In the twenty years I’ve been a master instructor educating indoor cycling instructors around the world (first for Spinning®, then for the last five years with ICA), I’ve come to know what challenges many instructors are struggling with. I’ve often had a revelation while teaching one of my own classes that I’ve thought would be helpful for other instructors to know about.Read more…
Guest contributor and ICA member Izabela Ruprik has been collecting indoor cycling certifications over the past few years (about to take her 7th cert)! She attended a class the other day and came away frustrated so she wrote about her experience. She wanted to share this very important message with all instructors from every program: Always share what the purpose of your workout is with your riders!Read more…
New instructors are often unsure how much they should be talking or what they should be saying in their classes. One of the litmus tests to discover if you are talking too much is to simply ask yourself, “Why am I talking?” The answer may surprise you. Caesar provides tips on examining the purpose of your cues and making sure your riders aren’t confused by what you say. Read more…
Last week we shared an article comparing the benefits of HIIT and steady-state training. This week we follow up with a look at some of the hype surrounding HIIT, especially the concept of EPOC. As fitness professionals, it’s important for us to understand the science behind the hype, and to use that science to help our customers and clients safely and effectively reach their goals. Here are some tips for effectively incorporating interval sets into your ride profiles. Read more…
The final segment of this series addresses two of the benefits of teaching off the bike that have the most impact: assessing intensity of your riders and teaching HIT intervals. You now have all the tools you need to be a highly effective indoor cycling coach who knows how to teach off the bike.Read more…
Creating new profiles is one of the more challenging aspects of being an indoor cycling instructor. But you may have a deeper well of profiles at your own fingertips without even realizing it! Here are 6 tips to take your existing profiles and double or even triple them with a few tweaks. Read more…
Throwback Thursday (updated). Teaching off the bike is a skill. With effective and judicious use, you can empower your students beyond what you could do from the saddle. But you can also overdo it and alienate your students. Dismounting occasionally is different from teaching an entire class off the bike. Here are specific steps to elevate your coaching from the floor.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…
TBT (Throwback Thursday): We will be reaching into our archives for special articles to help you on your instructor journey. In 2011, Janet Toussaint inspired our members to take the steps necessary to transform from being an “instructor” to being a “coach”; one who seeks to get to know his or her students, inspiring them to discover and attain their potential. This article discusses your “coaching radar” and how to use it.Read more…
Stage fright. Jitters. Butterflies in your belly. We’ve all been there. After weeks of training and hours putting together that perfect playlist, you’re about to clip in for your first class. A sweaty version of the dreaded “public speaking,” it can be nerve-wracking for even the most confident individual! But it doesn’t have to be. Here are seven tips to make that first class feel a little less intimidating.Read more…