Getting back on the bike after my maternity hiatus has been an amazing learning experience for me. I have not worked my way into a permanent class slot, so all of my practicing and tweaking has been just for me. But the new insights I’ve gained into my own body and how I’m feeling and functioning right now are only going to improve the quality of the classes I will be teaching in the future, no doubt.

In that light, I’d like to present another Endurance Profile for you to digest this week. I call it the “Know Thyself” ride, because it is meant to allow your riders to explore what is happening within themselves while Spinning. This ride will keep the heart rate under 80% for the entire duration. Naturally, if you have riders who need to top this heart rate, the ride can be easily modified for their needs without sacrificing the experience for your other students.
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Raise your hand if you downloaded the Mamma Mia mix from last week’s Step Choreography post and were totally rocking it out, loving the energy, partying like a rock star and then WHAM!!!  Deafening obnoxious pause as track 1 ended and the CD player waited for track 2 to begin?  ARRRRGH!!!   I imagine that when an elephant trips and falls it feels about the same as having that irritating 2 second lull interrupt your flow.  I can’t stand it in my Spinning or Pilates classes either, which is why I started DJ’ing my music long ago.  You can too!  There are ways to avoid that annoying pause, but beware — it could take a bit of effort.
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So, I found a Mamma Mia workout mix on Napster yesterday. Guess what song keeps playing over and over in my head? I am still laughing with glee. Not just because I am an Abba lunatic, but also because last night I taught my first step class since the baby was born. Even though I began with all of the fear and doubt of a first-timer, we all had a great time! I’d like to take some of the credit, but I swear it was because I was playing Mamma Mia! Your classes will love it, too; give it a try:
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I love endurance profiles.  Maybe it’s because I am one of those people who has to do things in an organized, step-by-step fashion;  I really appreciate the value and necessity of building blocks.  Endurance rides are just that and so I teach them often.

Today’s profile is just as the title implies:  The simplest endurance profile ever created.  Here are the steps:
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Happy Valentine’s Day! 

As a fitness instructor, you are always looking for ways to spice up your next class to make it memorable for your participants. What a more perfect reason to add some themed music to your classes this week and weekend?  No, you don’t have to go crazy and further saturate their ears with notions of cupid and hearts and doilies, but you can give a nod to Hallmark’s greatest accomplishment. If you haven’t already put the finishing touches on your Valentine’s Playlist, check out these suggestions on iTunes and Napster.  There is something here for every style: warm ups, cool downs, step, sculpt, Pilates, yoga, Spinning, boot camp… These lists are not just for my cyclists! You’ll notice there are two separate lists since V-Day is sort of a love it or hate it kind of holiday.    Enjoy the music!
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GroupFitPower is very excited to be adding iTunes to our playlists and choreography notes.  Now, in addition to accessing songs and playlists on Napster, you will have links to open the same great music in iTunes as well!  No more copy/pasting or endless searching to make these great profiles go with iTunes.   It will take some time for archived profiles to be updated, so please be patient as we add iTunes to old posts.  I’ll be working from most popular to least popular — if you have a request, please leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to get to those as quickly as I can!

Here is the first profile that’s been updated.  I hope you find the new style useful.  Feel free to provide feedback on how it could be more readable/usable!  Check out the 90-min Endurance Ride

Thanks to all of you for helping make this the go-to site for Group Fitness and Indoor Cycling choreography, profiles and playlists!