That would be your FTP looking back at you… catch him if you can.
Now that I'm an official Stages Indoor Cycling Master Educator, I figured I needed to create an Audio Profile so you can hear how I teach one of my Power classes. My profile is “Racing Your FTP”.
The goal is very simple; beat your FTP or “Threshold Check” numbers on every set. The ride will consist of two warm up songs, a “Threshold Check”, and three efforts of around 12, 18 and 9 minutes with a 1 minute recoveries after each interval.
I love mixing my class music and I've provide you with the MP3 below. I have also included an actual recording of me coaching this complete class. I suggest riding to this class by yourself, to experience exactly how I present this profile and you'll have a better idea of where & what I'm cuing during the class.
[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']
Enjoy and please let me know how it works for you as a comment below.
DJ Scott Melker playing the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Golden, CO
As many of you know I've worn many hats in the fitness industry, I've been an Assistant General Manager, Operations Manager, Fitness Director, Triathlon Coach, Master Swim Team Coach, Master Educator, Personal Trainer, Group Exercise and Indoor Cycling Instructor. Throughout my almost 25 years in this customer service industry I have heard many member comments, complaints and compliments. Through these years I have grown a thick skin but the one comment that still cuts the deepest is when I hear that someone complains about my music. Being an indoor cycling instructor has, forever, changed the way I listen to all music. Music is now put into two categories; will this song work in class or not. I'm on a never ending search for the perfect indoor cycling song. This search reminds me of the story of Sisyphus from Greek mythology. He was punished for chronic deceitfulness by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this action forever. After I find the “perfect” indoor cycling song I feel I'm on the same journey at Sisyphus. I find the song, listen to it, probably 20 times, find all the beat and energy changes, figure out a profile for it, listen to it another 20 times imagining my profile being used with the song, use it in a class, make changes, use it again in a class, perfect it, then when I finally push this boulder to the top of the hill and have produced the perfect mix of music, movement, rhythm and riding it's time to start this process all over again because riders are getting tired of this “perfect” song.
Around the same time John and Scott announced their “ICI/Pro DJ Scott Melker Music Playlist Contest” I was in a state of the dreaded “profile writers block” and I was told that a club member had commented about the lack of variety in my music. Yes, at first I was offended, but then I thought maybe the announcement of this contest and these negative comments were a sign. I decided to take on the challenge of using Scott's playlist and building the best profile I could. This project was extremely challenging for me, I'm usually a profile first music second type of class builder, this forced me to swap my way of thinking. Scott's playlist included some songs that I never imagined playing in an indoor cycling class, when I first heard them I immediately put them in the song category of “will not work in a class”, but I was being forced to use them so I had to figure out how to make them work. After countless hours of listening to Scott's playlist and tweaking my profile, I believe I have come up with a class that uses the artistry and energy of a playlist put together by one of the world's top DJs, while staying true to my scientifically proven teaching methods.
I hope you find this class profile both fun and effective, my class sure did.
I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and create your own profile for this contest.
Scott Melker's Playlist, 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.
Hey John,
As the Olympics have started – I wondered if you could remind me of some of the class profiles that ICI/Pro has published that involve participation from the class as a group ; ie. friendly competition? I am pretty sure there was at least one post like that – I just can't seem to recall the title.
Thanks again. ICI Pro has been a great resource for me.
Best,
Barb
Thanks Barb – Yes, we do indeed have just such a ride 🙂
Created by Stages Indoor Cycling Master Trainers; Cameron Chinatti and Pam Benchley, Saturday with Stages BIG RIDE is a team focused class and a big hit at our our last ICI/PRO conference in 2011. Wouldn't it be cool if we could do this again?
At the time of this conference, the FreeMotion Indoor Cycles were brand new – we were so honored to have them as a sponsor of this event. In retrospect, watching this video now two years later, it's easy to see why Cameron and co. have become such an important players in our industry!
The film crew from Cycling Fusion shot this video during the event. Unfortunately our license to display this video ended a while back – so we haven't had it available. Barb's email prompted me to ask Gene Nacey and he's letting us display this video profile yet again 🙂
[!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']
Cameron and I also recorded a companion Audio PROfile to go along with this video + a pdf you can download and print out. I'm re-publishing it so it will trigger the auto-email announcement 🙂
Week #2 of my Performance Cycle class and I introduced the concept of using your stage average watts as a “riding buddy” today + had a nice email when I got home.
Hi John-
Thank you so much for the great class this morning. I took a picture of my results when I was finished. My avg watts was 148, not 212. I have no clue where I got that number. 😉
I also took your advice and upgraded my membership, so if it's ok with you, I would like to take advantage of the class next Sunday as well. Do I need to come early to be tested or will this take place during your class?
My goal is to get strong and gain endurance. I have an Ironman in 2014 that I would love to CRUSH! 😉
Thanks again for the great morning!!
Tina (Smiley, Orange Shoes girl)
This gal is an animal – the 212 watts she refers to was her average for both of the 10 climbs we did, with only a minute of recovery in between them. Here's the picture she took.
Those are awesome #s for anyone.
Now to the Riding Buddy
Pictured on the right is a Garmin 810 cycling computer. Beyond measuring and displaying all the typical stuff; RPM, MPH, Distance, Time elapse, etc… these computers allow you to race against a Virtual Partner, which is yourself previously riding over a known course. Racing against yourself is afascinating concept which allows you to compare today vs last week or last year. Are you getting stronger/faster/fitter? Yes? No?
http://youtu.be/o8YhrAAvh7w
After all, it's just you, who you're really racing against.
I use the stage average timer in class as a sort of Riding Buddy, comparing a specific intervals against earlier efforts. Asking; are you keeping up? Yes? No?
Warm Up — 10 minutes. 5 minutes of gradual increases in wattage. During the second 5 mins. we’re finding the wattage where everyone is first noticing a change in breathing; VT1 / Aerobic Threshold = the top of the Recover Zone shown above. This establishes a rough understanding of a base wattage that we use throughout the rest of class.
3 x 30 sec. Hard / 30 sec. Easy – Openers to AT/LT. I cue these by first having everyone find the amount of load @ 70 RPM that has them feeling they should (not just could) come out of the saddle. The 30 sec. Hard is then simply accelerating to 90+ RPM which results in some pretty impressive power numbers. The 30 sec. Easy is back to 70 RPM — many will stand during the Easy portion.
3 minutes rest – I encourage riders to focus on their recovery. Once they feel calm in their breathing, bring back the Base level work wattage.
5 min. Short Hill — Here's were we do our 5 min. “Best Effort” to establish a benchmark PTP Personal Threshold Power (top of the Perform Zone) or ride at 110% of FTP if known. It’s very helpful to riders to have that understanding of their personal upper wattage number. The “Best Effort” Threshold # + the Base Threshold # we found earlier form the three Power working zones I use in class.
– 1 min. build at preferred cadence (suggested as 85-95 rpm) — press the Stage Button to reset the averages.
– 5 min. “Best Effort” This should hurt, but be do-able. I ask everyone to observe their average at the end and then…
2 minutes rest
3 x 5 min. Medium Hill @ 1 min Rest – Now that everyone knows how hard they can go for 5 minutes, we worked at ~90% of PTP on each of the three, five minute climbs. The recoveries and transitions back to climbing are simplified by leaving resistance where it is and do what I call Walking. Have everyone stand and pedal slowly “walk” for a minute. Load should be too high for seated soft-pedaling. Then accelerating up to preferred cadence brings everyone back to ~90% of PTP.
3 minutes rest
2 x 10 min. Long Hill @ 2.5 min. Rest – the songs I used were a little short so I had everyone up to RPM/Watts before starting the songs and hitting the Stage button to establish averages. I prefaced the first climb with; “As Endurance Athletes, you recognize that you get stronger as the class goes on.” Here's where I got a few smiles and hoots… “so my expectation is that you can all climb this at your PTP (5 min. Best Effort wattage)” and we did 🙂 The Spinervals profile calls for near constant changes in gears and cadence, which is easy to do on a bicycle… not so easy on an Indoor Cycle. So instead we made 3-4 changes in load/RPM + alternated in & out of the saddle.
Here's where I was cuing everyone to focus on their Riding Buddy. No matter the change, it is imperative that you keep your instantaneous watts at or above the average, so you keep up with your Riding Buddy.
5 minutes at Base wattage @ 90RPM – which becomes a recovery > step down in intensity while we stay aerobic.
Cool Down
I'm very excited to be able to teach these Performance Cycle classes – they fit me and my personality perfectly and we have an excellent group of athletes to ride with.
Next Sunday 1/5 is the official kickoff of the winter training program > FTP assessment day. Feel free to contact me if you'd like to ride with us.
