Welcome to the Indoor Cycling Association
How Hard Should You Be Working When Teaching Your Class?
Instructors often wonder whether they should be riding as hard as they are asking of their students. Tom Scotto believes there is no single answer to this question and gives you four considerations when deciding whether you should be riding hard, or holding back. Keep these items in the back of your mind for every class you teach.Read more…
Magic Coaching Minute Video: What to Do With Elbows
Ever notice riders who turn their elbows out to the sides, either when seated or when standing? I’ve seen it quite often at conferences, even amongst instructors. Gene Nacey of Cycling Fusion and I have a clever cue for you to cure your students of this habit. It’s a great way to think of riding both indoors and outside!Read more…
Improving Your Coaching Skills: Can You Fake it Till You Become It?
How confident and powerful are you? How are you perceived by your students, clients, bosses and peers? This stunning video from an inspirational Ted Talk shows you that just by making small changes in your body language, you can change how you are viewed for the better and drastically improve your self-confidence. The lessons are very applicable to what we do as instructors, coaches and trainers. I’d love your thoughts on this video. Please feel free to share this with anyone you think might benefit from this fantastic information.Read more…
What Do You Do When You’re Not in the Mood to Teach?
You’ve been there. It was a hard day at work. You’re coming down with a cold. You’ve got other pressing issues on your mind. And, you have to go teach. Normally you love teaching. But today? Not so much. How do you deal? Here are 5 strategies to make sure you give a professional performance when you don’t feel up to it.Read more…
Audio Master Class: Crossroads, an interactive climbing interval ride
Leslie Mueller brings you a very fun, interactive climbing interval ride. In this profile, you’ll have three forks in the road. At each fork, you’ll describe the two possible directions to your students. Your students will make the choice which way they want to ride; then you’ll cue up the songs, and off you go! The beauty of this profile is that every time you do it, it will be different! And there are so many possibilities of additional “forks” you can choose. This may become one of the most versatile profiles in your quiver!Read more…
The Sounds of Summer
Next week is the summer solstice. It might be time to put together a fun playlist of songs that reflect the joy and happiness that summer brings. Here is a playlist of 81 songs that you can choose from. I recommend an intervals class! Read more…
Ask The Expert: Instructor Worries About Co-Instructor’s Performance Supplement Before Classes
I received an interesting query from an instructor who is worried about one of her co-instructors who takes a caffeine and Nitrous Oxide (NO) supplement prior to teaching. Students have described him as inattentive, distracted and even “psychotic”. I turned to Dr. Jennifer Klau for advice on this subject. Even if you’re not taking this particular supplement, you might want to keep Dr. Klau’s admonition in the back of your mind when considering supplements!Read more…
Taking Your Class Outside
When the weather gets nice, sometimes it’s fun to take your classes outdoors. Here is a checklist of things to consider before doing so. For those of you who do take your classes outside, please let us know how you handle the items on this checklist. I’d like to make this an interactive post so we can see how clubs across the world deal with this!Read more…
Quote of the Week: How Much Uncomfortable Are YOU Willing to Accept?
I posted this on the ICA Facebook page last week and got some excellent comments. I wanted to share one interaction with you all. One commenter asked, “How much uncomfortable?” It is such an excellent question, because I bet many people had that thought flash across their minds. They thought,Read more…
Valid Outdoor Training Techniques That Are Not Recommended for Indoor Classes
You hear people like Tom Scotto and me, as well as many indoor cycling programs and their master instructors, preaching the benefits of “keeping it real” and sticking to authentic cycling techniques when training your students in your classes. This is absolutely true; it is your obligation as the leader of the class to provide a safe and effective workout for everyone in your studio. But is every cycling technique warranted indoors? Tom and I decided it would be a good idea to discuss certain techniques that might be valid training for outdoor cyclists but that are not recommended in the cycling studio, especially on bikes that don’t move. We give you the reasons they are valid outdoors, and the reasons they are contraindicated indoors.Read more…