Indoor Cycling Class Profile and Playlist: Ladders

This “Ladder” has 4 steps – each one steeper than the others. Ready to climb?

So, my boys and girls. The Hump Day has come quickly this week and pretty much unexpectedly 🙂

But hey, welcome, Hump Day! I’m not complaining at all 🙂

As usual, I’m sharing my indoor cycling class profile and playlist with you today – one of many.

I called this one “Ladders” because it consists of 4 “steps”. Each step takes your ride to a different intensity level – one step up. Each step is made up of 3 segments – a Climb, flat or climb work (such as Sprint or Running with Resistance) and recovery.

If you are an indoor cycling instructor – I would LOVE to hear your feedback on the profile below. Do let me know in comments if you use it in one of your classes – I love feedback 🙂

Indoor Cycling Class Profile and Playlist: Ladders

Class Duration: 56:03

Here’s the iTunes playlist for the ride:

and Spotify (follow me there):





Class notes:

1: “Footloose”, Kenny Loggins – Warm up – start seated, then add a little more resistance and come up for a Standing Flat on 1:02, 1:59 and 2:50 for 20 seconds each time. Maintain smooth pedal stroke seated and standing.
2: “Walking On Sunshine”, Katrina & The Waves – Warm up, cont. – continue warming up. Choose base line cadence in the beginning of the song and perform accelerations (adding 5 RPM to the base cadence) at 0:52, 1:48, 2:28 for 20 seconds each time.
3: “Long Black Road”, Electric Light Orchestra – Seated Climb: Step 1 of the Ladder – add resistance at 0:10 (moderate, base of the hill), 1:11 and 1:45. Climb seated.

4: “Physical” (Glee Cast Version) – Left/Right Leg Drills – this is your work on a flat road for this step of the ladder – take some of the resistance off and alternate right/left at 0:48, 1:40, 2:26 and 2:42.

5: “Smooth Criminal”, Alien Ant Farm – Active recovery and speed drills – settle on the flat road and choose your baseline cadence, add 5 RPM to the base cadence at 0:30 and 1:32.
6: “It’s My Life”, Bon Jovi – Climb 2: Step 2 of the Ladder  – add the base of the hill in the beginning – this time, make the hill steeper than the one you climbed on Step 1. Add more resistance at 1:13; add and transition to a Standing Climb at 2:27, get back in the saddle and accelerate by a couple RPM’s at 2:36.
7: “T.N.T.”, AC/DC – Running with Resistance – keep moderate resistance, get out of the saddle to run at 0:55, 1:53 and 2:28 for 20 seconds each time. Seated acceleration at 3:00.
8: “Jailhouse Rock”, Elvis Presley – Recovery/Speed Drills: return to a flat road and your recovery zone, find a comfortable cadence. Alternate brief accelerations (+5-10 RPM to base cadence) at 0:40, 1:03, 1:37 and 2:00 and seated flat at the base cadence.
9: “Die Another Day”, Madonna – Seated Climb: Step 3 of the Ladder – time to step it up yet again! Start at a steeper hill than the previous one and work your way up. Add resistance at 0:47, 1:28, 2:37 and 4:01. Come out of the saddle after the last resistance increase until the end of the song.




10: “Juke Box Hero / I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll”, Diego Boneta, Alec Baldwin, Russell Brand & Julianne Hough – Seated/Standing Flat – lighten up the resistance, switch to hand position 2 at 0:31, 1:30 and 1:52 and come up for standing flat intervals. Make sure you keep the intensity of your effort at a high level – this is still a working segment and we’re still getting up on to that step 3.
11: “Pig Farm”, The Deadlies – Speed Drills (Seated) – recover for 1 minute at a comfortable cadence and light resistance, then accelerate by 5-10 RPM at 1:01, 2:13 and 3:09. Getting ready for the toughest section yet!
12: “Stand Up”, Steel Dragon  – Seated/Standing Climb: Step 4 of the Ladder – add base of the hill at 0:39 – remembering this is the steepest one yet in this class; add and come up at 1:34, add at 1:52, up at 2:31, lighten up resistance and accelerate at 3:00, add resistance back at 3:43, come up at 3:59 for final push to the top of the hill.
13: “When We Stand Together”, Nickelback – Seated/Standing Flat: up at 0:35 and 1:39: remember that this is a high intensity section – make both seated and standing part of this flat road stretch challenging by adjusting resistance and pace.
14: “Storm”, Vanessa-Mae – Sprinting to Finish Line: the finish line of your ride is very close! Pick a challenging pace and accelerate at 0:43, 1:42, 2:23 and 2:59 to cross that finish line.
15: “The Finish Line”, Train – Cool down – slowly and consciously slowing down throughout the song.
17: “Defying Gravity (Glee Cast Version) – “Stretching Off the Bike.

Download my class .pdf from the Class Builder app: Ride 19 – Ladders

It was a good class! As always, my riders were slowly getting less and less conversational 🙂

We had way more fun than you’d think people could have at 8:00 AM on a Saturday morning!

Ride on!

Pick up a few essentials I use for teaching my classes:

DISCLAIMER:

Please note that while I make every effort to capture and present the class profiles accurately, the class profiles and class descriptions posted on this blog do not constitute complete instruction for teaching the indoor cycling class.

No statement is made to the suitability or otherwise of the profiles presented on this blog. Care must always be taken when riding an indoor cycle. Please, consult your physician before starting an exercise program.

The class profiles presented are not meant to be exercise and/or personal recommendations, but only examples of workouts that the author completed in the past. The owner and authors of these class profiles will not be responsible or liable for any injury, illness or death resulting from the use of the information contained in this article.