ICI/PRO Member and Personal Trainer Doug Rusho joins Jennifer and me to discuss “Analyzing Indoor Cycling Techniques from a
Personal Trainer’s Perspective” As Doug describes it “There is no wrong in fitness, just risk and reward.”
This is part one. ICI/PRO Members will find part two, ICI/PRO Podcast #99, in their Super Secret iTunes feed.
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Host of the Indoor Cycle Instructor Podcast - the #1 Internet radio show for and about Spinning / Indoor Cycling Instructors and Cycling Studio owners.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
John is a member on the AFS (Association of Fitness Studios) Advisory Council.
Holding certifications from; Schwinn, Heart Zones, Team ICG and Life Time Fitness, John's held regularly scheduled cycling classes between 1998 and 2015 when he moved to Florida.
When the weather permits, you'll find him riding and leading outdoor groups by himself or with his Tandem partner (wife) Amy.
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Hooray for the 15 minute warm up! I always do one. But I don’t tell the class they’re still warming up. At least not very often. Moderate hills, a gradually inclining climb, or a flat with some wind all work as a moderate section that is a continuation of the warm up.The remaining 45 minutes of my classes tend to be pretty challenging, so no one has ever complained about the easier part at the beginning.
A lot of interesting subjects but I was expecting other area of discussion from a personal trainer ?
IDC are not well known and accept by PT that what I was thinking it was gonna be.
I would add few things:
-warm-up is for me specific for each ride: endurance, tempo, hill(s), speed, … .
I really like that you guys focus on the fact that a warm-up of 15minutes is not long but it is just what is need in most ride.
I have profile with warm-up as short as 5 minutes but the “workout” is at lower level or all crechendo.
I often say to my riders, that if they want to go hight, first it is they choise but if they really want to go as hight they can go there only if they warm-up propelly.
-cadence, I let my riders use theyr preference cadence, unless the ride is focusing on cadence work. Same for me as an exemple, but I allow a range between 55-120 (reminding that the extreme are for folks who ride outside); UNLESS they are out of the range or do not have a smoud stroke.
The idea Pascal was to analyze potentially questionable movements, or at least, ones that some instructors might abuse, and instead of saying “this is WRONG”, give them the pros and cons, like a personal trainer might do when considering a movement for a certain client. When presented in this fashion, it is hoped (or rather, WE believe) that most instructors will then choose what is the safest most effective way of doing them, or at least maybe make some modifications. For example, instead of doing popcorn jumps, for an instructor who loves jumps (and so do his students) he might look at these examples and decide to slow them down – he gets the benefit of both worlds. This way, instructors will OWN the decision to do movements more effectively rather than feel like they’re being TOLD to do them a certain way. (Which, as we all know, doesn’t seem to be working in some cases!)
Does that make sense?
You both make a very good point – the warm-up is entirely dependent on the profile and what you plan on doing. Many times, the beginning of the “meat” of the profile is simply an extension of the warm-up. For example, I did a 3-loop ride this morning. Each 16-min loop begins with a 5 minute flat. My “warm-up” song was only 5 minutes long, so I extended the warm-up onto the flat, with slightly faster cadence. The subsequent times around, intensity was higher on the flat.
But Doug makes a very good point – many instructors are afraid the w/u will eat into their class time, and thus, into their “popularity”. So they cut it to 2-3 minutes.
This podcast is great but I have never heard a personal trainer talk about IDC … most, I know, just have no clue or false ideas of what IDC is and just focus on strenght …
Most PT I know who also teach IDC do the same CI as crazy instructor.
Pascal, I am hurt by your opinions on Personal Trainers(Ha ha). I hear you, I have seen Personal Trainers do some, shall we say “high risk” maneuvers both in their PT sessions and when teaching IDC.
They are making the choice based on the knowledge they have and the people they see. My whole “no right or wrong” philosophy is based on these observations. Everyone has a different approach, including the experts and certifying bodies. ICI/Pro is a great place to give IDC instructors more educational choices. Thanks for listening!
*sigh*
I wish more personal trainers were IC instructors (GOOD ones that is). So many just focus on strength as you say Pascal, and so many have that “endurance training is bad” attitude (heck some still say “cardio eats your muscles”!) and limit their clients to a few 20-minute sessions a week only as HIIT.
What I believe is a fantastic combination: cyclist/coach/IC instructor/personal trainer. Wow, then you get an amazing combination of knowledge and skills!
In all my years as an MI for Spinning, and now ICI/PRO, I’ve talked to many instructors who have been so inspired by being an indoor cycling coach that they decided to make the career switch to becoming a personal trainer. Some have a lot of studying to do, coming from backgrounds that have nothing to do with science or the body. But where there’s a will, there’s a way – I so admire their guts and determination.
We have a current ICI/PRO member going through that transition right now and I want to congratulate Bill Roach who is reinventing himself as a personal trainer. Way to go Bill! Bill is the one who gave all ICI/PRO members the sample newsletters he sends out to his members, after the teleseminar on Keeping it Real. These newsletters show that he is a great example of an instructor who really cares about his students – and how you do one thing is how you do everything, so I know he’ll be a great trainer. If you missed those newsletter samples, here they are:
https://www.indoorcycleinstructor.com/icipro/icipro-podcasts/icipro-podcast-94-what-to-do-when-you-are-all-alone-april-tele-seminar/
I have especially liked the comments Doug and before him Tom Scotto and have and will try an implement some of their ideas into my classes. I know Jennifer will say “educate, educate ….”, but for some of us the real world is we are the only ones in a large box clubs trying to work in 2.0 world. Our “risks and rewards” are members taking our classes. So that is were some of us have to balance.
You are so right Spook. I’ll continue to stand behind the “educate educate” mantra but I do know that many times it falls on deaf ears – I see it in my own classes. So I am grateful for both Tom and Doug’s perspectives, because I have learned ways to do and say things differently.
Thank you for these 2 interviews–they were extremely interesting and informative. One thing that was very helpful for me was the discussion of jumps & work out of the saddle–particularly the loss of power when we transition to standing. I’ve been really trying to talk about “honest resistance” (I think I got that term from one of John’s discussions a few months back), but this discussion helped educate me to talk about POWER (and isn’t that what we all want??)