This is a highly structured but continuous climbing profile that will keep your riders engaged from beginning to end. It is one of my riders’ favorites, and I have a feeling it will become one of your staples!
The objective is to carefully control intensity as you progress through the climb, dosing out a little more effort in each phase. With each successive set, students learn exactly where to turn the resistance knob or gear, and how much effort to put forth to reach the required intensity.
I have found that riders seem to really enjoy the structure of this profile. They know what to expect, and they can work on and improve their weaknesses each time they repeat each set.
In addition to the class playlist, I provide you with numerous song options to use for the different sets within the profile.
Having a bit of writers block, so I was looking for something new and stumbled upon this profile,, and I absolutely love love love it! It flows so well and my students were engaged the whole time. Thank you, Jennifer!! A+++ !!
I used the following songs:
WarmUp: Under Pressure (Rah Mix) Queen/Bowie 4:09
Set 1 & 2: Stolen Car (Dave Aude Dub) Myelene Farmer & STing 5:30
Set 3: Drumming Song (Jack Beats Remix) Florence + The Machine 5:05
Set 4: No Roots (Extended Workout Mix) Power Music Workout 6:34
Set 5: Love In Stereo, Liquid Soul 7:56
Set 6: De Mama De (Paris & Sharp Remix) Casa Flava 6:26
Set 7: Why (Extended) L’Tric 5:05
Set 8 & 9: West End Girls (Grum Remix) Pet Shop Boys 5:34
Cool Down: Man in the Mirror Michael Jackson
So glad you enjoyed it Heidi, and thanks for sharing your playlist. I especially love the song De Mama De by Casa Flava–it’s been awhile since I’ve used it so I’m going to all it out again thanks to you!
Just wanted to thank you for offering this profile! I utilized it as one of my “Endurance Thursday” rides with my classes a week ago. Everyone found if VERY challenging, but overall the response was positive. I love the structure, challenge, and benefit it offers, and I love that it is something we can “build” on with modifications in future rides! 🙂 When I got home after my classes, I found this comment on Facebook from one of my riders: “I want to do it again. I want to conquer it. Great workout!” This is exactly what I want to hear after a new/different ride!! I want them to WANT to conquer and master the challenges, and I’m excited for all of us! 🙂 Thank you very much!
PS. I forgot to mention. I added a 5 minute “threshold test” ride after the warm-up to help my riders approximate where their power should be for each phase. This worked well. Riders adjusted as needed, but it helped to have some working numbers to start with. 🙂
I finally got around to creating my version of the Building Blocks Pyramid Climb ride. The structure was the same as originally published with 2 exceptions:
1 – I increased the length of the warm up to 8 minutes.
2 – The songs’ bpms for segments 6, 7, 8, and 9 were faster than 1 – 5, promoting higher power and intensity.
My playlist is below. Many of the songs were edited to fit the segments, so the time below represents the original song’s duration, which may have been shortened to fit.
Warm Up
Hold Tight – Jamie xx 125 bpm 4:03
Always On My Mind (Elvis cover) – Sigue Sigue Sputnik 90 bpm 4:45
Sets 1 & 2 (5:30)
Upside down (club mix) – Disco Deejays 127 bpm 5:33
Set 3 (5:00)
Drumming Song (Jack Beats Remix) – Florence and The Machine 128 bpm 5:04
Set 4 (6:30)
Deadmau5 – Aural Psynapse (Myndset Remix) – Deadmau5 128 bpm 6:33
Set 5 (8:00)
Sorry РBeyonc̩ 130 bpm 3:52
See You Dancin’ – Junior Jack 128 bpm 4:16
Set 6 (6:30)
Too Much – Sufjan Stevens 148 bpm 6:43
Set 7 (5:00)
Big Ideas – LCD Soundsystem 150 bpm 5:39
Sets 8 & 9 (5:30)
Vincent – Car Seat Headrest 148 bpm 7:45
Cool down and stretch
Daydreaming – Radiohead 115 bpm 6:24
True Love Waits – Radiohead 106 bpm 4:43
So today I taught the climbing Pyramid Profile that Jennifer said her classes loved. I taught it last week and then again today. In my opinion, the music REALLY matters here b/c there are long stretches where they are sitting or standing and climbing. My first class thought the profile was really hard and they liked it but I just felt some of the longer songs were not that motivating. They might have been to the class, but I wasn’t feeling it when I was climbing, so I switched up some of my songs, and today I feel great about it. And my class loved it. It was a small class, but many told me afterwards how much they loved it. One woman even told me how motivating it was and how she would never do that kind of thing on her own and she appreciated my encouragement. Soo…. Jennifer asked that I report back about this profile once I tried it out and also let her know my playlist, so here it is. My class is 55 minutes long.
Clocks / Coldplay – warm up 5:07min
Shining Star / EWF – warm up 2:54 min
Open Your Eyes/Snow Patrol 5:38 min (sets 1 and 2)/65 RPM
We Didn’t Start the Fire/Billy Joel 4:50 min (set 3)/75 RPM
Do Your Thing/Basement Jaxx 6:38 min (set 4)/ 62 RPM
Shivers/Armin Van Burren 8:00 min (set 5) / 68 RPM
What Happens Tomorrow/Melissa Etheridge/6:18 min(set 6) 76RPM
What I did for Love/David Guetta/ 5:05 min (set 7)/ 64 RPM
American Girl/Tom Petty/3:32 min (set 8)/57 RPM
Right Now/Power Music/2:02pm(set 9)/70 RPM
Ho Hey/Power Music/3 min – cool down
Amazing/ One Eskimo/ 4:37 min- cool down
BTW – my classed LOVED the Melissa Etheridge song “What Happens Tomorrow”. They yelled out and sang along. It’s a very powerful song! So much fun!
Done this profile today on a 45 min shortened version. Had an amazing feedback!! I used few of the song you proposed, one from alternative tracks and one of mines.
I love the way it flows and the simplicity of the profile.
The feedback of my lunchtime class was: asbolutely the best class so far.
Thank you for sharing with us this profile, the material in the pdf is super.
I just put this ride together and rode it for the first time. It was easy to assemble with very little work,if any, requiring the use of Mixmeister. I am thrilled to have another true “training ride” in my portfolio (most instructors where I teach don’t focus on purpose-driven profiles, so I like to present that alternative). The ride itself was fun and demanding. Thanks so much!
Used this profile last night and it was AWESOME!!! Here is the playlist link:
https://open.spotify.com/user/sevanarose/playlist/6jfDt6ozlUu2G4JzUHUKVL
Fantastic! I love this profile and the music! I can’t wait to teach it! Thank you!!!
Jennifer, This is one of my very favorite profiles. It’s hard, but really so nice to know exactly what is going to be expected. It’s definitely one of my very favorites
bill
Another fantastic offering from you Jennifer and ICA – thank you very much!