Ride indoors with a Pro Cyclist and he’ll have you doing high cadence standing climbs

Ride indoors with a Pro Cyclist and he’ll have you doing high cadence standing climbs

by | Nov 27, 2020 | KEEPING IT FUN, Master Instructor Blog, Training With Power

Pro cyclist teaching high cadence standing climbs

This is cool! Professional cyclist Alex Howes taught a class at the Peloton Cycle studio in Manhattan. This article explains how Alex taught what was only his second Indoor Cycling class. My guess is that he doesn't have a IC cert – not that it matters.[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']

He's a World Tour rider for Team Garmin Sharp, which means he races in the big international tours in Europe. This year, he placed third in the professional national road race championships in the US, and won a stage of the USA Pro Challenge in Colorado. In 2014 he finished the Tour de France, and last year, he completed the Vuelta a España.

Wednesday, he became a temporary spin[sic] instructor at the Peloton Cycle studio in Manhattan. It was his first time teaching a class and only his second time on a spin[sic] bike. You can usually find him doing six-hour training rides in Boulder, Colorado or his European base in Spain. He liked it though.

The author's description for the image above jumped out at me; We did a lot of standing work with high cadence, which is like running on a bike.

Is it just me, or were you also surprised that a Professional Cyclist would include high cadence out of the saddle work as part of a class he lead? I really wish I had known about this class because I was in NYC at the time. So even though I wasn't there, I am willing to formulate a hypothesis about why Alex chose to include this in his class: The stability of an indoor cycle creates a unique opportunity to train in a way that he felt would help everyone in his class – including himself. No one had told him that standing (a lot) with a high cadence (which by default can only be with light resistance) is wrong/contraindicated/inefficient/dangerous/etc… IMO Alex added these drills because they felt natural to him 🙂

Here's a short video showing his form.

This post got a strong reaction over on Facebook > It defies explanation how anyone could find fault with a Professional Cyclist guest teaching a cycling class… but they do. Incredible :([/wlm_private]

Originally posted 2018-03-14 07:00:16.

Product advertising to women through Indoor Cycling

Product advertising to women through Indoor Cycling

by | Mar 3, 2015 | Big Box Instructor, Latest News, Promote and Build Your Class, Your Fitness Business

advertising to women through indoor cycling

Totally random observation…

You know we've gone mainstream when a large advertiser like Gillette, begins connecting their products to Indoor Cycling.

I ran across this article today in the online version of Shape Magazine. Seems like a typical bit of content designed to attract readers who have an interest in SoulCycle / Indoor Cycling.

Sure, sitting on the stationary bike and powering through a brutal “hill” climb in an indoor cycling class can be super challenging, but new research shows you’d be better off getting out of the saddle–even if that slows you down a bit. A recent study in The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research found that standing climbs and “runs” provide the greatest cardio response in spin class (compared to sitting) even when you're not pedaling at your max effort. (Check out 8 Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training.) You should, however, be sure to maintain good form while standing–if you get hurt, you won’t be able to ride seated or standing! Take these four tips from Kaili Stevens, a SoulCycle instructor in New York City, to heart next time you hop on the bike.

This article is correct – we reported last year about a similar study conducted by Dr. Len Kravitz at the University of New Mexico that came up the same conclusions.

What caught my attention wasn't the article itself, but the image of a very fit and serious women riding a time trial bike – she's even wearing an aero helmet. The background gives the impression of power and speed. And there at the bottom of the image is an ad banner for a women's razor. That made me smile 🙂

I'm willing to bet that this post was created specifically as an advertisement for Gillette. Online magazines exist for only one reason, to make money. The bulk of their revenue comes from advertisers. Publishers like Shape have small armies of creative people who dream up ways to build promotions around advertisers. This article is a great example.

So my question for you. Is Indoor Cycling becoming mainstream a good thing?