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In: New Instructors, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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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…

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In: Class Profiles, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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Several people have asked me how to structure a 90-minute profile, and at what intensity it should be taught. Here is the outline of my 90-minute sub-threshold endurance class this week. I also give you a modified version that allows for some high-intensity intervals above threshold. The balance of intensity is extremely important to consider as your duration exceeds one hour.Read more…

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In: Free Articles, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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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…

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In: Coaching and Cueing, General Coaching, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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Part 2 of knowing whether your class is too hard or too easy means digging in deeper into what “hard” really means and how to convey it to your riders. I link to seven articles to help ensure you fully understand this level of effort. This includes 23 cues to empower your riders to give everything they have to reach the level of effort to actually realize the HIT benefits. Otherwise, they’re awash in mediocrity.Read more…

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In: Ask the Expert, Instructor Issues & growth, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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Tom, do you have a litmus test to tell if recoveries are too short for the efforts you are asking? For example, if you are asking for a 5-minute, 4-minute, 2-minute, and 1-minute best effort, one right after the other in that order, how much recovery would you give in between each? Thanks.

– Julie Zweck-BronnerRead more…

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In: Free Articles, New Instructors, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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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…

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In: Instructor Issues & growth, Medical & Health, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE
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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…

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In: Biomechanics, Cadence, Power, Physiology, Heart Rate & RPE, Teaching with Power
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Measuring power in cycling has been all the rage for a number of years. Many of the athletes I train as a coach are enamored with the amount of watts they generate. The ability to measure power output for a given effort is an excellent representation of the amount of work being produced, but does it tell the entire story?Read more…