Cycling instructors must know that throughout any workout there must be a warm up and cool down phase of every indoor cycling class. Novice cyclists who are new to the indoor cycling program are notorious for not warming up before rides or cooling down and stretching afterwards. It’s easy to jump on a bike in class and start off class with intense riding however when you limit or rush your warm up it can cause injuries, sore leg muscles, and make you feel short of breath throughout the ride. Warming up and cooling down will improve your performance on the bike and reduce the risk of injury.
Many fitness club owners think that simply getting new members is the most important aspect when it comes to marketing. However did you know that you can nearly double your income per member simply focusing on retaining the members you already have and encouraging them to invest in effective nutritional products or services that you sell?
Retaining your existing members instead of trying to obtain new members is very important when it comes to being a successful cycling program. I personally use a ‘Fitness & Nutrition’ approach when it comes to accomplishing a clients personal health goals. Protein powders and whole food based concentrated food supplements added alongside a fitness routine can get your members to see their overall fitness and health goals come true sooner!Exceptional customer service involves more than just employing a friendly staff. You must consistently meet and exceed your clients’ needs. Survey your members periodically to make sure you are succeeding, and then develop a customer satisfaction package based on their feedback. Contact me here on more advice on hoe to address individual fitness needs and goals in order to provide an initial fitness assessment and extensive orientation to each of your members. The orientation shouldn’t be just a walk around the gym and locker room, but rather a comprehensive equipment and technique demonstration. This will prevent injuries and encourage members to use unfamiliar equipment.
The Atkins Diet claimed to help individuals drop weight quickly by inordinate reduction of carbohydrates. The South Beach diet claimed to help shed 10 pounds in just one week by diet and intense exercise. While the Zone Diet looked to control an individuals insulin levels by limiting carbohydrates and balancing fats and proteins. Each diet fad made headlines, but medical experts agree: these quick-fix strategies rarely help for long-term weight control and health. While weight loss may be ideal for some individuals, other folks may want to improve their diet as well as lose weight over time. If reducing the risk of disease and increasing your overall health, an anti-inflammatory diet may seem like the best fit. Fruits and Vegetables and Anti-inflammatory diets contain the same proponents of most diets, except with a new twist. Compared to other diets, an anti-inflammatory focuses on adding foods that help reduce inflammation that can cause health risks. One of the main staples of this diet is fruits and veggies. As with most diets, fruits and veggies contain low sugar and trans fat levels and contain the vital proteins and fibers necessary to replenish and revitalize the body. Aim for high fiber fruits and vegetables, apples, papaya, broccoli, tomatoes, and kale. Fruits and veggies will keep you full, but also put a stop to high blood pressure, curb onset diabetes, and lower your risk of heart disease. Add some spice to your life: ginger, chili and even curry adds some spice and flavor to your foods; more importantly, spices also help reduce inflammation. Take some ginger, chili and even curry and add them to your dietary staples, i.e., chicken, meats and even pork products. If you feel daring, try adding these spices to non-meat products, including pastas, salads and even fruits. If you loathe the taste of hot spices, you can also try more tepid flavors to tone down the spicy factor, including mild sauces, peppers and even mild curry. Look for recipes to help incorporate mild and hot spices into your meals or visit an accredited college database online to learn new tricks. Fish, salmon and even sardines contain omega-3 nutrients that help curb inflammation. Nutrients aside, seafood also comes loaded with protein and is easy on the carbohydrates. With so much variety to select from, seafood makes for the perfect anti-inflammatory food to consume. Add in some veggies and some spices to the pot and you have yourself a triple threat of anti-inflammatory foods. Herbalists continue to rave about teas natural ability to grant essential nutrients and supplements to help the body recover and reduce inflammation. Green, white, and Oolong tea may be the best choices for fighting inflammation. When mixed together with anti-oxidants and nutrients this makes tea the perfect compliment to any meal. Whether you drink tea hot or cold, look to add it to your meals at least 4-5 times per week.
Growing up with a father who was a two-time U.S. Olympian in Rowing (68′ Mexico City Olympic Bronze Medalist and 76′ Montreal Olympic Men’s Rowing Coach) was a very interesting experience. I thought it was normal routine workout and it made sense that my father would go out for a 3-hour workout and train 7 days a week. I didn’t really appreciate or even come close to understanding how truly hard and mentally tough it is to win an Olympic medal… let alone just to make the Olympic Team until I rowed and was recruited to row for UC Berkeley. All of a sudden I found myself the weakest and slowest rower on the team as we went on to win 3 National Championships and 4 PAC- 10 Championships in 4 years along with International rowers that were recruited from all over the world. It was my introduction to the next step of my rowing career as I rowed alongside recruited rowers from Sweden, Norway, Germany, England, Serbia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Croatia . I remember days where I would barely be awake during practice in the early mornings as I did not have enough time to recover in between practices. Our coaches made us do fitness tests every week to see how fast we could row 10,000 meters on the Concept 2 Rowing Machine. One year we accumulated 15 tests every week of 10,000 meters and about 10 fitness tests of 6,000 meters! My overall best Concept 2 times were 33 min 20 seconds for 10,000 meters (1:40 split avg) and a national team qualifying time of 19 min 2o seconds for the 6,000 meter test (1:36 split avg).
Two years ago when I created Roworx in Long Beach it was my dream to offer a complete low impact high-calorie burn workout for everyone to enjoy no matter what experience an individual had in athletics. Recently I have had many new calls and emails regarding how ‘easy’ or ‘hard’ certain Roworx Classes were and what kinds of classes I thought would be best for people just starting out their new workout routine. Throughout my 20 years of experience as an athlete and rower I have found that nearly half of the general public I come in contact with and talk about my sport think that rowing is relatively ‘easy’ and discuss the perception that rowing is a total upper body workout. However, in reality, the power behind the rowing stroke is driven through your legs (about %80) and then the rest throughout the entire body. Rowing is actually one of the hardest, if not the hardest cardiovascular demanding sport that you can do on the planet. For instance, the standard Olympic distance for a rowing race is 2,000 meters (just over a mile). The standard U.S. Men’s Heavyweight Olympic Team time for rowing a 2,000 meter piece on the Concept 2 rowing machine is around 5 min :55 seconds (1:28 500 split avg or around 500 watts)! Out of all the Roworx Classes we have to offer such as Rowing, Bootcamp, Zumba, Evo Indoor Cycling,TRX Suspension Training,Pilates Arc Ab Exercises and the Ski Erg Training along with any other activity that you choose to do is as hard as you want to make it. es,Since you are the one that is participating in the activity it is also up to yourself to push as hard as you want. I always tell everyone in class at Roworx that if you can hold your body-weight in watts on the Concept 2 monitor then that is a great goal. Once you have hit your body-weight in watts you can then try and double your body-weight and so on.
I came across an article in the L.A. Times recently that covered a cycling studio that uses weights while on the Indoor bike. I began to wonder how far we will go with indoor cycling to make it so different and unique that it suddenly becomes unsafe and dangerous. Indoor cycling is an amazing cardiovascular workout and is extremely popular among all fitness classes offered around the world. However, as with all group fitness classes, there is concern that instructors try new and ‘exciting’ ways to do certain exercises on the indoor bike and some of these moves can cause injury. Along with Jillian Michael’s on The Biggest Loser as well as doing certain cycling techniques more often than not less is more when it comes to new ways to try and re-invent certain indoor cycling techniques. Many instructors use moves that may be dangerous in the name of creativity. Indoor cycling can be very safe, but make sure you are aware of the following top 10 mistakes that instructors make while teaching class or while using your indoor bike at home. Overall when it comes to designing and planning an indoor cycling workout: Less Is More! Focus on the beats of the music and try to keep it a simple cycling routine so that everyone in class can follow no matter what level you are. 🙂 Check out our classes at Roworx for more information about cycling classes!
The EVO Indoor Cycling Bike is very unique from the rest of the indoor bikes on the market in that it engages the whole body while cycling in and out of the seat while riding just as a real outdoor bike experience would be on the open road. Some cyclists would say that the less sway the better, however, the act of throwing every ounce of leverage, weight, and power into the pedals and movement side to side is the visible result of trying that hard to move forward when riding outdoors. If you could stay absolutely still, and input the same amount of force to the pedal, then more of that energy would go to moving forward, but it’s physiologically it is very difficult. It’s a matter of balance and leverage. Further, there is a mechanical advantage to be had in terms of body mechanics by swaying the bike and it lets the cyclist apply a bit more force than if the bike remained straight. The swaying motion from side to side will allow the cyclist to use more of his arm strength than would otherwise be the case. Being able to use your full body weight in a sprint has its advantages, and that’s one reason they shift the bike back and forth under them to ‘throw’ their body weight down on alternate legs side to side creates momentum and speed. They quite simply must sway the bike back and forth because of the mechanical reality of the situation. It’s not even really a conscious act and if a rider didn’t do this, the bike would fall out from under them. Sometimes you will actually see someone move a traditional indoor cycling bike off the ground from side to side and hop around the floor in class. These riders are applying extreme power to each pedal. Since the pedals are not centered laterally, applying a large force to the right pedal for instance will apply a rotational force that pushes the top of the bike to the right and the bottom of the bike to the left. Without this counterbalancing motion, they would quite literally kick the wheel to the side out from under them. By ‘swaying’ the bike in the opposite direction, they increase the amount of force on the legs and core that can be applied to the pedals without crashing. It is an intuitive motion that happens completely automatically to any rider from novice to advanced. For a quick mental picture, imagine somebody swaying in the same direction as the pedal being pushed. For instance, somebody leaning the bike to the right while they apply a large force to the right pedal. The rotational force would rotate the bicycle clockwise, lifting the wheel off the ground. Not something you want to happen, especially at sprinting speeds and especially in a classroom setting. For a great example how this technique comes into play in real road cycling watch any Tour De France finish line approach. It’s incredibly intense and you can see how hard everyone sprints and works the whole body in order to get through the finish first. Legs, lungs, muscle endurance, and core play a massive role in the use of the Evo Bike!
Indoor cycling classes are an ideal place to work on the proper cycling technique and provide a traffic-free environment that can go a long way toward replacing the on-the-road experience. It’s a great place for cycling novices to improve at least ten aspects of cycling that will quickly make them a better rider. Indoor cycling is also a great place for the veteran cyclists to refresh their technique as long as they remember not to ride an indoor bike the same way they do their outdoor bikes. Whether you are training for an Ironman competition or just trying to stay in great shape be sure to incorporate indoor cycling into your weekly workout routine in order to improve muscle endurance and cardiovascular health. Tons of calories can be burned in just one cycling class and the best part is you can do it anytime anywhere.
Jack created Roworx in Long Beach after winning numerous medals in various events on the international rowing stage. Jack started rowing in 1996 for Long Beach Juniors and made the 1997 Junior National Team Selection Camp.
