by John | Mar 26, 2021 | Instructor Tech Help, Instructor Training, Master Instructor Blog
“For all intents and purposes, your body works exactly like the engine in the car that brought you to the studio today.” I like to use that line, especially when I sense I have a bunch of gear heads in the class. First to get their attention by saying something profound and secondly, because it's (grant me a little leeway here) technically true; your body powers a bicycle exactly like an internal combustion engine powers a car.
Now at the risk of one of my daughters admonishing me with “Dad, your class doesn't want another science lesson”, let me explain;[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']
- Your students and their cars use a Carbon based fuel sources that contain essentially “Stored Sun Light” derived from plant photosynthesis.
- Both have a system to ingest air (more importantly the Oxygen it contains)
- Both have a process to chemically combine fuel and Oxygen which creates heat and pressure
- Both use this pressure to create linear motion
- Both use an offset crankshaft to convert linear motion to rotary motion.
- Both have a system to expel the waste byproducts of combustion
What brought this to mind was last night in my class I had a number of students who rode most of the class looking straight down, instead of the “Head up – Look at your self in the mirror and smile :)” posture we all want. But why do we want it?
I remember listening to the commentators during the China Olympics talking about how you could tell who was strong and who wasn't on the big climbs by how each rider held their head.
Head up = Strong … Head dropped = weak. But beyond the body language, why is head position indicative of performance?
And then I thought of this:
Modern engine designers understand that best power and efficiency is dependent on moving the maximum amount of air into and out of the engine. For that to occur the path the air takes, as it flows into the engine, needs to be as straight as possible.
Here is a diagram of the Intake Track in an older, much less efficient engine, circa; 1940
Now compare that to the Intake Track of one of your students.
Here is a cyclist demonstrating good form with “Head Up – Eyes Forward” posture. Notice how the Intake Track becomes straighter?
Does it then follow that;
Head up = Efficient Breathing (Strong) … Head dropped = Inefficient Breathing (Weak)[/wlm_private]
Stayed tuned for You're an engine… act like it. Part 2: Are you a Ferrari or a Peterbilt?
Originally posted 2011-04-30 05:00:00.
by John | Feb 14, 2021 | Instructor Tech Help
My understanding is that these are the best – just tough to turn off.
I actually needed to get help from Amy to figure this out – so I could completely relate to this question I received via email today.
Hi John,
I think I read you teach for lifetime. Do you use the micpacks with the flip open battery compartments that covers the on button? This may sound silly, but I can't figure out how to turn the darn thing off. Shouldn't the on and off button turn it on and off? I tried removing the batteries when you put them back it goes right back to on. Any ideas?
I'm pretty sure this instructor is talking about a Sennheiser wireless microphone pictured above – it's what we have at our club and I found it as confusing to turn off, even after re-reading the email instructions multiple times.
After Amy was able to educate me, rather than try to explain the process in just words, I felt it might be easier to follow with a picture like this.
The steps to turn this off are:
- Press the on/off button
- Press the button shown
- Press the Set button
- Press and hold the on/off button until it turns off
Here's a pdf showing the steps you can download, print and post for your instructors
I'm not sure if it's important, but Amy recommended that Mute is off before attempting.
That still does't answer why you can't just push the “off button” – to turn the darn thing off.
Originally posted 2014-04-01 13:45:07.
by John | Nov 12, 2020 | Instructor Tech Help, Instructor Training
In preparations for this Sunday's LIVE online training I was doing some prep work with Amy's Android phone. Note to self, when it's time to upgrade, stick with a new iPhone 4g if at all possible.
Maybe my frustrations were non-typical, but I found trying to switch worlds from iPhone > Android difficult and a bit frustrating. I got sucked into the the VCast world where Verizon wireless will show me the path to App enlightenment… except it didn't lead me to the place where I could download the stinking Spotify App. I had asked Amy (it's her phone) “how do I get to the Apps store?” I don't know… let's take a look.” Which lead us to the “special” store that Verizon has set up that is missing the most important App under the “Music” heading, which as far as I'm concerned is Spotify.
It's important to note here that I'm a PC guy, but I am slowly understanding the whole MAC thing…
“Abby, can you help me find the Spotify App on your mom's phone?” was very productive. She (Abby is under 25, so she understands both worlds) quickly took me to the Android Marketplace (you'll find it, you just need to scroll down below the deceptive Vcast App World icon) to the “Market Place” where you can search for the Spotify download.
Once (or if) you find it you can down load the Spotify App for your Droid phone.
Once I had the Spotify App installed I was asked to log in… but before I could, I had to approve a somewhat sinister message; Steaming or syncing playlists over your 3g or 4g connection can consume large amounts of data and potentially cost you a king's ransom in digital download fees 🙁
OK, I added that last part about the King myself. But this is important; your Smart Phone (doesn't matter which type) needs to be set properly so any transfers occur via wireless Internet, not a cellular connection. The screen shot I have above shows my iPhone (still trying to learn how to do this with Amy's Android) has syncing over 3g turned off, so I have no fears of going broke paying excessive download fees for syncing music to my iPhone.
This Sunday's LIVE training is over full so I will be scheduling a second very soon. You can click here to join the notification list for future Spotify, iTunes and MixMeister LIVE online training sessions.
Originally posted 2012-01-03 05:11:51.
by John | Nov 9, 2020 | Best Practices, Instructor Tech Help
Strategies for protecting the health of your Mac or PC computer, from the malware know as CryptoLocker, isn't really much different from what you do to protect your personal health; you're careful with what you consume and have some insurance in place for when you get sick. As a fitness professional, you depend on your body to earn some or all of your income. If it breaks you're screwed. Your Dept Head will only except you teaching off the bike for so long, before deciding to replace you.
You are also very dependent on your computer for managing your music and communicating through email and social media – so if it fails you have a similar problem.
In case you haven't heard, CryptoLocker is a nasty piece of malware (virus) that can infect your computer – YES, Mac users are just as susceptible as PC owners. CryptoLocker encrypts (scrambles) your files so they can't be opened… ever…by even the NSA… unless you send the hacker $300.00 for the key to unlock the encrypt files.
This article from Forbes explains the threat –Computer Virus Spreading That Means You Never Get To See Your Files Again
However, there are trojans out there that have surprising and nasty behaviours like encrypting your files with a password you don’t have and demanding money to unlock them. This kind of malware is not new but over the past 18 months it has become significantly more prevalent and the malware authors have written significantly more clever and scary versions.
This kind of malware is now all over the web and your chances of running in to it and being exploited are uncomfortably high. Some of the more widespread examples such as CryptoLocker even include a count down timer which claims if you don’t pay them $300 in 72 hours they will delete the key file so that your data is lost forever. Malware like this is growing more scary day by day including the ability to encrypt all your data but also to spread over the network and hit other systems.
You can search in vain for a solution, but there is no know remedy to recover your encrypted files if you get infected. Well except by paying the ransom demanded by the hacker – yes, believe it or not, these are honest hackers. Most do send you the encryption key after they receive your $300.00.
Preventing CryptoLocker – don't click that link!
As scary as it sounds, any link you click could install the CryptoLocker virus (or other malware) on your computer. The trick is not clicking that infection link in the first place. The primary places you find those links is in SPAM email and garbage websites offering free nonsense; games, software and (wait for it) FREE MUSIC DOWNLOADS. Don't go there and you're 50% guaranteed that you won't have to send that $300.00 to recover your 10,000 songs in iTunes.
Long time readers have heard me implore you to use strong passwords for your email accounts. NOTE: you must have listened because I'm seeing far fewer SPAM emails, sent from hacked accounts. CryptoLocker doesn't get installed in your computer by hacking your email, no, but the SPAM emails going to all your friends in your contact list. Most people have learned to ignore an email that says; “Hi there. I saw your picture on facebook and think you're cute. Click this link to see pictures of me!” But a few haven't.
But what if I am infected?
Beyond sending the $300.00, the only known option is to completely wipe your computer clean / restore to factory settings and restore from a backup that predates the infection. If your last manual backup was two years ago – then that's what you'll have to work from. Sorry, there is no other solution 🙁
If you're using an automatic backup service to the cloud; Carbonite, TimeMachine, Windows Backup, etc… you're in luck. All of those services have multiple restore points – you can go back in time to before you were infected, and recover those old, encrypted files. But only after you've first wiped your computer clean so the files you re-import aren't reinfected.
I copied this from Carbonite's help page that explains:
- Restoring a previous version of a file lets you correct any accidental changes.
- Each day a file is backed up, Carbonite maintains a version of that file.
- You can view up to 12 versions of a file to restore (depending on how many times the file was backed up and how long ago it was backed up).
- You can restore a file you have deleted from your computer hard drive (as long as the file was deleted within the last 30 days).
Originally posted 2013-10-30 10:38:53.
by John | Sep 25, 2020 | Instructor Tech Help, Instructor Training, Product Reviews
LTF Instructors get a 15% discount – are you taking advantage of this?
I could lease a nice car for what I'm paying Verizon Wireless each month. Service and data plans for daughters; Abby and Carly (two iPhone's), Amy's Droid Razr M and my iPhone run $250.00 a month = $3000.00 a year.
It may not be for you, but that's a serious amount of money to me 🙁
So my ears perked up this morning when I heard an interview on Fox for a company that said Americans pay something like $50 billion more than they should for cell services. The guest, the founder of savelovegive.com, explained that they have an easy way for you to analyze your monthly bill and compare the different service plans.
I didn't take the time to look, but I'm guessing there are other companies that do something similar. What makes savelovegive.com unique is that you can choose to simply pocket the money you save using their service or contribute it to their chosen charity – The Seven Bar Foundation.
The Seven Bar Foundation, a 501(c)3, is the brand for the empowerment of women. As a social enterprise it fuels microfinance institutions by driving profits with purpose with cause-marketing brand partners. To reach a critical mass with its ladder symbolic message, the Foundation hosts the top couture and luxury lingerie shows in the world – Lingerie New York, London Miami, etc. Together with the Foundation’s alliances we enable women in need to start or grow their own small businesses, breaking the cycle of poverty for their children via microfinance.
We believe that microfinance is an effective tool to combat poverty and empower women because it fosters self-reliance and encourages sustainable development. As loans are repaid to our Microfinance partners, the funds are then reissued to other entrepreneurs. Investments in Seven Bar Foundation will help countless women over the long-term, constantly growing in size and increasing its impact with every woman that the funds reach.
I love anything that empowers people to become productive 🙂
Using savelovegive.com was free, really easy and took me all of ten minutes to set up. Eight of the ten minutes was consumed by trying to remember which of our four lines was the Primary # and then resetting the forgotten password.
That $102.00 a year could go somewhere better than Verizon. If you choose to spend on on yourself maybe a Spotify premium or ICI/PRO subscription?
You create a user and password at savelovegive.com and then confirm the email they send. The actual tool that analyses your service is called Vera. Enter your cell # and password and Vera goes to work. I was shown four plan options and the potential change in costs. Plan option 1 showed I can save $102.00 a year just by making a simple change to my service.
Now to be fair, Amy watches all our expenses like a hawk (she was a CPA when I first met her), so we were already pretty close to optimal. But the conformation was both comforting and a bit depressing… I was hoping to see some huge, untapped savings we could take advantage of.
If you opt to make the suggest change, savelovegive.com generates an email to send to your carrier this the new plan data. Hit send and hopefully they will respond. It's when your carrier responds that the changes will be made – savelovegive.com doesn't make any changes directly, just shows you which changes to make.
If you're concerned with savelovegive.com having your personal info, I suggest running the test and then you can go back and change your password.
If you try this let other's know your results below.
P.S. savelovegive.com is a great example of a website built using HTML5 – the new hypertech markup language that we were discussing earlier in regards to iPads and how they won't display the Flash audio player that uses the old/current version of HTML.
Originally posted 2013-01-24 08:49:06.
by John | Jul 6, 2020 | Instructor Tech Help
I take Internet security very seriously:
- I see multiple hacked emails each week, that are sending out links to Malware sites to everyone in their contact lists, coming from the accounts of ICI/PRO members and subscribers to our weekly newsletter.
- I've had websites that I personally maintain hacked in the past and sending out SPAM, as if it's coming from me.
- I'm aware of friends and family who's identity was stolen, creating enormous hassles and expenses to clear their good name.
I'm also very aware the many of us spend a great deal of time online – actually it's not many… we all do. The truth is that there are Hackers watching and waiting for an opportunity to steal your identity and have you pay for their trip to Hawaii, or buy them a new 60″ flat screen TV.
Most importantly, I'm aware that many of you appreciate learning of these hazards, here from a trusted source.
So when I received this advisory from www.trustedsec.com, advising me that the healthcare.gov has serve security issues, I felt it was important to share this with you – so you can protect yourself and your family.
TrustedSec’s CEO David Kennedy released a written and oral statement for the Congressional meeting with the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology at Capitol Hill today (November 19). The meeting was to discuss the security concerns with the healthcare.gov infrastructure. The purpose was not to point out flaws to negatively show the website in any political view. TrustedSec remains neutral and agnostic to anything political related in regards to the Affordable Health Care Act. The purpose was to show that there are serious security concerns with the website. Our concern always remains the protection and security of the United States and it’s allies.
TrustedSec’s CEO David Kennedy will be presenting to Congress on Tuesday November 19, 2013 at 10:00AM ET on the security concerns around the Affordable Healthcare Act — healthcare.gov website. The website has been under scrutiny lately with not only performance issues but a number of glitches and security flaws that have been identified by TrustedSec as well as other independent security researchers.
David will present both a written and oral presentation to the Congressional committee on the security concerns around the website as well as a live demonstration on how an attacker could use information from the site to attack individuals that have registered.
It really is a big deal. There are people finding the personal information they entered at healthcare.gov, using a Google search, if they are even finding healthcare.gov in the first place 🙁
Our recommendation is to stay clear of healthcare.gov until these these security issues have been addresses and unbiased security experts give the all-clear.
Originally posted 2013-11-19 18:25:22.
