Amy and I rode a class at SoulCycle in Santa Monica, CA. I was working on a few posts about our experiences that I hope to have finished by tomorrow. But this observation needed to be in a post all its own… and begins with this question?
Why is SoulCycle so appealing to women?
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']
The class I took yesterday had about 60 people in it – I forgot to count the exact number of bikes. I was one of two men (lucky us!) and the age spread of the women there was 18 – 50, heavily biased to 30 and under. Now I get how the demographics of all group fitness classes are primarily women, but there is obviously some extra special attraction between SoulCycle and the women who flock to these classes.
I'm not a “golfer” in the same sense that I am a “cyclist”, but I have played enough to understand the game and the appeal it has with men. I'm also not a women. So please let me know if any of what follows sounds plausible – or if I'm totally out in left field.
SoulCycle is challenging… just like golf.
I was asked a question on Facebook about “did you do all the moves John?” I certainly tried, but keeping my cadence in time with the tempo of the music, while doing 4 & 8 count jumps was really challenging. I left the class thinking; “I can do better than that”… and then considered coming back later in the week to try again.
Golf is exactly the same. If you're not so frustrated by the end of the game that you commit to quitting for life, you are very motivated to return to prove to yourself (and the people you play with) that you can do better.
Said differently: How popular would golf be, if every swing resulted in a hole-in-one? That would be pretty boring, right? Who would bother to play a game where you're always successful? I suppose you could make the game more challenging by racing your foursome between the holes, or only play on hilly courses, or walk taking slow really big (or quick super small) steps to add variety. Maybe you could turn the game into something more like polo, using bicycles instead of horses.
Does any of that sound familiar? Part of SoulCycle's appeal is that the class itself is challenging to perform well. It's my guess that mastering all the movements is very gratifying – just as learning to hit and place a golf ball exactly where you want it.
SoulCycle is social… just like golf.
This is obvious.
SoulCycle is exclusive… just like golf.
‘Where are you playing this weekend?” I hear that asked frequently in the locker room where I teach. It's an exclusive club and many of our members are quite well to do. I'm not thinking that any of them would want to respond with; “we're playing the town course”, but rather stand up straight and tall, smile and respond with the name of one of the private golf courses in our area.
SoulCycle is a form of exercise… just like golf.
Play an 18 hole round of golf and you'll walk 4-6 miles. Is walking that far a good form of exercise? Sure it is. Is it the best form of exercise? No/maybe/yes/who's to judge. How about swinging the clubs 100 or more times during a round… will that help you increase your strength? Yes – and the muscle stiffness you feel over the next few days is an indication of the training effect. But is that the best way to increase strength? Again no/maybe/yes/who's to judge?
Is a SoulCycle class exercise? Yes. Do those exercises you do with the little hand weights increase strength? Maybe. Certainly they're not the best way to gain strength, but are they really any different from swinging a 9 iron – for the man whose only form of exercise is his week golf game?
SoulCycle is expensive… just like golf – see where I'm going with this?
SoulCycle classes at $34.00 a pop, are a bargain compared to many exclusive golf courses who charge $200 – $1,000 a round. People like to treat themselves to nice things – especially those people who work hard and can afford either of these two forms of exercise.
Golf has all kinds of expensive gear and clothing – and a quick check of the clothing displayed showed me SoulCycle does too.[/wlm_private]
Amy and I met Shirley (a former homecoming queen) after class. She told us how she had lost 65 lbs in advance of her reunion by taking 5 -6 SoulCycle classes each week. I didn't ask, but got the sense that she was a professional of some type and wasn't financially challenged by the cost of classes there. Shirley said she will normally do a triple on Sundays and based on how hard I saw her work in class – the girl could be an animal on the road.
While most of us are focused on adult fitness, Sally Edwards and her Heart Zones company are doing some pretty amazing stuff with middle and high school aged children – using display training technology to motivate kids and get them active 🙂
https://youtu.be/psEPcsR-R3A
I love seeing active kids who are enjoying fun activities… they're our future Instructors and participants!
Use this contact form to request more information.
Thinking many of us would love to know how we could improve the fitness of the children in our neighborhoods, I'm sharing this press release I received earlier this week:
For Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Gooden Heart Zones, Inc.
Award-winning Physical Education teacher and visionary Beth Kirkpatrick joins forces this week with the experienced team of educators and entrepreneurs to accomplish a very large goal – get kids and teachers fit. “We are moving into 21st century education and PE is getting left behind,” says Heart Zones, Inc.'s CEO Sally Edwards, MA, MBA. “And, Beth Kirkpatrick has the spirit and the stamina to lead teachers, administrators, and students by revitalizing curriculum, leading professional development, and implementing technologies that will accomplish getting kids and getting America fit.”
From 1973 to 1993, Beth Kirkpatrick taught middle school PE in the public schools systems in Vinton, Iowa. She was one of the first PE teachers in the nation to pioneer the application of wearable technologies – the heart rate monitor – in schools. For the next 18 years, from 1993-2011 she was the Director of Education for Polar Electro Inc. using her experience, imagination, insight, and boldness to elevate physical education and education overall to new heights. A trailblazer ahead of her time, Beth has been unwavering in her conviction that the integration of technology and assessment through objective measurement best captured through heart rate and now almost any wearable smart device could create real breakthroughs in PE and in the health literacy of children long-term. “We must be able to prescribe personal exercise to individuals in a group setting. Without foot pods for tracking, heart rate monitors for assessing intensity, and hardware/software for collecting and interpreting the data, physical educators are prescribing exercise as one-size-fits all which doesn't work.”
Beth Kirkpatrick has been featured on CNN, NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, Life Magazine, countless magazine and newspaper stories nationwide. Her published work includes one of the first books for using heart rate monitors in physical education titled “Lessons From the Heart.”
It would be difficult to find an individual who has impacted more lives in the PE profession than Beth. She has moved the profession forward and inspired countless teachers, administrators and decision makers to engage and motivate movement using sensors and software like the new Heart Zones “Smart Hearts System”. She has testified before the Congressional Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee in Washington D.C. and was part of the NASPE, National Association of Sport and Physical Education, advocacy group that lobbies Congress yearly to provide federal funding for physical education.
Beth's drive to incorporate fitness technologies into the more than 100,000 schools in the USA spans kindergarten through collegiate levels. She has worked with several NCAA Division I basketball teams introducing heart rate monitor training to universities including Duke University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, the University of Connecticut, LSU, NC State, Fresno State, BYU, University of Iowa, Iowa State, Michigan State, and Ball State University to name a few.
Beth's reach extends far beyond the borders of the USA. Beth has keynoted over 1500 conferences in all fifty states as well as international keynotes in Malaysia, South Africa, Germany, Brazil, China, and Canada.
Beth was awarded the Emens Distinguished Professorship at Ball State University, and numerous state and national education awards including the U.S. Department of Education's Christa McAuliffe Fellowship Award, as well as the US West Outstanding Teacher of the Year for Iowa, and National Association of Sport and Physical Education's teacher of the year for the state and district.
According to Joe Gooden, Director of Physical Education for Heart Zones, Inc., “This is the era of Smart PE – integrating digital data and tracking into health clubs, sports teams, and school PE classes in an affordable way that it is in the reach of every PE teacher and every PE department. I know of no better educator than Beth Kirkpatrick to lead school physical education into the 21st century because of her dedication and commitment to kids and to health literacy. We are all excited that Beth has joined the Heart Zones team of like-minded PE advocates.”
____________________________________
About Heart Zones, Inc:
For the past 25 years, the fitness technology, education, and training company, Heart Zones, Inc. has been a leader in the development wearable technologies and their companion education and training solutions. Founded by author, professional athlete, exercise scientist, PE teacher, and app developer Sally Edwards, the company develops and markets wearable solutions for fitness enthusiasts such as the Blink heart rate monitor, the Apple iPad app Heart Zones PE, as well as the Smart Hearts System platform. These sensor based tools are used to track and assess participants activities and performance. The company holds several federal patent on the cardio- training methodologies ZONING and Threshold Training. Heart Zones, Inc. is headquartered in Sacramento, California.
I'm not embarrassed to say that I like country music. Country is a genre that many indoor cycling instructor avoid, but I embrace it. I get more complements about playing country music than any other genre. Country music IS popular and has a HUGE following. I live in Denver and a few weeks ago U2 was playing the Pepsi Center, a 20,000 seat venue and Luke Bryan was playing Mile High Stadium, a 75,000 seat venue, on the same night. Luke Bryan sold out U2 did not!
This week I mixed together 3 new country songs:
Homegrown by Zac Brown Band
Play It Again by Luke Bryan
John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 by Keith Urban
All 3 songs are about 3 minutes and 30 seconds long. I like to use this music mix for three 3 minute intervals with 30-40 seconds recovery after each. Since the energy and tempo “feel” lower and slower I like to ride at a cadence of 60-80 rpm for this set. Listen below to how I used this set in class.
[wlm_private ‘PRO-Platinum|PRO-Monthly|PRO-Gratis|PRO-Seasonal|Platinum-trial|Monthly-trial|PRO-Military|30-Days-of-PRO|90 Day PRO|Stages-Instructor|Schwinn-Instructor|Instructor-Bonus|28 Day Challenge']If you use video I also mixed together the videos of these three songs.
3 song harmonically mixed track, to download Right Click > Save As / Save Target As to download. Open in iTunes and then you'll see this in your Spotify Local File folder.
This AM at around 6:23, I dripped sweat onto my iPhone's screen and accidentally switched on Shuffle. Of course I didn't realize my error until this great new track I'm using for openers comes on, for the second time.
Wait… didn't we already do this song?
Oh, Crap! Now what do I do?
There are few things that scream ROOKIE INSTRUCTOR louder than manually switching between songs during a class.
Unsettling to be sure. Keep your cool John… smile… pretend you planed the class like this 🙂
So instead of freaking out, grabbing my phone and trying to get back to my intended track, I just rolled with it 🙂
I normally use three, 30 second hard efforts as my openers. To mix things up this morning I decided to use just two. The track I used is below which features two 45 sec segments; @ 1:00 and then again at 3:17.
The second time I had everyone repeat their efforts, while paying attention to their perceived effort. The song has an awesome build before you hear the I Don't Got Time For Pain that keys the 45 second big effort! It's about 62 RPM. I cue everyone to add load until they feel the need to stand, wait for I Don't Got Time For Pain and it's accelerating off to the races.
Great post and well detailed. I appreciate all the great articles you post.
The challenges you described are all too familiar to me. I’ve found a simple solution that works for my indoor cycling classes, and is based on my experience running a small business that provides software training classes. In that capacity, we teach software productivity courses (1, 2 and up to 5 day workshops) where there could be 20, 50 or even 100 participants. The distractions are numerous: participants checking their emails, texting, talking to their colleagues, etc. It is unfortunate because they have to bring their laptops and mobile devices to class. So, in order to deliver a more effective training session, we first had to understand the causes of distraction:
1. People use training classes, and for that matter, indoor cycling classes as a social venue, a “catch-up” of sorts. They meet friends, colleagues and chit chat about their families, work or other issues.
2. We are all wired, 24/7. The availability of mobile devices and the need to have them tends to add another layer of distraction. There is nothing more frustrating than being asked to repeat a key topic during a training class only because the person who asked was checking their email.
We found the solution to be tricky. The effectiveness of the solution, however, was in its simplicity.
1. Establish a basic ground rule and make them promise to respect it.
At the beginning of each software training class and also at the beginning of each indoor cycling class I teach, I ask all participants to silence their phones, avoid chatting, and in the case of software training classes, I ask them to not check their email, instant messaging or texts until break time. Then, and this is key, I request that they promise to respect this rule. I know we are all adults here, but sometimes, you have to go back to basics.
2. Make them commit to the belief that the class is their time, their investment and thus, their reward.
Again, at the start of each class, I define the objectives of why we are here and what we are trying to accomplish. For indoor cycling classes, I simply state that for next 60minutes, this will be “your time” where you focus on your health and mental well-being. I ask all participants to take a moment to empty their minds of all distractions, worries and anxiety and leave those outside the studio (to be collected later of course). Then I ask that we all respect our collective time by not creating distractions. [I love this line!]
With these two basic rules, I have found greater success in creating an experience for riders that extends beyond the social gathering aspects. In fact, I hear frequent feedback from riders that in that one hour, they have found a way to re-focus and re-recommit; to re-balance and de-escalate; and, to have fun and enjoy the workout at the same time.
In closing, the important of establishing these ground rules will define you as an instructor who places a high priority on the participants’ time and commitment. They will respond in kind.
