I'm having so much fun building a playlist, using a single as the “base” track to build off of and then scrolling through related artists to fill in the rest. Plus it doesn't hurt to hear multiple; “great music tonight John!” at the end of class to know I'm doing something right 🙂
In the previous PRO Podcast, I linked to this playlist I built using Peter Frampton — Do You Feel Like We Do – Live as the “base” or “root” artist from which I explored artists related to Peter Frampton in Spotify. Eric Clapton has been a long time favorite of mine and when Spotify said he's connected with Frampton – that was all it took to include a 7:07 version of Layla from Derek & The Dominos which was the band that introduced us all in the USA to Clapton and band-mate Duane Allman – the future lead guitarist of the Allman Bros. band.
I love long climbs at higher than typical cadences. Layla is perfect to really tax the leg muscles of your Club Athletes during a seven minute effort at 58 RPM. Plenty of opportunity to alternate in / out of the saddle for sure!
This cover may fit where your need a sub 3 minute effort
It's a fact of teaching Indoor Cycling classes using power… not every meter shows consistent – repeatable watts indication, no matter which brand you're riding. Faced with this (often times frustrating) inconsistency you have two choices:
Throw your hands up as if to say; “what's the use?” and ignore the power meter.
Accept the problem and offer your class a simple solution.
My hope is that you choose the later 🙂
As far as I know, there's only one solution you can offer the athletes riding in front of you to understand their power, today, on that cycle. Conduct a short PTP (Personal Threshold Power) assessment as part of every class you teach. If you have a different/better solution I'm all ears – please share it below.Â
These PTP assessments work great as the first real effort, after you've taken everyone through you initial warmup and a series of openers. Every class of mine begins the same:
5 minute warmup where we gradually increase intensity @ 90-100 RPM
3-4 30 second opener accelerations. We begin in a climbing gear @ 70 RPM, accelerate to and maintain 100 ish RPM for 30 seconds. Recover for 30 sec, rinse and repeat.
2 minute recovery (now we're calling this a “reset”)
3 or 4 minute “Best Effort” where we learn our PTP for this day, on this cycle. I tend to vary how I conduct these; some days are high cadence tempo flats @Â 90-100 RPMÂ and others are fast climbs @ 70 RPM
No matter what you decide, you need a great song for your “Best Effort” PTP assessment. For our free track this week I thought I would share one of my current favorites, the Lie To Me opening theme song Brand New Day from Ryan Star. This 93 RPM track is a little short at 3:14 – so you need everyone to quickly ramp up their effort, punch the STAGE button in unison and attack this 3 min Best Effort from GO!
The resulting average watts becomes the PTP for this class, on this bike.
Each year ends with a party and I'm not aware of an artist who's more about “The party” than Pitbull!
I've actually come to enjoy a little Pitbull in my class, for good reason 🙂 There's never been a more reliable track, that I can add to my playlist, that will have multiple riders lift their heads and smile than Pitbull — Feel This Moment. And also I have a “thing” for Christina Aguilera.
I love to sprinkle a good mash-up into my playlists and really enjoy finding a new track or two. So you can imagine my excitement in finding 18 tracks at once that I can share with you!
Mash-Up Your Bootz is a Bastard Pop Party Label and was created in Berlin back in 2007 by DJ Morgoth. From 2009 – 2013 MUYB presented BOOTIE Berlin, Berlin's version of the biggest Mashup Party in the World.
You'll need to copy the 18 tracks to iTunes > File Menu  > Add Folder to Library and you should find the folder in your Downloads folder. If you have Spotify set correctly these songs will show in your Spotify Local files
Happy November! Today's Free Music Friday started out in the normal fashion:
-Hear a tune I like
-Find it in Spotify
-Use it in a class profile; if it works well, check SoundCloud to see if there is a decent free download for you to use in your class. If there is, then the tune goes forward to you all in its original and free re-mixed versions.
Today is different!
The SoundCloud remix mash-up is so darn good, I'm just passing it along straight away.
‘Take Your Mama', originally by Scissor Sisters (4:32 and 78 rpm's) is re-mixed with The Cure by Copy Correct. This remix mash-up is 4:02 – 90 rpm's and is in the key of D minor for those of you experimenting with Harmonic Mixing.
It's just a great funky tune that I've been using to take my class toward T2. It has the two elements I look for: recognition and a driving beat.
Here it is. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have (remember to download asap, as the authors often limit downloads and we never know when the limit is reached):
Here's the Spotify link for the original by Scissor Sisters:
Each year ends with a party and I'm not aware of an artist who's more about “The party” than Pitbull!