Latest Playlists for Indoor Cycling Classes and a Couple Learning Moments

Hi friends! Happy Hump Day!

Today I’m packing for FitBloggin’ 2014 and sharing my latest playlists for indoor cycling classes with you!

FitBloggin’ starts tomorrow, so I fly out tomorrow morning and get to Savannah around 2:00 pm.

I have SO many people I am excited to meet in person there that I had to make the list! Not kidding you. I did totally just make a list.

Don’t want to rank my list – I will be equally happy to meet everyone on it, and whoever is not on it, but here are a few people I am particularly excited about meeting:

A Hungry Runner

The Lean Green Bean

Manifest Yourself

Fit and Free with Emily and many-many-many other wonderful bloggers!

I am pretty sure I won’t have time to blog while I’m there – it is my very first blogging and fitness conference, so I will probably walk around with my mouth open most of the time 🙂

I will sure tell you all about the adventures in Savannah when I get back on Monday!

Now back to our regular broadcasting 🙂 It is workout Wednesday after all!

So after the previous post I took a couple yoga classes as part of my stretching/recovery/rest day routine (that was on Saturday and Wednesday).

On Saturday I taught one of those super exciting cycling classes where you don’t know whatcha gonna get 🙂 Meaning the crowd is changing from week to week and there are a few regulars.

This past Saturday I had a wonderful group of people! Most of them experienced cyclists (either indoor or outdoor). It was easy and super rewarding to teach them!

I got a thousand compliments on the playlist – one from one of my regular students (“Good sounds, kid”), another one from another fairly regular attendee of Saturday classes (“You were born too late! Love your music!”), another one from a teenage girl (“I LOVED your soundtrack”) and more. 🙂

SO nice to hear that people are happy about the music in the class. It is hard to please everyone. So, may be those who didn’t say anything didn’t like it all that much. But everybody was sweating 🙂 That’s for sure.

This time the class was a lot quieter that the Saturday before – it was a gloomy rainy day, 8 AM…I guess it took my students a while to wake up and stop asking themselves the “what the heck am I doing up and on a bike so early” question 🙂

Anyway, here’s the playlist everybody liked on Saturday in case you need song ideas to incorporate into the playlists for your next indoor cycling classes.

On Monday I suddenly found myself teaching my regular class to 8 (!!!) people instead of my regular 3-4 summer indoor riders 🙂 That was exciting!

Here’s what we rode to:

Couple of people in my class were indoor riders getting back on tack after a couple years of break, so I had to set up their bikes and remind them how the Pilots work. Thankfully they came in with enough time before the class so I could do that.

But here’s a tip and note to self: GET THERE EARLY. Make sure you’re the first one in the room and greet your students when they come in. ASK them if they have ever done indoor cycling before. If they say “Yes” and you see them struggling with the bike set up – GO HELP. A lot of people feel embarrassed to admit they’re new thinking “It’s just a bike. I can figure it out myself”.

No, they can’t.

You need to help them.

It’s like being a doctor – you can’t walk by someone who needs medical help. You simply MUST NOT or you’re in the wrong job.

Anyway 🙂

The Monday class also got me thinking about something else…

Every time we’d get out of the saddle to a standing flat, there would be this one person leaning forward onto the handlebars and isolating the upper body.

I kept saying “Light grip on the handlebars, just to keep you balanced. Don’t lean forward. Relax your shoulders”.

Nothing helped.

I tried getting frustrated but I’m too kind 🙂

Just kidding.

He stopped by after the class and said his back really hurt whenever he was out of the saddle, and that’s why he was leaning forward carrying a lot of weight on his arms on standing flats.

I told him to just stay in the saddle next time if getting out of it bothers his back.

But here’s the thought: next time you see that stubborn rider in your class who just wouldn’t do the right thing despite your instructions – think twice before getting frustrated or thinking they are just another “know-it-all” and “know-it-better”. I’m glad this person told me after the class what his issue was and let me help him out the best way I know how. Think how many of them will never talk to you about their health issues and why they can’t do certain things. Think about how many of them will never admit it even to themselves.

Talk to them. Offer help. Ask questions. Be discreet and polite. Find the key to every one of them.

That’s what this job is about for me: building your own community of like-minded people and making everybody feel welcome and “at home”.

There you have it – a couple playlist ideas and a couple pieces of valuable advice 🙂 🙂 🙂

Ready to start this Wednesday now!

Question of the day: What’s the worst case of a “know-it-all” student you’ve ever witnessed in your/somebody else’s class?

Take care, friends, and talk to you soon.

 

This post has been shared on Workout Wednesdays Linkup.