Spinning/Group Cycle Class Plan: Hills and Sprints Week 11

So today was my last Group Cycle class for the semester. At the University (of Guelph) we run 11 week sessions. One of the great things about these sessions is that it is a set class with a set instructor and I get to work with the same people every week for 11 weeks. I loved being able to see the progression over time. In the first week, I had many newbies, who had never taken a class before and by the end I has an entire class of pros who had perfect posture and challenged themselves more and more with each drill. Today was possibly one of my hardest classes to date (burning close to 700 calories according to my HRM) Check it out below! 

Congratulations to all of my amazing students who took themselves to new levels this session. I am so proud of you all!!! I saw considerable improvements in all of you and I hope you saw them in yourselves as well! Thank-you for all your hard work and dedication and it was a pleasure to teach you all this semester. Hopefully I will see you again after the break when I resume my regular Tuesday/Thursday noon cycle classes.

Hills and Sprints 11

• Warmup (Start on Feel So Close - 5 min)
• 6 min climb – 1 min standing/1 min hover, increase every 2 min 60%, 65%,70%
• Tabata Sprint at 60%
• 6 min of jumps, (8 sec counts 1min, 4 sec counts 1min) increase every 2 min 65%, 70%, 75%
• Tabata Sprint at 65%
• Recover for 2min – out of the saddle climb to 70% for 2min
• Reverse Hover Tabata (Double time in hover -> recover standing) @ 70%  
• 2min recovery -> Out of saddle, climb to 90%
• Standing Explosions Tabata @ 90% (half starting on right leg, half on left)
• Cooldown and Stretch

Spinning/Group Cycle Class Plan: Interval Grind 10

Interval Grind 10

• Warm-up (6min - start on song Take over Control)
• 9 min climb – 1 min each stand/hover/seated @ 65% then 30sec each stand/hover/seated at double the pace - > then increase to 70% and repeat to total of 9min – 1 min recovery
• 1 legs (active recovery) – right – 1 min 70%, 1 min 75%
• 2:20 min sprint – Seated/hover (20 sec each) – 1 min recovery
• 1 legs (active recovery) – left – 1 min 70%, 1 min 75%
• 9 min climb – 1 min each stand/hover/seated @ 65% then 30sec each stand/hover/seated at double the pace - > then increase to 70% and repeat to total of 9min – 1 min recovery
• 1 min 30 recovery – go to 70% tension -  3 min of jumps (1:30 – 8sec counts. 1min - 4sec counts, 30 sec-2 sec counts) right into a 3 min endurance hover
• 1 min recovery – 1 last Tabata sprint set – 8 sets of 20 sec with 10 sec recover – 60- 65% sprint tension
• Cooldown and Stetch

APP REVIEW: Tabata Pro - Tabata Timer

For those of you who are not familiar with Tabata, you may be wondering what the heck this App is for, and why would anyone want it...

Tabata is a principle of training that revolves around the theory of a work/rest ratio of 2:1 - usually 20 seconds of work with 10 seconds of rest for 8 sets.

Learn more about the Tabata protocol HERE and HERE

Although this principle can be applied to almost every form of training, I have started to use it as a part of my cycling classes, to coach sprinting intervals. (Which you may have noticed in my class plans)

I was recommended this app through a fellow instructor who uses it to keep track of the tabata sets in a class. At one of the gyms that I teach at, currently the mic is out being repaired, which makes it very hard to teach a spin class, especially at a high intensity when you want loud music and have to yell over it. I used this app for the first time in my class yesterday. Even though I had my ipod plugged in with my music, the sounds from the app still worked to let the class know when to work/rest. I also turned the ipod around so that the participants could see the green/red screens flashing to also queue when to work and rest. Overall, I think it worked great, it was something new and let me save my breath and participate in the tabata set as well. Check out a screen shot of the app below.