10 Instructor Tips To Convert Indoor Cycling Newbies Into Regulars (Part 1)

This post has been inspired by one on ICA page which you can read here if you are a member (and if you are an indoor cycling instructor but not a member I would recommend you become one).

It’s about the challenge we group exercise instructors face when new people come to our classes. And this topic is extremely relevant as January approaches and the New-Year-Resolution-Stampede is about to take place.

Queues outside the studios, face offs, cat fights for the bikes, the regulars getting peeved that THEIR bikes are taken, etc. It is always fun. You know it will last 3-5 weeks and things will be back to normal though.

“I’m really serious about exercising. Last year I only went to the gym twice, once to join and once to renew.”

 

But wouldn’t it be nice to actually convert some of these newbies into regulars? As an instructor you only have those first 2-3 classes (sometimes only that first one) to leave an impression positive enough to make people stick with the classes throughout those first tough few weeks.

Here are my 10 tips that will help you do just that. And they apply to both January Madness and any other time of year. Oh, and yes, you ALWAYS get a new person (or a couple) in each class throughout the year but in January 30% of your group may be people who have never been on an indoor bike.

This post includes 5 and further five are coming next.

1. BIKE SET UP

If you don’t pay attention to the set up and don’t instil its importance in the participants from day one, you risk them getting into bad habits at best and not coming back EVER at worst.

Do you remember how much your backside hurt the fist time? Or second? Or really until you started doing 3 classes a week or more? It can put you off completely. Therefore make sure you take time setting the bike up so they suffer for all the right reasons only 🙂

TO DO THAT YOU MUST ARRIVE TO YOUR CLASS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE…

I also finish classes saying:

“Your butts are going to hurt. Maybe not today but tomorrow. You can’t help that. Don’t sit on hard surfaces. If you have another 5-10min stretch properly outside the studio so you can at least save your legs”.

“Give yourself 2-3 classes with different instructors, different times of day before you decide if you hate spin or not”.

2. BEGINNERS HANDOUTS

I have a great hand out that gives advice about shoes, clothes, bike set up etc plus included my contact details in case they have questions. I give these out at the end of the class.

I encourage new faces to come early or stay a bit after the class to check the bike and put down the numbers on the hand out. They can then transfer them onto their phones so next time they come they can set themselves up. It gives them more confidence in the second class.

3. GET FAMILIAR WITH THE BIKES – MAINLY RESISTANCE

I encourage people to use the studio (if the gym permits it, or bikes on the main floor) when there are no classes. Now they know their set up, they can ride with their own music and play with that resistance trying to keep the beat.

As a rule every time I have a complete beginner I ask them to turn the resistance all the way down and see how that feels. Then to keep turning it right until their legs can’t move. Now they know both ends and have a better idea how hard it can get I say:

“We will never be working at any of these points in the class. Ever.”

4. CLASS PROFILE

Be prepared with your profiles in January. Have enough variety to choose from. You don’t want the first timers to think the classes are boring just because they don’t yet understand the intensity and resistance, nor do you want them to leave with an impression they are not fit enough to come regularly.

At the same time you want to keep your classes challenging with your regulars in mind. Can it be done? Ideally there would be some introductory classes on the timetable but hey, we don’t live in a perfect world.

• beware of long endurance classes where 70% or more of your class is in the saddle – they can come across as boring to new people so make sure you choose some interesting tracks with clear beat
• power intervals – I would wait with these for a couple of weeks
• testing – yeah, wait…
• mixed workouts will work best: in and out of the saddle, speed & resistance variation
• long endurance tracks (around 7min) are great though giving enough time to settle into a pace and resistance

5. MUSIC

No, you will not please everyone but my advice would be to choose music with clear beat even if you have bikes with consoles showing RPM. Keeping an eye on the console and on you at the same time may be too much to ask. If you always teach with the beat they can keep an eye on you.

Choose your music wisely – get some instrumental track giving you space to explain stuff.

My warm up always have a flat fast track first to cue the form. Then there is a slow hill to cue the standing form. Don’t get into a standing run straight away.

The remaining 5 tips coming up next.

 

 

 

 

 

“Spinning won’t make you fit”. Or will it?

This week I came across an article on one of the forums for indoor cycling instructors: http://www.stack.com/2015/09/16/spinning-probably-wont-make-you-fit-heres-why.

It has caused quite a stir so I decided to respond to it. I will just take out the main points it makes to allegedly prove why indoor cycling will not make you fit as opposed to having a personal trainer and lifting weights. It is based on an interview with a personal trainer Brian Nguyen. He’s not just a PT. He’s “trainer to Mark Wahlberg” which clearly makes him much more of a fitness authority. Let’s dive right into it.

“Spinning is tough. After an hour of pedaling at high speed, you’ve probably left a puddle of sweat on the floor under your bike. (…)The classes are fun, and the routines can easily lead to the assumption that participants get a great workout”.

Anyone who has taken a properly well structured indoor cycling class with a qualified instructor will ask: are we talking about the boutique style “dance-on-the-bike-doing-crazy-stuff” type of class or are we talking about a proper indoor cycling class? Because the latter involves much more and the speed used in these classes is way more controlled.

If however you refer to the classes advertised as a full body workout involving using tiny weights, resistance bands and full of what we call “fluff” then I wholeheartedly agree. But please do not put us all in the same bag.

“Spinning produces similar effects in the body as jogging. (…) Once you finish a spin class, your body no longer burns calories”

Here is where I got really kind of pissed off (my blog, I can say that 🙂 ). He didn’t even say “running”. He said “jogging”. I used to jog. I lost a bit of weight, gained some muscle but I agree, the results were not WOW. Question to FF CJS members who have ever taken Jitka’s, Cheryl’s, Serena’s or my class: would you compare it to 45min of “jogging”?! What classes has this dude taken in his life to make such a statement? The answer is: really bad ones…

If I were to give an “expert opinion” the way he has I would say even a workout with a personal trainer using weights and what not has the same effects. How? If you have a bad trainer who tells you to use weights that aren’t enough to cause an overload. One that makes you follow a programme that’s not tailored to your needs. What kind of PT would do that?! A bad one. Have I ever seen these? Yes, I have.

Now as far as the second part of the statement goes – that the effects of the class finish as soon as you get off that bike? I really question fitness qualifications of that guy. Whatever exercise you choose: rowing, cycling, running etc you can do them at different intensities, with different goals in mind: speed or strength endurance, HIIT, threshold work etc. If every spin class involved pedalling at the same tempo for 60min who on earth would keep doing it?

And I have news for you Brian. You better sit down though and brace yourself: YOU CAN DO TABATA ON A BIKE!

I am convinced this guy either took ONE class and it wasn’t a good one or is basing his opinions on hearsay. He doesn’t seem to think you can do intervals in a spin class.

Here comes the big one folks:

“Spinning doesn’t build muscle.(…) Cycling never makes your body gain lean body mass, and that’s the thing that burns fat. At the end of the day, metabolism isn’t improved on a bike.”

First reference to spinning is already incorrect but Mr Nguyen goes far beyond that and refers to “cycling” in general. I would ask him to check out a few names and relevant pictures of their legs: Marcel Kittel, Chris Hoy, oh hell: Tom Scotto! And I would invite him to watch this (extreme) little clip:

“Spinning doesn’t give individual progression”

It definitely used to be true however you could always test yourself periodically and compare the results. But these days we have bikes with computer consoles and data. We have coaching by colour brought by MatrixIC7 bikes. Please Mr Nguyen, do your research first.

Finally we get to the last one:

“Spinning reinforces common injuries”

Yes, cycling involves sitting, we agree on that. But it is also the best low impact activity next to swimming that actually helps with many health problems and is used in physiotherapy. There is such a thing as bike fitting Brian, and any good instructor will ensure your set up prevents any back or other discomfort. As per the core not being engaged: you need a strong core to be a strong and efficient cyclists even indoors. You may not feel it as much indoors as outdoors but no, cycling is not a “complete full body workout” nor is it claiming to be. If you refer to those “fluff” classes that make that claim – please make the distinction between those and SPINNING or proper INDOOR CYCLING.

To sum up, Brian seems to know his stuff when it comes to what type of exercise gives what effects but clearly knows nothing about spinning/indoor cycling when he says:

“When combined with strength training, spinning may give you that extra calorie burn you need to accelerate fat loss. When done on its own, your results from spinning will likely fall short of your expectations.”

Spinning is all exercise I do. In 2.5 years dropped 3 dress sizes and kept it off. My recent fitness tests show that my cycling performance levels are that of a trained athlete.

So Mr Nguyen, I respectfully disagree.

The Big One – Sheffield, 5th September 2015

We are back from Sheffield. This was my 3rd fitness showcase this year and I really enjoyed it. Especially that I finally managed to get a couple of friends to go with me. That’s how the three musketeers (Serena, Tony and I) found ourselves on the 6:37am from St Pancras to Sheffield yesterday. Not without trouble, mind you. Serena changing her mind about coming the last second, me going to the wrong station in the morning…

Anyway we had ambitiously all signed up to 5 sessions each a few weeks ago when booking the event. In my case it was 4 indoor cycling classes and PiYo (Pilates and yoga combination). But life always gets in the way somehow. Serena had had a tough week with a new qualification course and assessment, I had 2 weeks of 12 classes a week in a row with no day off. Hence on the 6:37am train we were a bit dubious of how the day would unfold, secretly hoping for a sauna or a lie-down area at the venue…

We took a cab from the station and headed for The English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. What a venue! Massive building with an indoors athletics track (full of kids having some sort of games or training), numerous studios, weights area, a whole room full of boxing rings etc. Pictures of locals like Jessica Ennis-Hill on the walls 🙂 It was so big you had an impression that there weren’t that many people attending the event itself.

The organisation was top notch. Registration area where we got our tickets, certificate of attendance etc was very well organised and surrounded by a few stalls selling fitness clothes, music, sound systems and the like.

You get this on arrival and registration

We headed for our first class – we all booked the same cycling class. We were late but thankfully they hadn’t started yet.

As we walked in they were 1 bike short and mine and Serena’s faces lit up (yes, you have read it right) so we each said: “Oh, shame. Don’t worry about me. You take the bike. I’ll just watch” while thinking: “YES! I can WATCH it and give my legs a rest!”. But the organisers swiftly came up with extra 2 bikes so we were both back on.
The instructor was Doyle Armstrong – a guy that I talked to over the phone and Facebook countless times but have never actually met. He is the one who told me about the whole event in the first place.

I must admit I was disappointed when I learnt a couple of weeks ago that the bike were not going to be MatrixIC7 but Technogym. I really wanted to see pros teach on Matrix. But it was a very good class nevertheless.

Doyle used My Ride video system so we didn’t have to visualise but could actually see the terrain we were supposed to ride through. The video was very good and Doyle’s sense of humour came through when throwing in little challenges that were tying up very well to what we were seeing.

Shame my legs were refusing to cooperate. And judging from the evil glances I was getting from Serena in the back row, her legs were on the same page. Both our sweaty faces seems to be saying: “3 more cycling classes today?! No way!”. Tony was soldiering through but then we all know: TONY IS NOT HUMAN.

The class was over. I went over to Doyle to introduce myself and was greeted with: “I know you’re Izabela!”. Underestimated the FB pictures again 🙂  Then it was Tony’s turn to head for the Kettlebells class and us two… well, we headed for… cafeteria…

OK, the little cafe was cozy but not big enough for the number of people there on the day. That was the only negative I can mention.

After a breakfast we headed to the registration area to swap our cycling classes tickets for something less strenuous. We signed up for an Old Skool Garage Jams and Shredded Body (?!). We also managed to both buy some useful instructors’ items.

Good price and finally could see the actual size of the mic windshields before buying them!

Man, the dance class was great! Garage music is so much fun. There were people of all ages. No wonder I get so many requests for garage music in my classes. The choreo was demanding though. At least for me. And as the class progressed every time we heard: “From the top!” Serena and I would look in horror at each other: “What is the top!? That was like hours ago!”.

The instructor Jo Parry-Ali was full of energy, infectious smiles and boy can this girl move! And on top of this she makes harem pants look cool when I can make them look like an oversized PJs in the best case.

Then it was lunchtime. Armed with Google Maps we decided to look for a health food place called Nando’s… It took a while to get there and then by the time we found the way back filled up with nutritious chicken the chance of taking the Shredded class was just as likely as teaching it… Another short break. We looked exhausted. I was getting cramps in my adductors. Serena stretched out on the sofa in the canteen. Tony… bought a sandwich. But then we know: TONY IS NOT HUMAN.

Then it was time for next class. I was overjoyed with the prospect of lying down on my mat just a bit worried that if there will be too much yoga and relaxation nobody would be able to wake me up.

The instructor Rachel Holmes turned up wearing the most funky and colourful leggings I have ever seen. She was all colours, smiles and toned muscles. She clearly knew loads of people in the class.

And off we went. And I must say: I needed this class. Beautiful stretching, challenging core work and realisation that hit home: I need to do it regularly. My hamstring are so tight it is insane. Rachel does daily workouts on Periscope. You should definitely check her out. The class went in a flash.

We were all signed up for the final class. But just like a few other people that I saw walking around or sitting slumped up exhausted and yawning we decided to take a rain check. we headed off to the town instead. We only had like 40min before the train back to London but Sheffield town centre is so nice, clean and open spaced. We loved it.

The train trip home was a right laugh. And don’t judge us. Yes, we had drinks on the train. Yes, Tony accidentally belched as loud as a Canadian moose prompting us to almost combust with laughter and embarrassment.

All in all it was a great event. Very good value for money as the whole day of classes was only £30. The train booked in advance cost us around £35 return. Nando’s around £10… Gin & Tonic £2.20…

I was overjoyed with the thought of having a day off today and so was Serena. I woke up at 8:45am after 10 hours sleep with the thought: I DON’T NEED to be ANYWHERE today! Serena is spending time with the family. And Tony? Tony had a Bodypump class at 9:15. But then we all know: TONY IS NOT HUMAN.

Man up and sit down? It’s never that straight forward

I had a very busy weekend. It’s summer holiday season and everyone is looking for class covers so I had 3 classes this weekend. The one I want to tell you about though is one of my new classes. It’s a shared one too – every second Sunday.

Now those who know me know that I am always at least 30min early for my classes. And today was no exception. I cycled to the gym way ahead of schedule and was enjoying myself at the bar area for AGES and decided to go up to the studio 20min before the class was due to start. Or so I thought. Turns out I read the schedule wrong and at the time I was opening the studio door was supposed to be the start time! Oops!

But I knew what we were going to do and simply proceeded to go through set up etc and asked the usual: “Any injuries, pregnancies or medication?” question. The only gentleman in the small group of 4 waved me down. I approached him with music already on and he pointed to his lower back and bottom and mouthed: “Standing”. I thought I understood him. I interpreted it as: lower back issues so I won’t do any standing.

We started the warm up and 10 seconds in he stood up and proceeded this way. I walked up to him and realised his bike set up was very bad with the saddle at the height of a BMX performance bike. I said: “Let me get this up for you as it’s way too low”. He then responded: “No, no. I have back issues and don’t sit”. You should see the confusion in my face: “What do you mean? Not at all?! For 45min?”. “Exactly! That’s how I always do it. Don’t worry!”. You should see my face. I dragged my jaw along the floor towards my bike to try and digest this info.

I continued to teach and focused on the 3 ladies but from the corner of my eye I could see that his technique out of the saddle was absolutely awful and threatening serious injury especially with him being on the other side of 40…

It’s a tough act juggling a group and a case like that. Why did I have to confuse start time today! I should have had 15min with this guy before class!

To cut long story short: it got so bad I sat on a bike next to him for a while to demonstrate correct technique. I suggested that when he needs a break he should get off the bike for a while – no results. I was THAT close to asking him to leave but I felt I couldn’t as I didn’t know the whole story.

Finally the 45min was up. I walked up to him straight away worrying he may shoot off before I had my chance. I asked: “What is exactly your injury/issue and is it diagnosed or self-diagnosed?” He played it cool and said: “Oh, I just have a really sensitive bum and it hurts me too much when I sit. Don’t worry, I have been riding like that for years!”. WTF?! I don’t know what I was appalled at more: that he’s been doing it like that for that long or that other instructors were fine with it.

I seriously thought the God of Spinning would strike me with lightning if I allowed him to continue to ride like that! I told him that part of me as an instructor died in those 45minutes. He said: “Well, I will die if I don’t do any exercise and this is the only thing I like. I am getting fat but I used to be good at sports so my legs are strong. I can stand up on the bike.” “With all due respect Sir, not even TDF riders stand up for 45min without breaks.”

I said to him that he could not ride like that in my class as he was in too much of a risk of injury to his knees (straight all the time as he had almost no resistance), lower back and shoulders (right next to his ears as he was locking the elbows in all the time). He was quite chilled and just said: “That’s fine, just tell me when you teach and I will simply avoid these classes”. I was rendered speechless…

It wasn’t about removing him from my field of vision. It’s about knowing that he is hurting himself that was bothering me. I explained all the whys. I said he wasn’t really getting a workout – his HR judging from his breathing was not going up much due to lack of resistance. When asked if he tried other classes he said he only does ALL SPIN classes on the timetable.

“Let’s set you up properly so maybe you can take 30sec or 1min breaks in the saddle? It will also help you with your technique so you can feel where the saddle is”. I gave him a card with all the numbers. I gave him pointers on technique and said it would be better for him to get off the bike every 2nd song and stretch or do whatever he likes. I made him promise that if he comes back we will work on it.

When I had some time to digest it all after getting back home, I send a couple of messages into the ether asking whether anyone encountered anything like it. There came suggestions I was too shocked to offer the guy in the first place:padded shorts or gel seat. I felt so stupid for not mentioning it but I was literally gobsmacked.

I thought: if he does a few classes a week, if he started sitting down he would be fine within a couple of weeks. He should just man up!

And then someone else said this: maybe he’s got piles hence he said “sensitive” rather than “the saddle is too uncomfortable”. You see this is something I didn’t think of. If that’s the case I can completely understand why he wouldn’t want to sit at all and pedal.

But if it is, should he continue taking indoor cycling classes? I think since the group is small I can work out a programme for him where he gets off every second song and does a core exercise. I really hope he will come back 🙂

The conversation with him made me think of another issue: would you or should you exercise at ANY cost? Regardless of what the implications can be? I used to run long distance and loved it. But then the disk went. The doctors said: a year down the line and you would be able to go back to it. But I won’t risk it. The cost is too high. For the same reason I stopped all high impact activities. What if there was only one thing you could motivate yourself to get up and do but the way you did it was harmful in the long run? Any thoughts?

Look mum! No hands!

This post is inspired by what I have been seeing quite a lot of in my classes recently and also by a vivid discussion on one of indoor cycling instructors’ forums.

It’s about riding a bike hands free. A seemingly innocent topic that got a lot of instructors very agitated and if I am honest, it does rub me the wrong way sometimes when I see it in my class too. Why – you ask?

First, let’s discuss the issue from the favourite perspective: keeping it real. Which basically means, if you don’t do it outside, you don’t do it inside. But if any of you ever rode a bike outside, as a kid or teenager, or even watched kids ride bikes you know they DO do it. It’s not easy and it’s a kind of “right of passage”. It simply means you’re good! You are cool.

I have done it. I would sometimes ride almost all the way from school hands free! And (don’t tell my mum) I would take the two very dangerous turns downhill hands free too. Oh the thrill of it! It allows you to feel the bike. You realise how important little shifts in your body position are. You can actually turn hands free! I loved it.

You would also do it on a long ride to take a break and rest your back a bit, stretch a little.

Pro cyclists do it when they need their hands free: to eat, adjust helmet, glasses, take off an extra layer of clothing. Actually anyone who ever rode outside knows that it’s annoying to have to stop to take the jacket off only for the wind to change 5min later when you have to stop again to put it back on – waste of time unless you can let go of the handle bars and do it while riding.

http://www.active.com/…/articles/how-to-ride-with-no-hands

Therefore various benefits include: rest, balance/core work and practicality.

Now let’s move indoors. Rest? Sure. Especially if you are new to cycling and you find the normal position uncomfortable. I actually encourage little breaks where you roll the shoulders back, shake off you hands – a lot of beginners tend to squeeze the handle bars causing the shoulders to rise and the whole upper body to stiffen up.

I do however discourage sitting up for 30 sec or more at a time or doing it every minute. Why? As we are on a stationary bike when you let go of the handle bars you do not cause the core to engage in a more beneficial way – the bike doesn’t move, you do not need to balance. Pedalling technique suffers a bit as well, especially if you do it on a “hill”. And if you let go with too little resistance you are more than likely to be bouncing uncontrollably.

Mainly though, you are robbing yourself of a workout as sitting up significantly diminishes the power you are able to produce: you are not working as hard as when you are holding onto the bars. If you train on a bike with a power meter, try it: watch the Watts in both positions.

Now as an instructor you always look for reasons why people do things in a certain way, especially if it’s not something you do during the class so there must be other reason. I see 4 of them.

First, as mentioned above, stiff upper body due to squeezing the bars too tight. This can be trained over time.

Second, bad bike set up which is making riding uncomfortable. This can be easily fixed.

Third, issues that cannot be spotted unless the participant discloses them. It can be for example a chronic neck problem which again can be remedied by raising the handlebars slightly. Someone on the forum mentioned a participant who had the habit of sitting up a lot. It turns out he had a pacemaker and even with the handle bars higher than normal he found the position uncomfortable for longer periods of time. So as you can see there are exceptions to every rule.

Fourth, and that is my own observation: those unwilling to work hard do sit up A LOT. Mainly because when you are sitting on a bike for 45min, unless you are pushing hard enough to make it uncomfortable and raising your heart rate, it is plainly BORING. The only variation would be to sit up, look around trying to spot the clock praying it will show it’s almost over…

To sum up, sitting up hands free on an indoor bike for a few seconds to have a drink, a stretch etc is fine and is not dangerous. Longer or frequent periods in that position are just inefficient.

Now going hands free whilst STANDING is a totally different matter. Nobody would do it outdoors and you definitely shouldn’t do it indoors. It DOES NOT work your balance and core more – the bike is not moving so you do not really practice that skill. It puts unnecessary pressure on your knees and lower back, your pedal stroke is no longer circular and smooth plus you run a risk of losing your balance and leaving your teeth on the bars.

Exaggerating? This is what happened to me in June during my last class before the Tour of Cambridgeshire race. We were climbing out of the saddle and I let go of one hand to make a motion: keep your bum back and your bodyweight on your legs, when my cleat came loose and my foot came out. To prevent myself from falling I had to grab the handle bars quickly and trying to do that I jarred my index finger into the bars. My hand swelled up for a few days. Two months later and I am waiting for an x-ray results as my finger is not fine. I can’t shake hands with people as squeezing it is very painful, I can’t write with a pen without wincing and lifting a mug or a kettle causes discomfort too.

Consider yourselves warned 🙂

Top Tip for instructors: Never Stop Learning

It’s late. It has been a long weekend. The weather was stunning. Not that I could make any good use of it as I was stuck inside a meeting room most of those two days with the exception of getting into the spin studio a few times. Yes, this weekend I attended a @Spinning training called SpinPower so I really wish it could be Sunday again tomorrow 🙂

But let’s get to the point: was the training any good? Why did I do it? Wouldn’t I benefit more from resting or maybe cycling outside topping up my fading Croatian suntan? I have done enough training with well recognised bodies to teach in most places. There are people who have been teaching indoor cycling for much longer than I have and they only have their original training to their name. Surely it would be enough?

The answer is quite simple: as a fitness instructor, indoor cycling instructor or PT you should always try and stay on top of your game. Sports science has made incredible progress in the last 10 years. High end technology and testing that used to be reserved for top end athletes are now available to anyone who wants to try it as long as they can afford it. The bikes that you end up teaching on introduce new concepts and new technology which gets upgraded on a regular basis.

As an instructor I find myself embarrassed if I turn up to cover a class and cannot set up the console on the bike or people expect me to use the software provided and hear me say: “Sorry, I have never used that before. I don’t know how it works”. Yes, you may not always have the opportunity to get proper training on all bike types and visual display systems but I would advise you before accepting a cover to always ask what type of bike and technology the studio uses and what software system you would be expected to operate. This way even if you have never used it before and you have not been trained, you avoid the “WTF” expression when you face the group who are probably already not happy as they wanted their usual instructor.

The course I attended this weekend was very informative and opened my eyes to what else I can do in 3 of my regular weekly classes which are taught on this specific bike Spinner Blade Ion with power consoles. Does that mean that what I have been teaching in these classes for the past year was wrong? No. It’s just that there is so much more in terms of actual training rather than just making people exercise and monitoring their results that can be done.

Since my initial qualification almost 3 years ago I have done 4 additional courses plus various workshops both live and online to help me practice my skills and gain new ones.

I constantly find there is so much to learn about indoor cycling. Now I just have to work on learning how to convey more of that knowledge into meaningful and simple to understand messages that would help my participants to learn something new about their body, energy systems used and simply how to get better, stronger and fitter and be able to measure it.

It is a challenge to pass important and relevant information without breaking into a 10 minute lecture. As Sandro the instructor today said: “You have to know your shit”. And you have to know it well so you can explain it in a few ways so that various people will get it: some like numbers and formulae, some just need and explanation. But to do it while teaching an indoor cycling class is a skill that comes with loads of practice.

It is always so frustrating when a great piece of technology is made available to the instructors but due to lack of training it is all abandoned and forgotten and a state of the art bike console with all various useful numbers that can help you monitor your fitness levels, is used purely for RPM tracking.

I am aware of how much there is still for me to learn and I wish I could devote all my time to learning and teaching without spending 8 hours Monday to Friday in an office. Oh well, that just means I need to be patient.

Have I learnt anything new? I sure have: training (as in proper training with power when you work hard and you actually know what number HARD represents so it is no longer a guesstimate) is bloody exhausting. But it is also rewarding. And knowing what number you have to aim for to become better is a great motivator. I also happened to benefit from the years and years’ of Sandro’s experience as a coach and a former athlete and got a great tip about my own riding technique. And just this golden nugget was worth spending today indoors. And being on the receiving end of an indoor cycling class helps you to understand what it feels like to people who come to take their first class, it helps you remember that what feels natural to you is very overwhelming to beginners.

What is more, talking to someone and learning from someone who clearly is so much more knowledgeable than you is a good reminder how far you still have to go.

You never stop learning, that’s for sure.

Taking the outdoors in and indoors out – what is this blog all about?

Hello and welcome to my blog. I have been toying with this idea for a while. Every time I have got some thoughts after an indoor cycling class I have just taught or a teaching experience I would love to share with my participants or fellow instructors, I find that FB is not always the best place to put anything too lengthy. Not to mention Twitter! Hence I decided to give blogging a go.

This blog will have two sides. First, my take on indoor cycling as an instructor – so advice for people taking the classes both from the technical point of view and more general stuff from the group exercise perspective. I will be reviewing cycling programmes, giving my opinion on indoor bike types etc. and talking about challenges I set in my classes from time to time.

The second part will document my journey as I venture into the world of outdoor cycling, carbon wheels, Vaseline, least damaging saddles, Garmins, Strava and battling the winds on the hills of Richmond Park or occasionally Westerham Hill or Crystal Palace. Or more recently in the Tour of Cambridgeshire. I am only at the start of it so it will be great to have you on the journey.

I will also be reporting from more leisurely trips here. The ones taken on my trusted Pinnacle hybrid bike that took me around Norfolk, Sussex and Holland so far. Plus tales from cycling holidays using locally rented bikes: Spain already in the past and South America coming next in November 2015.

I am ready. I usually start my classes like this:

I am Izabela. we have 45min workout to do so let’s do it! Relax your upper body, your neck, roll the shoulders back and down, lean from your hips forward and get your hands comfortably on the handlebars. Resistance nice and easy but make sure you stay in control of your bike. Take a deep breath in and let’s go!