By:
On:
In: Charity Events, Instructor Issues & growth
With: 2 Comments

I’m certain each of us has participated in one or more charity events. We ran, biked, walked, or possibly accomplished something more adventurous in the name of a great cause we believe in. Those of us who had the opportunity to be one of the chosen instructors responsible for motivating these big-hearted participants know the tremendous privilege this is. Being an instructor for a charity ride is also a rush beyond what can be experienced from teaching our everyday indoor cycling classes. All excitement aside, events of this nature can be intimidating for an instructor. Here are some tips and considerations for how to approach the event, how to approach your ride, and how to approach your riders for the best charity ride ever.Read more…

By:
On:
In: Free Articles, Instructor Issues & growth, New Instructors
With: 6 Comments

This is a blog post by group fitness instructor Erica Barker (reprinted with permission). She accurately describes what most of us go through as we prepare for our one-hour fitness class, of any format. It’s a LOT more than that one hour, isn’t it? Share this with your peers and even with your students; it’s helpful when they understand how much your passion drives what you do!Read more…

By:
On:
In: Free Articles, New Instructors, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
With: 0 Comments

This is a discussion of a Joe Friel article on a common misinterpretation of a heart rate response to training. DON’T LET THIS BE YOU! Make sure you understand how your riders’ heart rates respond to training! In this post is a list of resources and articles (some free, some books, some premium articles) to help enhance your understanding of heart rate. This is important EVEN if you don’t teach with a HR monitor. It also helps your coaching using RPE and optimizes your use of power training. Read more…

By:
On:
In: Music Resources
With: 3 Comments

If you are planning on doing a Giro d’Italia stage, throwing a little Italian pop, hip-hop, a soundtrack classic, or a fun cultural tune will make your ride even more authentic and exciting! Here is a bucket playlist of 185 Italian songs to spice up your Giro playlist. These also work well for an around-the-world theme ride. Read more…

By:
On:
In: Instructor Issues & growth, Medical & Health, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
With: 2 Comments

Whenever I think of recovering faster, I hear my grandfather in the back of my head telling me to sleep faster when I only had four hours until the morning. By no means do I want you to start shortchanging your recovery time nor try to psychologically speed up the process. I do want you to consider how fast your heart rate recovers and learn some valuable information you can provide to educate your riders.Read more…

By:
On:
In: Free Articles, Programming and Management
With: 1 Comment

Want to organize a ride for victims of the Nepali earthquake? Here is a checklist on how we created a successful fundraiser in three weeks for both the tsunami disaster of 2004 and Katrina in 2005. Whether you plan on a small event for just one class, or want to spearhead a larger more coordinated event several hours long, this checklist will give you some ideas on what to do.Read more…