On June 14, 2003, I took the YMCA Indoor Cycling Certification taught by Ray Salahuddin and Sean Dries. Here are the notes I took during class. For more details, refer to the Cycle Reebok training manual.
- Getting on the bike
- Posture and Form
- Why Cycle?
- Training Conditions
- Riding Elements and Cycling Techniques
- Teaching Tips
- What Makes a Great Instructor
Getting on the Bike
It's worth mentioning the proper way to get on a bike because most people do it incorrectly. In case you're wondering, you're NOT supposed to step on one pedal and then swing your leg over! You may damage the bike (undue lateral stress on frame) or worse still, topple it over and hurt yourself and others. Instead, use the following method that's remarkably similar riding a real bike:
- Step over the middle part of the bike (the equivalent of the "top tube")
- Straddle the bike with both feet on the ground.
- Put your toes of one foot in the toe cage (or clip in one foot) in the 6 o'clock position (pedal is at point that's closest to the ground)
- Ensure that clips are secure, but do not overtighten the toe strap
- Put weight on the clipped in foot and lift yourself onto the seat
- Clip in your other foot
Point out how to operate the emergency stop mechanism in case a cyclist loses control.
Posture & Form
- Shoulders & elbows should be relaxed
- Hinge from the hips, don't hunch or bend from the waist
- Pedal in a circular motion - not a triangle, and not a square. Visual cue: "Pretend there's a pencil sticking out the side of your heel. You are drawing a nice, round, circle with that pencil"
- To reduce bounce, increase resistance
- Light weight on hands
- Engage your quads, hamstrong and glutes
- Drop your heel
- Don't mash your pedals. It's not just a push/pull motion. Visual cue: "Pretty circles"
- There's a forceful contraction back. Visual cue: "It's like scraping mud off the bottom of your shoe."
- Don't cycle with your toes pointed down
- Engage all your leg muscles, think about what you're doing at each point. Visual cue (smooth transitions):
- Push down
- Scrape mud off your shoe
- Pull up
- Step over a barrel
- Breathe deeply (not shallow breaths)
Why Cycle?
- Goal is to increase endurances through systematic fatigue
- It's a cardiovascular workout, not localized muscle fatigue
- Anaerobic training
- Greater efficiency
- Conquer new territory
- Higher caloric expenditure
- You can't have an entire workout consist of just anaerobic training. Instead, you optimize metabolic pathways through interval training to ehance interest & adherence
- Speed play
- Sprint --> high end speed play
- Repetition riding
- Continuous slow/fast riding
- Cycling efficiency is the ability to exert maximum force with the least energy.
- Smooth pedal stroke --> maximum efficiency.
- Cadence = revolutions per minute (rpm)
- This is not necessarily the same as bpm (beats per minute)! If a song is 130 bpm, and you are cycling such that your right foot goes down on the first beat, your left goes down on the second beat, etc. You are cycling at 130/2 = 65 rpm. You would be cycling at 130 bpm if the same foot went down with each beat
- Average cadence = 80-100 rpm
- Maximum sprint = 160 rpm
- As resistance increases, so does energy cost However, you also want to minimize orthopedic stress.
- Calories burned in 39 minutes (caveat: depends on weight of participant, effort etc.):
- 318-587 for indoor cycling
- 300-420 for step aerobics
- 300-390 slide
Training Conditions
ACSM & YMCA guidelines
- Initial Conditioning
- 60% max HR
- 10-15 minutes, increasing to up to 20 minutes in a 4-6 week period
- 3x/week
- Improvement Stage
- Works on physiologically improving heart & lungs
- Up to 85% max HR
- 20-30 min duration, 3x/week, 4-5 months
- Maintenance
- Peak Performance
- 90-95% max HR
- High intensity, anaerobic
- 1-2x/week (body needs recovery)
Ways to Monitor Exertion
- HR monitoring
- Basic = (220-Age) x %
- Karvonen (requires RHR = Resting Heart Rate) = (220-RHR) x % + RHR
- RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) on a scale of typically 6-20 or 1-10
- Ventilatory Threshold (VT), also konwn as the "talk test"
Riding Elements and Cycling Techniques
There are a three basic ride elements: cadence (rate of pedaling, slow or fast), workload (amount of resistance, light or heavy), and position (seated or standing).
The various combinations of the three ride elements describe the different cycling techniques. For instance, Fast Light Seated means fast cadence, light resistance and seated position.
- 4 Basic Cycling Techniques
- Fast Light Seated
- Slow Heavy Seated
- Fast Light Standing
- Slow Heavy Standing
- 3 Advanced Cycling Techniques
- Lifting (jumps)
- Speed play
- Resistance variation
Resistance Level
- 0-1 = No resistance
- 2 = Road under your feet
- 3 = A little heavier
- 4 = Some headwind
- 5 = Legspeed slows down
- 6 = Beginning of climb, slow down, heels drop
- 7 = Have to come out of saddle
- 8-9 = Slower out of saddle
- 10 = Legs stop
Basic Cycling Techniques
- Fast Light Seated
- Home position/basic position.
- There is some resistance, ~3 out of 10
- Never cycle with zero resistance
- Visual cue: "Nice & easy. Flat road. Wind at your back."
- Good fo raerobic training
- Slow Heavy Seated
- Hands wide at turn of handlebar (2nd position)
- Resistance level (from scale of 1-10)
- 4 - Hamstring engages
- 5 - Heel drops once, change in power
- 6 - Heel drops again. Noticeable change in speed. Need mor epower
- 7 - Heaviest you can do in saddle & transition
- 8 - Heavy, standing
- Hips slide back a little more
- Anaerobic
- Lower body strength
- Fast Light Standing
- Hands in 2nd position
- Don't come out of saddle with too little resistance
- Transition at 5 so they are in control
- Look ahead one body length's distance (neutral neck) where crank arm joins bike in front of you
- Jogging up a hill (not sprint)
- Aerobic training, strength
- Don't recommend sprint out of the saddle
- Supporty body weight with glutes, hips, thighs. Core stabilization
- Slow Heavy Standing
- Resistance level 6
- Hands out in 3rd position (horns)
- Raise hourself up and out of saddle, not forward
- Hinge at hip, don't round back, contract glutes
- Shift weight back slightly (avoid hyperextending knee)
- Visual cue: "Aggressive climb, up Mount Tam". "Battling mud". "Dig down deep".
- Fast Moderate Seated --> pacing
Advanced Cycling Techniques
- Lifting (Jumps)
- Moderate resistance, ~Resistance 5
- 2nd hand position
- Quicker pace
- Lift body up and down (not forward and back)
- Nothing quicker than 4-count
- Requires a lot of core strength
- Nice and steady
- No pushups: upper body is just a stabilizer. You would torque elbow
- Speed Play
- 2nd hand position
- Constant resistance, vary speed
- Cruise control, accelerate for 15 seconds
- Sprint --> Resistance 4-5 (anaerobic)
- 1:3 work to recovery interval, e.g., 15 second sprint requires 45 second recovery. Required to give people enough time to repeat same intensity, speed, etc.
- Advanced classes use active recovery
- Resistance Variation
- Isolation
- No bounce while standing. Engage core muscles.
- 1 minute maximum
Studio Cycling Drills
Adapted from "Cycle Reebok-The New Revolution" developed by Jeffrey Scott and Leigh Crews
- Tempo Riding: Higher cadence, but not a sprint - some resistance (4 or 5)
- Resistance Riding: Lower cadence, heavier resistance (5 or 6)
- Speed Play/Spin-up: Speedometer, constant resistance but increase leg speed - can do pyramid or ladder (resistance of 4 or 5)
- Repeats: Repeat an activity more than once
- Accelerations: Constant leg speed but increase resistance over time
- Surge: Surge of energy/speed, then return to preveious cadence. It's not a sprint. Repeat
- Standing Surge to Summit: End a climb with an explosion of speed out of the saddle (resistance 6 or 7)
- Explosion: Out of the saddle (resistance 6+), STOP, then explode for about 10 seconds, decrease resistance, sit and recover. Start from standstill. For advanced participants only.
- Sprints: Light resistance (3 or 4) going as fast as you can with control
- Single Leg Training: One leg pedals at a time - excellent for balancing left and right sides and forcing hamstrings to engage. Inactive foot stays in clip, just tell participants to pretend that the leg has gone dead
- Aggressive Climb: Consistent cadence with increasing resistance where after 6 you come out of the saddle and cadence slows down
- Passing Drill: A seated surge - high-end aerobic zone (resistance 4 or 5), then "pass" and return to initial cadence. More advanced riders get less recovery. Repeat.
- Breakaway: Breakway from the pack - a one-time/non-repeated event to let people what they can, e.g., "for the next 30 seconds breakaway from the pack"). Resistance 4-6.
- Out of the Gate: In the saddle explosion, light resistance (3 or 4). Repeated activity.
- Ladder: Increase, then stop changing and hold or recover
- Pyramid: Increase, reach the top, then come back down to start
- Time Trial: All out effort at lighter resistance "get from point A to point B as quickly as possible"
Teaching Tips
- We are trying to minimize local muscle fatigue
- Training effect: maximize duration while minimizing orthpedic stress
- Enhance functional training for upper torso
- Take frequent posture breaks and position changes
- Equal propulsion for both left and right legs. They work together
- Push with part of foot that is in contact with pedal for maximum biomechanical advantage
- Smooth transitions.
- Smooth pedal stroke.
- It is orthopedically unsound to pedal too heavy in the saddle
- Pay attention to alignment of knees and ankle
- Check seat height
- Spine should have neutral alignment
- Avoid hyperextension of wrist
- Raise up out of saddle, not up and forward
What Makes a Great Instructor?
- Intrinisic motivation
- Outstanding leadership
- Goals: be clear and precise
- Stay positive & relaxed
- Maintain two-way communication. Allow class to convey preference in terminology, e.g., "gear up" vs. "click up"
- Verbal instruction: tone of voice reflects intensity
- Remind participants of pedaling technique
- Minimize talking! Unlike step aerobics which requires a lot of cueing, the general rule is talk for 10 seconds and then don't talk again for 1 minute
- Use visual images. Describe:
- Type of road
- Headwind, tailwind
- Hill profile
- Music: create a mood
- If you're choose a theme, stick with it to make it flow!
- Internal focus: train participants to focus on themselves and how they are feeling... not how fast the person beside them is pedaling. Visual cue: "Did you feel ______ ?"
- Keep them focused on the goal, "How did that hill feel?"
- State the rules of the road, e.g. no talking, everybody must bring a full water bottle
- Reward effort, not performance
- Coach, don't compete or perform. It's not about you, it's about your participants
- Frequent posture breaks: after each song or each bought of effort
- Recognize signs of muscular fatigue
- You are a coach. [Note: Ray is a volleyball coach, and a great one at that.] Make the class accountable. For example, if a participant says they're a hard core cyclist and will go all out in class, call them on it if they're not even breaking a sweat halfway through class.
