What can indoor cycling instructors learn from wine?

I am reading a fascinating book called The Widow Cliquot, about the widowed woman in the late 18th century who made Veuve Cliquot the powerhouse champagne that it is today (”Veuve” means widow, and when widowed in that age, one always kept the title, unless one remarried). It’s a wonderful story about this entrepreneur, one of the few women business owners of the world at that time (widows were given a lot more freedoms than married women back then). But it’s also a mesmerizing story about the world of wine and the development of the champagne industry from around the French Revolution and into the post-Napoleonic period.

The author describes how the really great vintners of today are truly scientists. They are very skilled in the chemistry of winemaking, and are master technicians in selecting, storing and blending varietals to create the magical elixir you bring to your table. Sure, Mother Nature plays a role, especially in a vintage year where everything comes together exquisitely, the perfect blend of arid soil, sun exposure, the right amount of heat but not a heat wave, the timing of the rain, and a dry harvest. But even when everything is perfect, it’s the skilled and knowledgeable winemakers who set themselves apart from the others, creating a true masterpiece. These skilled scientists can charge more for their wines. And when everything isn’t perfect (like most years – vintage years only come once every 10-20 years), that skill can make or break the end product. Some years they will need a little more of this varietal, some years a little more of that one. If it’s a one-varietal wine (like a cabernet), they might blend more or less from different vineyards to arrive at that perfect combination. Sometimes they must age it longer, some years the alcohol content is higher, there is so much behind every glass you pour.

The result? The people drinking the wine may not know (or even care) what has gone into the creation of this wine. All they know is they like this bottle! They savor the enjoyment it brings, the pleasure of sipping it, and the masterful way it melds with their meal. The science is behind the scenes, but without it, the wine wouldn’t be as enjoyable or successful.

You, the knowledgeable instructor, are like the wine maker. You know there is so much behind every class you teach. You eagerly learn the science so that you understand the why behind everything you do. The more you know about physiology, the better your product will be. You blend the elements of a class masterfully to create the perfect profile. On some days it's higher intensity, on some days it's lower intensity with a mental focus, some days it's right at threshold; but each application is with intention, your intention. Your focus and attention to detail allows your students to train smarter, not necessarily harder. You blend the elements of mindfulness, motivation and music to create a class that wows your students. You add that secret ingredient that gives your class the "fizz"!

The result? Your profiles make sense. Your students love the product, and they enjoy the resulting increase in fitness. They may not really understand the science behind the effort, but there's just something different about your class, that savoir faire that you have, that sets you apart from your peers. You have them intoxicated!

Not every class will be perfect - you can't have a "vintage" class every single time you teach! But that's when your skills are even more important, so that your students have a great experience every time.

The science? Sometimes it's fun to teach them that part too. It's like going to a wine tasting or lecture where you learn about the the vinification process, the residual sugars in the different wines; what it is that gives them their characteristic aromas and taste; the choice of casks that impart entirely different flavors; why they use oak barrels or stainless steel. Did you know that champagne is fermented twice? After it ages in casks and goes through the first fermentation, additional yeast and sugar is added when it is bottled. The yeast "eats" the sugar (fermentation) and the result is carbon dioxide. This was originally a "mistake" in the 17th century, one that the monks fought hard to get rid of - no one wanted bubbles in their wine for God's sake!

Wine tasting is fun, and it actually improves your understanding of why you like or dislike a certain wine, and can even teach you how to appreciate that varietal that you normally pass over in the wine shop.

The class where you educate your students about what you're doing and why you're doing it is like that wine tasting. You give them just enough information to pique their interest, to get them to nod their heads in understanding. In the process, they expand their own knowledge, they appreciate their workouts even more, they appreciate you even more. How lucky they are to have an instructor who serves such delicious treats, and occasionally explains how to do it! You may hand out additional information for those who want to learn more - just like you'll receive at a wine tasting.

In the process you may teach them that they really can enjoy an endurance ride, because now they know and appreciate what is going on behind the scenes (in their bodies).
And then on other days, you just let them enjoy that glass and savor the delicate flavors without complicating it with too much information.

Here's to you and your vines...er students! Chin chin!

[A little background: As a bicycle tour guide in France and Italy since 1989, I've had the great fortune to not only ride through some of the most famous wine regions of these countries, but also to experience their wines and often take my groups to wine tastings in each region. I also love to ride and taste wine in Napa and Sonoma in California. But my favorite experience is from Alsace, a wine growing region in the northeast of France, on the German border. I have friends who own vineyards in Alsace. I met this couple, Martial and Catherine, while on a solo self-supported bicycle odyssey in France in 1988, and we've remained friends every since. Their wines are Reislings and Gevurztraminers, normally not my preference for varietals, but when I'm there, I love them; they go so perfectly with the food of the region, and I believe there's an "energia magica" (there's that expression again - maybe I should say it in French in this case - une energie magique) when you're in a vineyard that attracts you to those wines. I was lucky enough to experience a harvest one year, actually going into the vines and picking, then watching the whole process from pressing to storing. The incredible body of science behind it is mind-boggling. Before they selected vines for harvesting, Martial showed me how he measured the residual sugars in the grapes. "Nope, this vineyard needs one or two more days. We pick those over there." The best part of the harvest? The celebratory elaborate dinners they have each evening, of course opening up a couple of bottles from some previous vintage years. I hope you can have this same amazing experience one day; it is one I will never forget. Kind of like a Master Spin class that stays with you forever!]

Hold a baby bird...in a standing flat!

The other day I was subbing a class at the Aria club in Vail (a club attached to the Vail Cascade Resort & Spa) and I had two hotel guests from Florida (in addition to one regular - numbers here are very small in summer). Both women are pretty fit. One is a frequent Spinning student, Linda and she talked her friend Sheri into coming along for her Spinning first class ever.

Before the class started, Linda was giving Sheri tips, pointing to the RPE sign, describing intensity and HR (she didn't have her HRM with her but said she always rides with one), talking about Energy Zones, proper position, etc. I walked over and said that she must have some darn good instructors, and explained that it is so good to hear her actually teaching her friend the correct way to ride in an indoor class. I say this because we get a lot of out of town guests at this club, and this is not always the case. We get some who say things like, "I have the best 'Spin' Instructor ever - she makes us take the saddle away!"

I gave her my card with this blog address, so hopefully she will pass them on to her instructors (and if so and you are her instructor reading this, please let me know)!

As usual, I really enjoy having newbies in my class. I try to make sure I make it interesting for the experienced riders at the same time as I am explaining proper form for the basic movements we do in Spinning. Since Sheri is a fit hiker, she really did well her first time, with just a few things she'll need to work on formwise as she gains experience.

I have my own cueing that I've used for various movements and positions, but Linda shared one with me that I want to pass on to you. We were doing a standing flat (run) and I was explaining to Sheri how it's important to hold on to the handlebars, but not in a death grip, nor do you want to lean on your hands. My favorite cue is to imagine that you have water balloons under your palms. I tell students "wrap your fingers around them, so you squish them a bit, but don't pop them!" This helps people realize they must pull back their weight off their hands and into the legs. We also don't want to be 'perched' on the handlebars, up on your fingertips like you're drying your wet fingernails either. Fingers should be wrapped around the handlebars, but comfortably.

Linda said, "In golf they tell you to hold a baby bird when you hold the club."

Yes! Can you imagine it? In golf, if you have a death grip, you will never smoothly hit that little white ball with any control. On the other hand, if you don't have enough grip, the club will go flying out of your hand. Pros tell their clients to imagine holding a baby bird, firm enough to keep it there, but not tight enough to crush it.

If your students are golfers, they may really understand this cue.

This also shows us that we can transfer cues from many other sports to help our non-cycling students understand what it is we are teaching them. Does anyone reading this have any examples of cues you've borrowed from other sports? If so, please let us know by clicking the comments link below!

Thanks Linda for teaching me something new! I hope to see you and Sheri in my Spinning class again in the future. Tell your instructors to keep up the good work and to come to WSSC and say Hi!

As base building ends

Friday was the final day of base building at one club where I teach Wednesday and Friday at 6 am. I want to share with you some of my dialogue with my class. I wanted to let them know how much I appreciated their efforts, I wanted to reinforce what we've done, and to give a taste of what's coming next.

Take these words, put your spin on them (pun intended) and tell them to your students!

For those of you who have been sticking to base building and keeping your intensity below your threshold for the most part for the past 7 weeks, even when taking other classes that might have been higher intensity, congratulations. You've taken a big step towards increasing your ability to use fat as a fuel source and sharpening your aerobic metabolism. You should be very proud of yourself for your patience and commitment. It is not an easy thing to do. Believe me, I know - I found myself chomping at the bit a few times! You're going to see some huge improvements as we move into the next phase.

For those of you who who have only done it in my classes, but went harder in the other classes, I suspect you have felt a nice balance in your workouts, some hard, some easy to moderate. Congratulations. This is the way it should be on a regular basis - balance! It is my hope that all of you continue to monitor your workouts on a weekly basis and make sure you have a little of each - some hard, some easy, some moderate.

For those who do not ride with a heart rate monitor, or who didn't care to make an effort to watch your intensity, I want you to know that there's nothing wrong with that. You're still here, you've still been coming to my classes, and I congratulate you on that and want you to know I really appreciate that. It just goes to show you that Spinning is about you and your goals; it's about your own workout, not mine. I can make suggestions, it's up to you to follow them if you want or not. Who am I to force you to do something? It's a beautiful thing, isn't it? My only hope is that I've planted a seed, that I've got you wondering about whether this base building stuff really works or not. And maybe next year, you'll jump on board and take that step to systematize your training and ultimately increase your performance like never before.

Next week I'll start incorporating some threshold intervals, and after a few weeks, even take you higher than that with some 1-2 minute HIT. We'll do another field test in about a month as well. Strength classes will continue on Fridays, with some steeper sections, continuing to build that strength in the legs.  But don't think that I won't throw an endurance or tempo ride below threshold in there. It's not our primary focus as it's been since Christmas, but they should not go away! Remember, that balance is important!

But what you can expect is that you'll burn a few more calories in some of my classes in the months to come. For some of you, it may be a slightly higher percentage of fat calories than it might have been before.

Now that's a beautiful thing!

Yes We Can....

....all become coaches!

[Just borrowing the slogan from this momentous inauguration day in the US; I can hardly contain the joy I am feeling for our country, the world and our future! Yes we can!]

I've been a little pre-occupied lately (with my bike tour business, with promoting my ebook, with building a new house, with life, with skiing, with the inauguration, etc), and I've been intending to write my next post on building your self-confidence to become more of a coach. But it's proving to be harder (and more time consuming) than I imagined, because there's so much I want to share with you! (ahhh, perhaps the subject of another e-book!)

In my last post I prompted you to do a little self-reflection and ask yourself:

Do YOU perceive yourself as a coach?

Do you believe that you CAN be a coach?

It all comes down to self-confidence and believing that you have a lot to offer your students. If you don't believe it yourself, how could they possibly consider you a coach?

I feel this subject is a very important one, and I don't want to write a quick, glib post on how to build your self-confidence; I need to put a little more time into it. So, I'll feed you my ideas on building your self-confidence as an instructor (whether a newbie or veteran) a little at a time. And I will intersperse it with some other timely information that I've been intending on talking about, and that is the controversial subject of aerobic base building.

So, keep coming back, keep posting your fantastic comments, keep believing in yourself, and keep empowering your students to go beyond their self-perceived limitations. 

That goes for you as well: you never know your limits until you surpass them, so keep surpassing them!

If you have not read the comments from my last post, go back and do so. You'll find some great reflections by instructors on whether they perceive themselves as coaches. I guarantee you'll learn a lot from their comments.

One of my favorites:

They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Think about this the next time you teach.

Yes you can!

Nothing limits us except ourselves, for the truest aspect of every person is unbounded potential.

Deepak Chopra

Everything you want is just outside your comfort zone.

Robert Allen

Yours,

Jennifer

PS I am joining all the girls from my book club tonight at an inauguration party, and to us it's the biggest party of the year. I feel that today is the most important day of the decade, perhaps even my lifetime. It's a non-partisan belief that this is the step in the right direction to fix this country, our economy, our earth, and our place in the world! I just hope I can get up for my 6 a.m. class tomorrow without too much difficulty!

Keep it Real in Your Indoor Cycling Classes

Attention cyclists and indoor cycling instructors!

As a cyclist, have you been turned off by indoor cycling classes because they didn't have anything to do with real cycling? Are you bored to tears riding your trainer at home in the winter or when you're too busy to ride outside? Wouldn't you love to be able to take advantage of the motivation, camaraderie and energy of indoor classes to help you stay focused on your training, but you just can't face the aerobics-on-a-bike type of class?

Would you like to know how to maximize your performance and technique in indoor classes?

Then this eBook is for you!

Keep it Real in Your Indoor Cycling Classes is a must-read for both cyclists and indoor cycling instructors alike. Many well-meaning instructors would like to be able to cater to their cycling clientele but they may not know what the specific needs of a cyclist are.

Instructors! Everything you need to know about keeping your classes relevant to cycling is in this eBook!

In this eBook you will learn:

1. the biomechanics of pedaling with a weighted flywheel and the huge implications it has on training techniques, cadence and pedal stroke
   
2. which techniques are applicable to outdoor riding and which techniques cyclists should sit out
   
3. how to select your gear or hill (resistance) and your cadence to best simulate what you do outside, adhering to the rules of "specificity of training"
   
4. 13 popular movements that all cyclists (and non-cyclists alike) should avoid in IDC classes, and why
   
5. how to increase your climbing skills and strength indoors
   
6. how to improve your endurance and aerobic base
   
7. how to periodize your program using indoor cycling classes
   
8. a comparison of heart rate training zone methodologies and how to choose which one works best for your specific goals
   
9. 13 drills for IDC classes to optimize your technique
   
10. 9 high intensity interval profiles to maximize your performance
    
11. and many more tips on how to make the most of indoor cycling classes!
    

No more drudgery of riding your trainer alone, no more inappropriate techniques that detract from your riding skills.

Still not sure? Here's a few comments I've gotten from readers of the ebook:

Jennifer has taken her years of experience as a Spinning Master Instructor and combined it with her years riding outside to produce a simple and concise book on how to take the road inside. She takes the training needs of the outdoor rider and translates them into the dynamics of an indoor cycling class. For those not familiar with some of the training tools and techniques used by cyclists, she provides very straightforward and understandable explanations. Simple enough for the beginner; enough information for the intermediate; but not boring for the advanced rider. Jennifer explains what to look for (and more importantly what to avoid) in a class to ensure a safe ride that can meet all training needs. Written to transition an outdoor rider to an indoor participant, this book is also a must-read for any instructor.

Stephen Grady, Vancouver, BC

Jennifer's ebook is a must-buy guide for roadies wanting to make effective use of Spinning classes in their off-season training. We've all attended those "stereotypical" classes (described in her book) where you perform odd maneuvers such as pedaling backwards in a "hover" position or performing "freezes" to get the burn. Keep it Real shows how indoor classes can be fun and effective preparation for outdoor riding. The book has even inspired me to become a certified Spinning instructor so I can take the class i want by leading one!

Mark Newsome, http://ultracyclist.blogspot.com

Thank you Thank you for your book on indoor cycling. As an avid cyclist and Spinning instructor I feel like I am on an island all alone in trying to get students to Spin properly. The problem is compounded by instructors teaching that the faster you go the better. I just downloaded the book and printed it. As it was printing, I got more excited as the pages rolled off my printer. I can't wait to read the book and apply the principles. And yes, I have been doing things wrong!

Alan, Santa Ynez, CA

This is a fantastic resource and I applaud and thank you! I will definitely recommend this to my instructors, and look forward to more goodies in 2009!

Teresa

I love your ebook. I read it cover to cover. I hate as you do when instructors try and turn a cycling class into something else....isolations and upper body work on the handlebars.

Carol, Chicago

I am almost finished reading your ebook. It is great! I am learning so much, I can't wait to start applying it to my classes.

Charlotte, Pennsylvania

Here's to greater fitness and higher performance, both inside and outside!

Keep it Real has 169 pages with 18 color photos. Once you purchase this eBook you can download it immediately and begin improving your performance while having much more fun!

In Vélo Veritas!

(you'll find out what that means in the eBook!)