I hope 2012 has welcomed you with health and happiness! My family has grown by one! I had my son, William (Liam) Robert Brown on Friday December 30 and we have been basking in his every move. With that being said, I will be away from my blog over the next couple months. I won't say exactly when I'll be back in the saddle, literally but will keep you abreast on my Facebook page as well. Please feel free to like the page to keep updated and to stay connected.

Wishing you a wonderful 2012!
Lisa
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_ Fusion classes are becoming more and more prevalent in group exercise classes. Participants are looking to get the most bang for their buck and thus keen to try multiple modes together in one class. Recently, I spoke with Chelsea Coghill, a group exercise leader with the University of Alberta’s Campus Recreation, about her experience leading a fusion class.

How did you come with the idea to merge an indoor cycling and a yoga class?

The idea was actually posed to me by the U of A Campus Recreation Group Exercise Coordinator when I was initially hired on to teach regular sessions.  It was a format that had been tried in the past.  The coordinator offered me the fusion class based on my cross training in indoor cycle and yoga only, knowing that there might be challenges in the event I needed a sub because at the time I would have been the only instructor trained in both formats!

What do you think is the most beneficial aspect of a fusion class?

I think the most beneficial aspects of fusion classes are BALANCE and VARIETY.  In the cycle-yoga context, cyclists tend to prefer the high intensity and energetic demands of a spin class but may neglect the cool down and stretching components that are also really important.  The yoga component offers an extended cool down and stretch along with calming and settling effects.  We can’t be go-go-go all of the time, nor is it productive to always be still – BALANCE!  Variety is also important to challenge the body, keep classes fun and interesting.  It’s nice to follow a format but also allow for new things to be introduced.  My favourite instructors are always the ones who hold their style and structure but continue to change things up – you just never know what might show up!

Why does an indoor cycle-yoga fusion class work so well?

To build a little bit on what I’ve already said, the spin-yoga fusion works well because of the complementary nature of the formats, which offers balance.  For the indoor cyclists out there, they know that the cycling room can be a place of high energy and intensity – pounding hearts, heavy breathing, high speed, steep hills, burning muscles and maybe even sweat puddles under the bike!  Avid cyclists know that muscles get tight and stiff, especially if time is not taken to thoroughly stretch out those working muscles.  Adding the yoga component to cycle offers a greater opportunity to build length and flexibility in those areas of the body that get especially tight.  It’s also a nice extension that offers participants an opportunity to fully absorb that endorphin release, allowing for additional calming and well being benefits.

Describe a typical class.

Generally, the class is about 80 minutes.  The first half to two thirds (37-50 min)
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_ As comical as this above joke is, it really makes me think about spider webs as safety nets. What are the safety nets your facility uses or alternatively, what sort of safety nets do you put in place for yourself?

One of the many roles I have is an AFLCA Trainer of Leaders and I get to observe new AFLCA cycle designation candidates. Recently while observing a new instructor, she demonstrated great care and diligence. She had all participants complete an informed consent and a short medical history to inform her about any health concerns. Smart or what!

What waiver does your facility use? Or do you have participants sign a waiver or what about informed consent? And then there are the physical activity readiness questionnaires, where do they fit in?

Let’s review what each type of form will provide.

Waiver: provide coverage for the facility and associated staff in case of an incident

Informed Consent: form outlining the potential risks and benefits to participating in an exercise program

PAR-Q: simple screening tool used for participants 15 to 69 years to determine if it is appropriate to start an exercise program

PAR-MEDX: medical clearance form that must be provided to participants who answer questions positively on the PAR-Q. This form is completed by the participant’s physician.

PAR-MEDX for pregnancy: medical clearance form that must be completed by all pregnant women by their physician before participating in exercise program

These forms are all examples of safety nets. Ideally, having one or more of the forms completed by participants will demonstrate that you value your participants’ health and safety. As well, in some cases it may also protect you in an event of an incident.

What other communications tools can you use to keep your participants safe? Do you ever ask who is a new participant at the beginning of class or inquire with participants about anyone have any medical conditions you should be aware of? These types of questions can provide some valuable verbal information about who is participating in your class and better enabling you to provide an appropriate class (i.e., suitable intensity, drill types, etc.). It is just another way to avoid having any incidents during your class.

In the past couple years, “safety nets” have become more common such that U of A Campus Recreation program has now implemented waivers for all participants who partake in group fitness classes. Take a look at their form for an example.

What are the ways you protect your participants and yourself in your indoor cycling classes? What is your “spider web”?

 

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Want to ‘pump’kin your cycle participants up with your creepy and frightening class? Try some of these drills and skills this Halloween!

Ghostbuster Hill Drill

Did you know that the word “ghost” is sung 30 times in the original Ghostbusters motion picture soundtrack song? Why not use this to your advantage and have your cycle participants increase resistance every time they hear the word “ghost”.

Now for those who have a tension knob, participants can increase with small increments in the seated position each time they hear the word and stand when their revolutions drop below 50 rpm for a standing hill climb. For those with gears, why not have cycle participants climb two hills increasing from gear 5 to gear 20 (move to standing to reach the top of the hill), with 30 words, these lucky folks get a break dropping back to 5 before climbing again (apparently this hill has a dip near the top!).

Both ways, the hill is just over four minutes total and I would encourage adding in downhill at the end to another classic Halloween song, Monster Mash!

R.I.P. Power

I found these really wicked Halloween glass tags with six themes – Trick, Treat, Bats, Witch, Haunted House, and Jack o'lantern (see above). I laminated them, place them on each bike and use them to perfectly divide participants into six groups.

Power work has been a focus this term and thus, R.I.P. Power is the perfect way to put cycle participants into the grave! Split the group into 2 groups (Group 1: Trick, Treat, and Bats; Group 2: Witch, Haunted House, and Jack o'lantern). Group 1 start with seated power for 15 seconds while Group 2 rests. After the 15 seconds, the groups switch where it is Group 2’s turn to go. Continue to switch groups while increasing the duration of the seated power (i.e., 30, 45, 60, 90 seconds). If time permits, start again and steadily increase in duration with standing power.

Need more inspiration? Check out October 2010’s post for another drill idea for sprints!

Happy Halloween!

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Since indoor cycling’s main focus is on cardiovascular conditioning, we need to use our knowledge of the body’s energy systems to our advantage. In three separate blog posts, I will review these energy systems and how we can focus on them during an indoor cycling class.

Have you heard of Metabolic Training? Well, it’s the term used to describe workouts based on the body’s energy systems. So, we are talking about metabolic training with each post, but I did not want to start with too much terminology right of the bat!

Let’s go back to basics. Our body is an amazing system for generating the energy that allows us to move. Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is a substance the body uses to store and move energy. Your cells break down ATP when they require energy. Depending on the energy system, ATP is either formed from the breakdown of glucose with oxygen (aerobic) or without oxygen (anaerobic). This first post will focus on the aerobic energy system.

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I like to think of the aerobic energy system (sometimes called aerobic respiration) as the endurance system. Definitely something that is important for us within an indoor cycling class. Our bodies tend to tap into the aerobic energy system after three minutes of exercise (the systems used in the first few minutes will be more the subject of my next posts) and use it as the primary means of energy over the long haul.

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The aerobic energy system is able to generate large amounts of ATP but is also relatively sluggish compared to other energy systems. It takes a while to kick in. This is because it involves many steps and continuously requires oxygen and other nutrients. As long as oxygen is available, a muscle cell will continue to use the aerobic energy system as much as possible to contract and relax muscle fibers. Thus, prolonged exercise where the demand on your body does not exceed the ability of this system to provide energy will use the aerobic energy system almost exclusively. In fact, in well-conditioned individuals (like yourself!), the aerobic energy system alone will provide the energy to continue for many hours at a low to moderate intensity!

So how do we apply our knowledge of the aerobic energy system to our drills? Well, let’s look at the appropriate work to rest ratio, which is the time it takes our bodies to recovery from aerobic work. For aerobic work, we must design sessions with the ratios 1:1 (equal parts work and rest) to 1:0.5 (work double the amount of the time we rest).

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I am very fortunate with my work as an AFLCA Trainer of Fitness Leader to meet both new and veteran indoor cycling instructors. In my most recent AFLCA Cycle Designation Course, one such participant shared with me a recent article she wrote.

Lisa Wojna is a journalist with a fitness column in the Leduc Representative and she shared with me (and now you) this great article on visualization. Take a read and get inspired!

Visualize your way to a healthier you
By Lisa Wojna

Those of you who’ve ever participated in a spin cycle class will likely agree that a good spin instructor is a master of visualization.

They can take you to foreign lands, favourite childhood haunts, or on imaginary scenarios while coaching you to push yourself up a hill or sprint to that someplace, or someone, you’ve envisioned at the end of your workout.

Add a great mix of music to the scenario and any discomfort you might feel in your quads or on your backside is washed away by an otherwise exhilarating experience.

I recently participated in a course for prospective spin instructors and was fortunate enough to have an amazing leader. And as I listened to her verbal promptings, and painted my own journey scenario during our workouts, I thought about how closely this method of teaching reflects a healthy way of working through many of life’s challenges.
 
Whether it’s preparing for exams, putting the finishing touches on a work project, or getting ourselves in top physical condition, envisioning the end result and its many rewards helps take at least some of the stress and strain off the process.
 
The idea of using visualization to reach a goal took me back 29 years, to the later stages of my first pregnancy, when I employed a similar method to propel me through my modified walking program during those last few weeks before my first child was born.
 
Every weekday morning I’d don my heavy winter coat at around 11:30 and waddle my way toward the hospital where my husband worked. We’d enjoy our lunch together, and then I’d waddle back home. Between the two walks I clocked about 60 minutes of gentle exercise.
 
Now anyone who has ever lived in Winnipeg likely won’t need to read this next bit, but let’s just say frosty, frigid, freezing, and furious are just a few of the adjectives one could use to describe winter weather conditions in that corner of our country.

To get myself through those walks, especially on the most inclement days, I’d envision the stages of my pregnancy. I’d mentally divide the distance between home and the hospital into sections, with each section representing a different stage of my pregnancy.
 
Sometimes those sections would represent trimesters, and as I passed each section I recognized I was moving closer to my due date—those were usually days when I didn’t need as much of a distraction from the weather or how my body felt under the heavy strain of pregnancy.
 
Sometimes I’d get quite detailed, reviewing the major milestones that have already occurred with the growing baby inside me, and what was still to come. Those added details demanded more mental energy and distracted me from the weather on particularly cold days.
 
Of course, reaching the hospital on my way to lunch, and reaching my home afterward, always signified the birth of my firstborn.
 
Some might think this is a silly game, but it kept me moving and exercising during a time in my life when I would have much rather been resting—or eating chocolate ice cream. And like the techniques employed by a good spin instructor, they propelled me toward my goal of keeping at least moderately active during my pregnancy.
 
What story could you tell yourself to propel you through your morning workout? What kind of journey could you take yourself on that would thrust you through a challenging boot camp session, or that dog walk you’ve been putting off all week?
 
It’s great to stay focused on the task at hand, but we all need a little encouragement every now and again. If taking your mind off your squats by thinking nice thoughts keeps you on your exercise program, then dream away.
 
And before you know it, you’ll be reaching that goal and plowing on to the next one!
 
Happy dreaming!

And with that, I wish you a happy summer! I`ve already slowed my pace (and blog posts) and will be taking a break over the summer. But will be working on my promised series on using the energy systems effectively with cycle drills and skills. Check back in September for more posts about one of my favorite things to do...ride my bike!
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Brake Pads 101 06/04/2011
 
Keeping your spin bikes in tip top shape is key for the participant experience. No one ever appreciates a squeaky bike!

A recent post on Fitnet.ca discusses the how-to on brake pads. Check out their YouTube video too!


It may not be part of your formal job description but having some idea about how indoor cycling bikes work is always good to have in your back pocket!
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Well, here is some insight! Health.com writer, Rozalynn S. Frazier, recently shared her experience of a spin class at Soul Cycle in New York City. The really cool thing about her story was she highlighted a dedicated spin-only facility. I never knew that such thing existed!

What are your participants thinking and saying about your classes?


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PDSA 04/30/2011
 
At the end of my last registered session, I taught a class that for a lack of a better word was a “mixed bag” of different drill types and durations. I realized while teaching that cycle participants were able to do certain drills much better than others. I thought to myself, what is going on here? I too was feeling stronger with certain drills. Reflecting back on the last 12 weeks of classes, I soon recognized that our focus was on many 30 second drills. In comparison, there were far fewer shorter duration (i.e., 15 second) and very long duration (i.e., >3 minute) drills. Variety is a focus of me, and as much as I thought I provided it over the term, it was obvious that in addition to just “changing things up” regularly, I needed to focus more on ensuring drills worked with all energy systems.

How can we as group fitness leaders provide that variety which keeps classes interesting, while ensuring that we’ve covered all the key elements?

I reflect on a current tag line that I am using in my fulltime work – PDSA. Well, what the heck does that mean? That’s not a word! It is the short form for Plan, Do, Study, and Act. I plan to learn from my recent experience and use it to improve my classes. Let’s explore more...

PLAN

This part is really the no-brainer. We plan out our classes with music, drills, themes, etc. each time we ride in front of a group. As educated group fitness leaders, we plan our registered classes from start to finish by slowly progressing cycle participants into the harder drills. Some of us use a written lesson plan (always my suggested way of doing it!) while others might have a plan based on a playlist and/or have at least mapped it in our heads beforehand. In my situation, this past term my plan primarily used multiple drill types in 30 second work increments including hills, power, and sprints.

DO

Again, we are brilliant at implementation. That is what we do. At times we may modify our plan on the fly based on our groups’ needs but in most cases we do what we do – ride an indoor bike and lead our cycle participants through drills and hopefully, an experience.

STUDY

Now this is where things might start to break down. How do we measure how effectively we planned and how well we implemented that plan? Depending on your studio, cycle participants might complete a survey, but this usually it doesn’t provide all that much information on your specific class drills and your cycle participants’ physical fitness improvement. This is where you as a group fitness leader need to take a step back and access how your participants are doing. Is there a way you could test their ability to do a certain type of drill? The easiest way is through different drill types and observe how they use our bodies’ energy systems. It only makes sense as the energy systems provide energy to allow our bodies to do what we do – move!

ACT

Once you’ve determined how to STUDY your group, and then act. In my situation above, I was a bit late out of the gates. I wasn’t able to make changes to our workouts because the class was just to finish. Ideally, a perfect time to measure your group’s ability would be at the half way point of the class. Giving you the opportunity to re-assess, and if need be, change your plan for future classes.

The idea of PDSA can be applied to just about anything. How else could you study your class? I’d love to hear your ideas and share them on my blog. Drop me a comment or two!

I might have tweaked your interest - energy systems. Remember from your training? In the next handful of blog posts I will be reviewing the energy systems (there are three of them) and providing ways to incorporate each of them into your cycle drills and skills! Check back soon for your first instalment!

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University of Alberta's Campus Recreation will be hosting an AFLCA cycle designation course on Saturday June 4 and I will be the facilitator! 

Pass on the word! Click here for more information.
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