Good News...Cycle Starter's will be succeeded by Cycle Starter's II on Wednesday, November 9th! If you were bemoaning the fact that Cycle Starters was coming to an end, we will now be able to continue the learning with Cycle Starter's II, starting with the November 9th class.
There is no advance sign-up; just come in and learn about and experience indoor cycling at a starter level. Questions are always welcome.
Speaking of questions, I've been asked a couple of questions about form and technique on the indoor cycle. I figure there's no better way to answer your questions than by tapping into the pros. To provide you with today's answers I went to an ACE Certified Newsletter from June/July 2009 and copied the section on Indoor Cycling. To view the full newsletter, please go to: http://www.acefitness.org/cp/pdfs/CertifiedNews/JunJul09Cert.pdf
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GFI SERIES
CREATE SAFE, EFFECTIVE
BY KAREN ASP
Indoor Cycling Classes
I’m taking an indoor cycling class when the instructor does something that is not only unusual, but also potentially dangerous: she asks participants to take one foot out of the clip or cage, place it on the center of the bike, and pedal with one leg. participants remain here for several minutes, increasing
resistance per the instructor’s urgings (they are supposed to feel an incredible burn in their quads), before resuming two-legged cycling. they then switch legs.
I’m convinced the instructor doesn’t realize how ill- advised this move is, as she does it in every class. Yet one-legged cycling isn’t the only mistake instructors are making. Other mistakes—everything from push- ups on handlebars and isolations to jumps and out-of- control pedaling—are regularly being made in indoor cycling classes.
Unfortunately, some of these moves are neither safe nor effective and could lead to injuries among participants. That’s why we’ve tapped leading experts from various indoor cycling programs to shed light on some of these contraindicated moves. They’ll also reveal what it takes to create a good cycling class—and why coaching is more important than instructing—so you’ll never have to rely on these moves again.
Five Common Mistakes
One of indoor cycling’s biggest advantages is its simplicity. “You sit or stand, change resistance and pedal,” says Julz Arney, lead master trainer for
Schwinn Cycling and a fitness educator in Costa Mesa, Calif. “It doesn’t get much more difficult than that.” Yet in recent years, instructors have made cycling
more difficult, and several reasons may be to blame. For starters, many cycling instructors come from aerobic fitness backgrounds, and transitioning from the aerobic arena into indoor cycling can be challeng- ing. “Group fitness instructors are often [accustomed] to such complex choreography that when they face the simple design of cycling classes, they’re lost,”
says Luciana Marcial-Vincion, M.A., Spinning Master Instructor and Master Instructor Team Manager for Mad Dogg Athletics.
Another problem? “Instructors have this perception that participants are getting bored riding bikes,” Marcial- Vincion says. As a result, instructors employ creativity and make up moves that aren’t real to the road.
While these moves might seem like fun to partici- pants, they aren’t always good for them. “Some of these moves are contraindicated, which jeopardizes participants’ health,” Marcial-Vincion says, adding that she’s seen many insane things in cycling classes, including a national TV show that removed the saddle so participants couldn’t sit.
Continued on page 4
Karen asp, a health and fitness writer and ACE-certified fitness professional, writes regularly for numerous publications, including Self, Shape, Women’s Health, Fitness, Prevention, Real Simple, Men’s Fitness, Woman’s Day and Natural Health. She’s also a contributing writer for AOL and Oxygen.
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So what are some of these contraindicated moves? Take a look at five of the top offenders:
Out-of-control cadences: If you’ve never cycled out- side, it’s easy to ride indoors with cadences that are too fast. Yet if you were to ride that quickly on the road, you wouldn’t get anywhere. Plus, super-fast pedaling doesn’t provide much of a challenge for your body. “You might have the perception that you’re working hard, but you’re only as productive as the power you’re producing,” Marcial-Vincion says. If you use lower resistance and higher cadences, you have lower power output, which means you’re not challenging the cardiovascu- lar and muscular systems as much and will have a harder time reaching your goals. Super-fast cadences also pose dangers to the hips, knees and ankles.
To keep participants in control, do cadence checks where you ask participants to count pedal strokes. For instance, do a 10-second count and then have them multiply by six to determine their revolutions per minute (RPM). Schwinn, for instance, recommends that cadences not exceed 110 RPM. If you or your participants are going faster than that, add resis- tance to slow the legs.
You might also do what Arney’s done and replace the word “sprint” with “surge” or “power surge.” “To most students, the word ‘sprint’ means pedal as fast as you can, which is a recipe for disaster,” she says. Instead, to do this right, make sure participants have enough resistance on their bikes. Then ask them to add more leg power to that already- challenging resistance, and you’ll successfully execute a surge.
Conversely, pedaling too slowly (under 50 RPM per Schwinn), can cause the legs to fatigue before achieving much of a cardiovascular benefit. Arney suggests that if you keep cadences between 60 and 90 RPMs in class, “you’ll always be able to find the workout intensities that make indoor cycling such a great workout.”
One-legged cycling: Professional cyclists will do one- legged cycling on machines that measure force output pro- duced by each leg. Yet in an indoor cycling class, explains
Arney, power output typically is not measured so the value of one-legged cycling is questionable. Besides, cycling is a two- legged sport, and reducing it to one leg makes no sense.
More importantly, though, removing one foot from the cage or clip increases the likelihood of getting hit in the calf by the pedal and causing serious injury, says Marcial-Vincion. The risk increases in dimly lit studios where participants can’t see their bodies clearly. Regardless of light level, however, instructors should never ask participants to remove their feet from the pedals while they’re riding.
Push-ups on the handlebars: Have you ever seen a cyclist do this on the road? Then why do it in class? Besides, doing push-ups on a bike doesn’t provide enough challenge to build strength, and they make participants move unnatu- rally on the bike, which could put them in compromising positions. “Save push-ups for when you’re on the floor and grounded to the earth,” Marcial-Vincion says.
Jumps: “Jumps are a poor choice and should be replaced with simple riding techniques and great coaching,” Arney argues, citing three reasons. First, even if you’ve mastered jumps with resistance, the majority of your participants have not. So, to keep up with you, they often decrease resistance and sacrifice fitness benefits in exchange for a maneuver that’s neither functional nor effective. Secondly, “one of the most stressful moments for the knee joint in cycling occurs when
a rider gets up out of the saddle, so any perceived benefit of jumping is outweighed by the potential overuse damage that can result from getting in and out of the saddle,” Arney explains, adding that this is especially true with super-fast jumps. Besides, if you want to keep recruiting new participants into indoor cycling classes—which, according to Arney, has been losing ground in recent years—you should eliminate intimidating moves like jumps that may scare people away.
Isolations: You might love telling students to freeze their upper body while in a standing position so they feel a burn in their quads. Yet the long-term ramifications could be tremendous. “You’re placing undue stress on the hips, knees and ankles,” says Mancial-Vincion, “which could cause serious injury.” Instead, find ways to challenge the quadriceps more safely. One suggestion: Move into a standing position, but increase the resistance and cadence slightly so it feels like a difficult road. You’ll then feel that same burn without the dangers. ( Retrieved from ACE Fitness on Wednesday, October 26, 2011: http://www.acefitness.org/cp/pdfs/CertifiedNews/JunJul09Cert.pdf)
