Spinning Retro Interval Profile: 80's Tribute with a little Michael Jackson

If I had taught my class last week, playing a lot of Michael Jackson would have been a lot more welcomed, but since radio and TV have waaaay overloaded the nation with Michael Jackson tributes, I "saved" my students the torment of too much MJ!

Nevertheless, I still wanted to play some MJ, since I missed out last week. Right before I started my iPod, I said, "please don't kill me!" and someone said, "why, are you playing all Michael Jackson?!"

But I focused more on 80's music, used only one original MJ song, and three MJ remixes. [Where to get the remixes? Someone on Pedal-On posted a blog called Salacious Sound that has Michael Jackson remix downloads available for free. Some are good, some are not so good. Check it out.]

Here is my playlist and the profile. I used my Dueling Intervals profile format (alternating flat road efforts with climbs, with recovery in between), which I am finding is a great profile to tweak to just about any music or intensity you want, so it seems like an entirely different profile to your students. In other words, you get a lot of bang for your buck out of this one! You can take the intensity to any level you choose, based on your objectives for the class. This morning, I asked them to go the Threshold, or just above.

Retro Intervals

Warm-up

Thriller, Michael Jackson (5:58)

Don't Stop Till You Get Enough (Cookin Soul Jay-Z Mashup), MJ (3:28)

1st interval - flats. Start out of the saddle, 30-40 sec, raise HR, then seated flat.

Dancing With Myself, Billy Idol (3:20)

recover - down to 65-70%MHR (same for all upcoming recoveries - easy seated flat)

Tainted Love, Soft Cell (2:34)

2nd interval - climb. Begin as a standing climb to raise HR to target, then sit the rest and hold HR and cadence.

Oh Yeah, Yello (3:04)

recover - I Want Candy, Bow Wow Wow (2:47)

3rd interval - standing flat to raise HR (30-40 sec), sit for 1 min with a quick cadence 95-100 rpm, then jumps with a high cadence when standing (surge).

Walking on sunshine, Katrina and the Waves (4:01)

recover - There She Goes, The La's (2:42)

4th interval - climb. Hard standing climb to target HR (45 sec), then sit the climb for 1 min, maintaining strong cadence. Move into jumps on a hill to finish the song.

Don't Go (remix), Yaz (4:07)

recover - Synchronicity, The Police (2:54)

5th interval - flat road. Start standing (30 sec), then sit 1 min. Move into standing flat surges for 10-15 sec every 45-60 sec.

Better Be Good to Me, Tina Turner (5:11)

recover - I Want You Back (The Walk and Seventytwo Remix), Jackson 5 (3:10)

6th interval - climb. Start standing 1 min, then alternate seated and standing every 30-45 sec.

Sanctify Yourself, Simple Minds (5:01)

recover and cool down

Unbelievable, EMF

Rock With You (Cookin Soul Notorious B.I.G. Mashup), Michael Jackson

Lovefool, The Cardigans

It went over well! Just enough MJ, but not too much.