Why do we have two versions? It's actually my fault 🙁
Jim Karanas is very passionate about endurance cycling and teaching endurance classes. My job as the producer is to keep the Talent (in this case Jim) focused and on track. Except while we were recording this Audio PROfile, Jim's enthusiasm kicked in and he started to stray from his prepared copy. I wasn't going to stop him while he was on a roll… so I let him continue until he was finished.
Then we recorded the shorter version.
Either way I hope you find this as helpful as I have. 6 classes so far following this PROfile and nothing but positive comments. I even used it during a lunch-time class where the participants are used to a HIT type interval profile.
Let's kick off a fabulous 2012 indoor season with ZENDURANCE – our latest Audio PROfile from Master Instructor Jim Karanas!
The difference between “just riding” and training is that, when training, you recognize that every workout has a purpose. This is easy to forget when coaching an endurance class. Many riders and fitness enthusiasts look forward to this time of year as a time when we can enjoy lower intensity — more relaxed workouts without the stress of high intensity. However, there is much more to an endurance class than “just riding”. Like any other workout, an endurance ride can serve a specific purpose but, if done incorrectly, will be of little training value.
Jim and I recorded two versions of this Audio PROfile. This one is the shorter/condensed version that we kept to 20 minutes. Look for the expanded version later this week where Jim goes into more detail about how you can bring a more “Zen like” experience to your class.
So much of western fitness revolves around adrenalin-driven, kinetic (or should we say “hyperkinetic”?) energy. Yet there is power that comes from quiet — and that was the concept of a recent training I ran in my indoor cycling classes last week.
Keeping the energy mellow does not require making the training easy. Instead, it’s training that comes from energy that’s centered, rather than frenetic. When I taught these classes, I asked the participants to focus on internal motivation — their own desire to train and work hard — more than on any external motivation that might come from, say, the energy of my coaching with loud cues to push themselves (or whatever), or loud music with a driving beat.
This unconventional approach worked well, and got the participants to work hard while staying focused and internally driven. Here’s how the class was structured.
I used eight songs, as follows:
Going to California (music only) — Tribute Band Karaoke
Porcelain — Miami DJ Collective Two-song warm-up to start.
Good For Me — Above & Beyond 8:00 hill climb at 70 rpm, increasing resistance every 2 minutes: three levels seated, last one standing, all to music that is solid but not driving.
Hearts Have Turned to Stone — Elton John and Leon Russell 4:00 limited recovery at 100 rpm, using quiet music with an easy feel, letting the heart rate drop only 15-20 bpm.
In the Dark — Tiesto Second hill climb, as described in #3.
Dark Hollow (live) — Grateful Dead Limited recovery, as described in #4.
Burned With Desire (Rising Star Dub) — Armin Van Buuren Third hill climb, as above.
White Flag — Dido Full recovery and cool-down. You'll want to add your personal favorites to lengthen this to suit your class.
Our true ability is accessed through stillness, far more than through external sources, such as pounding music or sharp commands. A successful performance that comes from someone who is not really sure what happened is a memorable, and even spiritual, experience. Getting someone to experience an enhanced sense of himself/ herself, of aliveness and vitality while cycling, can anchor that person to training in a way that the external, “adrenalized” push can never do.
Obviously, there are reasons to coach and teach differently on different days. To ask participants to go inward on occasion and find personal reasons to drive their training (and themselves) is a shift of focus and consciousness that can be, at the very least, a stimulating change of pace. It can also be far more than that if properly coached.
In addition, it might turn the next high-energy class, by contrast, into an even more exciting and distinct experience.
We are seeing and hearing a new emphasis on studios offering Beginner or Introduction to Indoor Cycling classes. The idea is really very simple; provide new students with a safe and inviting class, teach them the basic techniques, let them develop their fitness and then graduate them to more intense classes when they are ready to be successful.
Programs like Cycling Fusion have learned that these beginner class are most effective when offered over a series of classes, where concepts like fit, form, technique, cadence, power, Heart Rate training zones and others can be introduced gradually.
I love the concept because I see it as an excellent way to reach people who, for multiple reasons, refuse to set foot in an Indoor Cycling class. I also see this as having huge potential to build your class numbers 🙂 Companies like Curves have built very successful fitness businesses based on providing Safe and Inviting facilities.
Beginner class aren't (and shouldn't be) dumbed down classes and to that end ICI/PRO, starting today, will begin to offer members Audio PROfiles that will prepare you to competently teach this class format.
In this latest Audio PROfile Master Instructor Tom Scotto walks you through a 30 Min intro class designed to help your new students Explore their Aerobic Fitness.
Here's your Spotify PRO/Playlist!Deezer. We have made every attempt to replicate the original playlist. In some instances the tracks specified were unavailable in Spotify. When necessary we have substituted individual songs of similar length and tried to maintain the Instructor's intent.
Doug Rusho was last year's Cycling Fusion Male Instructor of the year and he presented at the 2010 ICI/PRO conference. Doug provides this new Audio PROfile.
This profile is called “Progressive Endurance.” It is designed to give our students what they need (endurance base), and then rewarding them with what they want (High Intensity). This profile is progressive in intensity, slowly building through the endurance zones and finishing with high intensity(HIT).
This is a compromise in terms of pure base building, but provides a teaching opportunity to educate the benefits of base building, while still keeping the “hammerheads” engaged because of the high intensity to come.
Here's your Spotify PRO/Playlist! Deezer. We have made every attempt to replicate the original playlist. In some instances the tracks specified were unavailable in Spotify. When necessary we have substituted individual songs of similar length and tried to maintain the Instructor's intent.
