“Physical markers are very often intangible to people,” says Oliver Patrick, co-founder of clinical wellbeing academy FuturePractice. “I can’t get someone out of bed on a cold Wednesday morning to go and increase their VO2 max by 3 per cent, because it doesn’t mean anything to them. 

“Neither can I tell them with certainty what the long-term physical outcome of their exercise will be. It’s so intangible, so immeasurable, that it isn’t worth talking about for most people. 

“From the first time someone exercises, we can expect tangible increases in energy and happiness”

“As a coach, I have to find something that bothers or interests the individual, then draw a direct line between exercise and their desired outcome. That’s generally going to be something to do with the way they feel, because being mentally suboptimal is the norm in our high-stress world. 

“And actually that’s useful, because there’s an immediacy to humans: to get someone hooked on a drug, you need to give them a first fix, and with exercise that first fix will come quicker if you focus on feelings, not fitness goals.”

A feelgood boost in just 15 minutes

He adds: “In fact, it can come within 15 minutes of starting a class. From the first time someone exercises, we can expect tangible increases in energy and happiness, decreases in stress, improvements in clarity of thinking and even sleep quality.”

BrainExplainers’ Daphne Feller agrees: “The feelgood hormones dopamine, serotonin and endorphins come within a single workout, with cardiovascular exercise particularly well-known for inducing a significant release of these neurotransmitters. 

“Each neurotransmitter has its own job, but all three are associated with enhanced feelings of positivity: runners’ high hormone serotonin plays an important role in regulating mood, emotions and sleep; dopamine triggers our reward system to help us feel pleasurably motivated; and endorphins manage pain, lower stress, improve mood and enhance our sense of wellbeing.

“In a 45-minute indoor cycling class, you can expect your brain to release all three; serotonin takes the longest, normally kicking in after around 30 minutes. Exercise also helps control the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline.”

Why group exercise is top for happiness

Patrick continues: “The problem is, we’re generally not great at attaching feelings to what we do. It’s therefore really important that we tell people what we want them to observe when they exercise. Ask them: ‘Have you noticed a decreased tension in your muscles, are you feeling less burdened and a bit more joyful – less keen to honk your horn at someone on the way home?’ 

“That’s the feeling we want to get them addicted to, so crucially we need them not just to say ‘I feel a bit better today’, but to actively recognise and attach that feeling to their workout: ‘I feel a bit better today because I did the exercise.’

“We need to help them understand the control that exercise gives them over their feelings, so the next time their mood lowers or their shoulders start moving towards their ears, they know how to do something about it.”

“If I help you find more energy, I put you in the best possible position to find happiness… and group exercise helps with multiple forms of energy.”

He adds: “Happiness isn’t always possible, of course. You can’t feel happy if you’re in a state of grief, as an example. However, if I help you find more energy – emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually – I enable happiness. I put you in the best possible position to find it.

“And group exercise helps with multiple forms of energy, not just physical. We also feel emotionally, spiritually and mentally energised by being in a community where we have a part to play. There’s a lot of interesting scientific work going on at the moment to explain why, but we are undoubtedly hardwired to exist and feel good in the presence of other people.”

The music in class plays a key role too, says Feller: “Music can evoke strong emotions by stimulating the limbic system – the part of the brain that’s responsible for emotional responses. When activated in a positive way, it can encourage feelings of happiness.

“Music also lowers cortisol levels, especially slow, calming music. It means the final cool-down track of a cycling class is particularly beneficial not just for the body, but also for the brain.”

How exercise helps us deal with stress

Yet the science of exercise and its impact on the brain is still emerging, warns Daniel Callow PhD, postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“We don’t actually know what’s changing in the brain at a molecular level when we exercise,” he explains. “BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) is something people talk about, as we know BDNF is likely important for brain health: the suggestion is that it may be released in the brain when we exercise. However, most of this research has been done in animals. 

“In humans, we can only measure BDNF in the blood, not the brain, and it may cross the brain/blood barrier and respond to exercise in an inconsistent manner. At this stage, there’s insufficient evidence to be confident about neurotrophic factor and its direct contribution to exercise-induced brain health.

“That isn’t to say we can’t measure any positive impact of exercise on the brain. What we can see and objectively measure – through eye tracking and neuroimaging of brain activity – are changes in networks within the brain, which affect how we respond to external stimuli. The stress response region of the brain, for example, is altered by exercise – mostly in a seemingly beneficial way – which could help explain why exercise helps us deal with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. 

“Scientists have already measured the short-term impact of a single session of activity, but the idea is that over time, a sustained exercise routine could lead to adaptations in the brain that make you more resilient to these stressors.”

How indoor cycling can help treat depression

It is this interest in the causes and treatment of depression that underpins the work of Michael Hosking, Biology PhD, professor and founder of Revocycle Mind and Body Cycling. 

Hosking’s fascination with the emerging science around exercise and the brain initially stemmed from his own period of intense depression and PTSD around 15 years ago, which he self-treated using physical activity. 

He explains: “I started cycling again and feeling better. I then began to look into the research on exercise and depression/PTSD and a couple of weeks later, told my psychiatrist I was going to stop taking medication. I was feeling so much better. She was shocked by the results I’d achieved and told me it would fundamentally change the way she treated patients with depression.

“When I then discovered Dr John Ratey’s seminal book, SPARK: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, I contacted Harvard University and spent a week studying under him. I created Revocycle Mind and Body Cycling there and then – an indoor cycling programme where we talk about movement as self-care, stress relief, meditation. We focus on social connection and self-efficacy and we never, ever talk about changing the body or burning calories. The whole programme looks entirely unlike a typical indoor cycling class in its delivery, the way we celebrate, even the way we greet people. 

“Why wouldn’t we promote going to the gym to be happy? It’s more inclusive. It says you don’t have to look a certain way to attend the gym.”

“We’ve also now launched Revocycle Mind and Body Education, to teach fitness professionals the science of exercise and the brain. Depression is a huge burden on individuals and society around the world. I just felt it was too important not to bring all of this together and spread the word.”

Exciting new findings as the science ‘explodes’

Hosking continues: “Exciting new findings are emerging all the time, too. For example, until the late 90s–early 2000s, scientists didn’t believe the brain could grow new neurons, yet now we know that neurogenesis – the creation of new nerve cells – can occur in the hippocampus.

“Scientists then began to investigate where in the brain depression lives, and they discovered that it lives in the hippocampus. Specifically, they began to notice that the hippocampus was smaller – with fewer cells and fewer connections – in individuals with depression. 

“The next question, of course: Does depression cause the hippocampus to shrink? And can we promote neurogenesis to treat depression?

“Scientists found that if rats were made to run a lot, more new neurons formed in their hippocampi. The idea began to emerge that exercise might be a tool to promote neurogenesis and help address depression. Research in this field skyrocketed.

“The science is still evolving and exploding, but a meta-study published in 2023 reviewed research from the last 20 years and drew out four key conclusions. First, depression is almost always associated with reduced hippocampus volume. Second, exercise can help with depression – this the conclusion of 76 per cent of studies. Third, exercise is as effective or more effective than medication, with fewer negative side-effects and lots of positive side-effects. 

“And fourth, BDNF is the likely linchpin for the effectiveness of both exercise and antidepressants, with neurogenesis very likely the mechanism and mediator.

“The sector has to be braver in the conversations it’s willing to have, encouraging people to keep an eye out for changes in how they feel”

“Daniel [Callow] is of course correct when he says we have to be careful about drawing early conclusions about BDNF. However, we already know that people with depression have low levels of BDNF in their blood, and that one-off sessions of exercise increase those levels. We also know that aerobic exercise is better than strength training at increasing levels of BDNF in the blood.

“I very much appreciate a scientist who’s cautious and focused on what’s absolutely proven, but I guess I’m just willing to be a little more generous in my views of the emerging molecular and cellular models of BDNF and neurogenesis, which are highly complex and compelling.”

We know what works. Why not talk about it?

Yet whatever we now discover as the science continues to evolve, as Callow himself says: “A precise mapping of BDNF levels in the brain isn’t what will elicit the greatest benefits for individuals. It might help develop therapeutics and drugs in the future, but what matters to the individual is the brain’s proven response to physical activity in terms of our behaviours, moods and cognitive responses.”

Patrick agrees: “If you’re on the field, you can’t deprive people by holding back waiting for a journal that empirically proves what we all suspect. You have to work with what’s available, and we know that being active is good for brain health – especially cardiovascular activity [find out more in our Life Cycle article]. We also know that brain health sits at the heart of mental health.” 

“Gyms should move away from marketing physical perfection to focus on elevated mood, stress reduction and better sleep”

“And why wouldn’t we promote going to the gym to be happy?” asks Feller. “Not only does this encourage people to focus on the instant feelgood of being active, it’s also a more inclusive, supportive approach. It says you don’t have to look a certain way to attend the gym. It gives everyone permission to go purely for how it makes them feel.”

She adds: “I believe gyms should move away from marketing physical perfection to show people of all shapes and sizes, highlighting exercise benefits such as elevated mood, stress reduction, mental strength and better sleep.” (See also Focus on the Feelgood for more fascinating thought leadership on this topic.)

The brave new conversations gyms must have

But to support this new approach, says Patrick: “The sector has to be braver in the conversations it’s willing to have. Everyone’s scared of what they don’t know, but you don’t have to be a psychologist to ask someone how they feel, and to do so in a structured way.

“You can’t diagnose or promise specific results. You have to know when to stop giving advice. But you can ask the question, you can be empathetic, and you can say: ‘No matter what you’ve told me, I believe what we’re going to do will help.’ You can have a meaningful conversation and encourage people to keep an eye out for changes in how they feel.”

“Asking ‘How are you feeling?’ can be a throwaway comment, or it can be the basis for your whole brand”

He adds: “In the end, if exercise is done in a quest for improved body composition, very few people will adhere to it at the frequency that’s required. But if we can attach coming to class to improving the things that are bothering people mentally, we will drive loyalty. 

“So we need to start selling ourselves as feeling centres, not physical transformation centres, with a clear scope of practice to communicate and improve the way people feel. There is no product that comes close to exercise, sleep and nutrition for achieving this goal; upscale gyms and studios already have the facilities, people and interventions to alleviate most people’s problems.

“If we can now improve our quality of language and diversify our understanding a little bit, we can be the wellbeing antidote to a poisonous environment. Asking ‘How are you feeling?’ can be a throwaway comment, or it can be the basis for your whole brand.”

The post Happy hour appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

David Stalker

President, EuropeActive | Group CEO, Myzone

A call to action

As we emerged from COVID, our sector was suddenly presented with a new opportunity: the chance to be health delivery partners. This has the potential to transform our industry, but only if we make it our foremost objective and embrace the opportunity wholeheartedly.

We can’t pick and choose which elements of health to focus on. We can’t just deliver to the already-healthy, which is pretty much what we’ve always done as a sector. We have to open up to the wider population. We have to look for the people we can influence. And the biggest group where we can make the biggest difference is the older population, because most of the things that are wrong with them – physically, mentally, emotionally – are purely age-related.

Medication is helping us all live longer, but not necessarily in good health: we have years of being infirm, alive but not enjoying life, home alone and lonely. Our sector is uniquely positioned to change this for the better, and I believe we are morally obliged to do so, but so far we aren’t stepping up to this responsibility.

In most cases, we’re failing to look at how we can serve this enormous population even within our existing accessible facilities: swimming pools, indoor cycling studios, even elements of the gym floor if only we’d stop making them so intimidating. Honestly, now aged 60, even I find the big functional spaces intimidating, and I don’t see anyone else my age at the gym.

“As health partners, we can’t pick and choose which elements of health to focus on. We have to look for the people we can influence.”

New programming will be key to changing this. We can also take our increasingly highly-qualified staff out to the community centres where older people are. More than any other group, older people seek community. We can create that. We have a social duty to do so.

Yet many operators tell me ‘that doesn’t work in our business’. My answer: it does and it must. Forget your old model and your short-term focus. Forget doing things only for commercial benefit. Do things because they’ll make a difference to people’s lives.

Of course, I’m not so naïve as to suggest a business doesn’t have to think about its finances. Even if we make nothing financially from serving the older generations, we will benefit commercially if they enjoy it and tell their families. We will create and own a new community, and our reward will be the community’s response.

Yet even this is to ignore the big picture: the unprecedented opportunity that comes with moving away from the same-old penetration and retention rates to become health delivery partners. This isn’t a philanthropic gesture. Quite frankly, every operator’s balance sheet will be blown out of the water if we do this properly.

But these opportunities will only come if we stop asking ‘what’s the commercial opportunity?’ and start asking ‘what’s the right thing to do?’ The right thing will result in a happier country, a happier state, happier businesses, happier people, better retention and a bigger market. 

We are part of this solution and we must own it with absolute passion and duty.

Dr Lou Atkinson

Schwinn master trainer | Behavioural scientist

Mindset & motivations

There’s good research around the barriers and facilitators of physical activity for older people, and although there’s no universal definition of what ‘older’ actually means, most research is based on adults aged 65+.

Safety concerns are the biggest barrier for this group: not only the fear of doing themselves harm during the activity itself, but also concerns about safely getting to and from the venue. 

Indoor cycling is a great solution provided it’s marketed correctly, showing it doesn’t have to be hardcore – that it’s an achievable, low-impact activity that’s completely and instantly adaptable to all levels, with a simple movement pattern that’s easy to learn. 

It’s also seated, but won’t upset the young-at-heart in a way that being offered chair aerobics might. 

Falls risk can be further minimised by lighting the studio so people can see what they’re doing, especially before and after class when they’re walking around; keeping the space free of trip hazards; and positioning bikes far enough apart that there are walkways. Some community providers might even consider offering transport to and from the club.

When it comes to facilitators, the social aspect is key; in a population where loneliness and isolation are big issues, physical activity is as much about being with other people as it is about fitness.

This plays to the strengths of group exercise, but note that the social aspect won’t happen automatically. Instructors must be keenly aware of this agenda and encourage interaction in a non-pressured way, getting to know participants to help them get to know each other. Instructors must also step back from being the star of the show: you won’t create a community if the class is focused on one person and communication is one-way.

“Do not make assumptions based on age. Many older adults have been active all their lives. Patronise at your peril!”

Buddying can be a good option, introducing newcomers to well-matched individuals in class, as can post-class coffees, out-of-class activities, online communities and WhatsApp groups. If digital classes are offered – a great way to break down initial nervousness among tech-savvy older generations and cater for those physically unable to attend in-person – use camera angles that show participants as well as the instructor.

A few other thoughts… Many regulars in my classes are aged 50+, with several in their late 60s and 70s, and they have a lower tolerance for loud music. This doesn’t mean they just want old music, though: it’s important to ask about musical preferences and offer variety. Many also use reading glasses which they won’t wear in class, making it harder to rely on console data; coaching becomes more verbal, so it’s more important than ever that your voice can be heard above the music.

Last but absolutely not least, do not make assumptions based on age. Many older adults have been active all their lives, are fitter than many 40-year-olds and just want to continue with the activities they’ve always loved, just with a few modifications. Patronise at your peril!

I’ve certainly never been a fan of the ‘this class is specifically for this group / this purpose’ approach. Indoor cycling is so adaptable in the moment that every class is for everyone. Even as they age, regulars may well keep going to the classes they’ve always done. 

But as I say, there are preconceptions to address among those who haven’t done indoor cycling before, especially if they’ve been nudged towards exercise by a health diagnosis and are nervous about the safety of taking part. My advice: take the pressure off by marketing around fun, social interaction and quality of life – living better for longer. There will still be different fitness levels in class, but the social agenda will unite everyone.

Daniel Callow, PhD

Postdoctoral research fellow, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Scientifically proven

As a postdoctoral research fellow at Johns Hopkins, I’m currently exploring the impact of sleep and physical activity for healthier neurocognitive ageing, with a view to creating multi-domain lifestyle interventions for older people.

My interest in this field goes back years: I studied kinesiology as an undergraduate and did my PhD in cognitive neuroscience, in both cases focusing on exercise as a way to promote healthier ageing, and in particular cognitive ageing. 

“All cardiovascular exercise is beneficial for the brain as we age, but indoor cycling is an accessible option that also brings strength benefits”

For my PhD, I became very interested in neuroimaging: using MRI scanners to look at the structure and function of the brain. I wanted to provide objective evidence of how exercise can support brain health in older adults and delay or prevent cognitive decline and dementia progression.

Most research into cognitive and mental health among older adults focuses on aerobic exercise – my dissertation included. It was based on a set of three acute exercise studies, ‘acute’ meaning the impact of a single session of activity. All three studies involved getting older people into the lab and onto a stationary bike, some days being sedentary, other days cycling for 30 minutes at moderate to vigorous intensity. We’d then do cognitive tests and neuroimaging. 

In fact, indoor cycling is often used when researching the impact of acute exercise on the brain and mental health. As scientists, we want to control as many factors and variables as possible, and a stationary bike is an accessible way to deliver the right sort of aerobic workout in a lab environment.

But why aerobic activity? There’s a lot of research linking cardiovascular health with brain health, and it makes sense: your brain is one of the most metabolically active organs in the body, and it’s the cardiovascular system that brings it the ingredients it needs to produce energy – oxygen in particular. If you start to have issues with your cardiovascular system, it may not be able to provide those resources adequately to the brain. This could be one of the causes of age- or neurodegenerative-related cognitive decline, as well as mental health problems.

All cardiovascular exercise is therefore beneficial for the brain as we age: it doesn’t have to be indoor cycling. However, stationary cycling is an accessible option that also brings strength benefits, making it attractive to older people who need to minimise the load on their joints, for example, or whose gait/mobility issues make walking unsafe.

In our research, we looked at the hippocampus specifically – a small area of the brain that’s crucial for memory. It’s also the part of the brain that deteriorates first, shrinking by 1–2 per cent a year in normal ageing among less active older adults. 

Importantly, studies suggest this decline can be delayed or prevented through regular aerobic exercise: the hippocampus is one of only two regions of the brain capable of producing new neurons throughout the lifespan, and studies suggest exercise to improve the cardiovascular system may directly support and benefit the hippocampal region.

Meanwhile, a lot of previous evidence shows how a single session of activity can be beneficial for executive function, especially among older adults – executive function being the higher-level cognitive skills that generally decline with age. There’s also evidence around the benefits of exercise for depression and anxiety, although my own work is less focused on this area.

Put it all together, however, and there’s clearly a strong body of evidence highlighting the mental and neurocognitive benefits of indoor cycling, not only in the lab, but as an accessible way to exercise our cardiovascular systems as we age.

The post Life cycle appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

Initially, it was just to prove people wrong – to show it could be done. I’d always been active: I was a wheelchair racer from the age of eight to 15 years and even beat Paralympic gold medallist David Weir once, although it was a bit of a fluke!

“I was previously a wheelchair racer and even beat Paralympic gold medallist David Weir once!”

I was working as a personal trainer at Aspire Leisure Centre in the UK when, in 2009, they introduced indoor cycling and asked who’d be interested in teaching it. They weren’t sure if someone in a wheelchair would be able to do it. I was up for the challenge.

That April, I did Schwinn’s Bronze level qualification. It was a two-day course and wasn’t modified at all for wheelchair users, so when it came to teaching a class, a colleague had to get on the bike to demo what I was asking people to do. It worked, though, and I was the first wheelchair user in the world to complete the course.

What’s your role now?

I’m now a Gold level Schwinn coach and have done a few mass participation events, up on-stage alongside able-bodied coaches. I also still work at Aspire as a personal trainer – I’ve been a PT since 1996 – and an indoor cycling coach, teaching classes using a krankcycle.

Aspire is a very inclusive gym. On average across the UK, 1–2 per cent of a gym’s members will be disabled. At Aspire it’s 28 per cent, and that’s reflected in our team too.

My wife comes to my classes – she’s also in a wheelchair and uses a krankcycle – and although most of my participants are able-bodied, many have some sort of health consideration such as overweight, heart conditions, prediabetes and so on. It’s a very inclusive class that attracts a broad array of people. I think they see me and think: ‘If Graham can, I can!’

What’s your coaching style?

I’ve done disability training modules through the YMCA, but above all I believe empathy is key. It’s not about pushing everyone to do 160 RPM. It’s about doing what you can. That’s an ethos I try to bring to every class.

Obviously I can’t get on a bike to demo the moves, so my focus is on verbal cues. Most of my participants have been coming to class for years, so they know exactly what I mean!

“I want to get as many people fit as possible, regardless of their ability. Indoor cycling is a huge part of that”

I also do a lot of going round the room, interacting with people individually. There are only 15 bikes and four krankcycles in the Aspire studio, so there’s plenty of scope to offer a personal touch and tailor the class to the needs of those in the room.

Programming-wise, it’s all about fitness cycling – an authentic approach to indoor cycling where you don’t do any moves you wouldn’t do on an outdoor bike.

How accessible is the fitness sector?

It’s better than it used to be, but there’s still a long way to go. I’ve tried to instruct at other clubs but they simply haven’t been accessible.

Krankcycles are also hard to come by in the UK nowadays, which is a great shame as it isn’t only wheelchair users they’re good for. They’re also good for people who’ve had knee or hip replacements. I believe every club should have one or two in their cycling studio.

And generally, I’d like to see more of the big companies – manufacturers, training providers, operators – showing that it can be done. That accessibility can be mainstream.

What’s your mission?

I want to get as many people fit as possible, regardless of their ability. Indoor cycling is a huge part of that: it’s low impact, you can adjust the workout to your level and it brings a wealth of fitness benefits. It’s a great workout for everyone.

What are your goals?

I’d like to open my own gym or PT studio, including indoor cycling.

I’d like to work with big companies to drive accessibility up the agenda.

And I’d like to become a Schwinn master trainer, so I can get more people with impairments qualified as coaches. It’s a great career. My advice: don’t think about it – just get out there and do it!

The post Dis/ability appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

Author | Lecturer | Menopause activist | Fitness trainer

The first thing to understand is that perimenopausal women make up a huge group of your members, yet even they don’t really understand what they’re going through. Nobody talks about perimenopause! Whether you’re an operator, instructor, woman – or someone who wants to support a woman – the first step is therefore to educate yourself.

For many women, the symptoms of perimenopause can be crippling: hot flashes might be the most famous symptom, but not all women will experience those. It’s also suddenly feeling old, experiencing unexplained muscle and joint pain, anxiety, brain fog, loss of self-esteem, frequent UTIs, lack of sleep… When you’re also trying to manage a job and maybe a family, it’s the perfect storm.

In 2018, I published my first book on this topic, and in 2021 my second. As a yoga and former Spin instructor, I also created a one-day certification, Strong Throughout Menopause, to help instructors understand how to support this huge group of members.

“Although weight gain may push women to exercise even harder and eat less, that isn’t the answer”

Of course, every woman’s journey is different, but for those with medium to severe symptoms, training at high intensity several times a week will likely stress their systems even more. They won’t get the same endorphin rush, either, and may feel more tired between sessions. Although weight gain may push them to exercise even harder and eat less, that isn’t the answer.

My advice for women experiencing symptoms – and this is something clubs and instructors must understand – is that their bodies may now respond differently to exercise. Certainly for me – someone who used to instruct several indoor cycling classes a week – my results went backwards.

I recommend taking one variable at a time, starting with frequency. Keep active, but try doing slightly fewer cycling classes each week and more strength training; this is critical at this lifestage, including for weight management. If it still doesn’t feel good, experiment with intensity too, then duration. It’s about establishing your own very personal thresholds until you restore balance in your body and mind. Make peace with this: something is always better than nothing.

Once you’ve restored your energy and found a way to navigate the perimenopause – potentially with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) – you can experiment with building back up. But keep listening to your body and be brutally honest about what works and what doesn’t.

Again taking myself as an example, from previously being able to train as hard and as often as I liked, I dropped down to 20 minutes of steady-state cycling three or four times a week when my symptoms were at their worst. I never excluded indoor cycling completely. I just changed how I went about it for a while. In fact, it took me a full year to establish a new training schedule that worked for me – and even now, a few years on, I only do HIIT cycling once a week.

“My advice for women experiencing symptoms is that their bodies may now respond differently to exercise”

Alongside this, I do heavy weights training, yoga, short running sessions and a lot more recovery. And this sits at the heart of my advice to clubs and studios: get educated and create special courses for this huge group of customers – courses where strength training, recovery and education are key elements alongside something like indoor cycling, done in moderation and in a way that fully supports women at this stage of their lives.

Tracy Minnoch-Nuku

Menopause podcast host | Fitness speaker | Author

I’m a 53-year-old, perimenopausal woman who’s still teaching indoor cycling classes with waitlists, but I’m the first to recognise that 45-minute classes won’t suit every woman at this stage of her life.

“I’m a strong believer in adopting a new mindset in perimenopause, stepping back from short-term, aesthetic goals”

And that’s OK: I’m a strong believer in adopting a new mindset in perimenopause, stepping back from the short-term, aesthetic goals most women have laboured with for decades and instead focusing on what we need to do to stay healthy in the long term, so we can continue to do all the amazing things on our bucket lists.

With that in mind, strength training comes first. Lean muscle mass is linked to longevity, as well as giving you the strength to do all the things you want to do. Weight training is also about bone density, joint strength, heart health, brain health, a confidence boost.

However, I’m also a firm believer in the right cardiovascular activity being hugely beneficial both physically and mentally, and indoor cycling ticks all the boxes: low impact at a time of joint pain, with the community and the music bringing an added feelgood factor.

“The right cardiovascular activity is hugely beneficial physically and mentally, and indoor cycling ticks all the boxes”

For many women in perimenopause, a long, high-intensity workout isn’t going to work, but through my Sexy Ageing podcast, I’ve spoken to some of the world’s leading experts and am a big advocate of Dr Stacy Sims’ approach. One of the top physiologists when it comes to the menopause, Dr Sims recommends sprint training during perimenopause. This is the approach I’ve incorporated into the programmes in my app, alongside strength training.

It takes around 20 minutes, of which only 10 minutes are work. There’s a five-minute warm-up, 10 minutes of intervals – start with 30 seconds on, 30 seconds recovery, and build up to 40/20 – then five minutes’ cool-down. You could certainly do it on another piece of CV kit, but I believe it’s easiest and most effective on a bike, so that’s what I use in my programmes.

And the benefits are really important for women in perimenopause, 80 per cent of whom will become insulin resistant. It’s this that causes weight to creep up, because the body isn’t as efficient at breaking down glucose. So, any exercise that can help with insulin resistance – without putting too much impact on the body – has to be worth considering.

Definitely do it in the morning, though, so the cortisol spike has come back down and you’re able to sleep at night.

The last thing, which nobody ever wants to talk about but I’m going to: if dryness is making being on a saddle uncomfortable, there are moisturisers and oestrogen gels that can help. You don’t have to let this stop you doing the workouts you enjoy.

Dr Lou Atkinson

Schwinn master trainer | Health psychologist

Menopause and perimenopause is a topic that brings together both sides of my professional expertise, and is something I often discuss with indoor cycling instructors and studio owners.

Supporting positive health behaviours is my primary focus, helping women stay active throughout this lifestage, and there are two important aspects. The first is physiological: how indoor cycling can be affected by the symptoms of perimenopause, and vice versa. The second is operational: how clubs and coaches can make indoor cycling classes accessible to this group.

“With the menopausal body losing collagen and muscle mass, the low-impact nature of indoor cycling is beneficial”

On the first point, with the menopausal body losing collagen and muscle mass, the low-impact nature of indoor cycling is beneficial. Cardiovascular exercise is also a mood enhancer, and indoor cycling especially so: a social group exercise experience, often with music and a party vibe. This is significant, as many women suffer from low mood, anxiety, depression and stress during (peri)menopause.

On the flipside, there are some challenges: menopausal joint aches and pains can make indoor cycling hard for some, while genitourinary issues can make being in the saddle uncomfortable. And of course, this is an activity where your core temperature rises, which may not be comfortable there and then if you’re already suffering from hot flushes.

There is some evidence that exercise can help manage hot flushes over time, although as usual with women’s health, it’s under-researched.

The key with indoor cycling is that you’re in complete control of your workout. If you have joint aches, fatigue or sleep disturbance, you simply adjust your intensity while still being part of the same class experience.

Alongside this, strength training is vital for this group. I advise clubs to create fusion classes – around 25–30 minutes of cycling followed by 15–20 minutes of bodyweight or free weights training off the bike – so women get everything they need from one class.

“There is some evidence that exercise can help manage hot flushes, but as usual with women’s health, it’s under-researched”

And beyond that, simply be aware of the hot flushes, the aches and pains, the longer recovery times, the brain fog your members might be experiencing. Have empathy. Remove any stigma. Foster peer support within your community. Reassure class participants that individual wellbeing is more important than everyone doing the same thing – that it’s OK to adjust their intensity. Trust each woman to make the choices that feel right for her mind and her body. Give clear instructions, repeating messages in different ways. And don’t be afraid to coach individually where appropriate.

The post Cycle change appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

In 1999, Danish brothers Mads and Per Nissen founded Fusion in a bid to change the status quo of sportswear. In the mid-90s, they had operated a sports shop where they faced two major challenges: firstly, product lines were very fashion-focused – they wanted more focus on functionality and technology – and second, it was a supplier-led industry where large pre-orders had to be placed many months in advance, tying up retailers’ liquidity.

Focusing initially on the triathlon world they themselves knew, they began to develop their own high-performance sportswear with a focus on usage and functionality. Their mission: to create a long-term, timeless collection where the quality and technical function of the same products would be continually refined, rather than bringing out new, short-term, seasonal products.

What they created – and what we still manufacture today – is a range of sportswear that’s comfortable, durable, highly functional and uncompromising.

Our collections now span running, cycling, triathlon, gym workouts and ‘recharge’ – which is about comfort on recovery days – and we cater for everyday exercisers through to elite athletes. But what unites all our gear is that we create clothing for when it matters. If you’re going for a short run in 20 degree heat, really any clothing is OK. It’s when you want to train seriously, including in bad weather, that you need the right gear. That’s when we step in, with high-quality, technical sportswear.

What are your USPs?

Our USPs are rooted in three core principles: durable, measurable and comfortable.

Our products really last: you’ll regularly see people using Fusion gear that’s 10+ years old and still going strong. We continually invest in R&D, but we stick to core products and our evolution is functional, not fashion-led: you’ll never see us launching the new season’s colours!

All our products are tested by pro athletes as well as at our in-house lab. The majority of the materials we use have already been developed to our high specifications, but we then rub-test them as well: normally 15,000 rubs is considered very good, but we won’t use fabrics that don’t achieve 30,000. Meanwhile, if we removed Fusion Power Locks from our products – our signature red stitching – we could reduce production costs by 20 per cent, but it’s key to our durability and we won’t compromise. As a family-owned business, we can stay true to our values.

Measurable is about results. We’re talking wind tunnels, track trials and so on – as well as the results our elite athletes achieve – to measure the impact of each product refinement. The refinements are continual – we’re on our 1,000th iteration of some products by now – but each is tiny, to the point that you’ll see elite athletes winning medals in Fusion products that are five years old.

Finally, comfort is crucial: all the highly technical elements of our clothing are there in a way you can’t feel. If you’re going to be on a bike for several hours, the best cycling bib is the one you don’t notice.

The pay-off of these three principles is that when you’re wearing our products, you’re unstoppable.

Sustainability is an important USP, too, and it goes back to our durability: how long you use a product matters. It also goes back to our EU-based, small order manufacturing that ensures retailers only ever have to purchase what they know they will sell right now. We never over-produce. [For more details, please see A Sustainable Agenda.]

Tell us about your elite athletes.

We work with a large number of elite athletes, from triathlon world champions to track cycling record holders to UCI cycling team Colo Quick.

Crucially, we develop partnerships rather than traditional sponsorships: we’re part of professional athletes’ training as they prepare for competition. They might come to us with a small feature they want to add to their clothing, for example, which we prototype at our Danish head office and give them within weeks. If it gives the desired results, we’ll roll it into our production.

Because this is another thing that’s different about Fusion: those elite-led refinements are built into our core product lines, meaning elite athletes wear standard Fusion items when they compete and achieve their world records. Whatever they need, we can simply pick it off the shelf and send it to them immediately.  Other people can buy it, too.

What we don’t have is entry-level clothing: ours is premium sportswear where the difference between our cheaper and more expensive products is down to functionality. For example, if you’re new to triathlon, you’ll be most interested in comfort and easily getting in and out of your suit to go to the toilet. If you’re a pro triathlete, you don’t care about that: you’ll go to the toilet in your suit! What you want are aerodynamics and water repellence so your suit is the same weight wet as dry.

How much of a difference can the right gear make?

Let me tell you about our new line, Tempo, which launched in March: a high performance collection spanning triathlon suit, running tights and shorts, cycling bib and cycling jersey.

We’ve been working on Tempo for a year in collaboration with pro triathlete Sam Laidlow and he used a prototype of the suit in the Hawaii 2022 World Championships, where he set the fastest bike split ever. The previous record holder also beat his own record by a few seconds, but Sam smashed the record by four minutes. That isn’t purely down to our suit, of course, but it was a big part of it.

What’s the best sportswear for indoor cycling?

There are two distinct worlds in indoor cycling. There are those who usually ride outdoors, who in the winter also connect their road bike to a home trainer such as Wahoo, plus something like Zwift, to train indoors. Then there are those who do indoor cycling classes at the gym.

The former will generally wear the same gear indoors as outdoors: with our Cycling Core collection, you can mix and match from just nine core products to train in any weather. Indoors, in the privacy of your own home, that probably means cycling shorts and bib.

For those taking part in indoor cycling classes, the advice is different. Here, the main considerations are the environment – you’re likely to get pretty sweaty – and the wider, more comfortable seat post on a studio bike compared to a road bike. Wearing a normal pair of bib tights with a big pad is a mistake in an indoor cycling class: you don’t need that much padding and it’ll just soak up your sweat and make you uncomfortable.

My advice for indoor cycling classes is to wear multi-sport tights, which are like running tights but more fitted, paired with a singlet. Our multi-sport tights  have a smaller fleece pad and a layer that wicks sweat away from the skin. This combination will give you optimum workout comfort in a group cycling studio environment.

The post Clothing for when it matters appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

With pumping music, motivating instructors and tested programming, indoor cycling has proven to be a particularly effective way to get hooked on exercise. This was highlighted by an eight-week study where exercise newbies eased into exercise with three Les Mills RPM indoor cycle classes a week – and the vast majority didn’t miss a single workout.

Bryce Hastings, Les Mills’ head of research, says the 95 per cent compliance rate is almost unheard of in a fitness trial. “It speaks volumes about the enjoyable nature of the workout and its positive effects,” he adds.

#2 Indoor cycling gets you fit… fast!

Powering through just three cycle workouts a week can do wonders for your fitness. Research shows that just eight weeks of regular cycle workouts can lead to improved cardio fitness – we’re talking an 11.8 per cent increase in VO2 – as well as reducing body fat, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

According to researchers, it’s the varying levels of intensity within the cycle workout that are an important factor in maximising muscle adaptations and producing comprehensive health benefits.

It’s why workouts such as RPM are based on the science of cardio peak training, which combines the cardio endurance of steady-state training with the transformative fat-burning benefits of high-intensity interval training. The workout is structured to maintain your heart rate at an aerobic training base of between 60 and 80 per cent of your maximum heart rate, interspersed with peaks of intensity that push you to 85 to 90 per cent of your max.

#3 High-intensity interval cycling gets you even fitter

There are plenty of studies highlighting how high-intensity interval training (HIIT) drives muscle activation and fat-burning capacity, but most of these studies are based on conventional weight-bearing HIIT exercises such as burpees, squat jumps and lunges.

The exception is an interesting study by Professor Jinger Gottschall at Penn State University in the US, which detailed how high-intensity interval cycling can be a great, low-impact way to enjoy the transformative results of HIIT.

Study participants added just two 30-minute Les Mills SPRINT workouts – Les Mills’ HIIT cycling programme – to their weekly regime and significantly improved cardiovascular, metabolic and musculoskeletal fitness. They also reduced body fat mass and blood pressure, while enhancing glucose tolerance and strength.

#4 Cycling cuts fat from your waistline

Regular cycling doesn’t just result in toned and shapely legs: it can be a great way to reduce your waistline too. One study showed that in just eight weeks, exercisers doing RPM three times a week managed to cut an average of 3cm from their waistlines, as well as reducing body fat by 13.6 per cent. This is important, as fat that’s stored around your middle is often dangerous visceral fat; a disproportionately large waistline is an indicator of several serious health risks.

#5 Cycling helps your mental health

Jumping on a bike is shown to be one of the best ways to beat stress, depression and poor mental health.

Over a three-year study, 1.2 million adults recorded their physical activity, as well as detailing how many days they experienced any stress, depression or other emotional issues. Researchers concluded that cycling was the second most beneficial activity in terms of emotional wellness, beaten only by team sports.

#6 Cycling can slow, and even reverse, the ageing process

Forget pills and potions: research indicates that pedal power could be the elixir of youth.

In a study of 125 amateur cyclists, researchers found the cyclists maintained consistent muscle mass and strength as they aged, as well as stable levels of body fat and cholesterol. In the process, they reduced their risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, while their production of disease-combatting T-cells was still functioning as well as in much younger people.

There’s even evidence that cycling can reverse the ageing process and shave up to 20 years off your biological age. Sound too good to be true? Here’s the evidence.

If that isn’t a reason to jump on the nearest indoor bike right now, we don’t know what is!

Emma Hogan is a writer for global group workout leader Les Mills. A longer version of this article was published on Les Mills’ Fit Planet in November 2022.

The post The science of cycling appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

Training Stress Score (TSS) is something I invented in 2002 in collaboration with Dr Andrew Coggan. It’s a composite number that takes into account the duration and intensity of a workout to arrive at a single estimate of the overall training load and physiological stress created by that training session. 

Put another way, it quantifies the training stress on your body after a workout and is applicable to power-based cycling or rowing. [For a briefing on power training, see RIDE HIGH issue 16.]

“TSS lets you track the cumulative stress of each workout on your body to ensure you’re resting enough”

It was a measure I knew I needed to help my athletes accurately understand how hard each workout was compared to others. I also knew I could use this data to shape a plan to peak them at exactly the right moment for big events. Dr Coggan provided the science! 

Why is it important?

Before we invented TSS, kilojoules (kJ) – how much energy you burned – were used to quantify the stress of a ride. The problem with this was, it didn’t acknowledge ride intensity: you can ride for longer at a lower intensity and burn the same kJ, but the physiological stress on your body will be nowhere near the same. 

TSS gives a far more accurate picture of how much stress you can create. Most important of all, it lets you cumulatively track this stress, allowing you to build a picture of your chronic training load (the cumulation of everything you did between 15 days and six weeks ago, and with it your overall fitness) and acute training load (your workouts over the last two weeks, and with it your current fatigue) to understand the Training Stress Balance in your body today.

This information, in particular the chronic training load, tells you exactly when you should push hard in training and when you should rest. It allows you to continually strike a good balance between fitness (which results from training stress) and freshness (which results from rest) to keep improving – and, where relevant, to hit top form for your event.

As an indoor cycling instructor, it allows you to track the cumulative stress of each workout on your body to ensure you’re resting enough – most injuries are down to insufficient recovery – without losing fitness. 

How do you calculate TSS?

As I say, TSS takes into account both workout duration and intensity, with intensity based on the individual’s FTP (functional threshold power).

The easiest way to understand TSS is that you score 100 points if you go as hard as you can – that is, if you cycle at your personal FTP – for an hour. From that benchmark, it’s easy to relate it to other workouts.

“After six weeks of instructing two cycling classes a day, your chronic training load could be 160: the same as a pro at the end of the Tour de France!”

Basing it on FTP makes it scaleable, too: Bradley Wiggins cycles at his super-high FTP for an hour and gets a score of 100. A deconditioned individual cycles at their 80-watt FTP for an hour and gets a score of 100. All you need is an accurate personal FTP.

Some software – such as TrainingPeaks, which you can download as an app – works out the TSS of each ride for you, and there are a few bikes that include this score on their console. If you don’t have access to that, though, it isn’t too hard to calculate the TSS of a ride yourself. 

The equation is TSS = {[(duration (s) x normalized power (W)) x IF]/(threshold power x 3600 s)} x100 – but don’t be put off by how it looks, as it isn’t actually that complicated! 

First, take the workout duration in seconds and multiply that by normalised power (which in the context of studio cycling is almost always average wattage), then multiply all that by the intensity factor (see end of this article: What do we mean by intensity factor?) This is the only bit of guesstimating you’ll need to do, as this figure won’t be in your bike. However, you can get a pretty good idea of the intensity factor simply by dividing your average power (wattage) throughout the class by your personal functional threshold power. 

“As a basic guideline, I’d advise that if your chronic training load hits 115, you need to rest. That could just mean taking it easy in class.”

You then divide this figure by your personal FTP x 3600 (seconds, to get it up to an hour). Finally, multiply all that by 100 – just because we wanted to present scores as full numbers!

What does TSS mean in practice?

If your score is less than 150, we categorise that as low stress – that is, it should be relatively easy to recover from that workout by the following day. Note that recovery is not the same as being totally fresh: you may still have sore muscles. However, it’s likely you could produce the same effort again the next day, or at least get very close to it. This is how we define recovery.

A score of 150–300 is medium stress: you should have recovered by the second day. High stress is TSS 300–450, where residual fatigue is likely to be around for a few days at least. And then epic is a TSS of more than 450, and here you’re looking at anything from a few days to a few weeks before you can get on the bike and do the same again. The muscular soreness might be gone, but your cardiovascular system still needs more time to recover.

You talk about cumulative load…

Yes, and this is where TSS becomes really valuable. Let’s move away from elite road racing examples and focus purely on indoor cycling instructors to bring this to life.

Every single ride has its own TSS; a typical hour-long indoor cycling class – with its sprints and climbs but also its recovery sections – will have a score of around 65–90. So, let’s say TSS 80 as a rough average.

Now let’s assume an indoor cycling instructor teaches a class a day. Six weeks later, their chronic training load is 80. That’s do-able. Even TSS 100 a day is do-able. Your body adapts to training stress after all – it’s how we get fitter – and a load of 80–100 is a moderate yet solid level of stress. 

But what if they’re instructing two cycling classes a day – not uncommon – and they’re cycling them ‘properly’, by which I mean they’re in the saddle hitting all the %FTPs they’re telling the class to hit. Do that every day for six weeks and all of a sudden, chronic training load is 160 (plus any other workouts they happen to be doing).

Now let’s consider that cycling pros, when they reach the end of the Tour de France, have a chronic training load of 160–180 – and then they rest!

Now we can begin to understand why indoor cycling instructors get injured or sick when they’re doing too many classes, and why it doesn’t actually take much for class load to tip over into being too much.

So, when does an instructor need to rest?

First things first, as an instructor, you should absolutely be logging the TSS of every class you instruct, so you build up an accurate picture of your chronic training load (CTL). You then listen to your body and identify what your CTL is when you feel you can’t perform any more. As soon as you see yourself approaching this number in the future, you know you need to start thinking about building in some rest.

“Remember it’s about chronic training load: one day off doesn’t immediately undo the last six weeks of effort”

As a basic guideline, I’d advise that if your chronic training load hits 115 – if you add up the TSS of all your rides over the last six weeks, divide by 42 to get an average daily score, and that average is 115 or more – you need to rest. 

(Note: Specialist software will weight more recent workouts higher than workouts six weeks ago. However, for the purposes of simplicity, calculating an average daily TSS as above will suffice.)

Rest could mean taking it easy in class, whether that’s ‘faking it’ rather than actually cranking it up in the saddle, or getting off the bike and walking the studio floor to offer encouragement and motivation.

It could mean taking a break altogether, if schedules allow. But even here, remember that it’s about chronic training load: one day off doesn’t immediately undo the last six weeks of effort.

Read more: Hunter’s previous RIDE HIGH article – on why he believes indoor cycling classes should always be based on power – can be found here.

@peakscoachinggroup
/peakscoaching

The post Recovery at work appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

Founder, Authentic Instructor Training Inc.

Delivery methods have no doubt diversified within indoor cycling, encouraging all of us to keep learning, growing and challenging ourselves. 

Yet particularly as our sector re-opens from the pandemic, bringing a wave of new clients into fitness, I believe it’s critically important that we take classes back to basics; while we’ve all had time to research our trade, now may not be the best time to introduce all sorts of next-level moves into your classes. 

As an instructor, your role is to make every participant feel successful, but I’m currently seeing far too many instructors making things too complicated for their riders and leaving people behind. So, my first observation from an education perspective: instructors must (re)learn how to integrate new riders with well-versed riders to maintain client success. Practise next-level choreography at home or post-class with fellow instructors, but only slowly introduce new moves and combos so you build your class together.

“our instructors learn to ‘tap’ every song using a BPM app so they know how to use it in class”

Second, let’s be honest, very few people fall in love with a stationary bike. They fall in love with the experience of riding together to the beat of incredible music in an inclusive community. It’s why we love doing music workshops – because, from boutique studios to big box gyms, music is key to instructors scaling up their class experiences.

All the instructors we train learn to ‘tap’ every song – using a BPM app – to register the beat. Once they have the BPM, our tempo guidelines tell them how and where that track could be used in class. Only then do we look at musical rhythms, big beat drops and lyrical connection to give their riders goosebumps.

Next, teach instructors to be comfortable on camera: they’re going to need it in this hybrid world. Our experience is that instructing online is harder than in-person, so we actually train people to deliver online first. This builds a solid foundation before we move on to in-person.

Online instruction requires a very different skillset from in-person to ensure those on the other side of the screen feel engaged and seen. At a minimum, your energy should be at least 25 per cent higher online, with a good balance struck between showing great technique on the bike and being off-bike, connecting with clients individually and checking their form.  

Finally, my firm belief is that you can’t teach someone to be an elite indoor cycling instructor in eight hours alone. There are so many levels to creating a great experience, and it takes time to build people’s confidence to get out there and deliver. I’d like to see a governing body in place to monitor the industry and ensure consistent standards are maintained.   

Yet however much indoor cycling evolves, I believe one requirement remains unchanged: whether newly qualified or highly experienced, instructors must forge a genuine connection with their customers, and that requires an ongoing focus on building next-level engagement skills. Emma Barry said it best: “If clients like you, they’ll leave you. If they love you, they’ll stay.”  

@trainingwithtashie

Noël Nocciolo

Cycle master trainer, boutique thought leader, consultant

Big box gyms must decide if they wish to be known for great instructor talent. With other departments competing for budget, this is not always the case. If they do, a new approach to investment is required, countering the lure of high-promising boutique studios by rewarding talent financially and investing in continuing education, hosting regular workshops for free or at a reduced price.

Meanwhile, boutiques must move away from the ‘one big training pre-opening only’ approach, and/or knee-jerk training only when competition arises, instead investing in regular growth and mentorship. Talent is the product; riders may come for the luxe amenities, but they stay for the connection forged in class by the instructor. Internal curricula and continued up-levelling of skills has never been more essential.

But what should that continuing education look like? For me, nothing will replace quality continued education that’s rooted in exercise science, evolving over time with new research and conclusions and not adding a move just because it was seen on Instagram. Alongside this, however, as gyms and studios increasingly compete for riders’ time, money and attention – including at-home – instructors must also hone their training for personality, vibe and inclusion.

“When coaching those unfamiliar with power training, I show the impact of efficient pedal-stroke speeds even when still riding to the music they love”

I myself hit the jackpot in that I completed the entire SoulCycle instructor training in 2011: less about anatomy and physiology, more about music manipulation, energy and performance. I then took the Schwinn Classic certification the following year with Rachel Buschert Vazaralli, who blew my mind with her personality and musicality when delivering scientific principles. She made pure riding fun: on the beat as well as with a purpose. Both sides of that training coin have helped immensely in the way I’ve delivered education myself since 2014, showing how every style of cycling class can be made captivating and ‘entertraining’.

As co-creator of PEP For FitPros, I also believe the way we use our voices is key to being captivating and ‘entertraining’. In our course, we teach instructors to preserve their voices and protect their careers, but also to authentically differentiate themselves vocally from other coaches. Personality, energy and attitude can all be traced back to how we use our voices healthily and as performers: screaming on microphones, losing our voices and risking longer-term voice injury are out; compelling coaching is in.

My training always supports technology too. When coaching those unfamiliar with power training, I aim to get a demo bike with a power meter to tangibly show the impact of efficient pedal-stroke speeds, even when still riding to the music they love and whose beats they want to ride.

In short, I like to see continuing education as a buffet we take from and budget for annually, taking the best of the certifications, and the best of the internal trainings and performance workshops, to help new and veteran instructors to grow and become more rounded. I’m interested in what we can add to our educational lives rather than take away.

@noelcycles
@pepforfitpros

Zack Schares

Fitness consultant & talent agent

As indoor cycling evolves, there are many instructors – whether newly qualified or in it for years – who are looking to upskill to meet the emerging, predominantly boutique-driven expectation of a true performance in the saddle. 

It’s why I run multi-weekend instructor training workshops that dedicate a full weekend to getting each participant up on the podium, running a class and taking feedback. I want everyone to really understand what it takes to be up there, engaging the room, being a great coach and mentor rather than just a good rider.

“Lack of leadership is the greatest impediment to us having the instructor workforce we need”

I also encourage people to find their own style; it’s not about going online and watching the top brands and influencers, then trying to copy them. It’s great to be inspired by others, but these brands do so much behind the scenes to lead people in the way they do. It simply doesn’t work if you try and copy them. You have to find your own style.

If you want to run a studio yourself, you also have to be a great leader. You have to set your team up for success.

I’ve sadly seen too many examples of instructors leaving their employers to set up on their own, thinking they can do better but without any strong leadership skills. Their mindset isn’t right: they push to make it all happen quickly, putting pressure on their teams, so focused on doing better than the local competition that they haven’t properly thought through how they want to run their own businesses, build their own brands, lead their own teams.

Meanwhile, head instructors don’t really know how to manage those teams, especially when they’re filled with creative types as instructors tend to be. 

I believe this lack of leadership is the greatest impediment to us having the instructor workforce we need, which is why leadership is the focus of my new workshop. I believe this is the most important way in which education can evolve to give us the indoor cycling instructors we need. 

Launching in September in Mexico City, I’ll be delivering the workshop in partnership with Christopher Chandler from The Nutrition School – a specialist in health and life coaching. With a basic premise that strong leadership starts from within, we’ll define what leadership means at different levels of a business and cover topics such as building credibility and trust, giving feedback, problem solving, empowerment and effective listening.

We recommend that at least two people attend from each organisation – owner, head coach, instructor – so teams can take away their shared learnings and grow together.

I believe this workshop has the potential to make a real difference. I believe the instructor workforce we need will result from strong leaders setting that workforce up for success.

@zax_fit

Jennifer Sage

Founder, Indoor Cycling Association

I have enough to say on this topic that I could fill pages! Instead, I’m going to deep dive into how in-person and online education can combine to produce the highest quality instructors.

During lockdown, we saw an explosion of online training courses, certifications and virtual classes. Yet for me, the hands-on guidance of in-person education – so valuable especially when just setting out as an instructor – is hard to replicate online. I firmly believe original certifications should be delivered live. 

Where online can add real value is in continuing education – something many studios didn’t insist on pre-pandemic for cost reasons. Online is a cost-effective way to broaden knowledge: while your primary certification should be on the bikes you teach on, you can upskill by taking online courses from other providers.

Online courses, e-books and indoor cycling membership sites can also be excellent ways to enhance your knowledge of cycling science, technique, coaching and cueing, communication skills, motivation, power training, profile design, sourcing music, using the power of music to match the message of your profile, working with older or less fit riders, teaching virtual classes and so on.

Indeed, more complex subjects such as exercise physiology and teaching with power are arguably better studied online, simply because of the ability to repeat the content.

And even virtual cycling classes, while not a course per se, are a fabulous way to improve your coaching skills. Subscribe to your favourite master instructor’s virtual rides and write down their inspirational cues. It’s not much different from being at a conference!

“Expand your knowledge of the science of cycling, not just the entertainment aspect. You’ll become a more rounded instructor.”

But proceed with caution: there are some very poor instructors out there sharing sub-standard ‘education’. Thoroughly vet your sources and be wary of free content. Just because it’s popular, doesn’t make it good. 

Other tips for online education include ensuring it’s based on proper exercise science. Seek to expand your knowledge of the science of cycling, not just the entertainment aspect that’s so popular at the moment. You’ll become a more rounded instructor who can create classes with a purpose and more confidently answer riders’ questions. 

Look for a course on teaching with power. Even if you don’t have power meters on your bikes, you’re still producing it. When you understand the elements of producing power (cadence and resistance/force), you’ll have solid foundations to create safe, effective classes that produce results for your riders.

Seek courses in teaching across the entire intensity spectrum, so you don’t fall into the common trap of only ever teaching high-intensity intervals. Consider taking a course or reading a book on working with elderly riders. Seek courses in how to be an empowering, motivational, inspirational, engaging instructor (riders will flock to your classes!)

Finally, when choosing your online courses, ideally find someone with prior experience of training instructors in-person – they will have a greater understanding of relaying information than someone who’s never taught live workshops – and make sure there’s a way to contact them with questions. Check they provide transcripts and/or handouts, too. 

Done well, online continuing education can play a major role in improving the quality of our instructor workforce.

@indoorcyclingassociation
@ridewithjennifer

Louise Ager

Fitness education consultant

In Denmark, the last couple of years has seen a shift away from specialist cycling classes – larger timetables of differentiated classes catering specifically for beginners versus intermediates versus the ‘go hard or go home’ brigade – and towards smaller timetables of signature classes where the instructor has to try and cater for all levels and needs in one class.

This is particularly evident at larger gym chains, and for me it’s a great shame. Of course, I appreciate the desire to deliver consistent experiences. I appreciate that many instructors are sadly not sufficiently qualified nor experienced to choreograph their own excellent workouts – I’ll come on to that in a minute. I appreciate that having too many cycling classes on the timetable may mean they aren’t all full. 

However, I believe we must offer diversity in class styles to bring a broader audience to indoor cycling: classes for beginners, for overweight people, for seniors, for endurance enthusiasts, for those short of time, for fans of different music genres. The more generic the experience, the less likely you are to really engage someone.

Education has a major role to play here. Five to 10 years ago, cycling certifications in Denmark took between five and eight weeks to complete. Now many have dropped to three to five days – a dramatically condensed timeframe that I believe offers little scope to explore the wide range of possible class styles. I think this is a major contributor to the shortage of really good cycling instructors now, and in turn to the timetables clubs can deliver.

“I’d like to see certifications take longer again, to allow new instructors to really get into the detail of different class types and audience needs”

I’d like to see certifications take longer again – 50–70 hours as a guideline – to allow new instructors to really get into the detail of different class types and audience needs. Newer topics like technology and online delivery need to be covered too, and there must be plenty of time for practice in the saddle. New instructors have to learn how to capture an audience.

They must then continue to develop themselves, attending workshops to keep building on their initial certification, fine-tuning their craft and getting better and better at engaging people, making it fun, reading the mood of the room and instantly adapting to it in their delivery and even the shape of the ride itself. Mastery is an ongoing process.

Put bluntly, we need to make instructors good enough again that they don’t have to rely on templates. We need to push standards back up. 

We must then let instructors be true to themselves, focusing on whatever they’re really good at and the audiences they’re really good with. They don’t have to be able to do it all – being different is good – but they do need to be better at delivering whatever they choose to specialise in. 

Of course, the next step is educating studio managers and supervisors to start scheduling for a broader audience, with targeted classes that have a purpose and an intentional audience. This will be a process, but I do believe it’s the right thing to do.

Angela Reed-Fox

Course director, Indoor Cycling Institute

I believe the quickest, easiest way to upgrade a cycling studio experience is not through hardware, but through supporting instructors to improve their knowledge and skills.

Let’s start with technology. With the growth in wearables, riders are now far more informed about their bodies’ response to exercise. Instructors must upgrade their knowledge accordingly; weaving things like heart rate into a workout, boosting effectiveness for riders who have that tech, is easy to do without cluttering your instruction if you know how. The same goes for bikes with accurate power meters: instructors must upskill to design and deliver effective sessions.

Because ‘effective’ matters: people want fun, but they also want results, and just pedalling on a bike isn’t guaranteed to deliver them. I spent 10 years as a nurse and met so many people who felt they’d tried everything and nothing had worked. Instructors must learn to design and deliver sessions with specific goals rather than just filling 45 minutes, helping gyms build a reputation for quality.

“Instructors must learn to design sessions with specific goals, rather than just filling 45 minutes”

With a growing incidence of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other lifestyle conditions, there must also be more emphasis on closing the gap between fitness and health. Done well, indoor cycling is safe and accessible for a large proportion of the population, so instructors must be trained to recognise this – and to instruct in a way that attracts, retains and boosts results for this wider cohort. This will include effective communication: nurturing, challenging and encouraging people rather than just shouting.

Safety is also key. I see the same mistakes being repeatedly made by instructors who don’t understand – or have forgotten – the basics about resistance, cadence and the safe interplay between the two. That’s a massive training issue and can easily lead to (avoidable) injuries and even litigation. Instructors must be able to lead safely and spot unsafe cycling in class.

They must also remember – even be (re)trained in – the basics of customer service: arrive first, leave last, know names, address riders by them. As remote offerings proliferate, every gym must identify where they can excel over online and really go for it. Community and camaraderie will be crucial. 

I also think there’s a growing and overdue need for studio management and lead instructor training. It doesn’t require much, but they should certainly know how to maintain safety and best practice, how to recruit and support instructors, what to keep an eye out for. As tech and bikes become more advanced, and riders come to expect more, this is becoming a discrete set of responsibilities that needs to be covered within training.

Finally, many instructors just want to excel at indoor cycling: the discipline is heading into its own space, and that’s entirely right. I believe it’s outdated to expect instructors to also have a certificate in gym instructing, PT or exercise to music. Cycling shouldn’t be CPD on top of one of those qualifications. Rather, there should be regularly updated, indoor cycling CPD on top of a dedicated, entry-level indoor cycling certificate.

The post Future-proofed instructors appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

What do I mean by that? Heart rate training has been around for many years and it’s an important and valid metric. It shows the intensity of your intention – how hard you’re trying to push yourself. That’s very useful for instructors in particular, allowing them to read the room and understand the effort each participant is putting in. With the addition of colour zones, it’s also easy to understand and can be very motivating in a class environment.

However, the issue is this: there are many factors that can impact someone’s heart rate. It isn’t exclusively a response to training. Yes, your heart rate could be high because you’re really pushing yourself in your workout. However, it could also be high because the room is too warm and you’re over-heating, you’ve had lots of caffeine, you’re stressed, or because of a number of other external factors.

In short, HR training tells you how fast your heart is pumping, but it doesn’t tell you why. It can also vary quite notably from day to day. Plus, heart rate zones are based on your max HR – a figure that doesn’t change as you get fitter. It means you can’t easily track or build on your progress.

How is power different?
Whether you’re in a studio or on the road in the rain, 200 watts is 200 watts. This is why I refer to power as the ultimate training dose: you can very precisely specify a number.

Let’s take the analogy of weight training. Month one, you might have 20kg on your bar. Next month it’s 30kg, a few months later it’s 50kg. The weight is your training dose and the rising number reflects the progress you’ve made. It’s the same with wattage: you can see your improved performance on the power meter of your bike as your output rises from 200 to 220 to 240 watts over time.

Then there’s a measure called FTP – functional threshold power – which is a great tool for a class environment. Every individual can calculate their personal FTP, which is directly related to their fitness level. Rather than specifying a wattage, an instructor can then specify an FTP percentage they want the class to ride at. In turn, this ensures every individual is working according to their current fitness level – but also at exactly the right load for the training goal.

I say ‘current’ because your FTP will rise as you get fitter. If there’s a day when you’re tired or stressed, you may not hit the same output as on a day when you’re fresh, but overall – over time – your FTP will increase as your fitness improves. That provides a great sense of accomplishment and motivation to keep going.

How does FTP work?
Your functional threshold power is the highest average power (wattage) output you can maintain for an hour, going as hard as possible for the whole hour. You then take that average wattage as 100 per cent and build your training zones around it.

Zone 1, active recovery, sees you cycling at 55 per cent or less of your personal FTP. It’s an important zone in every class and for every cyclist: it stops you training too hard and ensures you’re ready for the next effort.

“Every individual can calculate their personal FTP, which is directly related to their fitness level. An instructor can then specify an FTP percentage they want the class to ride at.”

Zone 2, endurance, is where you could spend all day cycling. You’re at 56–75 per cent of your FTP, and as the name suggests, it’s about improving your endurance.

Zone 3, tempo, is a zone most people could stay in for perhaps 30 minutes to a couple of hours – or eight hours if you’re a pro cyclist! You’re now working at 76–90 per cent of your FTP, and the benefit here is improved aerobic capacity and muscular endurance.

Zone 4 is your FTP zone, and this is the measure that really defines your fitness. It’s a bit like the one rep max in weight training: you quote your FTP to someone and it’s a shorthand for how fit you are. In this zone, you’re working at 91–105 per cent of your FTP, and translated to real world cycling it’s about how fast you can ride outside: with an FTP of 180 watts, you might be able to maintain 15mph; 220 watts and you’re looking at perhaps 20mph. Physiologically, it’s about improving overall cardiovascular fitness and the body’s ability to handle lactate in the blood.

Zone 5 – 106–120 per cent of FTP – is the VO2 max zone. We’re talking three- to eight-minute all-out efforts, as if you’re riding up a steep hill. You’re training your body’s ability to bring oxygen into the lungs and from there to the bloodstream and the muscles; your VO2 max is the efficiency with which your body can do this, and it can be improved with training.

Zone 6 is anaerobic capacity, spanning 121–300 per cent of FTP. We’re talking very intense intervals of perhaps 30 seconds to two minutes only, and it’s about improving your ability to produce energy without oxygen. Working in this zone brings a rounded approach to fitness.

Finally, anything above that is zone 7 – neuromuscular power. Think of it as your very best sprint for five to 15 seconds, which might typically be anything from 700–2,500 watts. This is pure muscular strength building.

How do you calculate FTP?
As I say, FTP is about going as hard as you can for an hour, but not everyone wants to do that – not even pro athletes! There are a few shortcuts, but I believe the best is a 20-minute test that you can run as a class.

You start with a 20-minute warm-up – or 10–15 minutes if you want the class to fit neatly into an hour’s slot – including 3 x one-minute fast pedals to wake up the legs.

Then you do five minutes cycling as hard as you possibly can to exhaust the body’s anaerobic capacity – something that could otherwise skew the results – before 10 minutes of recovery, cycling at around 65 per cent of your capacity.

“Test your FTP every eight weeks; fitness generally changes in eight-week cycles. To keep progressing, re-set training zones around your rising FTP.”

Only then do you do the 20-minute time trial, striking up a strong, steady wattage that you think you can maintain for 20 minutes; you can tweak as you go, because we take an average reading, so don’t start too hard! Your FTP is your power average for the 20 minutes, minus 3–5 per cent to even more accurately estimate what you could do in an hour.

The class ends with a cool-down of 10–15 minutes’ easy pedalling.

People often object – they say they’re tired by the time we do the time trial – but that’s the whole point. We’re trying to approximate what you could do in an hour, so you have to be a little fatigued when you begin the 20-minute test.

Crucially, you should re-test your FTP every eight weeks, because fitness generally changes in eight-week cycles. To keep progressing, you need to continually re-set your training zones around your rising FTP.

Do you always favour power training?
In a word, yes. It’s a great way to scale for everyone in the room, so they can train in the same zones and progress together but without having to achieve the same wattage.

It’s also possible to create classes around specific training objectives. “On Monday, our class will train the cardiovascular system with relatively low force; on Tuesday we’ll focus on improving our FTP, with 4 x 10 minutes at 95–105 per cent of FTP; Wednesdays will be all about improving anaerobic capacity, with short, hard efforts of 30 seconds to two minutes; Thursday’s class will focus on VO2 max, with three- to five-minute intervals, but we’ll throw in five muscular strength intervals first.” And so on.

Not every FTP zone is suitable for every level of fitness, though, so classes should be clearly labelled for their training objectives, benefits and level of experience required. Unfit beginners should focus on zones 1–3, for example, but note that it doesn’t get progressively harder from zone 1 up to zone 7: fitter beginners could do zone 7 and even zone 6, provided intervals aren’t too long and there’s plenty of variety in the class.

On the other hand, if you put a beginner straight into an FTP intervals class, I can pretty much guarantee they’ll never come back!

This is the beauty of power training, though. You know exactly what energy system you’re training – VO2 max or threshold power, for example – which is something other modes of training don’t allow for.

“How you create your wattage is important. In a general-purpose class, aim to push people out of their cadence comfort zones.”

Where does cadence (RPM) fit in?
Cadence can be a challenge for many people in a class, especially beginners who aren’t used to moving their leg muscles in a pedalling motion. At first, people generally want to pedal slower – perhaps 70–80 RPM – until they get used to it.

However, cadence is a very important metric, as power = force x cadence. You can produce 1,000 watts by cycling at a slow 40 RPM with the resistance cranked up to 20, or you could cycle at 150 RPM with the resistance at 5 and still produce 1,000 watts.

At face value, that may seem like the same outcome, but how you create your wattage is important: in this example, the 40 RPM approach is about producing the watts through force, which means you’re training muscular strength; the 150 RPM approach produces watts through speed and trains cardiovascular fitness.

When you teach a general-purpose indoor cycling class, you should aim to balance load between the muscles and the cardiovascular system. You need to push people out of their cadence comfort zones, helping endurance runners build muscle and weight lifters improve their cardiovascular fitness. You should also move people through the different FTP zones to work on strength, cardiovascular fitness and muscular endurance. This is how you use power training to improve all-round fitness.

Get in the zone

Monitoring your % FTP

If the key to effective indoor cycling is working to specified percentages of your personal FTP – well, how exactly do you do this? Easy, says Allen: with indoor cycling bikes now boasting advanced computers, you simply enter your personal FTP at the beginning of class and the console will show you what % FTP you’re hitting throughout the workout.

BODY BIKE Smart+ goes a step further. Believing that exercisers should have clear ownership of their personal data, and that operators should have future-proofed bikes, BODY BIKE got rid of integrated consoles around five years ago. In their place, an app that links seamlessly to any BODY BIKE Smart+ bike, transforming exercisers’ phones into portable consoles that can be upgraded with each app update, and that let exercisers carry their data with them.

The latest app update, launched in April, features in-saddle installation: simply pedal for 30 seconds and the upgrade is installed on your phone, bringing your previous training history across with it. Alongside a host of new features, including achievement-based status updates, are all the old favourites – not least a number of FTP features.

There are two FTP tests you can do on your own – a five-minute test and a burnout test – which, as BODY BIKE CEO Uffe A Olesen explains, “allow people to easily do a test themselves at any point, rather than having to wait for their club to run a class as Hunter suggests”. Alternatively, if you already know your FTP, you can simply store it in your personal app settings.

You then monitor your % FTP during class by tapping the middle of the wattage ‘target board’ to reveal your % FTP figure.

% FTP is just one of numerous metrics that can be tracked through the BODY BIKE Smart+ app, alongside % max HR, cadence, kilometres travelled, calories burned and workout duration.

The post Power Play appeared first on Ride High Magazine.

Sarah Ramsden, owner of Sports Yoga, explains: “Repetitive sessions on the bike can shorten your hip flexors, quads, hamstrings, calves, groins and ITB; stiffen your ankles; and cause chronic over-lengthening and weakening of the lower and upper back.

“Mostly this shows up as back, knee, neck and wrist pain – but crucially, all that shortening of muscles also makes you less comfortable, less efficient and less powerful on the bike.”

Fortunately, there is an answer: yoga and pilates. These complementary disciplines not only reduce pain and risk of injury from extended periods in a cycling position, but can actually improve your performance on the bike.

Our experts share their views, and it makes for interesting reading whether you’re an indoor cycling enthusiast or a club looking to advise cyclists on how best to structure their training plans.

Glenn Withers

Co-founder, APPI

I coach a training course – Pilates for Cyclists – which is actually designed with road cyclists in mind, but which also has relevance for regular indoor cyclists.

The course covers three key areas: endurance, which is more relevant to road cyclists than those doing 50-minute indoor cycling classes; strength, and how pilates can build this in a relevant way to improve cycling performance; and flexibility, looking at how pilates can improve mobility and ease common areas of tightness among cyclists.

The course is designed to help cyclists understand what the posture they adopt on a bike does to the way their body functions – the tightness it causes in the hip flexors, for example, and the tension it can cause in the mid-back if they’re over- or under-reaching – and how pilates can help. It also looks at how specific, at times modified, pilates exercises can strengthen the muscles used in cycling to improve output.

Improved flexibility is a benefit however often you’re in the saddle. Even if you only do one indoor cycling class a week, pilates can help balance out the tightness this can cause, improving mobility and flexibility to increase comfort and efficiency on the bike.

For example, a good pilates for cyclists programme will incorporate some thoracic mobility exercises, because when you’re on the bike, the mid-back is held so stiff that it can cause tension and pain. Similarly, your hip joint never fully extends when you’re on a bike, so you can get very tight at the front of the hip and need to open this up.

“The more core control you have, the more likely you are to get power out of the legs and avoid placing stress elsewhere on the body”

Core strength is also important even at the one-class-a-week level: the more core control you have, the less likely you are to have ill effects from the bike position, and the more likely you are to get power out of the legs and avoid placing stress elsewhere on the body. Even just doing one indoor cycling class a week can cause problems if you have a weak back. By developing core strength, pilates can help you avoid injury.

If you’re doing a class every day, however – or if you’re using indoor cycling classes as part of your road cycling training – then it’s a different story. It’s still about injury prevention, because you’re holding an unnatural cycling position even more regularly, but pilates can also help improve your performance and output.

If you look at which muscles need to work during a pedal cycle, it’s your glutes to start off, with power coming from the back of your hip; then at the bottom it’s your foot, ankle and calf mobility; and to pull back up and over it’s your hamstrings. So, if you want to use pilates to improve your performance, you need a combination of exercises that strengthen the cycling muscles: the core, glutes and hamstrings predominantly.

Crucially, you need to train these muscles in the range that they’re required to produce on the bike. That means tailoring pilates exercises to the bike position – training the glutes to produce power from a flexed hip position, for example, and the hamstrings to activate in a bent knee position – so there’s carry-over to improve performance on the bike.

Cycling isn’t just about leg strength, though: you need a strong core to transmit the power into the legs, and to protect the spine so it doesn’t lose efficiency in the way you ride a bike. In fact, research shows there’s a significant decrease in power output through the upper or lower limb with just a 20 per cent decrease in your core strength.

However, if you rely on cycling classes alone to train these muscles – or if, even outside your cycling sessions, you only train them within the range that cycling allows – then tension and tightness will ensue. It’s why a good pilates for cyclists programme will incorporate lengthening and mobility as well as strengthening.

Sarah Ramsden

Owner, Sports Yoga – UK

First of all, it’s important to note that flexibility gains are performance gains. Stretching your hip flexors, for example, allows you to get your hips forward when out of the saddle and drive even more power through the whole length of the leg. Good hip flexor length also allows you to drive more power through the full range of the quads when seated.

Meanwhile, better pelvis mobility – groin, ITB and hip flexors – increases efficiency by reducing wiggle on the saddle, especially when you’re tired, and better ankle mechanics allow pain-free hitting of power through the whole ankling pedal motion.

Performance gains can also come from a strong core and glutes. Good torso control keeps your sitting bones solid on the saddle, so power is driven straight to the pedal. It stops your hips swinging when you’re out of the saddle, too, driving all power straight through the pedal. Strong glutes also add power to your pedal stroke when standing.

“The multi-directional movement of yoga, plus all that stretching, helps you recover faster. Your ride the day after yoga will feel easier.”

But your glutes and abs aren’t really trained during a cycling class: the forward hunched position means your abs won’t fire, and sitting on your butt means you don’t use your glutes much. You’ll need to train these muscles elsewhere, and yoga is the perfect solution.

Then there are the recovery and injury prevention benefits of yoga. Its multi-directional movement and stretching helps you recover faster. You flush out metabolic waste, pump fresh blood through, untether tissues that have become stuck and tight, and re-set the length of your muscles. You feel less fatigued and your ride the day after yoga will feel easier.

By lengthening shortened muscles, a good yoga class also reduces niggles and chronic problems. Free from pain, you’re then back to adopting efficient positions on the bike, able to increase your time in the saddle and continue cycling for years to come.

On the flip side, fail to stretch alongside all your cycling and you’ll develop loads of compensatory ways of moving; you’ll get too stiff to move with good posture. This will injure you in unpredictable ways and make living a full life difficult. You might still be comfortable on the bike – that fixed position ends up being the most comfortable – but your everyday movement gets less and less.

And, of course, a hunched, rounded upper-back position on the bike eventually becomes a hunched, rounded upper-back position in life too: probably not the look you’re after!

In short, yoga as a complement to cycling works. You’ll feel easier and freer. You’ll injure less and chronic problems will slowly subside. Your efficiency and power output on the bike will improve. You’ll increase your training and go on for longer. Your body and your cycling will love you for it.

Sarah Ramsden is a registered teacher with www.yogaallianceprofessionals.org

Shelly Zehari

Co-owner, Fit House – Israel

At Fit House, we believe people should be able to do cardio, stretching, stability, strength and core work all in one place, so we have four studios under one roof: cycling, pilates reformer, barre and functional.

We also mix and match as part of this approach. For example, one of our signature classes – Arms Booty Core Cycling (ABC Cycling) – combines pilates and cycling in the same class. You do an interval on the bike, then come off and do some pilates arm exercises before getting back on the bike, then off again for pilates core work, and so on. You get your cardio hit from cycling, but you also train your arms, core and glutes in a series of pilates exercises.

People love it, because in 60 minutes they get a full-body cardio and strength workout. It also introduces cyclists to pilates, and pilates enthusiasts to cycling, which is great. We run our ABC Cycling class six times a day, it’s so popular.

“We’re very clear in our belief that all our disciplines are deeply connected, and that doing a bit of everything will get you better results”

But importantly, this isn’t just for a novelty factor. We’re very clear in our belief that all our disciplines are deeply connected, and that doing a bit of everything will get you better results. For example, the data gathered by our BODY BIKES shows that people get more out of their cycling workouts if they also do pilates: better RPM, better power output, better calorie burn. We have hard evidence to prove this.

Why? It all starts with the way you sit on the bike. If you do pilates, you know how to hold your body in the various positions you adopt on the bike. You know how to engage your core, you know how to breathe, you have the strength in your shoulders to stay high. Your chest is open, everything is open, and you’re stronger in every position so you’re supporting your body properly. In turn, you feel better, stronger, and can work harder. You maximise everything you do on the bike.

You also don’t get to the end of a cycling class feeling like you’ve only worked your quads: you’ve engaged your body properly, so you feel it in your glutes and hamstrings too. You’re also less likely to suffer pain in your lower back after an hour on the bike, because you’ll have engaged your core throughout the class.

Pilates and cycling really is such a great combination. Cycling isn’t just about getting on a bike and moving your legs; the body awareness and strength you get from pilates helps you get so much more out of it.

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