I love drills in my indoor cycling classes. Here at ICA we try to teach you how to do technical drills of all kinds—cadence drills, pedal stroke drills to improve technique, intensity drills, outdoor simulation drills (like pacelines), etc. Last week, I took my indoor drills outdoors. It was really hard to do, but by the end of an hour, the difference we all experienced was substantial. I’ll even tell you how these benefit the non-cyclists amongst your students.Read more…

Often times (like during the Indoor Cycling Summit), people will ask, “What part of the pedal stroke does the calf muscle power?” This is a great question because it does not have a simple answer. My favorite kind. Now I could say that the calf does not power any part of the pedal stroke and this would be true. I can also say that the calf powers the entire pedal stroke, which can also be true. So which is it? Read more…

With so many Indoor Cycling instructors now beginning to teach on bikes with power, Gene’s focus is on simplifying the jargon and educating the reader from ground zero is more important than ever. The latest iBook features provide an incredible set of tools to make this a much more engaging experience than one would normally find in a book like this.Read more…

In this final chapter of the Power Training e-book, Gene leaves us with this message, “This is why this book was written. This is why this is my full time occupation–creating resources for indoor cycling–because to train properly with the objective of wasting no time, insuring results, and having fun along the way takes time and dedication to get right. Not only are we spending time to get it right, but we are also making sure we can repeat the process, and thus reap the benefits multiple times over. That seems worth it to me. What about you?Read more…

What turns a workout into a power workout is simply the overall objective of that ride. While we can call these ‘power’ workouts, they will also improve your cardiovascular performance. The physical systems that produce energy in your body are all connected, and it is hard to affect one without impacting the other. We can target our workouts for specific applications of power, and this chapter will provide examples of this.Read more…

As a way of establishing a sort of profile or fingerprint of your metabolic efficiency and rate of decoupling, you can establish what power you are able to generate at the top of each zone. The reason we look to the top of each zone is that in at least two of the five zones, this represents the point right before you ‘cross over’ into an area of more costly power generation. In other words, you are likely to get the most ‘bang for your buck’ if you can keep the effort just short of the threshold crossovers. Read more…

Part 2 of Gene’s amazing Chapter 17, truly a pinnacle of tips for teaching with power. In this segment, you will learn whether “competitions” in classes are truly legitimate if power is so different from bike to bike, and what to do when bikes differ. Because this is so common with power bikes, you NEED this information! Read more…

Teach with Power

This is the money chapter in this e-book on teaching with power! Even though bikes with power are increasing, instructors aren’t receiving the education they need to teach with power properly. Gene gives six “Dos” and six “Don’ts” when teaching with power, and lists numerous tips and tricks to increase your effectiveness when teaching with this amazing tool. (Part 2 of this chapter will post tomorrow)Read more…

Indoor Power Testing

Knowing the importance of having purpose for our training, and that no one wants to spend time doing something and have nothing to show for it, we must test ourselves and then validate our training programs and techniques. This chapter will discuss the assessments you need to incorporate in your power training program, and how to interpret the results.Read more…