I'm sure you've been hearing this song on the radio and in commercials recently and maybe you've considered using it in your next profile. I gave it a try last week and I'm here to tell you it was a huge hit! You will love the drum beat and the explosive chorus. We rode on a hill (64 rpm) and added resistance throughout. Add cadence in the final 30 for a big finish. Another option is to climb and then explode on the chorus (adding cadence at :56, 1:56 and 2:50).
With over 1800 articles in our archives there's a good chance that our ICI/PRO members may have missed some of our best stuff. So every Wednesday we are republishing some of our favorite articles and podcasts – enjoy!
By Team ICG® Master Instructor Jim Karanas
What is Beatmatch?
A beat is the regular, rhythmic unit of time that makes up music structure. Beatmatch matches cycling cadence to the beat of the music, so that one leg pushes down and the other pulls up every time there’s a beat.
When cycling in time with the music, each beat matches up with one pedal rotation. The beat always occurs on the same leg, and the offbeat, the unaccented beat between counts, always occurs on the other. Beatmatch can be done in three ways: 1 beat = 1 rotation, 2 beats = 1 rotation, or 1 beat = 2 rotations.
Beatmatch can give rise to strong aversions. “Aerobics on a bike!” “You’re putting the students in a box!” “Let the students find their own rhythm!” These comments support a Freestyle approach to music, which I too support — but not all of the time.
What’s Good About Beatmatch?
Matching cadence to the beat teaches timing. It makes the pedal stroke smoother, more consistent and fluid. It can help students who lack an innate sense of rhythm FEEL rhythm. It‘s a powerful tool for teaching effort and commitment. It’s ergogenic. I think it teaches how to ride more efficiently.
Say the class is riding at 80 rpm, and you cue them to add resistance without changing cadence. An untrained student will unconsciously slow the cadence, which offsets the work. It’s a typical response by someone who has not yet learned to put out, or build, effort. Beatmatch can help prevent that slow-down.
Or have more advanced students jog at 95 rpm for 5 minutes. That’s challenging. Many, when near exhaustion, can’t maintain the cadence. Looking at a computer won’t help much, but keeping up with the beat can be more effective.
I think of timing as our interaction with the world. With good timing, there’s “flow”. The world seems to work: watch a bike messenger weave through busy urban traffic. Bad timing is the opposite, out of sync. We hit every red light on the ride home. The most basic lesson in developing good timing is consistency. If we’re unaware of our inconsistent timing to begin with, how can we ever sense flow? Musicians develop consistency by using a metronome. That’s Beatmatch.
Other benefits of Beatmatch include greater sensitivity to gear selection and cadence, finding the rhythm at which you create power effortlessly, and a stronger connection with your bike.
When Is Freestyle Beneficial?
Freestyle uses a range of cadences for whatever terrain you’ve cued, so the pedal stroke is not always in time with the music. There are advantages to this approach under certain circumstances. For one thing, Freestyle’s easier on the instructor. If you can’t find the perfect music, you can cue by feel, nuance and cadence range.
More importantly, Freestyle can help students. If the student isn’t yet fit enough to handle fast cadences, especially standing, Freestyle permits success. If the student isn’t strong enough to handle very slow cadences with high resistance at high heart rates, Freestyle permits success. When the pattern calls for lots of changes — e.g., from seated to standing and back with resistance changes at frequent intervals — Freestyle permits success.
While Beatmatch can be mentally exhausting because of the structure and constant need for control, Freestyle allows the student to relax and focus more on heart rate and terrain changes without counting. It may evoke emotion more easily because it demands less vigilant attention.
Emotion Revisited
Slid Fluke
L.A. Woman Billy Idol
This Is Us Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
Stevenson George Winston
I’ve played these four songs, listed last week, for hundreds of instructors and asked for their emotional responses. The comments never vary.
“Slid” is great electronic music, but no one can pair an emotion with it. That’s typical with Electronic, Techno or Dance music — good workout music that doesn’t generate much emotion.
When I play Billy Idol, most of the instructors smile and often don’t know why. Rock ‘n’ roll just makes people happy.
“This Is Us,” a country rock song, is usually described as love, warmth, affection or sincerity. A good country song is like a hug.
Last, I play “Stevenson” by George Winston. It’s 1:57 long, classified as New Age, and on the Hurricane Relief Benefit collection that raised money for Katrina survivors. To start, people may chat, but within seconds the room is silent. To describe their emotions, they use words like sad, upset, depressed.
Stevenson Palfi was a documentary filmmaker who made a name for himself among the jazz musicians of New Orleans, his primary film subjects. He took his own life after losing everything in Katrina. The song ends abruptly and feels unfinished, like Stevenson’s life. It may leave you raw, sad and contemplative.
If your class is truly about delivering an experience, music can bring both emotion and structure. When selecting music, don’t always go for the obvious workout music or the ambiguity of Freestyle. The same song can be perfect for a tough Freestyle climb or a hard flat road in Beatmatch. Try music that makes you feel. See what impact Beatmatch can have. Use unexpected music at unexpected points in the class.
Be courageous.
With over 1800 articles in our archives there's a good chance that our ICI/PRO members may have missed some of our best stuff. So every Wednesday we are republishing some our of our favorite articles and podcasts – enjoy!
By Team ICG® Master Instructor Jim Karanas
My last two articles were on video because it will affect our industry dramatically in 2012. Long before video, however, something else inspired us to ride bikes indoors: music. There’s no denying music’s powerful impact on the class experience. One way that happens is through emotion.
Music inspires emotion through genre, lyrics, vocals, harmony, tempo, rhythm, and more. But many indoor cycling instructors overlook emotion. It’s easy to understand why.
I taught my first aerobics class in 1977. Like other instructors at the time, I used popular music and older rock that was good for dancing. Then something happened. Workout Music.
Workout Music used a square rhythm of 32-count phrases, was always high-energy with a fast tempo, was typically dance or house music, and often remixed popular songs by speeding them up and punching the downbeat. Because teaching back then involved 32-count choreography, the energized remixes were useful and called
“aerobicized”.
(An example is “Let’s Get It Started” by the Black-Eyed Peas. Listen to the original, and then compare the workout mix made popular on The Biggest Loser.)
But while aerobicized mixes kicked up our workouts, they also buried a critical musical element — emotion.
Music stimulates every area of the brain. The emotion it evokes can be life-changing. Everyone has a special song from a special time that they’ll never forget. Odds are it was not a piece of workout music.
When Indoor Cycling was introduced 20 years ago, it completely reversed the workout-music trend. It was the very nature of cycling that did that. When you ride a bike, the road changes and forces changes in cadence and rhythm. Different music genres and tempi simulate those terrain changes, so “regular” music is back.
Indoor cycling also permits individual interpretation. Since people don’t have to be doing exactly the same thing at a given time, the movement doesn’t have to be synced to the music. This Freestyle approach is an effective way to ride to music. You ride more to the nuance or the feeling than to the beat. So emotion’s also back if we want it.
Emotion is a powerful tool for creating an indoor-cycling experience.
When creating a class profile, you might want to ID your own emotional response to a piece of music so you can use it at the right time. Download and listen to the following songs in the order below and note your response. You may even choose to ride to them.
Distinguish between good music and emotion. Music with a great beat may make you feel like riding, but focus on how you feel (happy, sad, neutral, etc.) if and when you try this.
Slid (Glid) Fluke
L.A. Woman (Single Edit) Billy Idol
This Is Us Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
Stevenson George Winston
Link to this playlist in Spotify
Next week, I’ll predict how you felt and suggest ways to use emotion in your classes. I’ll also compare Freestyle and Beatmatch. Freestyle uses music as briefly mentioned above; Beatmatch pairs cadence with the beat and is practiced throughout the world. There are important reasons to bring both to teaching.
John's note: We're highlighting some of Jim Karana's past articles this week.
I've been using Ed Sheeran's Shape of You quite a bit recently as a fast flat road in my classes (around 99-100 rpm). It's perfect for keeping your riders focused on maintaining those upper range rpm's. I like to challenge my riders to maintain the pace and try adding just a bit more resistance each minute.
If you're looking for something a little different, try the Galantis Remix…:
Shape of You Galantis Remix iTunes link
…or even the acoustic version for a cool down/stretch:
Shape of You-Acoustic iTunes link
I used this song in my class recently and I got a ton of comments from my riders. It's a great cover and a classic that can be very versatile in your next ride. Heart's cover of Stairway to Heaven is considered by many to be one of the best. ( I really like Rodrigo y Gabriela's cover as well.) Start this one as a seated climb and bring it out of the saddle as the music picks up around 5:45 all the way to the finish. It's a nice long hill and your riders will be motivated to finish big on this one, I promise. ( If you haven't seen the video of Heart performing this one live at the Kennedy Center Honors back in 2012, be sure to check it out here. It's pretty amazing.)