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In: Instructor Issues & growth
With: 3 Comments

It is not uncommon for riders to play favorites when it comes to which indoor cycling classes they will take. As instructors, we see our regulars every week. They often go out of their way to tell us how good of a job we are doing and how much they loved the whooping we just planted on them. The indoor cycling world spins happily on it’s axis week to week, and all is well until…we need to find someone to substitute our class. Chaos. Struggle. Picketing. Riots. Panic.Read more…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
With: 5 Comments

Regardless of whether you are an indoor cycling instructor, the director of a large fitness chain, or an indoor cycling studio owner, the goal is always to attract clients. To date, the indoor cycling industry has yet to attract the outdoor cycling masses. I’m going to use the example of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) to illustrate the challenge we face in attracting cyclists in addition to making programs more enticing and effective.Read more…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE, Training
With: 4 Comments

The questions in response to part 1 are fantastic. They highlight the importance of understanding concepts like aerobic capacity and the difficulty in training at that level. I hope you had the opportunity to try one of the workouts in part 1, preferably before you tortured your subjects. As I mentioned, providing the workout before the background knowledge often sets the stage for better learning. I’m assuming you were bombarded with multiple “whys.” Why is this so difficult? Why is this considered aerobic? Why is everything burning? Why can’t I sustain this? Why can’t I repeat this? Why did I listen to Tom, a known sadist?Read more…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE, Training
With: 13 Comments

Two words no one likes to hear regardless of the venue: sustain and pain. Despite the look on your face right now, this is the best definition of an aerobic capacity effort, also referred to as riding at VO2 max. This level of intensity is not for the faint of heart…er…I mean it is not for everyone. Actually both. I just finished watching stage 18 of the Tour de France, which consistently provides a spectacular display of aerobic capacity entertainment. How do they do ride for prolonged times at that intensity? Genetic freakery aside, there are numerous training elements that combine to produce this extreme level of performance.Read more…

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In: Free Articles, Instructor Issues & growth, Training
With: 31 Comments

Leave it to the fitness industry to aggressively destroy yet another sound athletic training concept. Hone in on certain indoor cycling circles and it can be an absolute free-for-all. It is not uncommon to see massive high-speed sprints (with little to no resistance), producing an eye-popping 20 watts (not a typo), upper-body gyrations that appear to be from a scene in the Exorcist, and now Tabata, Tabata, and more Tabata. Read more…