Sweet Poison ICA Class Profile

Transcription

1 ICA Class Profile Valentine s Day Profile Prepared by Chris Nielsen Objective: Holiday theme ride; fun interactive game Effort: moderate to hard Length: 60 minutes This profile may not appeal to you on initial reading and you may feel that it won t work in the environment in which you teach. In the spirit of Valentine s Day, consider this: To love is to risk not being loved in return. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. Introduction If you love someone, set them free... While I only do a few a year, I find that games classes are not only fun but instructive for both me and the students. Some games can be controlled entirely by chance, others entirely by the instructor, or you can create a combination of the two. I like to add another factor to the mix the students imaginations. By letting them do some programming they are able to use what they have learned to collectively create a ride that meets their goals. This approach is consistent with research on the use of games with adult learners. If you have not done something similar you might be delighted to see how much attention your students will pay to constructing a profile that fits the time of the year, and/or the current emphasis of your classes. I am always most fascinated when I do this using a theme and songs that encourage them to create a series of intervals and recoveries. They make careful choices in order to ensure that the ride conforms to guidelines I might have discussed with them a month earlier. Play-based classes are a good way to shift students from a reliance on extrinsic direction to intrinsic direction supported by their own knowledge and skills. I once had someone suggest that that makes the instructor superfluous. In fact, the opposite is the case. Classes such as the one described below are a great way to highlight what people have learned and, by extension, the value that you bring to the table as an instructor. This profile riffs on Jennifer s Trick or Treat Halloween ride but, in this case, after selecting a song it will be up to each student to design an activity for the class. In doing so they will have to take into account their knowledge, personal preferences, and the reactions of the other students. In my experience, many physical and social factors, as well as their collective wish to show you what they have learned, result in almost the same balance you would have created. Copyright 2013 Indoor Cycling Association Page 1

2 Preparation Music Create a playlist of fourteen to sixteen Valentine s-themed songs or use the one I have constructed. Make sure that there is a range of musical styles and cadences. I selected songs around 4 minutes in length from ICA s Valentine s and Anti-Valentine s lists. I picked pro songs in a beats per minutes range suitable for riding on the flat ( rpm) and anti songs in a range more appropriate to climbs (60 80 rpm). You might choose shorter or longer songs or a different way of organizing them. Select a filler tune. I am using a 30-second clip of a heartbeat. My classes are accustomed to being called on for plans and cues. If your students need more time to formulate their plans, From Me to You by the Beatles works well as a filler song. It is just under 2 minutes long. Layer the filler tune between each of the songs in your playlist so that it will begin as soon as a song ends. For classes of this type I sort the songs in ascending order of beats per minute and make up a crib sheet so it will be easy to find a new song and cue up my ipod. You can also sort them alphabetically. Add your warm-up and cool-down music choices. As you progress through the ride, you will select the song on your ipod/cd that corresponds to the one written on the candy that your student has chosen, so be prepared to make changes quickly (ipods or similar music players will work better for a class such as this). Props Using inexpensive colored paper (available at most dollar stores), cut out fourteen to sixteen candies using the patterns provided. Fold each one at the narrowest part. Using metallic gel pens, crayons, or Sharpies to create some designs on the tops a different pattern for each one. You are trying to mimic the various swirls on the tops of individual filled chocolates. If you want to add another layer to the game, create some similarities within the patterns that might provide some clue to what is inside. For example, use curved lines and swirls for hills, straight lines for flats. Some examples are provided below the pattern at the end of this profile. On the inside of each candy, write Sweet Flat or Poison Climb, the name of a song, its length, and its beats per minute. Find a way to carry/display the candies. I cut down a cardboard box and wrapped foil around it to give it a more festive appearance. If you have an old-fashioned Whitman s Sampler candy box, even better! This is a time to have fun with arts and crafts if that amuses you. Alternative Write just the name, length, and suggested cadence of each song inside a candy. Let the student decide whether his/her choice song is a sweet or a poison. This will permit them to tailor their plans to what has gone before. If you choose this approach you can use songs that will have the greatest appeal to the class without trying to fit them into flat and hill categories. Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 2

3 Prompts for students If you are unsure about your students ability or willingness to create plans, make sure that you have a list of suggestions that you can use to prompt them. Here is a short list of ideas that you can introduce to the mix. isolation drills cadence increases cadence pyramid 30-second high-cadence surges tempo-paced seated flat resistance loading on a hill resistance surges on a hill (seated) alternate seated and standing climbs attacks on a hill power increases* power pyramid, holding cadence or resistance constant* * if bikes with actual or estimated power are available The Ride Deliver the following instructions during the warm-up. George R. R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones, said: Love is poison. A sweet poison, yes, but it will kill you all the same. Sweet poison what a wonderful phrase for Valentine s Day. Today we are going to combine that thought with the classic box of Valentines candy. Some of you are going to have the opportunity to select a chocolate from my box. Just like in real life, you won t be able to tell from the outside what's inside the candy it could be a soft or hard center, a sweet or a poison. Once you have selected your treat, open it and read what it says inside. You will either have chosen a sweet a flat road or a poison a climb. The song choice and length will also be indicated. It will be up to you to decide how sweet your treat or how nasty your poison will be. You will be doing the programming for the class during that song and will need to tell us in as much detail as you d like what we should be doing and feeling. Anything goes so long as it conforms to the flat or climb description and it s along the lines of what we do in my class all the time safe and effective cycling. You will naturally respond to your own personal preferences but you may also want to consider how much you love (or not!) your classmates. Just remember that in both love and war, you reap what you sow. Once you have a plan you can either describe it to me or cue the class directly. If the song brings up some warm or painful memories, feel free to share them with us! I ll get you to make your choice just as a song ends. You ll then have a very short time to decide and tell me your plan. Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 3

4 A couple of minutes before the warm-up ends, offer a student a chance to choose the first candy. I usually select someone who is fun and engaged. Their reaction to the game as well as their ability to quickly formulate a plan will, in part, determine how the other students play when it is their turn. Encourage them to tell you something for the class to do during the song. You can act as a kind of game show host by prompting with some suggestions if necessary. Do this by asking questions, or giving them an option between several choices if they re a bit hesitant. For example, if they choose a hard climb, you might suggest two options such as, This is a slowcadence song. Do you want everyone to sit through the hard effort and work on the leg strength aspect, or do you want them to get out of the saddle every so often and raise the heart rate? Or if it s a flat and they aren't sure what to add, perhaps you say, This is a moderately high cadence sweet flat. Are you going to be nicer than Mary was and just let them use it as a moderate aerobic effort? Or do you have a sinister bone and want them to add a higher-effort surge the final minute? If a student comes up with a really hard (but appropriate) effort, you can play it up with funny comments such as, You heard what Bob said! Make sure you throw the tomatoes at him after class and not me! What if they select something that you know is too hard for the class or is incorrect (e.g., a 2-minute sprint or a contraindicated movement)? You ll want to be diplomatic and perhaps add a humorous twist to it as you modify their suggestion, as well as encouragement and a high-five when you get their approval. For example you might say, Can we modify that just a bit? Instead of a 2-minute sprint, why don t you do three 20-second all-out sprints with a minute recovery. They ll still take your name in vain, but they ll have more to give for each one. Sound good? I like your plan way to go, coach! If the suggestion is too hard, you can offer, Seeing as this is the first one and we re barely warmed up, and we still have 45 minutes left to go, why don t we tone this down just a few heartbeats. You ll thank me later for that! or Seeing as the last two we did were quite hard, perhaps it s time to allow a little easier segment. Your classmates will love you and want to give you all their chocolates if you do that! The point is, you are allowing them to define the workout and give the cues, but you are still guiding them to select a responsible training plan and are educating them as to what really works together and what doesn t, while also having them consider what went before and what might be left to do. After they ve selected the plan for the song (with your help if needed), determine whether the student will be doing the cueing or will leave that to you. As the warm-up music ends, switch to the song that the student has chosen. Near the end of each following song, offer another student the box of candy. As the song ends, your filler music will start. This gives you and the student a chance to communicate about the next plan. Switch to the appropriate song when ready. This is a pretty stress-free ride for the instructor. That gives you time to have some fun with the group. Here s a list of a few phrases that you can use during the songs in addition to whatever Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 4

5 coaching you want to provide. Get the class involved in coming up with other appropriate phrases. Be still my beating heart! Sweet! I have that hurting feeling. The course of true love never did run smooth. You may also choose to read some quotes about love. This helps pass the time if students have chosen steady-state efforts. Add your own favorites. Oh, innocent victims of Cupid, Remember this terse little verse; To let a fool kiss you is stupid, To let a kiss fool you is worse. ~E.Y. Harburg Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. ~William Shakespeare Where there is love, there is pain. ~Spanish proverb Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. ~Aristotle Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage. ~Lao Tzu Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit. ~Khalil Gibran Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop. ~H. L. Mencken If you want to be loved, be lovable. ~Ovid A man is already halfway in love with any woman who listens to him. ~Brendan Francis Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 5

6 At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet. ~Plato Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up. ~James A. Baldwin I like not only to be loved, but also to be told I am loved. ~George Eliot Love is a better teacher than duty. ~Albert Einstein Love is when you meet someone who tells you something new about yourself. ~Andre Breton Love is supreme and unconditional; like is nice but limited. ~Duke Ellington As I indicated in the introduction, you will see students making decisions that take into account what they have learned. You should reinforce those efforts and expand on related points. Some people will actually be more prepared to receive information and guidance in the more lighthearted atmosphere that the game creates. How d it go? Please let us know on ICA! If you come up with some great motivational and/or humorous cues or a clever twist to this game, or if your students really enjoyed this and chose some creative workout plans or became very competitive, please let us know in the comments section on the ICA page for this profile. That way, other instructors who might be hesitant to take on this role as game show host might see how fun it actually can be! We appreciate all of your input and hope you enjoy this profile. Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 6

7 Song Suggestions (Christine s playlist) Song Artist Album BPM Length Source I Hate Myself for Loving You Joan Jett Joan Jett and the Blackhearts 58/116 4:07 itunes, emusic I m Outta Love Anastacia Pieces of a Dream 60/120 4:05 itunes Harden My Heart Quarterflash Quarterflash 62/124 3:52 itunes Forget You Cee Lo Green The Lady Killer 64/128 3:42 itunes Knowing Me, Knowing You (Almighty Definitive) Abbacadabra Almighty Presents Knowing Me, Knowing You 64/128 3:57 itunes, emusic You re So Yesterday Marvelous 3 Hey! 70/140 3:57 itunes Your Love is a Lie Simple Plan Simple Plan 72/145 3:41 itunes Another Heart Calls The All-American Rejects When the World Comes Down 74/148 4:07 itunes Heartbreaker Pat Benatar Best Shots 78/156 3:28 itunes It Must Have Been Love Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me Roxette The Ballad Hits 81 4:19 itunes U2 The Best of :45 itunes I Got You Babe UB40 UB40: Greatest Hits 86 3:09 itunes Kickstart My Heart Motley Crue Take Me Home Tonight 89 4:45 itunes, emusic Lovecats The Cure The Cure: Greatest Hits 92 3:40 itunes Sweet Emotion Aerosmith The Essential Aerosmith 99 4:33 itunes Higher Love Steve Winwood Number 1 s: 80s Pop 99 3:51 itunes I Want You to Want Me Cheap Trick Authorized Greatest Hits 104 3:44 itunes, emusic You re the One That I Want (Live) Olivia Newton- John Olivia s Live Hits (Live at the Sydney Opera House) 112 3:51 itunes Heartbeat (Version 3) Finnolia Sound Effects People Sound Effects 1 0:30 itunes (filler) From Me to You The Beatles 1 1:56 itunes (filler) Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 7

8 Copyright 2013 Christine Nielsen and the Indoor Cycling Association Page 8