I started to share this over at pedal-on.com and quickly realized that this is another Best Practice for Indoor Cycling Instructors.
Suggestion to anyone reading this who is planning to use Spotify in class.
A cycling coach / friend of mine taught me that race day is never a good day to try something new.
The mark of a Rookie is someone who changes his seat height the night before a big event, or slams the latest energy drink on the way to the race - only to find the new saddle height feels weird and uncomfortable... and the stimulants have your heart (and mind) racing so fast you're worried about what effect all of these changes will have on the race you've trained months for that you're an emotional wreck as you roll to the line and are off the back before the end of the 1st lap.
Experiment during your training and only bring what's familiar to the starting line. Same is true with using Spotify in your class. I've lost track of how many calls and emails I have gotten that begin with; the first time I tried to use Spotify in my class ____________________ happened. It worked perfectly at home... I have no idea why it didn't __________.
Show your professionalism by doing a dry run at your studio before you attempt to use Spotify to deliver your class music.
Teach a whole class by yourself and experiment with your new toy;
- Will it play with Air Plane Mode turned on?
- Can you find your playlist if it's buried in a folder?
- Is the cross fade working correctly?
- Hit a few of the wrong buttons... do you know how to get back?
- Accidentally tap the shuffle (no, just tapping it again won't return it to ordered play) ... can you quickly turn shuffle off?
- Get sweaty and try to scroll through the playlist - can you without inadvertently changing tracks?
- Have some sweat drip on the screen - will you resist the temptation to wipe it off with your towel = changing songs? or learn that you can dab the screen without messing everything up?
- Do your local files play when the should?
I'm sure this is only a partial list of the potential problems (feel free to add your own) you could suddenly be faced with, if you run into class without taking the time to become proficient with Spotify.
Originally posted 2013-02-02 12:27:43.
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.
- Happy 75th Birthday Ed Hayes! - April 24, 2024
- Eagles pedaling through the air metaphor - April 21, 2024
- ICI Podcast 238 Meet Nerd Fitness Creator Steve Kamb - April 6, 2024
Good Advice John.
I do chuckle as the first time I used Spotify was because – for whatever reason – I dashed out of the house with out iPad. iPad is my standard music delivery device on which I have loaded apps that have large fonts so I can read time and cues.
Generally I carry an iPod Touch and an iPod Classic as back up. This day I just ran out to the car.
When I got to the studio and realize what happened I was in a state of panic. All I had was my iPhone and I don’t load music on it to save memory.
The idea of teaching with no music was far more daunting than actually trying to make use of my $9.99 per month.
I pushed the Spotify app icon. Picked a playlist that I had made available for offline use and pushed play. I laid the phone on the stereo and I didn’t touch until class was over.
While I don’t use Spotify exclusively it does come in handy.
Another “Best Practice” may be to have a “Rescue CD” stashed at your club. Also I’ve learned to bring two DVDs in case one fails – although I’m getting pretty frustrated with finicky DVD players these days. It’s getting time for me to invest on one of those iPads and go completely digital.
Chuck will your iPad play a movie & run Spotify at the same time?
This is great advice … thank you!
Spotify syncs between all of your devices, but a playlist that contains a local song (from Itunes) will not necessarily sync to another device that does not have that same song saved locally. For example, I created a playlist on a computer and dropped in an Itunes song. Luckily it was just one song and it did not play on my Iphone that had the synced playlist.
mickfit what device do you use? I’ve got a 4S and as long as my computer and iPhone are on the same wireless network, I don’t have any problems with local files not transferring & playing
Yes John. To be clear I ran the virtual active app and spotify. I would definitely recommend that if you plan to play video from iPad get the 64 gig version. As much as we all plan to do maintenance, music, video and pictures hog memory. Though 64 seems a lot, we’re very – unbelievably – used to hard drives of 500GB or larger.
I would recommend iPad for anyone coupled with the bluetooth thingy that allows one to be anywhere in the room and still play music from iPad
Hey chuck,
do you use class builder on you ipad or another program to ride your profile and be able see your cues? would like to make more use of my ipad given that visual issue i am having as well.
thanks,
renee