Category — Personal and Professional Development

So, as promised, here is the followup post to 12 Things you can do right now to fall in love with teaching again. Because it was geared toward indoor cycling instructors and Spinning instructors, you might have found it a bit unhelpful. So here you go Zumba, Kickboxing, Step, Sculpt, Hip Hop and Whatever-Style-You-Teach teachers… A list just for you!
[Read more →]

Don’t you love that “top-of-the-world” feeling? When you are bursting inside with inspiration, look forward to coaching and can’t wait until your next class begins? And yet, those times are few and far between. Usually, we are just in the grind, day in and day out, teaching and going through the motions. Are you suffering from the doldrums? More importantly, are YOUR CLASSES suffering as a result of your doldrums? Wouldn’t you like to fall in love with teaching again?

I’ve compiled a quick list of ways you can kick start your inspiration and get back on top of the world again. While this list has specific inspirations for indoor cycling and Spinning instructors, the advice can certainly be adapted for any type of fitness instructor or personal trainer. But don’t worry, I’ve already started a list for group fitness instructors, which will be posted in a day or two.

I want to share a personal experience with you that has completely transformed the way I see myself and the way I see my students.
[Read more →]

You are all invited to join me at Eco Fitness, in Mount Pleasant, SC for Sanctuary: The Journey Ride. Here is the decription of the ride:

Sanctuary. A sacred or holy place. A refuge or asylum.
Come experience a ride that will be physically difficult, yet spiritually refreshing and restorative. No matter the source or state of our turmoil, we will find peace and joy in the midst of our difficulties. We will create a sanctuary, a place set apart from the rest of the world where, if we choose, we can experience the divine and the sublime.

Cost is $10 for members of Eco Fitness, $20 for non-members. Contact the gym to reserve your bike!

The Sanctuary Ride, taught by Krista Leopold, is Friday, July 23, 2010 at Eco Fitness in Mount Pleasant, SC.

If you are an Indoor Cycling instructor and aren’t familiar with Chris Carmichael, please leave this blog immediately and go to Bicycling.com to start a subscription to the magazine outdoor riders read. Chris Carmichael is Lance Armstrong’s coach and he is an incredible resource not only for road racers, but for indoor cyclists as well. His training article in Bicycling Magazine this month is incredibly eye-opening and reveals quite a bit about the weaknesses of many indoor cycling classes. There are two big takeaways from his article: 1) develop your spinning profiles and teach your classes with a training purpose and 2) know your students. Adopting these two simple teaching habits will take your class to the top among gym rats and outdoor riders alike!

Here is his article: Q: Will an indoor-cycling class at my local gym help me in the winter?

Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. - William Penn

To see the right and not to do it is cowardice. – Confucius

The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was. – Walt West

Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable. – Franz Kafka

Do you see a pattern here?  Every job, no matter how big or small can be done the right way, or the wrong way.  Today, in support of my fellow blogger and Spinning Master Instructor Jennifer Sage, I am sharing with you the right way to teach an indoor cycling class. 

Before we have this discussion, you should hop over to Jennifer’s blog and take a look at her posts on Contraindicated moves (CI moves), especially her latest: Just don’t do it in your indoor cycling classes! In addition to being one of the most respected and knowledgeable Master Instrctors at Spin Fitness, she is an avid road cyclist who owns her own bicycle touring company. She literally wrote the book on Keeping it Real in indoor cycling, so when she speaks up about the goofy stuff going on in classes these days, listen up!

Now, I’m not here to pass judgement on anyone who teaches their students CI moves, nor am I completely innocent of having included them in my classes the past. But I believe as Jennifer does that CI moves are hurting our students and hurting our indoor cycling programs. Students are being taught, through the introduction of CI moves, that they don’t need to take responsibilty for themselves or their workouts. They are being taught that it isn’t the quality of the workout that makes a difference in their health and wellness, it’s how much the instructor can make them hurt. And that is a shame.

I recognize that group fitness as a whole is suffering, and gyms are doing everything they can to keep participants in their classes. But I urge you as an instructor, if you are heavily loading your class with CI moves, especially like what Jennifer describes, please reconsider what you are doing. Not only are you putting your students at risk for injuries, you are failing to provide them with the true benefits of cycling. My mantra is, “If you wouldn’t do it on a road bike, don’t do it in Spinning class” and to that I would add, “no matter what they are doing on YouTube.” My students have always been appreciative of my ability to “Keep it Real” in Spinning class, and I know they will appreciate it from you too. And when they realize that you have empowered them to be stronger, fitter and faster, they will love you all the more!

Keep it real, guys!