We've all heard the causality dilemma, “Which came first, the chicken or the egg?”. Ancient philosophers have been debating this question since the beginning of recorded history. Indoor cycling instructors have been asking themselves a similar question,”What comes first, the playlist or the profile?”, ever since Jonny G showed the world how much fun it could be to ride a bike that goes nowhere.
As a more “seasoned” instructor and Master Educator for Stages Cycling I am often asked my advice on this dilemma. I tell them that an awesome playlist or a great profile can carry a class, but if you can create both you'll be a rock star.
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In my “The Power of 3” posts I put together 3 harmonically mixed songs and a short profile that can be used with each mix. I'm always searching for the perfect blend of music and performance based interval sets. Sometimes, like I did for the “ICI/Pro DJ Scott Melker Music Playlist Contest” I let the timing and energy of the music determine my profile. In this post I'm presenting a profile that takes the lead and the music is of secondary importance.
Below I have provided a harmonically mixed 65 minute long music track. The music is not the focus of this profile, so if you want to use your own playlist go right ahead. I would recommend you find a playlist that is high energy and don't worry about the timing of each song and interval, just let the music play.
The two profiles I have provided are very similar, actually the timing of the intervals are exactly the same. The only change is the difference between the low intensity or “Floor” and the high intensity or “Ceiling” of each workout. Due to the high intensity or vaulted ceilings of the Above Threshold workout a low intensity or shallow floor is required to recovery after each interval. It's important to understand this principle, if you are asking your class participants to work above threshold for any length of time you are also going to need to give them time to recover, the higher the intensity, the lower the recovery. If you do not give appropriate recovery you should expect to see a drop in the work done for each interval. I purposely DID NOT give my class appropriate recovery between each interval of this workout. My goal was to have them work on their anaerobic endurance, lactate clearance and lactate buffering. I expected a drop in wattage or work from interval to interval but asked my riders to try to keep this drop as small as possible. Between each interval set riders were given a 2 minute recovery to filter out as much of these accumulated waste products as possible. The cue I kept repeating in the middle of each interval set was “Your legs should feel like you're taking a bath in a tub full of lactate.”
The timing of the @ Threshold workout was exactly the same as the Above Threshold workout, but the height difference between floor and ceiling went from a room with vaulted ceilings to something that resembled a crawl space. The higher intensity or ceiling should be only a few watts above threshold or just above maximum sustainable intensity and the low intensity should be just below threshold or to the point where riders can regain control of their breathing. I like to compare this workout to a Time Trial effort or I also call it a Criss Cross Threshold workout. It is as much mental toughness training as it is physical. Science has shown us that a rider can maintain a threshold effort for more than an hour, so riders are physically capable of successfully completing this workout, the question is are they mentally capable. We can train the brain the same way we can train the body, if any participants cannot continue, let them know it's okay to take a 2-3 minute recovery then rejoin the group when they are recovered both physically and mentally. Also let them know that the next time you teach a class like this they should expect to “keep the power the pedals” longer. The cue I used in the Above Threshold profile also holds true here, after about 10 minutes, “Your legs should feel like you're taking a bath in a tub full of lactate.”
Give these two profiles a try and let me know how it goes. Both profiles are very similar and very challenging, so challenging that a bet your participants will not be able to remember a single song you played for the entire class.
I've been getting much of musical inspiration from Movie soundtracks as of late. I'm still digging Zack Hemsey — Vengeance that I first heard used in the movie The Equalizer.
The beauty of the Internet (at leased for now) is how easy it is to find best soundtracks, from movies I'll probably never see. This website has a fun list that I've been working off of. Reviews of Wish I Was Here weren't very good, but it did include this gem. [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']
Brandon Boyd — Runaway Train is a very complex track. It's in 4/6 time (a waltz) so it's counted out as; one, two, three, four, five, six – or more simply; one, two, three, one, two, three. Waltzes are very helpful for the rhythmically challenged (primarily men) and (being a man) I know this irregular pattern is easier to catch and pedal to 🙂
Add in all of the stereo effects and powerful drums, this track could reach some folks that your normal mix doesn't.
Continuing to use music out of my comfort zone, I bring you this week's Free Music Friday.
A 62 rpm climb to encourage your class to truly feel what's going on with their bodies. I coach them to be okay with, and embrace, however the intense work is feeling- good or bad.
This English singer-songwriter and producer is the first non-talent show act to be signed by Simon Cowell to his record label in over 6 years.[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']
Here is the original (mellow) acoustic version of ‘Jealous' by Labrinth:
Do you find yourself using the same kind/ genre of music for specific work? For example, does most of your ‘climb' music sound much the same, and your ‘flat road' music has a tell tale sound as well?
Mine does! When my daughters hear my playlist they'll say, “Oh, this is a climb”, or “Is this a flat?”
But every once in awhile, it's fun to throw everyone for a loop and ask for high intensity work with a hypnotic sound. It encourages feeling and embracing the work on a different level.[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']
This song, from the 25 year old Canadian, Kiesza, is 4:27 long, with rpm's of 65. It's highly motivating for a top effort climb, but promotes a ‘look within' while doing it.
In many of my “The Power of 3” posts I have written about the importance of “anchoring” time and effort. In it's most basic terms this means that the shorter the interval the higher the effort. If you instruct on bikes with power, then a higher effort should also translate to a higher wattage. This “anchoring” concept holds true as long as riders are given appropriate rest or recovery after each interval or hard effort. If riders are not given enough recovery between intervals their effort may still be high but their output or wattage will start to drop as fatigue increases. The ability to see this phenomenon is one of the most “powerful” features of a bike with a wattage meter.
The theme for my Above Threshold classes this month is to show my participants the importance of recovery. Over the last few months I've been using a lot of interval sets where I decrease the interval time from interval to interval and I expect to see a higher average wattage for each interval. For example I may have my participants perform intervals of 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 minutes, each interval is followed by a 2 minute recovery, with the goal of increasing average wattage for each interval. This month I'll have my riders perform the same intervals, but I plan on reducing the recovery time to as low as 30 seconds between each interval. At the beginning of the month I expect to see wattage drop from interval to interval, as the body fatigues from lack of recovery. In the middle of the month I expect the see wattage held steady from interval to interval and by the end of the month, as the body adapts, I hope to see wattage again increase as the interval time decreases.
The body is truly an amazing organisms and it adapts to the stresses it faces, be patient and enjoy the process.
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The Power of 3 – “More Rest = More Work”
“Without You (Sample Gee Remix, Melker Edit)” by David Guetta vs U2
“Pompeii (Audien Remix)” by Bastille
“The Monster (eSQUIRE vs OFFBeat Remix)” by Eminem & Rihanna
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.
Yep, I'm teaching another class where we're using weights!
I'm pretty excited. I'm subbing a Cycle Sculpt class tomorrow! Cycle Sculpt is a branded class format at Life Time Fitness, designed to attract the crowd who would be interested in a SoulCycle like class. This won't be my first time teaching this format – a little over a year ago I had the privilege and wrote about my experience here.
This class format has been evolving. Instead of using weights/bands while on the bikes, now we split the class up into two groups; half ride while the other half completes Boot Camp style circuit training on the floor.
It's like herding cats
Yesterday I discussed with Kadi (it's her class) how she conducted the class. She explained that it can get a little chaotic with so many people moving around the room – she typically has ~50 people. “Give each group a simple objective that they can complete on their own” was her advice, along with doing my best to keep everyone smoothly moving and focused.
As a side note I will be interested to see how many people I recognise. My previous experience was that most of the participants were completely unknown = they don't come to regular cycling classes.
I'm all about self-directed work. So I created the simple profile below and I'm (pretty)confident everyone will be able to follow it successfully 🙂
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I'm doing a pretty normal warm up with a series of accelerations during the second track.
A.R. Rahman — Bobbleheads Life Time calls these a Reset = not a real recovery, but a reduced effort ridden to a short fun track.
Avicii — Heart Upon My Sleeve 3:30 Best Effort (this class will still incorporate Power/Watts) that starts one minute into the song. Here's where everyone can observe their PTP.
Jens Buchert — Crypton Recover and discover Base Watts – the wattage that has you working just above “Chatty” (early part of Zone 3 HR using a 5 Zone system).
Each track that follows is about five minutes long. The “On” (riding) group will directed to complete these distances each time they're on the bike:
Men ride 1.5 miles (at 20 mph this should take about 4:30)
Women ride 1 mile
Then complete the segment at “Base Watts” If you get Chatty that means you're not working as hard as you've been assigned.
