At first glance, this profile may seem “basic,” but it’s anything but “easy.” When intervals are distilled down to their basic format of hard followed by easy, they are simple to create, (fairly) simple to put music to, and simple to coach. Bonus: They may end up being some of the physically hardest classes you teach!Read more…
Continuing our series on Educating Your Students, Christine gives some suggestions about how to use non-cycling examples to help students understand cycling technique and what they should be feeling while pedaling. She does this primarily through storytelling in her profiles, although that’s not a prerequisite of the method. Christine is an expert at this technique and has been extremely successful educating her students.Read more…
Christine has done it again, this time with a profile based on the Olympic theme Citius Altius Fortius, which is Latin for Faster, Higher, Stronger. And while it is certainly relevant right now, it is also a profile to pull out again and again when you want to remind your students of their amazing potential. As you cue this ride, you will empower your students to come up with their own motivational phrase that inspires them, and you may be amazed at the results. Read more…
In a recent post of an aerobic-intensity profile called Ebb and Flow, I received a question about the Zone 3 level of intensity of the profile. This zone has been called a “no-man’s land” or a “dead zone” by some cycling coaches. Is this true, and if so, should we be worried about it?
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I often hear from instructors that “endurance” profiles are the hardest to teach. The claim is that they are too easy, or boring, or require too much time in the saddle. This profile will hopefully challenge that thinking. Read more…
We’ve all heard the group fitness cliché that “You can do anything for a minute.” If something is humanly possible, even if it is very hard, it can quite often be done for a minute…maybe. The intent of this profile is to instill the belief in your riders that if something is realistically achievable, they can do it. This profile enables riders to enhance VO2 max while also improving their confidence to tolerate the strong discomfort felt when riding above threshold. Read more…
This profile will enable riders to develop their climbing skills while also challenging them to increase resistance and decrease cadence while maintaining the same intensity. It develops muscular endurance at sub-threshold and threshold levels of intensity and requires as much mental as physical strength. Riders must possess patience, discipline, and focus to get through each block.Read more…
Get ready to push up a hill with this quick profile created by Bill Pierce!Read more…
This challenging mind-body profile (from my presentation at the 24-hour indoor cycling marathon) includes three long climbs with powerful and motivational cueing. Each climb is devoted to a different focus or emotion that cyclists feel when riding. The first climb is love; the second, soul or spirit; the third, feeling free. Each of the songs used in the climbs reflect these emotions.Read more…
How Big is Your Why? is a motivational ride to help inspire your students to set a big goal and to understand the steps needed to successfully accomplish that goal. It is one of the signature inspirational profiles at ICA, one you can do any time of the year. Read more…