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In: Free Articles, General Fitness, Instructor Issues & growth, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
With: 18 Comments

Damn, I finally did it…I wrote one of those inane headlines that are so in vogue and are only designed to get clicks. I swore I would never do it. But sadly (not just that I succumbed to the trend but also because what I’m about to say is 100% true…) it’s probably the most descriptive and honest headline I could ever write about this topic. So get ready to have your mind blown if you’re a personal trainer or care about how fitness is taught.Read more…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Programming and Management
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I really appreciated the comments on my last two-part article, “Where Do We Go From Here?” It is always very encouraging to see how many instructors put a tremendous effort into the planning of their classes. This reflects well on our professionalism and understanding of how to help people reaching their fitness goals. Training plans are not just for personal trainers (no offense). As a follow-up, and per request, I’m going to provide more detail on the various approaches I use when base training fades into the distance.Read more…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth
With: 15 Comments

What to do when you are the ONLY one at your club that teaches a “real” cycling class.
I’ve received this question quite a bit. “How do you handle teaching a class that is so different than what other instructors offer at your club?” Although we can be really excited to learn something new (or just get reinvigorated), the excitement can wane when we think of how it will be received by our riders or our club as a whole. Those who love our rides are also bombarded by other indoor cycling classes that may have little resemblance to biking or training.Read more…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Music Resources, New Instructors
With: 10 Comments

If you’ve been teaching longer than a few years you will have perhaps hundreds of playlists. If you are new at this game (and even if you’re not), here are some simple tips and tricks to help you organize your songs into easy to manage folders so you can find that PERFECT song when you need it. Plus I’ve got an iTunes hack I’ve recently discovered that helps you know more about your song usage. Read more…

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In: Coaching and Cueing, Free Articles, Instructor Issues & growth, Keep it Real & eBooks, New Instructors
With: 11 Comments

The term “Keep it Real” in regards to indoor cycling has gotten a bad rap lately. This subject has been talked about a lot lately on online forums and websites, so it’s time to put the stake in the ground and describe exactly what it means and what it does NOT mean. I wrote the e-book Keep it Real in 2008, and wrote the workshop for Spinning® in 2006 which was based on that concept, so I have skin in this game.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…

Endurance

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE, Training
With: 11 Comments

Indoor cycling endurance classes are a lose-lose situation. Low-intensity, steady-state classes are hated by your fitness enthusiast (or non-outdoor rider), and the fact that you attempt to deliver an endurance class to your outdoor riders within 60 minutes is just enough to tick them off. Instructors that try to force these mind-numbing, ineffective classes down riders’ throats will receive the same response as parents telling children to eat some nasty-tasting food because it is good for them. Some of you right now are possibly confused, stunned, angry, unfriending me from Facebook… What in the name of Keep it Real is Tom talking about?!Read more…

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In: Form and Technique, Free Articles, Instructor Issues & growth, New Instructors, Programming and Management
With: 0 Comments

James Fell, my favorite irreverent fitness myth buster and journalist, has just posted an excellent article on silly techniques in indoor cycling classes. James was one of the first to publicly challenge some of the unsafe and ineffective techniques done at SoulCycle (and other similar programs) in his front-page feature in the LA Times two years ago. Both Tom Scotto and I were interviewed for that article. You’re going to want to share this one with every instructor, student, and group exercise director or studio owner you know.Read more…