The Wahoo Fitness PLUGGR is the first ever Bluetooth 4.0 enabled suppository motion sensor. It can measure and track your heart rate, motion, body temperature, and digestive regularity.
A few common uses
Features include:
Health metrics sent directly to your smart phone via Bluetooth 4.0 technology.
Measure digestive health by tracking the frequency, severity, and composition of bowel movements. No more dehydration or constipation!
Vibration alerts and electrical stimulus for call, email, and text notification. Reduce the risk of your phone falling in the toilet on bathroom breaks!
Special “race mode” featuring BCU (bowel control unit) for pre-race load lightening and race emergency control response.
Get the Wahoo PLUGGR today and enjoy full body tracking in a sleek, soft form!*
I can imagine it would take awhile to get used to “wearing” the PLUGGR, but it sure would be convenient… don't you think?
Yes, of course; April Fools! Wahoo Fitness sent this out today. Pretty clever idea 🙂
Stages Master Educators Dunte Hector and Cameron Chinatti leading the morning ride at IHRSA
IHRSA 2015 was the first public appearance of the Stages Cycling SC3 Indoor Cycle. This was a total surprise to me and I have no idea how Stages Master Educator Dennis Mellon was able to keep his mouth shut for so long. We talk weekly and it must have been killing him not to be able to tell me about their latest project 🙂
Going forward, I feel it's important to disclosure that Stages Cycling sponsored (paid) my and Amy's travel to, and lodging in, Los Angeles to take part in the launch of their new Stages SC3 at IHRSA 2015.Â
If parts of the Stage SC3 look familiar, there's a good reason. The engineers who designed this Indoor Cycle have a long and storied history of product development with indoor cycles and power consoles. It was explained to me that the design criteria for the SC3 was; take all of the engineering team's collective experience and build the ultimate, commercial Indoor Cycle. Did they succeed? Let's find out…
The Basics
Frame – Aluminum… and lots of it. This is a very solid/substantial IC > perfect for studios with big, powerful riders – or – those offering unconventional classes with a lot of movement.
Drive – CarbonGlydeâ„¢ drive system. Yes, this is the same Gates belt as other manufacturers are using, but there are fundamental differences with the other components of the drive train, that give the SC3 a very different feel. Because they don't run the belt under tension (there's a tiny bit of slack you can feel as you move the pedals back and forth) the SC3 is noticeably quieter than the Schwinn AC and it's tensioned Gates belt. It also retains a slight, chain-like vibration, but doesn't buzz like the AC. Stages is so confident in their drive system that they offer a 10 year warranty on the CarbonGlydeâ„¢ belt. Correction: Stairmaster's engineer Travis Vaughan alerted me to my error describing the Schwinn AC's Gates belt as “tensioned” – which it's not. I didn't intend to infer that they used a tensioner like what's used with Poly “V” belts. Instead I should have described the differences as; the AC runs it's belt taut (zero slack) vs. the SC3 which, when properly tensioned, has a very small amount of slack.  Â
Resistance – Magnetic > surrounding an aluminum flywheel. Screw style adjustment and includes the new Stages SprintShiftâ„¢ three position lever . More on that below. Â
Handlebars – Road Bike Style Drop Bars – there's a reason that handlebars on road bikes haven't changed over the last 100 years > these fit us (humans) the best. Please don't ask me; “but where is position #3 John?” It's standing, with your hands surrounding the brake hoods, exactly where your hands belong when you're out of the saddle 🙂 It's here where you have the most leverage to power through a steep climb and it eliminates the temptation to “over reach” while seated.
Saddle – nice. Not too narrow… and not to wide/fat. Forgive me for saying it this way, it's very close to (might be exactly the same as) the saddle on the Schwinn AC > we have one on the back of our Trek Tandem. Amy loves this saddle and it's been comfortable for her for thousands of miles. Trust me on this one… I'd have heard all about an uncomfortable saddle.
The Power Meter
Good enough for TDF winning Team Sky Professional Racing Team
The heart of an Indoor Cycle that features power measurement is, of course, the power meter. The new SC3 is using the same technology used by Team Sky – winners of two Tour de France bicycle races and they're going to continue to use these power meters in 2015.
I could devote an entire article on just this topic and will have more as part of the ride portion of this review. In the interest of time I'll give you the important bits:
2,000 hours of battery life using two AA's – yes the display console is self-charging.
Same hardware, design, and accuracy found in the Stage Power® meter, which is used by professional cyclists’ and used in the world’s most famous cycling races, including the Tour de France.
ANT+â„¢ and Bluetooth – so it will connect with your iPhone or Android without any adapters.
Supposedly accurate to +/- 2.5%. I say “supposedly” because I have no way to verify their claims – but I bet Team Sky does 🙂
 Display Console
It's important to separate the power meter, from the display console. Although most studios will choose to purchase their new SC3's with the new Stages EcoSCRNâ„¢ console, you don't have to. The Stages power meter will work with any Bluetooth or Ant+ device, like an iPhone or Garmin. You could also choose to wirelessly connect the Stages power meter directly to Display Training systems from Performance IQ or Spivi.
Here's a short video showing it in action during one of the 60 sec challenges.
The EcoSCRNâ„¢ console is self-powered = no batteries to replace ever… that's the Eco part 🙂
No exposed wires > I was told they've very neatly packaged the cable that connects the flywheel generator to the console = a long life of raising the handlebars up and down.
Constant backlight if you choose 🙂
Stage button to record intervals > there's also a nice feature that your averages remain displayed for 5 seconds after you end a stage.
Stages SprintShiftâ„¢ is a three position “shifter”, that provides course adjustments quickly. I want to describe it as a sort of cruise control, where you flick your finger and instantly resume your previous speed/resistance level.
Think of doing a repeating series of intervals. We cue everyone to add load, ride the segment and then recover. Now repeat it again. With SprintShift you can set your initial load with the lever full right. Move it left for recovery and then return back to the exact resistance instantly, by moving the lever all the way to the right.
There's some interesting physics at work here. If you use the SprintShift at lower resistance levels, the amount of change between each level remains relative & realistic. But start with a big gear and the changes are incrementally larger.
There are multiple ways you could incorporate this in your class and we'll find more over time. I'll describe a relay race we did in the ride part of the review where it was very helpful > we won! I'm sure Cameron and Co. will have some fun suggestions for using SprintShift when I interview her in the next few weeks.
If you've ever fought over a stubborn screw type seatpost of handlebar adjuster, you'll enjoy these new FitLoc cam style adjusters. Watch the video and you will see how quick and easy they are to operate. Also, they've kept the weight of the bars low, so it takes very little strength to raise them, using only one hand.
“Hello… My name is Karen and I stepped out of the box last year. I am also the self proclaimed spokesperson for KEEPING IT FUNâ„¢ Indoor Cycling. I’m committed to helping other indoor cycling instructors who aren't afraid to approach indoor cycling differently.”
I wrote it a little over a year ago.
I wrote it after making the commitment to add variety into my own studio's Indoor Cycling program.
I wrote it because in order for me to continue to transform lives through Indoor Cycling I recognized that my program needed to evolve.
If you are an Indoor Cycling studio owner/manager the brutal truth is… maintaining the integrity of the road may be the demise of your studio/program.
Soon after I opened my studio in November of 2012, I realized this NOT SO FUN fact.
So, I took an honest inventory of what our studio offers, what our customer wants, and what future projections were for the Indoor Cycling industry. I listened to our customers. I observed what classes they gravitated to and away from. I asked them what they found FUN.
I took into account my personal evolution as a GroupEx instructor, my observations of the Indoor Cycling industry, as well as input from other instructors and studio owners. And then … I charted my Indoor Cycling course and set sail by following my heart. I stayed true to my WHY. I honored both my vision and our Mission Statement of creating the ultimate Indoor Cycling customer experience. I added variety to our schedule.
In addition to traditional Indoor Cycling classes, our studio also offers
CB2 Rhythm
CB2 TotalBody
CB2 Performance IQ
CB2 Rhythm & TotalBody and
CB2 Revelation Revolution Christian Indoor Cycling … all of which we did not offer when we opened. It wasn't easy … but we did it … and it was worth it!
Is offering variety the key to success for future Indoor Cycling studios? ABSOLUTELY NOT
The key is recognizing that the Indoor Cycling industry is evolving and will continue to evolve.
Only you can figure out where you and your studio/program fit in. I suggest you start by revisiting your WHY.
Make decisions that maintain the integrity of your brand mission (which I hope you have) and honor your brand vision (which I also hope you have). Talk to your customers and look at it through their eyes. Look at it through the eyes of customers that ARE NOT customers. Talk to your peers. Ask for help.
Regardless of the path you choose… BELIEVE in it and be ALL IN
Words of Wisdom From An Outdoor & Indoor Cyclist “People need to realize clients have different goals, something your team is exceptionally respectful of. Those who say dance has no room in spin* need to check why they are in the business in my opinion. I love cycling, fitness and helping people improve and grow. I know that may violate an ideal that orbits the bottom line comes first mindset, but it is how I feel. If you want to have limited appeal to a small clientele offer nothing but high powered, intimidating classes that serve Tour de France, Ironman Kona specialists, otherwise open your mind and look at he every day folks that are interested in mixing it up and developing fitness via different methodologies.
I'm admittedly novice in your world and likely idealistic to a fault, but I have trouble dealing with folks that are close minded, dismissive and risk averse. Try things live and learn!” Phil
* “spin” has not been identified as Spin® to maintain the integrity of the customer's own words.
Click below to see (clearly amateur) video of Phil riding in a CB2 class taught for the purpose of media photos. The testimonial after class is unplanned and a beautiful testament to different being a good thing. How do you feel about Phil's testimonial?
Yep, I'm teaching another class where we're using weights!
I'm pretty excited. I'm subbing a Cycle Sculpt class tomorrow! Cycle Sculpt is a branded class format at Life Time Fitness, designed to attract the crowd who would be interested in a SoulCycle like class. This won't be my first time teaching this format – a little over a year ago I had the privilege and wrote about my experience here.
This class format has been evolving. Instead of using weights/bands while on the bikes, now we split the class up into two groups; half ride while the other half completes Boot Camp style circuit training on the floor.
It's like herding cats
Yesterday I discussed with Kadi (it's her class) how she conducted the class. She explained that it can get a little chaotic with so many people moving around the room – she typically has ~50 people. “Give each group a simple objective that they can complete on their own” was her advice, along with doing my best to keep everyone smoothly moving and focused.
As a side note I will be interested to see how many people I recognise. My previous experience was that most of the participants were completely unknown = they don't come to regular cycling classes.
I'm all about self-directed work. So I created the simple profile below and I'm (pretty)confident everyone will be able to follow it successfully 🙂
[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']
I'm doing a pretty normal warm up with a series of accelerations during the second track.
A.R. Rahman — Bobbleheads Life Time calls these a Reset = not a real recovery, but a reduced effort ridden to a short fun track.
Avicii — Heart Upon My Sleeve 3:30 Best Effort (this class will still incorporate Power/Watts) that starts one minute into the song. Here's where everyone can observe their PTP.
Jens Buchert — Crypton Recover and discover Base Watts – the wattage that has you working just above “Chatty” (early part of Zone 3 HR using a 5 Zone system).
Each track that follows is about five minutes long. The “On” (riding) group will directed to complete these distances each time they're on the bike:
Men ride 1.5 miles (at 20 mph this should take about 4:30)
Women ride 1 mile
Then complete the segment at “Base Watts” If you get Chatty that means you're not working as hard as you've been assigned.
One of the new initiatives at the Big Box where John and I teach is inserting ‘resets' in between ‘challenges' or work sets. ‘Resets' are to be FUN!!!!! and a mental/physical break back to lower thresholds before working up to AT again. They are meant to build community in class and can be in or out of the saddle, or a combination of the two.
I first heard this song on the MTV Award Show I was watching with my daughters. It reminds me of the movie ‘Purple Rain'- specifically Morris Day and The Time. We all started dancing in our seats. At 62 rpm's (original version) and 64 rpms's (the free download), have fun ‘resetting'![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']
