Update from John: This post was originally published in June of last year, shortly before we lost Jim. I thought Jim's wisdom could add to our current conversation about SoulCycle, so I'm re-publishing this today.
By Team ICG® Master Trainer Jim Karanas
Why would anyone want to do it? It”™s crazy. What about the bike? Connecting with it. Feeling the road. How can anyone NOT want to feel the road? Rhythm, timing, breathing. It”™s in our DNA.
It won”™t last. Silly trend. Dance parties on bikes with music videos can”™t last. You can”™t even call it training. It”™s just physical movement, not sure it”™s even considered exercise. It”™s totally without direction.
There are some heavy hitters out there who will slam Non-Authentic Indoor Cycling and talk about it with contempt. Read the blogs and forums. It”™s important to have beliefs — something you stand for that defines you as a professional.
Am I sure? Absolutely not. Is Non-Authentic Indoor Cycling bad for Indoor Cycling? That”™s a good question and the topic of this post.
I teach Authentic Indoor Cycling. I ride bikes outdoors and always seek to bring to my students what the road and trail teach me. The bike has taught me many lessons that I”™ll share with anyone who wants to attend my classes and has the patience to listen to my rhetoric.
Fitness reached a pinnacle with indoor cycling. Finally, we had a way to communicate fitness concepts that were not based on hype or adrenalin. Eclectic music. Quality training. Depth. Achievement. Millions of dollars in revenue!
It wasn”™t only about the money, but do you really believe that indoor cycling would be here today if it didn”™t make money? Fitness is a $12.5-billion industry, and indoor cycling helped it get there. Whatever makes money will drive fitness.
Zumba is a classic example and should be a lesson to everyone. It”™s simple choreography, not unlike what I used to teach as an aerobics instructor back in the ‘80s, with the addition of a little Latin dance and hip-hop. The instructors don”™t even cue. Yet Zumba is a half-billion-dollar-a-year company. Which shows you what dazzling branding, marketing, and a single-minded focus on building a culture can do for a fitness program.
Do you think Zumba is a fad? Not with those revenues.
What about non-authentic indoor cycling? How about SoulCycle? It hurts; it really does. But if you believe that SoulCycle is going to fade away because it”™s not authentic, then I believe you”™re misguided. The SoulCycle brand is strong, their marketing is incredibly strong, AND they now have strong financial support after having been purchased by Equinox.
Something else: they”™re building one hell of a culture. Friends of mine who have never taken my class come up and say with wide-eyed enthusiasm, “Do you know that SoulCycle is coming to San Francisco?” I ask, “Why would you take a class there when you haven”™t yet come to mine?” No response.
I believe that non-authentic indoor cycling will become a significant trend in the Fitness Industry. ICG® is an authentic indoor cycling company. We believe in proper training principles and we all ride bikes, yet we”™re not blind.
If non-authentic IC is going to make a mark, why not embrace it for what it is — a way to train on the bike that makes (some) people fit and happy? Assuming it”™s validated as safe and effective (ICG has already contacted the American Council on Exercise and proposed a study), then shouldn't every indoor cycling education body offer a program on how to teach non-authentic indoor cycling? Why shouldn”™t any and every indoor cycling program be taught by those who are truly qualified to teach indoor cycling? That would be the likes of us. We know indoor cycling best. We could create a program — inauthentic fluff, if you will — that”™s still authentic in its safety, structure and cardiovascular benefit. Why not?
It need not (and would not) diminish our authentic style of teaching, and it just might make all of us some money.
Originally posted 2014-10-23 04:51:49.
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I just wouldn’t consider it “training”. Unless its training for the goofy road races. 🙂
As a strength coach, I defer to this quote from Dan John when I get all huffy about silly fitness products: “If your client just wants to lose a few pounds of fat, why are you behaving like this is the final checklist for a Mars landing?”
Sure, I know it as fact that lifting heavy things – original training implements like dumbbells, kettlebells, sandbags and the like – will cause the most rapid physique changes and produce the most transferable strength gains. But other fitness “toys” are accessible and enjoyable for some people, where weights may not be.
This post gives me the same impression – someone out there is taking their first step toward better health and better fitness because of “non-authentic” classes; why should my personal philosophy stand in the way of that? Sure, I would love to see every single indoor cycling participant coming to class to be physically prepared to ride better outdoors, but that’s just not the case. Even if they were, no matter the size of my facility or number of people on staff, I couldn’t possibly help everyone all at once.
You make a good point about already-qualified instructors & program directors developing these non-authentic classes if it means reaching and helping more people (and earning a few more dollars, to boot). Just can’t be sure we’re all ready to embrace actually doing that yet.
Jim, Well said… and about time let me add.
ICG® thanks for starting to investigate non-authentic to see if it is real enough.
Cameron, you better hang onto this guy… he will be in demand.
Dunte, you are wise beyond your years.
‘Authentic in its safety, structure and cardiovascular benefit’…..why not indeed?
I have been looking at why I do a lot of things lately. Is pride keeping me from teaching a ‘non-authentic’ IC class? Hmmmm….the fact that I am a road rider may just be keeping me from this very thing. And yet, I say I want to reach the unfit and help them gain fitness…
Great thought provoking post Jim and I know you are right about SoulCycle, just like you are right about Zumba. I nearly dropped when I realized there was no cueing in Zumba…gasp! No 4 count lead before the next move?????
And people love it, and they love SoulCycle.
I will keep my eye on ICG and where you go with this.
Thanks all for your comments. I’m very happy to see that there are open minds to these kinds of classes. If we consider ourselves fitness education providers that specialize in Indoor Cycling, then it is very clearly we who need to do the research and submit guidelines to the industry. Thinking this is just a fad and speaking out against it is not the correct tactic in my opinion. I too am very interested to see where this will go. First step is to get a study done to validate the efficacy of the training protocol. We are working on that as said in the article.
Jim
I’ve been a certified Spinning ™ instructor for 14 years. Over the years, as I began riding outdoors, and then training for triathlons, I started to incorporate outdoor cycling into my indoor classes. I took a few SoulCycle classes, and mocked those “riders” who were lifting one pound weights as they spun their legs at 140 RPM. I refused to go back and pay for what I thought was a stupid way to train.
A few months ago, however, I was persuaded (my wife made me) to take another SoulCycle class. As I watched the instructor hop around, perching on his handlebars like a monkey in the circus, I realized something: while this type of class may not be for me, it certainly moved the rest of the people in the room. They were sweating, working hard, “feeling the burn”, and completely enjoying themselves.
The epiphany for me was that I was a cycling snob. If it wasn’t geared (get it?) towards a road ride, it wasn’t exercise. The people in the room were getting a workout. Isn’t that what we really want? It may not be for me, but there are a lot of people who are getting fit doing it. If they’re happy, and they’re not getting hurt, let them keep going.
I miss Jim…