5, 15 or 500 miles?

My PC crashed on me a few weeks ago while a worker was working on an electrical outlet in my apartment. Yes, he probably should have turned all power off. But even more yes, the owner should have checked those obsolete and loose outlets before even renting the place again. He would then have noticed that 240V were running in one of the walls… How not funny, haha…

Anyway, I am working out of my laptop and had not backed up my tunes library in a few months. I lost quite a fair amount of songs. And I checked the songs I had backed up and it turns out, I might not have done it right either… Going to take a youtube tutorial very soon. In the meantime, I make my playlist from some cool songs I have rediscovered! Students like it too. There is something fun in being able to mumble the lyrics while you are climbing a steeeeeep hill. No?

1. Pump it up – David Costello (3:19).Warm up.

2. Hold Celebration against me – Britney Spears (Rock your box mashup mix) (5:45). 2nd and 3rd positions with increased resistance from 5 to 7 and back down to 5.

3. Sympathy for the devil – Fatboy Slim Radio Remix (4:16). This time again we are going for 45 sec stretches from 2nd to 3rd but adding in the mix some peaks at a faster pace for 10 to 15 sec.

4. Ring Ring – Mika (3:37). Jumps!

5. That’s all – Genesis (4:25). Serious hill. Three in that playlist. Serious climbing this week 🙂

6. Running – Jully Black (3:44). As the song says, running flats.

7. Lose Yourself – Eminem (5:22). We are doing sprints with resistance in 2nd position during the choruses.

8. Where is the love? Black Eyes Peas (4:32). There is something a bit sadistic but also salvational about putting those two last songs in a row 😉 Anyway, second serious climb of the day. Finish in 3rd to break the monotony and the daydreamers. Aha!

9. Set fire to the rain – Adele (J. vd Straten remix, rework by Joran) (3:21). Fast pace on flats again.

10. Sweat – Snoop Dog vs. David Guetta (3:16).”Crunches” : going back and forth a few inches in 3rd.

11. Pride (In the name of love) – U2 (3:49). Third and last hill of the day. Reach an intensity of 9 on a scale of 1 to 10 before the last minute of the song and give it a 110%.

12. I’m gonna be (500 miles) – The Proclaimers (3:39). Jogs in 2nd for a minute, in 3rd for a minute, in 1st for 30 seconds, back and finish in 3rd. Resistance stays the same at about 7 standing.

13. American days are over – Florence + the Machine vs. Don McLean (4:15). One minute and a half in 2nd, one minute in 1st. Then cool down and stretch.

All My Luvin’

Finally a new playlist! There are a few songs that I had already used (months ago). Again, and I wrote it before, there is something appealing in using a song more than once in class. Sometimes, a song is just too good to use only once! It just feels so right…

1. Shattered – O.A.R. (4:16). Warm up.

2. Lights – Ellie Goulding (3:32). Switching from 1st to 2nd, continuing the warm-up.

3. All my life – Foo Fighters (4:23). We are steadily increasing the resistance here and switching from 2nd position to 3rd every 45 seconds or so. Again, the point is to finish warming up the body. This session is pretty heavy on the quads and because they are often underused by women, they tend to tire quickly if your lower body is not completely warmed up and ready to work!

4. Only girl (in the world) – Rihanna (3:56). Our “crunches”! Go to third and move those hips back and forth just a couple of inches. The point being to really engage the core and stay light on the handlebars (shifting the weight mostly toward the center and the lower body: Hello guys in the class!!!).

5. Volcano – Dragonette (3:34). Standing sprints with resistance at 7 in 2nd position.

6. Scream – Michael Jackson with Janet (4:39). Great minds think alike! Although Amanda at spinmuse has inspired my playlist many times, this one is pure coincidence and such a good one. Love this song! Remember the cool 2010 Odyssey meets Matrix video? Here, just a simple hard seated climb.

7. Biys of summer – The Ataris (4:18). Seated or standing sprints. I did standing this AM; might switch things up tonight… @0:45-1:05, 1:45-2:05, 3:16-3:56.

8. For your entertainment – Adam Lambert (3:35).Hands move from 2nd to 3rd every other beat.

9. Lions in cages – Wolf Gang (4:26). Jumps (8, 4, 2 cts).

10. Don’t kick the chair – Dia Frampton (3:51). Start in 2nd and power up the legs in 3rd @1:19-1:35, 2:05-2:21, 3:06-3:40.

11. Shark in the water – VV Brown (3:04). Legs isolation by steadying the upper body (=climbing stairs) @0:39-0:59, 1:32-2:00, 2:21-3:00.

12. Got Nuffin’- Spoon (3:59). Steady resistance of about 7 and move from 2nd to 3rd about half the song for each.

13. Give me all your luvin – Madonna (3:22). Couldn’t help it. Sorry I have tremendous respect for this artist. She never gives up! And the song is pretty cool for standing or seated sprints with two levels of power: 0:35->0:48-1:00, 1:35->1:47-2:00, 2:45->2:54-3:20.

14. Hurry Hurry – Jessie Baylin (3:26). Cool down.

Spin-a-thon

It has been weeks! I have been so sick. The “sick as a dog” days were only a preview of what the beginning of the year would be. I got to the point of being threatened of an I.V. by my doctor. Well, not really a threat, more of an unavoidable consequence of not being able to ingest any solid or liquid for 4 days… Want a miracle diet? I tested for you the “half-in-a-coma diet”. It works! You cannot do sh* but you do lose weight… Aha!

As of last week, everything seems better. I even went to Whole Foods and got myself B-complex vitamins and a mushroom supplement. Did you know that elaborate mushrooms’ extract are the next best thing as far as immune defense? I didn’t! I will tell you the results in a few weeks. I am the best guinea pig. I have been sick on sick since October and cannot seem to catch a break. Two series of antibiotics later, I still have what looks like a sinus and throat congestion that lingers. If all that stops, I might even start a business in mushroom supplements! Hey, I eat right, I am at my perfect weight, I work out (duh!) and I sleep (ok maybe not enough but still more than a student at mid-terms or a new mom)…

To redeem myself, I have actually organized a spin-a-thon to raise funds for financial assistance at a YMCA in LA. It was a success even though it was hard to promote while being lifeless in bed a week before! I am also subbing twice this week which will compensate the fact I haven’t taught two classes in a row.

1. Tongue Tied – Grouplove. Warm-up.

2. Beggin’- Madcon. Love this song. Always remind me of the show So you think you can dance. If she were much older, as a youngster, I would have answered “be Cat Deeley” to the question “what do you want to do when you grow up?” ;p Keep on warming up by increasing resistance.

3. Bust a move – Glee Cast. Go through the three positions increasing resistance from a level 6 to a level 8 every 45 seconds.

4. Beat it – Michael Jackson. 2nd position at level 7 + jogs with same resistance during chorus.

5. Crazy in Love – Beyonce. Hill from 7 to 9. Stay seated.

6. Bang Bang – K’Naan. What a great song for sprinting outburst. Everyone was pumped up! @0:48-1:12, @1:45-2:12, @2:34-3:04.

7. I gotta feeling – Black Eyed Peas. 3 levels of difficulty through each position for 30/40 secs each.

8. Bulletproof – La Roux. Again 2nd position jogs in the choruses. Seat in between. @0:47-1:10, @1:40-2:10, @2:42-end.

9. Pumped up Kicks – Foster the People. Isolate the work in the legs, stabilize the upper body or “climb the stairs with plates on top of your head”. @0:32-1:02, @1:34-2:03, @3:04-end.

10. Fighter – Christina Aguilera. Rolling hills.

11. Take my hand – Simple Plan. Sprints with resistance. Stay in 2nd throughout the song. @0:46-1:12, @1:49-2:15, @3:20-3:48.

12. Black and Gold – Sam Sparro. Amazing song to get “in the zone”. My students love it. Resistance at a steady 7-8. 2nd and 3rd positions for over a minute each. Repeat once. Enjoy…

That was what I played for my 40 min. of teaching during the spin-a-thon.  I added warm up songs to make it a normal class. I have taught a slightly different version of this class on Monday. Obviously, this one here contains some always-expected songs but again it was a special occasion where I needed the students to be into a certain groove. I will post my other class if I have time this week.