indoor cycling | Fitness is Sweet

Hey guys! I need to write a spin class tonight, so I thought this would be a good time to do a post on it!

Just a disclaimer-I’m just one of many spin teachers. Everyone has a different style and method, this is just what my process looks like!

1. AUDIENCE. This is super, incredibly essential. Who are you giving the class too? Will they like nothing but Top 40? Will they like country music? Rock? What age group? What is the fitness level? It’s great for you to enjoy your own class, but the students need to enjoy it as well!

2. (Hopefully) go to another instructor’s class for inspiration. This is so helpful, especially since I’m a less experienced instructor! You get a sense of what works and what doesn’t, and song ideas are SUPER helpful!

3. Decide on a profile. I usually come up with a general profile before finding specific songs, and then I try to fill in the songs. This can change too!

4. Find songs. This is the hard part. I can spend hours surfing on iTunes looking for the perfect song. I recently discovered that if you search any song name + “workout” you can usually find a workout mix, which may be perfect if the song isn’t upbeat enough for the class. Generally I search for something with a good beat. I have some go-to songs, but I try to mix it up as much as possible!

5. Decide on the specifics for each part. This is the choreography. More experienced instructors probably don’t need to do this, but I would highly recommend it when you start out! This means when to do jumps, when to do sprints, what you do on the hill, etc.

6. Make sure your songs and profile flow well. Do you want your hill to go from a sprint to a crawl in terms of music? This can definitely work, but you don’t want surprises while you’re teaching, and not every combination works.

7. If you don’t practice the playlist before you teach, at the very least, you need to listen to it. Every second of every song. It’s amazing how many songs don’t sound inappropriate until you imagine blasting them from speakers in class. So check first! Most gyms also don’t allow swearing so watch out for that!

8. If you can, PRACTICE! I often make adjustments to my choreography based on how things feel when I’m on a bike. I’ve also made some pretty bad playlists that I tried prior to teaching them, and was able to make a few simple swaps so they were much better!

That’s just my process-it takes a while to make each playlist, but it’s totally worth it!

Hey guys! I taught another spin class yesterday, and it was AWESOME. The members of the gym are the best. I can also definitely tell I’m improving my teaching style with each class, so I thought I might share some things I’ve learned.

1. Ask for feedback, and incorporate that feedback. Both from your boss and the students. Ever instructor should have their own style, but you need to be willing to work with the students and give them what THEY want, given they are the ones coming back time after time.

2. You don’t have to be talking the entire time. This is one I struggled with at first-I felt like I needed to constantly be saying something, and then I would feel like I had nothing left to say. A little time without your voice isn’t bad-a good playlist will work with you! Plus, given I’m doing the workout with them, I need time to breathe!

3. Microphones take some getting used to. And even with a mic you may still have to yell. It’s a content struggle for me between being heard through the mic and not adding too much extra bass when the mic picks up my breathing. What is working best for me right now is having the mic a ways away from my mouth, and then yelling.

4. Prepare! Be ready to put the work in, and it will show in your class. Right now, I think my classes take a minimum of 4 hours to prep for. I’m sure this is something I won’t need to spend as much time on in the future, but it’s worth it for me. It’s an hour to make the playlist, and then there’s practicing the playlist-I did it 3x by myself this time. And then more adjusting of the playlist after testing it out. I think it’s really worth it to know the songs well and know when to give the cues. Plus, it’s still a workout for me!

5. There will be nerves, but they will fade. Especially for that first class, put a smile on and put it all out there. You won’t always get nervous before classes once you have a few under your belt!

6. All the hard work, anxiety, and time is so, so worth it. Teaching group exercise is so incredibly rewarding. I got the best compliment after class, and it totally made my week. It’s awesome.

And onto the food.

Weekends tend to mean a lot of breakfast foods, which is fine.

Before teaching, I ate a banana with sunflower seed butter. Afterwards, I went to brunch back on campus.

A yogurt bowl, french toast, roasted carrots, and some random things that were meh.

A little bit later, I was hungry again so I had more carrots and pancakes.

Last night, I went downtown to get some new boots. While I was there, I stopped at Starbucks for dinner. I got a kale caesar salad, which I was impressed with. I loved the addition of sundried tomatoes for some extra flavor!

Plus an iced green tea on the side because it’s been so hot here!

Any tips for new GroupX instructors?