8 Comments

1. 

   Laurie McInerney on September 20, 2009 at 1:52 pm

   Oh, my goodness, as a fairly new instructor, I can already tell that I am going to get alot of invaluable information listening to both of you. I love the podcast venue of relaying information. So effective.

2. 

   John on September 20, 2009 at 5:44 pm

   Thanks Laurie,
   Lots more ahead as we close in on the Indoor Cycling Season. Understand that the free Podcasts we offer are only 33% of what we deliver each month. ICI/PRO when you (and your class) are ready for everything.
   John

3. 

   Myriadgreen on September 21, 2009 at 5:09 am

   That was a great podcast guys, thanks! As a very new Spinning instructor, I find it hard to seperate my enthusiasm and desire to train hard from my need to teach and coach my students. I have not tried to teach off the bike much yet as I want to be able to monitor the intensity of my class by doing it myself (although there will always be one person at least who is not adding resistance on when instructed to so not working to their full potential!Ohh, they annoy me!)
   Last week I had to fake it as my head mike was busted and I had been doing high intesity aerobic training all day, but midway through the class realised that I was adding resistance on with the rest of the class, I just could not help it! I got a really sore throat at the end of that day.
   Thanks again!

4. 

   pascal on September 21, 2009 at 7:03 am

   That was a great subject but really difficult one too. The problem for a lot of instructors IDC is a hobby, a way to have acces to gym, a way to train more than a job; so a lot instructor use theyr classes as they own workout.
   Your classes can be your workout until a certain level of intensity over it unless you fake it you would not have to do it. Just imagine: you teach a HIT ride, you have a big group, one in the back is not really good, he/she is strugueling, he/she is ready to pass out … could you see it ? NO so at a certain level of intensity teaching would not have to be your workout, it is a safety hazard.
   Asking Jennifer to say yes it can be at the end, is not a really good idea; what most keep in mind is the last words of a conversation, what most instructor on the market would keep in mind what they like ? Yes it can be my workout, yes it is part of my workout.
   Now you teach but you do not have time to train so your class is your workout … everybody what ever is her or his occupation can find an hour a work for a HIT workout just saying you do not have time is showing your riders another bad exemple.
   You can extend that to: junk food, “I do not have time to cook good meal”; “I have no time to spend with my parents”; “I have no time to take care of my back”; “I have no time to use my bike to go to the groserry that is less than a mile from my house” … as instructor in the fitness AND wellness industry we have to show the exemple and be there for our people at 200%

5. 

   John on September 21, 2009 at 7:59 am

   Good points Pascal,

   A couple of things about me you may find helpful;
   My classes are very rarely over Threshold…But I may keep them there for 15 minutes.
   And
   I look at all of my listeners as capable of understanding that the things discussed on the Podcast must be applied with common sense.

6. 

   Jennifer Sage on September 21, 2009 at 7:48 pm

   Yes Pascale, you’re right in that people remember the last thing they hear, but there were a lot of caveats in that interview. And I do expect people to hear those too. Like John’s, my classes are rarely over threshold. For HIT classes, I did make it very apparent that if you cannot talk you should NOT be riding that hard. And you’re right, as I said, when your students need you, you must be there for them, so that should be the first thing in your mind. But, if anyones class is like mine (and after traveling for 12 years as an MI I have talked to a lot of instructors who do have classes like mine) where you know everyone, you know their abilities, their goals, and they know you, then by all means, ride with them, not at them. They trust you, you trust them.

   I also clarified that if the instructor in question must work on his/her fitness and breathes hard even when it’s not very high intensity, then that instructor MUST learn to fake it. Faking it is a very important skill in teaching IC I believe. And what I mean by faking it is to ride at an easier intensity, without having resistance so low that you bounce in the saddle or your feet fly around the pedals at 120 rpm.

   For years I walked that “Spinning” line and told everyone I trained “it’s not your time to train so don’t ride at their intensity when you’re teaching” while I knew darn well that I would go home and ride hard with my classes. (That is, hard when it’s time to go hard, easy when it’s time to go easy, moderate when it’s time to go moderate). And my students have never, ever been in jeopardy because of it, so it’s time to fess up. If you are a responsible instructor (and I think our readers/listeners are, just by being here to improve and grow) then you know when it’s ok to ride at the same intensity of your students, and you know when it’s better to back off.

   But the important thing is, as you expressed it Pascale, is that students always come first. Always!

   (By the way, I also teach at smaller clubs – one has 18 bikes, the other has 12 – and they are only full a few months a year. If you teach with a full room of 50 bikes, then you will be needed by a far greater number of students.)

7. 

   Joe D in MN on September 30, 2009 at 10:29 am

   Jennifer and John,

   I absolutely use my classes for my own personal workout. That’s my favorite perk of being an instructor – getting paid for something I enjoy and would be doing anyway since I also take a lot of IC classes. My following comments below could be a reply to any of the last couple podcasts, but I thought it would apply here the most.

   Since we don’t have power meters on our Keiser indoor cycling bikes I have been using my Polar F11 and the calorie meter to tell me how hard I am working out over a certain duration and to compare workouts between classes. I have my age, height, weight, max heart rate, fitness condition and what appears to be resting heart rate programmed in my F11. During an exercise I have started on my F11 at the beginning of class it keeps a running total of calories burned. As long as I start and stop my exercise routine at the same time every morning I think I get a pretty accurate account using calories burned to judge how hard I worked over the duration and I pass that on to the participants throughout the progression of the class, and then tell them total calories burned at the end, even though everyone knows we all ride at different intensities and a few could burn more but most will burn less calories than me.

   What’s your thought on judging indoor cycling workouts using a hrm “calories burned” feature? Another angle is using it as a motivator to the class (knowing the closer you get to LT the less fat calories are being burned). I use it for when I take a class and instruct a class.

   Lovin’ the info you are providing on ICI/Pro!

   Joe

8. 

   John on September 30, 2009 at 3:49 pm

   Good question Joe,
   I don’t have any knowledge of calorie counters on HR monitors but I do know that a Metabolic Assessment (New Leaf) does give you a very accurate understanding of calories burned at specific heart rates.

   I need to have Jessica Christensen from New Leaf on to ask her about this.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.