Have you ever watched a commercial and wondered, “What’s that song?”. I’ve seen this Diet Coke commercial dozens of times and every time I see it, I find myself humming this song for hours. I googled it, but could just have easily Shazamed it if I’d had my phone next to me. (If you’re not Shazaming, you should definitely try it! It’s a great way to find and save new music to use later in your classes!)
If you like to use Christian Rock (or even if you don’t) in your classes, this one is perfect. Check out these lyrics:
Brave Fight like a soldier Brave Rise like a warrior Brave Won't stop till the final day Brave I want to be stronger Brave Gonna be bolder Brave
And last, here’s a favorite that I used in this week’s playlist by one of my favorites, Haik Naltchayan. I used it as a long, steady climb in and out of the saddle:
I'm not embarrassed to say that I like country music. Country is a genre that many indoor cycling instructor avoid, but I embrace it. I get more complements about playing country music than any other genre. Country music IS popular and has a HUGE following. I live in Denver and a few weeks ago U2 was playing the Pepsi Center, a 20,000 seat venue and Luke Bryan was playing Mile High Stadium, a 75,000 seat venue, on the same night. Luke Bryan sold out U2 did not!
This week I mixed together 3 new country songs:
Homegrown by Zac Brown Band
Play It Again by Luke Bryan
John Cougar, John Deere, John 3:16 by Keith Urban
All 3 songs are about 3 minutes and 30 seconds long. I like to use this music mix for three 3 minute intervals with 30-40 seconds recovery after each. Since the energy and tempo “feel” lower and slower I like to ride at a cadence of 60-80 rpm for this set. Listen below to how I used this set in 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']If you use video I also mixed together the videos of these three songs.
3 song harmonically mixed track, 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.
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues. Here is your ready to ride document, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
Welcome to week six of Music to Mention. This week's music to mention is one of my favorite songs for muscular endurance work: Pump It by The Black Eyed Peas. Muscular endurance is always a challenge for the instructor as there are 3-4 minute sections of the ride, some back to back, where the rider is in the saddle and maintaining a specific cadence and exertion level to achieve the development of muscular endurance. While this is understood by the cyclists in your group, the average fitness person that is looking for as much entertainment as workout they may find this work boring. That is where we step forward as instructors and use this time to educate our riders, work on form and allow them to listen to and enjoy the music. Have fun with this and use the longer sections to connect with your class and educate them on training.
There is no real timing for this song as the entire piece falls into a 75-80 (actual is 78) cadence. This is great work that pushes to cells to make adaptations such as increasing mitochondria and increasing enzime availability to burn fat for fuel, so have your riders go hard. I usually cue this as the highest gear they can maintain at 78 rpm or “Hard, but sustainable.” In order for them to get the fitness gains from muscular endurance work, they need to be in HeartZones of High Zone Three to High Zone Four.
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues. Here is your ready to ride document, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
