The I Love Lucy show can help you explain lactate threshold to your students. Use this analogy of the chocolate factory and help your riders laugh their way to understanding.Read more…
In part 4 of this series on warming up, you’ll get the first four of eleven sample warm-ups to go with thirteen completely different profiles. This segment covers warm-ups for endurance profiles of varying lengths, cruise intervals, and epic climbs.Read more…
How important is the warm-up in a 60-minute indoor cycling class? Far more than you might imagine! Too often instructors don’t give the warm-up the attention it deserves. In part 2 of this series, you will learn the physiology behind warming up. I give you an analogy that I think will greatly enhance your understanding of why having “all hands on deck” is so important to functioning properly during your event or training session!Read more…
I used to race mountain bikes years ago, but if I knew then what I know now about proper warm-ups I would have been much better prepared and probably would have performed better! This article is part 1 of a 6-part series on effective warm-ups for cycling classes. The purpose of this first article is to get you to pose the question to yourself, “Are you warming up properly in your classes? What can you be doing better?” (Originally posted in 2016, this series has been updated with new information and tips) Read more…
For years, lactate threshold (LT) has been referred to by athletes and coaches as one of the most useful metrics to determine the upper limits of sustaining power, endurance, and, ultimately, performance. It is useful to think of the lactate threshold as a glass ceiling—an invisible barrier that once raised will increase performance potential. Understanding what LT is and how it fits within your training plan, and knowing how to describe it in the context of an indoor cycling studio, will go a long way in helping your riders conceptualize what their bodies are experiencing.Read more…
The Indoor Cycling Association is embarking on an interval education series that will highlight the fact that not all intervals are created equal. Written by Jennifer Sage, founder of ICA, and Jennifer Klau, Ph.D., we will start the series with a primer on exercise physiology, and then dive into intervals of every stripe. But first…take this important, short quiz to test your knowledge of intervals.Read more…
Josephine has a rider who loves to sit right in front of the fan, but she never sweats. Is this good or bad? She also wonders if sweating plays a role in weight loss. We turn to the ultimate expert, Dr. Jennifer Klau, who did her master’s thesis on sweat. Dr. Klau’s answer goes way beyond this question and will help you understand the physiology of sweating at a much deeper level so you can inform your riders correctly about what it means…and even more importantly, what it doesn’t mean. Read more…
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…
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…
18 months ago, following a rash of press that Spinning®, and even just plain cardio, is “bad” for you, Dr. Jennifer Klau and I got together to discuss the lack of science behind these claims. Originally the audio for this interview was for members only, but I am resurrecting this and making it free for everyone to hear. This discussion specifically goes into debunking a Charles Poliquin article about the “negatives of aerobic training”.Read more…