I'm a huge believer in the concept of including a “Best Effort” in every class I teach. “Best Effort” as in; what is your sustainable power over 3-4 minutes? The reason is simple – I want every participant, in every class I teach, to have an understanding of their estimated threshold wattage. Why? Because when I teach with power (always) I feel knowing where you should be is super important. It makes my cuing much more understandable to even the first-timer. I can then ask for efforts Below/@/Above threshold and there's no confusion.
And I'm not the only one doing this. In his upcoming Audio Class Profile, Master Educator Dennis Mellon uses these “Best Efforts” for exactly the same reason 🙂
But my regulars would get a bit bored if I did the same class every week, so I mix up how we do these… Climbing, Fast Flats and occasionally we'll even do them out of the saddle! Regardless of the cadence or position, these are very popular (OK, sometimes I get a few groans) with my class. Throw one in at around the 20 mark, and then as the “Big Finish” at the end of class – except during round two your expectations are for even a BIGGER “Best Effort” as a close.
A fun “Best Effort” takes the right music and I'm providing a few remixes from Instructor/DJ Peter Gonzalez, better known as Peter G, that should work nicely for you to add in to your next playlist.
65 RPM “Best Effort” track – at 4:37 you'll start with the first spoken lyric and ride for 4 minutes.
As I was bouncing between Indoor Cycling sessions at IDEA, I kept Shazam qued up on my iPhone. It came in handy for when I heard something fun… and there was a lot of great music at the conference!
During Nothing But the HIITS! (a Schwinn Cycling presentation from MI Tatiana Kolovou) she played Juno Reactor — Pistolero – Astrix Remix which I thought would make for an awesome long 7:16 climb @ 70 RPM. It includes a fabulous intro that you just know will lead to something challenging.
Here are the workshop notes for Nothing But the HIITS! you can download if you didn't get the chance to attend IDEA.
The same version is available as a free download 🙂
Here's a special treat for you. With me and Amy in LA at the IDEA fitness conference, Master Trainer Dennis Mellon (new title for Dennis – more about his advancement in a week or so) has provided a three track mash-up for you to add to your next class playlist + a high quality recording of him teaching the actual class.
Start by listening to how Dennis cues this 9:54 minute three song mash-up, recorded during an actual class – download it here.
Here's the three song mash-up you can download to add to iTunes. Right click here > save as…
Dennis and I would love to know if these longer music segments are of value to you. Please leave your review below.
Every once in awhile a really good person comes along in our industry that gives more than they receive. That's who is providing our Free Music Friday selection, and in fact a HUGE selection!
I found out about him on the Indoor Cycling Instructors Facebook Group. He remixes other DJ's mixes to make them more ‘cycle friendly' and he does it so well because he's an instructor himself.
I've been mixing in 3-4 of his mashes in each of my classes and without fail they say, “Great music!”
Deezer is very close to launching here in the USA. How close? Close enough to have changed their landing page from; coming soon… to offering you an opt-in form so you'll be notified as soon as they do 🙂
Streaming service Deezer closes Canadian office
Music streaming service Deezer has closed its Canadian office as part of a consolidation under its new North American headquarters in San Francisco, but says it will continue to operate a full service in the country.
A Deezer spokesperson said Deezer has laid off a small Toronto team that included managing director Justin Erdman but “Canada remains a very important focus.
“While our local management activities are moving, Deezer will continue to provide music editorial expertise on Canadian artists, reviewing established and emerging home-grown talent for music fans in Canada and the rest of the world.,” the spokesperson said.
At first glance, Deezer seems to be a carbon copy of Spotify; same monthly costs, similar device apps, similar catalogs, etc… I have been told that Deezer is going to update their app to include a cross-fade. IMO cross-fade is a must have!
But wait to see what happens next with Deezer. The industry experts I've talked to say Deezer is a more progressive company (read open-minded) which could/should lead to more third party software providers and App developers choosing to work with them. Just maybe we'll finally see an Instructor focused device applications like ClassBuilder or the Schwinn Class Tamer running Deezer music.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. This iPad DJ mixing app called edjing runs Deezer, Soundcloud and your local iTunes MP3s. I'm dying to try it… but I can't right now because the app knows I'm in the USA.
