FiTour Application

As an emerging fitness professional, looking to build my resume and professional experience presenting, I have applied to the Education provider FiTour to see if they see me qualified enough to join their team of FiTour Master Trainers. FiTour is a quickly-growing company with a boundless future and a seemingly progressive mind for fitness. I am hoping they will accept my application. I will keep you posted as I hear back.

In health,

Patrick

Around The World has come and gone!

Last night at the Johnson I presented our first official Special Ride, "Around the World." The ride was the synthesis of management actually pushing me to host a special event. Management was more interested in seeing a seasonal ride (AKA Halloween) but I vetoed that PDQ. I wanted to give my students something special that was both unique and creative, but also refreshingly free of gimmicks (esp. after a campaign season wrought with them).

The ride: 80 minutes. The profile was very simple. Basically a Phase I ride with opportunities to improvise with whatever you felt like. For special events I am less partial to dictating the exact when's and where's of the motion so that my students can for once be truly free. I always instruct my students that if a particular road isn't working for them to find another one, but it is rarer that they feel confident and independent enough to do it.

For those of you that got to RIDE the ride, I'm interested to know what you thought of the ride! Below is the playlist if you did not get a copy of the music.

The Playlist (not every song was used in full because of time constrictions):

WARM-UP
1. AfroCelts- When I Still Needed You

MAIN RIDE:
2. DJ Sin Plomo- African Stomper (Original Mombassa Mix) (Thanks to Patrick (spinninginprescott) for this track)
3. Panjabi MC- Beware of the Boys (Moonbootica Mix)
4. Amadou & Mariam- La Realite (Yuksek Remix) (Thanks to Susan for giving me the original version that turned me on to this remix)
5. Loreena McKennitt- The Mummer's Dance
6. Afro Celt Sound System- Lovers of Light
7. Midival Punditz- Raanjhan
8. Yoshida Bros.- Storm
9. Kodo- Strobe's the Hunted (Kannagara Mix)
10. Boubacar Traore- Mantjini (So beautiful. Must-have)
11. Conjure One- Redemption
12. Chicane- Offshore (Original Mix)
13. Sunlounger- Mediterranean Flower (Dance Mix) (Another must-have)
14. Kila- Ni Liom Fein
15. Solas- Darkness, Darkness
16. Run Lola Run Soundtrack- African Song (Gave it out on my WSSC cd's from 07 & 08)

RECOVERY
17. Celtic Woman- Ave Maria

FINISH
18. AfroCelts- The Otherside
19. Lynyrd Skynyrd- FreeBird (only the guitar solo. Went over SO WELL! I was nervous about it...)

Cool-down
20. Vas- Refuge
21. Arno Elias- Epic & Dream

It took over a month of compiling this music to get what I wanted, and the playlist turned out to be excellent. I suprisingly would've only left out "Redemption" by Conjure One. Despite being one of my favorite songs, it felt, to me, like the part of the ride that was least cohesive.

In health,

Patrick

Pathways to Overload: FIT(M) Principles

Last night we rode a romping interval profile designed to teach students how to implement each variable in the FIT(M) acronym to build their fitness levels. If you are not familiar:

F- Frequency- to increase overload via frequency, increase the number of times an activity or exercise is completed (e.g. 15 bicep curls > 10 bicep curls; 10 jumps > 8 jumps)

I- Intensity- to increase overload via intensity, increase the difficulty of the action in question (e.g. 1 mile hard run > 1 mile jog)

T- Time- to increase overload via time, increase the length of the activity in question (e.g. 1 hour running > 45 min running)

(M)- Mode- to increase overload via mode, change the method or means through which the activity is being done. Mode is a little less conventional in its means as in most disciplines it means some sort of necessary cross-training. In the Spinning program, it simply means taking a certain activity and changing the core movement with which the activity is completed (e.g. 1 minute Standing Flat @ 80% > 1 minute Seated Flat @ 80%)

As an instructor these are likely things you manipulate all the time, although you may not necessarily be cognizant of it. Remember that too much of something is not always a good thing- the last set utilizes a change in intensity, time, and mode all through the same set- resist the urge to make every ride so haphazard. It will cause the ride to lose continuity (despite the fact that your students might think it makes it "FUNNER!")

If you have any questions, let me know. The profile is attached here.

In health,

Patrick

Stressed? Shambhala

Today I partook in my first far-east experience; at the Shambhala Center of Lexington, they offer Meditation Instruction, Organized meditation sittings, and more intensive mediation and Buddhist teachings and trainings. I attended their weekly Saturday morning activity, "Cafe Shambhala," which is one of their gratis community events that includes an introductory meditation instruction and then a fellowship with foodstuffs and then another sitting for more formal group meditation.

The experience was powerful; powerful, yet challenging. This is my first exposure to a true-blue meditation, outside of a meditation-lite in a yoga class. Shambhala teaches "Mindfulness Meditation." Here's the gist.

Three tenets prevail for a Shambhala Mindfullness Meditation session:

1. Body. A good posture through the spine, a gentle depression of the head, (as referenced from the anatomical position), a long chin, and eyes dropped downwards. Shambhala supports an eyes-open practice to a) prevent falling asleep, and b) intensify presence of mind. Hands rest on the thighs while the legs sit loosely crossed. You sit atop a large, thick pad that allows the hips to sit superior to the knees to improve ease of attaining posture.

2. Breath. My teacher Sandra instructed us that there is no goal of breath manipulation, rather the goal is to simply observe the breath. Pay attention to it and let it be a center for our minds. The breath is the best bodily process on which to focus because breath is with us always and there is no need to try to escape it. It brings rhythm and consistency to life.

3. Mind- the hardest of the three to control. The mental component of meditation is an endeavor towards passive thought. The image that was given to us was this: "Imagine your stream of consciousness as a freight train. You are but a spectator to the freight train; but sometimes, we jump onto that freight train and get lost in its travel. When you jump onto that boxcar, realize that you are, "thinking," and then jump back off and become a spectator again."

I strongly recommend you try it. Very challenging to keep a quiet mind, but exactly what I needed.

Patrick

Around the World

Coming up on October 28 will be our first official
Special Ride at the Johnson Center:

The bicycle is a universal machine. A worldwide medium. And we will understand it from one end of the earth to the other.Join us for this international incorporation of spirit on October 28 at 7:00pm!