This week, ICA is proud to highlight one of our longtime supporters and educational contributors, Bill Roach. After retirement, he launched a second career helping people through fitness and Spinning®. Bill serves as the lead instructor at his YMCA, mentors new instructors, and has helped develop a program for Parkinson’s patients at the YMCA Healthy Living Center in Iowa. We celebrate your second career, Coach Bill Roach.Read more…
Upon my return, I asked my class if they missed me and if the sub had sufficiently kicked their butts. As it turned out, no instructor showed up to sub!Read more…
Here in the Rocky Mountains, the snowline that has already covered our higher peaks is getting lower and lower, and it won’t be long until snow is an almost daily reality. I thought I’d share some photos of our last-ditch efforts to squeeze out some mountain bike rides in the high desert, before we hang up our bikes for the winter and ride exclusively inside. And yes, there is a reason why I wrote “refugees” in the title of this post. Please continue reading to find out why…Read more…
Caroline Rigby is an example of a person who sees something amiss, and decides to fix it…by learning how to do that thing herself. Her determination will inspire you! Read more…
Pam Benchley is a master educator for Stages Indoor Cycling who recently completed her first Ironman. Her journey from “No Way” to “What if?” to “Holy Cow! Look what I did!” is so inspiring, it might even have you revisiting one of your own “what if” dreams.Read more…
For today’s TBT (Throwback Thursday) we are reposting one of the articles that became the foundation for ICA’s philosophy of heart rate training. Instructors should understand why maximum heart rate is not a good anchor for training zones, and instead learn how to perform field tests and talk tests so they can more accurately guide their riders to success.Read more…
We all once were new to indoor cycling. Whether or not we came back to that class or indoor cycling in general depended a lot on the instructor of that very first class we took.Read more…
Every time I’m forced to teach without a microphone, I think about those instructors who do not believe in using a mic. They believe instructing without a mic does not affect their teaching or the experience they deliver. They could not be more wrong.Read more…
Billy Coburn finds himself in the new, digitally enhanced, competitive indoor cycling game at Equinox called The Pursuit. He lives to tell the tale…and he can’t wait to get back to try it again!Read more…
This highly educational series on teaching off the bike first appeared in 2011. It’s a very popular topic, so we are bringing this new and improved version back to the forefront. Part 1 discusses why teaching the entire class off the bike can be effective. Part 2 will provide 11 specific tips and tricks for doing so. Parts 3 and 4 will give advice on getting off the bike occasionally in the most effective manner to provide motivation and correction. This series, worthy of CECs, will help launch your coaching to the next level.Read more…