Y’all have heard me sing the praises of Cadence Revolution as a great way to get pre-mixed playlists for my Spinning classes.  While it has been a while since I used them, mostly because I am in the middle of my maternity leave, I still like checking out their mixes and finding new musical inspirations from their site.  This week, they began offering “the workout” — a very loose profile based on exertion levels — to accompany their mixes.  What a great way to cut down prep time even further for busy instructors who need to put it all together fast!  The workout provides very general cues, which can be taken as good or bad, depending on how much hand-holding you need.  If you are looking for a pre-choreographed, just-read-the-script kind of ride, this isn’t it, but if you just like some easy suggestions that you can take in any direction you see fit, then I think you’ll really like this new feature.   So, take a look at their latest release and see what you think! 

If you live in the New York Area and are interested in attending a conference this fall, the folks at Town Sports International are hosting the TSI Summit the weekend of October 10 & 11.  I used to work for TSI, which owns NYSC, and I attended the Summit as an NYSC employee.  It was a great learning experience and they had an excellent array of sessions.  Although I haven’t been to a Summit in 5 years, I would still recommend it based on my previous experience.  They’ll be offering opportunities to earn CEU’s for ACE, ACSM, AFAA, NASM, NCSF, NFPT, NSCA, and W.I.T.S. as well as Spinning^® star points.  Check out their website for registration and to see who’ll be speaking and what workshops are available: Summit 08.

I wanted to share with you an invitation I just received to ECA/THRIVE! 2008 Fitness, Sports Training and Wellness Conference.  It is being held November 13 – 16, 2008 at the Miami Resort and Spa Hotel in Miami Beach, FL.  If things go according to plan, I will be in labor that weekend, so it is a no-go for me, but I want to let you know that it looks like it is going to be a great event. 

There are opportunities to get certified in Spinning, Stott Pilates. Some of my favorite presenters will be there sharing their knowledge:  Joshua Taylor is a Master Instructor for the Spinning program and a professional cyclist.  He is hands down the most exciting man from whom you can take a Spinning Workshop, IMHO.   Len Kravitz blew my mind the first time I heard him speak.  He is an expert in Fitness Science and will teach you more than you imagined about how the body works and how exercise changes the body.  Everyone has heard of Petra Kolber.  She is a staple in the Group Fitness world, as are Patrick Goudeau and Rob Glick.  There are others with outstanding resumes who will be presenting and the class line-up looks like a must-go.  If only I could!

If you are interested in checking out ECA/THRIVE! in Miami, you should visit the ECA World Fitness website:  http://www.ecaworldfitness.com.

This morning in Spinning class, I did a lot of harping about sprints.  We didn’t do that many, only two, but I had some new folks and wanted to get the point across.   Basically, we were doing the Pace Line Ride, and the concept of “pulling the line” seemed to be lost to a few who thought they were supposed to pedal fast and furiously instead of going HARD.    My first sprint description came as I needed them to focus on a heavy resistance as they pulled their team members.  The second came as we were actually doing a sprint to the finish.  However, the mechanics and the reasoning are the same, and I’m going to share the basics with you now.

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There’s been a lot of interest in my Spinning Profile which focuses on pedaling technique, Endurance Profile - Smooth Riding.   It seems that many of you are interested in improving your technique on the bike and I applaud you!  It can be tedious and academic to actually LEARN how to do something and to fully understand the mechanics of it.  Rest assured that time spent understanding these fundamentals will pay off in the end.  Since these are more focused activities that work the heart between 65-75% typically, they work well with your endurance rides.

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