This is a comment that Kala made on Facebook about one of her new students, who is obviously used to constant changes of position and intensity in the other classes she’s taken. Not that you shouldn’t jump, but this shows that they aren’t necessary for a great workout.On a recent Facebook thread on the epidemic of hovers that morphed into a discussion on contraindicated movements, Kala Markel (one of ICA’s music magicians) mentioned that she had a new student in one of her classes who commented afterward, “Wow! We didn’t do any jumps and I got an awesome workout!”
Way to go Kala – you have just opened the eyes of that student to the wonders and joys of safe and effective indoor cycling! Many instructors (probably the ones this student experienced prior to attending Kala’s class) believe that in order to be revered as one of the “favorite” or “hardest” instructors at their club, they must put together classes (sometimes I hesitate to call them profiles) that are full of a mishmash of movements that require riders to move in and out of the saddle for much of the class. You’ve all seen/experienced those types of classes in which the longest you stay in the saddle is 2 or 3 minutes.
Now I’m not saying you should not jump – I do a few of them every couple of months 
– but here in the pages of ICA it is my goal to teach instructors other very effective, safe and FUN ways to create fantastic workouts without relying on jumps or other constant changes of position. You can raise the intensity and get an even higher caloric burn at times by staying seated and pushing a higher gear and/or a higher cadence. You can still offer your students standing efforts, but realize that standing is not the only way to challenge them. In fact, there are times when standing up is a way to “cheat”. It’s far more difficult to stay seated when the hill gets steeper and to rev up the legs to get through that steep section. And if you don’t know the full benefits and challenge of cadences surges against a resistance, well then what are you waiting for? You’ll be the talk of your club!
If you find that you rely on jumps in every class, here is my challenge to you. Begin by not doing them in one out of every 3-4 classes, and then gradually get to the point where you are only doing them once every 3-4 classes. You’ll still be giving your students what they like, but you will have to seek other ways to motivate your students without constand position changes. I am willing to bet that you may very well have a student who has the same revelation that Kala’s student had: WOW! Great workout even without the jumps!
Ride on!
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