Do Indoor Cycling Classes really need to be 45-60 minutes – to provide the health and fitness benefits expected by our participants?
Asked another way: If your studio offered classes that were shorter (say 30 minutes), while still just as effective as 3/4 or a full hour, could an “express class” attract people who feel time strapped?
Of course anytime you use the words “just as effective” smart Instructors are going to ask; “show me the research”!
Martin Gibala, Ph.D. is my guest, for this episode of the Podcast. Dr. Gibala has done the research (and I'm quoting from the back cover of his new book – The One Minute Workout) “As the world's foremost expert in high-intensity interval training, Martin Gibala has pioneered the study of new and remarkably time-efficient type of workout, making available the benefits of exercise in a fraction of the time.
Listen to our conversation in the Podcast below to learn more about the science of HIIT and how you could use this information to improve your classes and attract more participants.
Here's a short video featuring Martin Gibala, Ph. D.
So which fitness club or cycling studio is looking today to hire a passionate & talented Indoor Cycling Instructor?
EVERY. CLUB. AND. EVERY. STUDIO.
How can I say that with such conviction, without actually surveying every club/studio on the planet?
That's easy 🙂 Every successful business owner/manager I know, is continuously looking to hire good people. It doesn't matter if they have a “help wanted” sign hanging in the window or not.
EVERY. BUSINESS. IS. LOOKING. FOR. GREAT. PEOPLE.
Why is this important for anyone interested in securing their first regularly scheduled class? Because, quite simply, it's important for you to understand (and more importantly believe) this when you approach a studio owner or manager. Having the perception that they're buying, what you're selling, is a great confidence builder.
So is 2017 going to be the year you land your first teaching gig? Or maybe the year when you'll decide to move beyond your comfort zone and audition at the hot, new studio opening down the street?
Either way, I'm thinking some of these articles will be helpful for you.
As promised, here's Chrispins' latest class profile; Sprintervals!
Created by Chris (AKA Chrispins) Hawthorne
Training Type: High Intensity Hills and Sprint Intervals
Total Class Length: 60 minutes
This profile is a high intensity mix of hills and sprints. It is comprised of 4-8 minute
intervals and one final 6 minute interval-the ‘big finish’. Within each of the first four
intervals you will be using both seated and standing climbs with sprints between them.
Each of the four intervals ends with a recovery. The hills become progressively steeper
as the intervals progress. My classes usually end with one ‘big finish’ song. I like to mix
it up, but it usually will consist of some type of seated sprint interval. The final song in
this profile is a 6 minute sequence consisting of three levels of intensity. It’s the perfect
finish to a challenging profile.
Here are the PDF, Spotify Playlist and Chrispins' presentation of the profile below.
[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']
Spotify's Your Daily Mix Playlists can be found on your iPhone App, under the Your Library tab.
Chris Hawthorne, AKA Chrispins, joins me to discuss a few new music discovery tools she's using in Spotify. As these Podcasts are only audio, I've included screenshots of where you'll find the Discovery Weekly, Daily Mix and Recommended Songs for a specific playlist.
NOTE: The song recommendations will only display for playlist that you've created – not for a playlist of someone else's you're subscribed.
Listen below and then stay tuned for Chrispins' latest 60 min Audio Profile publishing later this weekend.
You'll find Chrispins at her music blog, on Twitter @chrispins1 and on Spotify where you can add yourself to her awesome subscriber count!
Scroll down one of your playlists to see additional suggestions & click Refresh for more.
Beyond his career as an Indoor Cycling Instructor – Peter Gonzalez, AKA Peter G, has created quite a following as a creator of custom remixes designed specifically for Indoor Cycling classes.
I'm a Digital DJ and Indoor Cycling Instructor that creates the Best ReWeRks that ” Stay True ” to the original and are specifically designed for my #djonabike Indoor Cycling classes !
Peter's music is available on Legitmix – we spend part of our time together discussing how Legitmix provides a nice WIN – WIN for artists, labels and DJ's like him.
Listen to part 1 of my interview with Peter G here – here's part 2
Wait, what's an “earworm”? That was my thought, when I first read the term in some long forgotten article. Turns out that it's an affliction that many of us have experienced…
An earworm, sometimes known as a brainworm, sticky music, or stuck song syndrome, is a catchy piece of music that continually repeats through a person's mind after it is no longer playing. Phrases used to describe an earworm include “musical imagery repetition”, “involuntary musical imagery”, and “stuck song syndrome”.
In the past, ad agencies loved to write catchy jingles with the implicit desire to implanted them as Earworms in customers.
Nowadays, companies with large TV/radio advertising budgets purchase the rights to use popular songs in their commercials – with the intent to connect a product/service/brand with an existing, popular earworm track. The best example that I'm aware of was Apple's use of the U2 track Vertigo in their 2004 iPod + iTunes “Silhouette” commercials. I still can't help thinking of iTunes whenever I hear this song!
https://youtu.be/54vgFVhOAF0
Creating your own earworm
Back in 2012 I wrote; You're a celebrity… act like it!
If you promise me that you won’t get a big head, I’d like you to go look in the mirror and repeat after me;
“I’m a celebrity and it’s about time that I started acting like one.”
Now I’m not suggesting that you should start arriving for your next class in a chauffeur driven limousine, nor am I recommending that you follow these seven steps to becoming a celebrity. But I am suggesting that you consider acting in a way that will cause others to be interested in you… which is really no different than the people you are interested in and what drives some of our attraction to other celebrities.
The dictionary lists ce·leb·ri·ty [suh-leb-ri-tee] as a noun meaning 1. a famous or well-known person. If you’ve been teaching for a while, I’m going to guess that within your little world, you are well known = you are a celebrity 🙂
So if the thought of you as a celebrity is intriguing, here are a few things you can work on…
I went on the list a number of actions you could take, including…
Consider a Theme Song
Where would Gilligan’s Island be today without … five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour, a three hour tour. Admit it, you could hear the song as your read the words 🙂
What would be wrong with having a consistent song for your class intro? A song that your students begin to associate with your class?
Starting to see how using a popular song (making it part of your brand) could create an earworm that connects participants to your class?
