Pyramid Class Profile for Indoor Cycling – RE: Covers

My toughest riders called this pyramid class profile hard! It is a solid hour of hard work – both on flats and up in the hills with just a few breaks for water and breath catching.

I’ve been contemplating this class for a long-long time! See, the thing is, I really like some covers of the good old songs. Some I like even better than originals 🙂

So when I accumulated enough of those I put them all in a playlist.

Before all that happened, I started contemplating a pyramid class profile.

At some point these two just came together – the pyramid class profile and the playlist consisting of all cover versions of famous songs.

See what came out of it.

Pyramid Class Profile and Playlist for Indoor Cycling 

RE: Covers

Class duration: 57:16

Here’s the playlist:

Before we go to the class notes segment-by-segment, here’s what my pyramid looked like:

As you can see, there are 3 steps up the pyramid, one at the top, and 3 steps down.

Going up the pyramid the time for each drill increases, but we drop one drill at each step (5-4-3-2). One the way down the time decreases but the number of drills goes back up adding one after each step.

Pretty easy 🙂 Grab your FREE .pdf of the image above here to print for the class.




I built this class profile in Class Builder app. If you use it too, here’s a link to the class description .pdf from the app: Ride 47 – RE-Covers

Before you dive into notes below, it might be a good idea to have my Class Builder app glossary open in another tab in case you have terminology questions.

Now you’re all set!

Class Notes:

1: “Hey Jude (130 Bpm)”, James Perrone  – Warm up: settle into a nice and easy pace with light resistance anywhere between 80 and 110 RPM. Make sure that resistance is just comfortable – imitating a flat road. Explain the ride and set the goals for the class. NOTE: between the time I bought this song on iTunes and the time I wrote this post – it disappeared from iTunes. It is not included in the playlist above for that very reason. It is 4:48 long. Feel free to use any other cover for the warm up section.
2: “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll”, Britney Spears – Step 1 of the pyramid starts: Seated Climb for 1:15, then add resistance and transition to Standing Climb for 1:15, add more resistance and start Jumps on the Hill for 1:15 (will run into the next song).
3: “Beat It (feat. John Mayer)”, Fall Out Boy – as the pace changes, cue your class to increase the pace on Jumps. Remind them to do the Jumps for at least the count of 4 (pedal strokes) and at their own pace. at 0:35, dial resistance back and transition to Standing Flat (HP2) for 1:15, at 2:00 switch to seated flat (either recover or maintain challenging pace to continue working). At 3:05 – add resistance for the 1:45 long Seated Climb marking the beginning of Step 2 of the pyramid.
4: “Fever”, Madonna – continue Seated Climb, switch to standing at 1:12 for another 1:45. At 2:47 add resistance and start Jumps on the Hill for 1:45. At 4:42 – start the final drill of this step – Standing Flat – by dialing back the resistance and transitioning to HP2.
5: “16 Tons”, Robbie Williams – finish off the last drill of Step 2. At 1:27, dial the resistance back for the first drill of Step 3 – Seated Climb for 2:15.
6: “Stand By Me”, Seal – stay with your Seated Climb for another minute, then transition to Standing Climb for 2:15. At 3:11 add resistance and start Jumps on the Hill for the next 2:15 (will run into next song).
7: “The Unforgiven (Instrumental Version)”, Apocalyptica – continue Jumps. At 1:34 start the top step of the Pyramid with a 2:30 Seated Climb. At 4:04 switch to Standing Climb.
8: “Thunderstruck”, 2CELLOS – continue Standing Climb. At 1:11 dial the resistance back to flat road – we’re starting down the Pyramid. Either recover of this Seated Flat for 2:15 or combine recovery and some speed work. Transition to Standing Flat at 3:26 until the end of this song.




9: “In a Gadda Da Vida”, Yat-Kha – start this step of the pyramid with Jumps – once again, minimum of 4 counts, at your own pace. Return to Seated Flat at 2:15 for another 1:45 (going down another step of this pyramid class profile).
10: “Physical (Glee Cast Version) [feat. Olivia Newton-John]” – start with Standing Flat for 1:45 then transition to Jumps – this time not on a hill, stay on flat road. Continue until the end of the song.
11: “Back in Black”, Anastacia – time to get back to climbing! Start the 1:45 Seated Climb at the beginning to finish this step of the pyramid. To start the final step of this pyramid class profile, take off the resistance and transition to Seated Flat for 1:15, then Standing Flat for another 1:15. At 4:15 start Jumps (not on hill) and continue into the next musical segment.
12: “We Will Rock You”, Five – back in the hills we go with the final climb of the class. Start with 1:15 on the Seated Climb – heaviest resistance yet, then transition to Standing Climb.
13: “Smooth Criminal”, Alien Ant Farm – stay on your Standing Climb for the first :34 seconds of this song, then dial resistance back, return to the saddle and race to the finish line of this challenging ride! Make sure that resistance is sufficient to not bounce in the saddle as your RPM’s go up. It is the final effort of the class and even though it is on a flat road, it doesn’t come easy after what the class has just accomplished. Cue your riders to keep up their efforts for this last segment and finish strong.
14: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, The Temptations – Cool down. It was a long and quite and intense ride you just finished. Make sure your riders spend this segment of the class in the saddle, cooling down and brining down their heart rates.
15: “Defying Gravity (Glee Cast Version)”, Glee Cast – dismount the bike and stretch.

So that’s that, my dear in- and outdoor cyclists 🙂

I hope you enjoy the ride if you decide to teach it. Be sure to let me know in comments how it went!

Have a wonderful rest of your week, guys, and ride on!

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DISCLAIMER:

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

No statement is made to the suitability or otherwise of the indoor cycling 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 indoor cycling class / Spinning 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 cycling 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.

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