I love the simplicity of the Zoning Heart Rate program. Three zones (Easy-Blue/Moderate-Yellow/Hard-Red) that are created using two thresholds; T1 Aerobic Threshold & T2 Anaerobic Threshold – AKA: AT or LT. Simple to communicate and easy for anyone to understand – perfect IMO for our Indoor Cycling classes.
We've discussed Zoning multiple times here at ICI/PRO. Here are some links where you can learn more about Zoning and how this three zone system is recommended by ACE – the American Council on Exercise as their preferred Heart Rate Training program for our “Club Athletes”. We've also got some excellent class profiles that follow the Zoning format.
Tia Kilpatrick is a Zoning Specialist who works closely with Sally Edwards. You can virtually meet her in the video below where she leads her Falling in Love with the Golden Zone class at the past Heart Zones conference held in conjunction with Cycling Fusion.
Tia has an upcoming ebook; 44 ZONING Rides for the Indoor Cycling Enthusiast. We'll let you know when it's available.
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 🙂
