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Cycling
Teach a Family Fitness Cycling Class
Family fitness events are a great way to bring people together and model healthy habits. Indoor cycling is a perfect choice.
High-Cadence Cycling and Recreational Cyclists
A recent study supports indoor cycling instructors who urge students not to pedal at a cadence above 90 revolutions per minute. Researchers found that at 90 rpm and beyond, pedal forces exerted by recreational cyclists decreased, heart rate increased by 15%, and exercise efficiency and skeletal muscle oxygenation declined.
The study appeared in the International Journal of Sports Medicine (2019; 40 [5], 305–11).
Sample Class: Tabata for Every Rider
This indoor cycling routine introduces Tabata-inspired intervals in a friendly, nonthreatening ride that provides a great workout for both beginner and advanced cyclists. The intervals—20 seconds of all-out effort, alternating with 10 seconds of rest—help to increase both aerobic and anaerobic capacity and may keep metabolism elevated for a longer time period when compared with low-intensity, steady-state training.
Indoor Cycling: Safe for Prenatal?
You’re helping participants get set up on their bikes in your 6 p.m. cycling class when someone taps you lightly on the shoulder: Is it okay to ride if she’s pregnant? To your knowledge, you’ve never had a pregnant participant in class, and you don’t know how to respond.
A Great Start to Indoor Cycling
The best indoor cycling instructors get it: The workout isn’t about you; it’s about the people you’re coaching. Your class is an opportunity to shine a light on others and help them feel successful. It’s a forum for building confidence, inner strength and community.
An engaging start is like a handshake; it introduces you to the riders. It’s your time to capture your audience by rolling out the carefully constructed plan you’ve created especially for them.
Cycling + Off-Bike Strength: Combo Class
Indoor cycling remains one of the hottest formats; it’s still credited with being a turnkey class that introduces men to the group exercise schedule. One reason indoor cycling is still viable is that it’s always reinventing itself. Over the past 20 years, it has evolved and survived many changes: new bike options, top-line educational programs and metric technology, to name a few. Currently, fusion classes are trending, and boutique studios are marketing their unique claims to a total-body workout.
Sample Class: Cycle & Strength
Indoor cycling remains one of the hottest formats; it’s still credited with being a turnkey class that introduces men to the group exercise schedule. One reason indoor cycling is still viable is that it’s always reinventing itself. Over the past 20 years, it has evolved and survived many changes: new bike options, top-line educational programs and metric technology, to name a few. Currently, fusion classes are trending, and boutique studios are marketing their unique claims to a total-body workout.
Set the Pace!
The best indoor cycling instructors get it: The workout isn’t about you; it’s about the people you’re coaching. Your class is an opportunity to shine a light on others and help them feel successful. It’s a forum for building confidence, inner strength and community.
An engaging start is like a handshake; it introduces you to the riders. It’s your time to capture your audience by rolling out the carefully constructed plan you’ve created especially for them.
The Peak of Fitness
The mountains are calling. The jagged and distinctive Dolomite range—part of the Italian Alps in northeastern Italy—features 90,000 acres of mountainous terrain, perfect for outdoor adventure enthusiasts from across the globe, including a dedicated group led by PJ O’Clair, owner of ClubXcel and Northeast Pilates Education Center and a cycling enthusiast.
Creative Ideas That Inspire
TabataRide, offered at various JoyRide® locations and based on Tabata™ workouts, is an indoor cycling class that offers high-intensity interval drills that include 20 seconds of top effort and 10 seconds of recovery, repeated for 4 minutes. This is followed by 1 minute of rest before repeating the cycle. The high-energy, super-athletic classes at this studio are designed to “torch calories and boost endorphins.” In addition, the instructors strive to provide authenticity, joy, humor and positivity.
How (and Why) to Host a Family-Themed Indoor Cycling Class
Every Thursday morning, my cycle studio fills with an array of participants, ranging from accomplished Ironman® finishers to preschool moms trying to maximize their minutes—and Nora, a 92-year-old great-grandmother. Together we pedal like maniacs, laugh, sing a few refrains and walk out soaked through with sweat. In the cycle studio, participants of all ages and abilities can be motivated by being in a group, but riders can still slow down when they need to without sticking out. In fact, my own cycling journey began when I was pregnant and in search of a low-impact workout.
Learn, Connect and Thrive at the IDEA® World Convention
Education is the foundation of the IDEA World Convention, but this fitness event offers plenty more than stellar instruction. For Jonathan Bernath, publicist-turned-personal-trainer, it’s where he discovered the “fitness family” that would guide him in his new career.
Learning About Lymph
Any routine visit to the physician includes the familiar cold-hands-under-the-earlobes lymph node check. But how often do you think about what the doctor is checking for or how important the lymphatic system is? And have you told your clients that physical activity plays a key role in supporting this crucial system?
Cycling to Work Could Ease Workday Stress
A new study from Concordia University in Montreal finds that people who commute to work on a bike arrive at the office less stressed.
Creative Ideas That Inspire
Cardio Sweat Party, at Power Studios in New York City, was designed by Michele Gordon. It combines kickboxing with dance, athletic drills and upbeat music for a 55-minute, high-energy experience. Classes are open to all fitness levels, and each class begins with a dynamic, kickboxing- based warmup before moving into three to four segments of choreography. In between the choreographed moves, rounds of squats, lunges, jacks, burpees, mountain climbers and other athletic drills round out the experience.
Sample Class: Rock and Ride!
Many indoor cycling instructors are not sure of the best way to combine strength and cycling without compromising either component. Rock and Ride provides the perfect mix of both while infusing a little fun with rock ’n’ roll music. This class is an ideal introduction for new riders because, instead of having to “suffer” through 60 minutes on an uncomfortable saddle, they get to hop off at the midpoint for strength work.
Bike to Work, Live Longer
Here’s another way to keep the grim reaper at bay: According to experts, ditching the car or bus in favor of active commuting—especially biking—to work may reduce the risk of early death.
Researchers looked at the records of 263,450 participants (mean age 52.6 years) in the United Kingdom and logged information about how they regularly commuted to work. Five years later, the study assessed hospital visits and deaths among subjects.
Fewer Repetitions Means Better Results?
Short-duration workouts have become popular over the past several years as the time-crunched seek out effective ways to exercise. Recent research adds more support for the benefits of fast workouts and indicates that less may even be more, provided you have appropriate equipment.
Crystal-Clear Cuing for Indoor Cycling
Walk by any indoor cycling studio when a class is in session and you're likely to hear a variation of the following:
"I want everyone at a 2!"
"Push yourself to a 7 and hold it there for 30 seconds!"
"Let's start at a 3, turn up to 6, and then come back to a steady 4. Go!"
The key to unlocking a fantastic cycling class is somewhere in those numbers, but your members may find themselves shut out if they don't know what you're referring to.
Cycling Segues
The last chapter of a novel ties all the previous pages together in one simple, dramatic or thought-provoking conclusion. An indoor cycling class is not unlike a good read. You have an attention-grabbing warm-up, various engaging “chapters” that explore cardio ranges, and a cool-down that seamlessly brings it all together. Without all three elements, a book—or an exercise class—may never make it onto the “best-seller list.”
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